Another Chance Ranch

For the Love of Owls

I think something is wrong with me. Really!

I've fallen head over heels for owls. Yep, I am not sure I can be helped.

It started with this little guy.

Now, I find myself admiring them all the time.

Don't get me wrong, I am not collecting owls. I do not want a bunch of knick knacks, but I really do like my owls.

I found the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil owls at a store in Nashville called Earthbound Trading Co.

Electric! Power! Juice! - We Got It!

OG+E to the rescue!

Monday, February 25th, a blizzard hit Northwest Oklahoma and knocked our power out, as well as thousands of others. 

Wednesday morning, as I layed in my nice warm bed reading a good book, my phone buzzed. Ree was texting to tell me our show would be on this weekend. All I could think about was how we probably wouldn't have electric, and we would miss it. I kept thinking, thank goodness for re-runs. 

We thought we might get power back Thursday night, and half way expected it to come on in the middle of the night, but it didn't. 

We were running out of wood, water, and patience. I tried to keep a positive attitude, because really things could have been a whole lot worse. 

We had adopted the "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." motto for the bathroom. Our house is all electric, and we are on a water well. This means when the electric is out, so is the water. McD packed a couple of ice chest full of snow, put them in the shower and let it melt so we could continue flushing the toilets. Aww, country life! :) 

We broke out our camping gear. Cooked on our new camp stove, and carried a lantern around at night. It was great for light, and it put off a little bit of heat. 

One evening I sent my friend Brando a text telling her I felt like I should be writing a letter by candlelight like Little House on the Prairie days. Instead, I read. (Book review coming soon!)

Friday afternoon, I went to get some more firewood from our neighbor and made the comment that hopefully I would get the wood, make it home and the electric would be on. Well, well, well that is exactly what happened.

I know the OG+E people probably won't see my little ol' blog, but if they do...Thank you! Thank you to all the linemen that worked day and night to get power back to everyone. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  

Any Guesses On What This Is?

A few weeks ago, we had a rather large spider resting on the side of our house. Or I thought it was resting. I also thought she was a he, but apparently I was wrong.

You can see Spidey here.

He She is kind of pretty, in a spider kind of way.

One day Emma and I were eating lunch out on the porch, and I realized that Spidey was gone. The web was still there, and there was some sort of coccoon looking thing on the side of the house where she had been resting.

I decided to get it down, and see what was inside of it. Seriously, I had no idea.  I thought maybe, just maybe it was his her home for the winter. I took it off the wall, grabbed some scissors and started opening it up. Thank goodness she wasn't living in there for the winter because I might have fainted if it would've crawled out on me. I don't like spiders much.

After opening up the little coccoon I saw what she had been doing all that time. She wasn't resting! She was laying hundreds of eggs. Spidey eggs! EW!

We smashed all the eggs, and I plan on smashing every coccoon thingy I see around here.

But I will say, if you find one of these nests you should open it up. It was rather cool to see.

Tei Fu Essential Oils - Another Chance Nutrition

Tei Fu Essential Oils just happens to be one of my favorite things!!

You really need to check it out over at Another Chance Nutrition!

If you've ever used Tei Fu Essential Oils I'd like to hear from you!  Let us know how it works for you!

 

A Discount Code for All ACRanch Readers! - That's You! - Last Day!

The other day I told you about our new dog bowls - the Neater Feeder.  We love it! 

It is so nice to have dry floors around the dog's bowl.  The catch tray is great to have! 

See, if they spill the water, it goes through the catch tray.  If they spill food it sits on the catch tray, which is ingenious! The food doesn't fall into the water and get all soggy and gross.  Occassionally, they get food in the water bowl, but that is another story.

Several people have told me how they really wanted one of these for their pets, so I contacted Neater Feeder and asked if my very special readers (that's you) could possibly get a discount on these feeders.

They said yes!

So, you have until Saturday, June 2, 2012 to go to Neater Feeder (click the link), pick the feeder you want, click checkout and use ACR15 as your discount code.  You will then get 15% off of your order!

I hope you do, you and your little (or big) buddies will appreciate it!  Click here to read my previous post about our Neater Feeder.

REMINDER!

Today is the last day!!

Discount Code - ACR15 

 

An Easy Recipe for Homemade Lotion

A while back I posted that I had made my own laundry soap and fabric softener, and I linked to the recipes that I used.  I had several other people making their own laundry detergent as well.  A friend from church said that her son wrote on his college application that he makes his own laundry detergent!  How cool is that!?

After I told another friend from church about what I was doing she told me about the lotion recipe she uses, and happens to love.  So, I had to try it and I like it so I had to share it with you too.

I was spending the night with my grandparents the night I got the wild hair to make this lotion, so my Granny and I made it together.  It was fun! 

This is such an easy recipe, and you can get almost everything you need at the Dollar Store.  Doesn't that make it that much better?

Pour the lotion...

the Vitamin E cream...

and the petroleum jelly.

After combining the lotion, vitamin E cream, and the petroleum jelly get your electric mixer out and mix it up for approximately 5 minutes.

Here's when I wished Granny had a Kitchen Aid mixer. 

Now it is time to add the fragrance using essential oils.  We used Nature's Sunshine essential oils, which you can learn about at Another Chance Nutrition.

We wanted to try several different fragrances; we didn't want approximately 43.5 ounces of lotion that all smelled the same.  Some days you want something fruity and the next you might want something flowery.  That is why we split it up into several small containers. 

The essential oils that we chose were Jasmine and Rose.

We started out by using one drop of oil to these little containers, because trust me on this, less is more.

We were expecting to use Lavendar essential oil, but then my Uncle brought us some Jasmine and it was all over! 

After making this, I think the next time I might add a little more vitamin E cream just to make the lotion a little thicker.  I haven't tried it with more yet, so if you try it and you add more vitamin E cream would you please tell me how it turns out?

This is great lotion for your feet, especially with flip flop weather inching up on us. 

Remember When I Wanted A Bobcat? Well...

Ta-Da!!

Here is my original post where I told you that I wanted a Bobcat.

This isn't exactly a Bobcat, but that's okay, it'll do.  :)

Yesterday, as we were driving home from church, McD asked me what my plans were for the afternoon.  I didn't have much planned for myself, but I had stuff planned for him.  I wanted him to fix the road that goes around our place.  It runs through creeks, canyons, and pastures and it washes out in places just about every time it rains. 

But, before I let him get to work I had one request.  I wