Frugal Friday Link Up--4 Uses for Cayenne Pepper

Happy Friday! My husband's been on vacation this week. Have we been frugal? Yes, and no. We have been doing our usual things--making due for lunch, making sure lights are off in rooms we aren't in etc. We rec'd our state tax refund check in the mail and did some grocery shopping. We didn't look at what was on sale though and just picked things up. We didn't do bad or anything and spent a total of about $60 between the grocery store and the day old bread store.
We also picked up a pre-paid card for my daughters spending money on her trip to England next year.

We are planning on being out of town all day today visiting my daughter and her family. We had intended on getting a motel for the night to visit longer, but there just wasn't enough money left to do that. Maybe next time :) We are already working on a savings plan for his next vacation week in August.

For this week I am sharing 4 uses for cayenne pepper from the 99 Cent Solutions book.

1. Relieve arthritis in your hands. 1 tablespoon neutral oil (almond or olive oil) mixed with 2 drops of lavender essential oil and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or 2 drops pepper essential oil) mixed together and rubbed gently on your joints makes a warming massage oil that will loosen up those joints in the morning. (admittedly this is probably great but I would really have to check the price of all the ingredients compared to buying Icy Hot, Ben Gay, or the like on sale and with a coupon)

2. Fight off a migraine. If you feel a migraine coming on, mix 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper into half a glass of tepid water. Mix it and drink it down. Lie down to rest. If you still feel the pain, repeat again in 30 minutes. (hhmmm not sure I would want to try this either!)

3. Break the grip of a cold. Heat some chicken stock to boiling and lace it with a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Less, depending on how much you can bear. Drink it from a mug and be sure to sniff the vapors while you sip. Cayenne breaks up congestion swiftly.

4. Deter deer and groundhogs. Mix 1/4 cup cayenne with warm water in a spray bottle and mist it over the plants that the deer seem to be zeroing in on. If you find the hold in your yard where that pesky groundhog hides in between eating your flowers, pour a liberal amount of cayenne down the hole. There is usually a second hole too, that you should find and anoint. Groundhogs should make haste to find other habitation plans. (OMG! I wish I read this before now--the gophers are tearing up our entire yard, and my flower beds. I MUST give this a try!)

Until next week--keep on saving! Please link up below. Also don't forget my Homemade 2012 linky page as well. Thanks!

Please link up any of your frugal posts here!

Posts can be on your shopping trips, frugal recipes, meal plans to save money, anything you do to live a simple or frugal life etc.

If it pertains to being frugal, living frugally, saving money, it fits in the blog hop.

Let's inspire and help others learn to live well on less!

Linky remains open all week so feel free to add new posts any time.

1. Frugal tips from Conan O'Brien

2. Tablecloth from a Sheet

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TGIFF! Yay!

It's my turn to host TGIFF! I'm so happy! I hope I will get the chance to host the hop again.
Yay! I have a finish. I hope it counts for a quilt? It's not quilted per say, but I spent all week hand stitching it. It's a table runner and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Here is a close-up of the stitching, I hope you can see it. I used the glass method, drawing around a glass with a pink pencil.

I can't wait to see the finishes linked up this week and thanks for the opportunity to host.

Wahoo!  Link up and show off your finishes this week.

1. Valentine Pup	2. Kristy QP	3. Rhianon @ The Nifty Stitcher
4. Tanya @ Wee Little Birds	5. Sub-Urban Curve	6. Ginette @ The Quilting Princess
7. Lucy @ Charm About You	8. Janine@ RainbowHare	9. Liane Dress
10. Leah @ L3designs	11. Quilt Top Completed by Leah@l3designs

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Squidoo Hopping--I'm On A Mission!

I've been too heavy into completing a craft project this week.  Sadly, I've done about my usual viewing and commenting on lenses of others but no updates on my own, and no new lenses built either.

At one point I was going to apply for Giant 50 but then wasn't sure if I had 50 lenses that are good enough, despite the updating I have gotten done.  I also want to update my lensography before applying for that next step up.

I did work on building my placeholder lens for my This Day in History lenses.  I'm not sharing the link yet because I am not happy with so few completed.  My goal before sharing the link is to have a minimum of 3 days completed in each month.

So, that is my mission---get these lenses built!!  Shoot, I still have 3 birthdays (at least) for the family, to get built.

I will get it done!! 

*********Questions-------Does the Random Facts module no longer work? It's not showing up for me. Has anyone ever heard anything about the donations module and if it will ever come back?? I so want to finish up my Charity lens, but can't without the module.**********

What blog posts or lenses are you going to share this week?

 

List any squidoo related blog posts you have done in the past week.  Please link directly to the blog post, not your general blog URL. 

If you don't blog about squidoo, please feel free to link up one or two of your lenses.

Thanks!

1. maria	2. Zut Moon	3. Heidi Brault
4. Heidi Brault	5. Spiritual Quest Journeys	6. Lyttle Two Two
7. MamaBush	8. MamaBush	9. Peggy (Scarlettohairy on Squidoo)
10. Peggy (Scarlettohairy on Squidoo)	11. AlleyCatLane	12. AlleyCatLane
13. Ron	14. New Squidoo Charities	15. Newbizmau
16. Betty Boop Fan Collection	17. Squidology (blog)	18. Mumsgather
19. LesTroisChenes	20. LesTroisChenes

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

WIP Wednesday---See Inside :)

Let's see--
No progress on the cross magnets.
No progress on the toothbrush rug.
No progress on the walker bags for the quilt guild community project.
I did get a few more squares filled for the baby blocks, but didn't take a photo.  I figured I would wait on taking a picture until I have one of the blocks completed.

OMG! You won't believe that I actually did some work on the scrappy quilt top for church.  Funny thing is that hubby and I were watching movies on tv at the same time.  I was pinning and marking during the movie and on commercials I was heading in to the craft room for a few minutes of sewing and/or ironing.  I'm surprised at just how far I did get, even though it's only a beginning on the whole top.

 I did get another row complete on the other quilt I've been working on.  I went ahead and took a photo, however, I need to rip out the row and pin it this time before sewing.  The lines didn't line up right....how aggravating.

I am hosting the TGIFF! Blog hop this Friday and I am hoping to have a finish.  It looks like my finish will end up being this table runner.  I have procrastinated on getting going on the hand stitching for the top of this.  I'm over half way done with it now so wish me luck on the finish in time for my post.  I just took a picture of how I am stitching it---the old use a glass to draw a circle method.

 Last but not least on my list for this week is the granny square blanket that I am working on for the Granny a Day 2012 Challenge.  I've still been crocheting more granny squares here and there even though I am way ahead on that part.  In sewing on one a day it's just 7 each week, but it is getting bigger.  I'm working one down one day and one over the next day until I get the side as long as I want it to be.  Just the way I work...have to be a little different.  This is day 46.

 

And....I am linking this post up with the following blogs:
 

I'm Hosting TGIFF This Week!

I'm hosting the Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday blog hop this week.  I hope you will hop along with us!

Homeschool Journal--Getting Ready for England

We had a good week all the way around again!  Some of the other neat things for this week was making Valentines with youth group at our church.
We did spend a lot of time "getting ready for the England trip"  We are still reading out loud the books we checked out from the public library on England.  Each week now when she attends the youth group meetings (with the group that is making the trip), they are learning about England too. 

I'm not sure why it wasn't mentioned to us earlier, but we found out last week that the other kids in the youth group had been earning for this trip for over 2 years and my daughter only joined their youth group 8 months ago.  Therefore she had a $830 credit towards the $2330 needed by each youth for the trip.  

Working with a lady at church--actually she is doing the majority of the work---we got to figuring out how to raise the other $1500 that my daughter needs to pay her way.  The youth group at our own church is giving her $750.  Our retired pastor now attends the church where she is going to this youth group.  He has an endowment fund in his wife's name.  He has graciously offered the $500 left in it for her to go.  (He was our pastor for 13 years, so all of Jasmine's life).  

They (some of the people at our church) asked Jasmine to make a poster with a thermometer to track money collected.  We printed out pictures of the places we know for sure they will visit in England and pasted those around on the board as well.  Here is the finished poster:

 Once we got to church this past Sunday the gal changed the $1500 at the top to the total amount needed and started the thermometer out with how much Jasmine had earned herself for the trip.  She gave a big announcement before the church service started, and stood at the back of the church after the service and collected any donations.  I'm not sure how much was collected but we are heading to Bible study in a few minutes so we will probably find out.  I think we pretty much got what was needed though!

There are some things she needed for the trip as well such as a travel wallet and a waterproof jacket.  The gal that is helping us make sure she gets the money needed has bought the travel wallet for her as her gift.  She also brought in a Cabela's catalog---her and another member are going to get her the waterproof jacket as well as water proof shoes as their gifts!

Yahoo!  My husband and I are sending her with $300 for her snacks and souvenirs money.  We are taking that out of our state income tax refund once it gets in.  We won't have our federal in before the trip.

The trip is March 20-28.

That is my report for this week---off I go now to check out what others are up to in their homeschool adventures  :)

Win 10 Free Downloads from Fotolia's deviantART Collection!

Fotolia introduces the new deviantART collection!  Over 3,000 images to choose from in this collection.

News:
deviantART collection now available exclusively at Fotolia
January 12, 2012 - Fotolia and deviantART(dA) partner up to deliver a stunning collection, containing the finest photographs from dA's community of artists.

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My review:
This is the 2nd opportunity to review for fotolia and I am loving it!  I have a lot of fun finding photos that I will be able to use in my work.  The new deviantART collection sure has a lot of awesome photos to choose from.   Downloading is easy.   I want to share a few of the photos that I chose that are about love since Valentine's Day is right around the corner:

Disclaimer:  I received a 30 day subscription to fotolia for the purpose of this review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

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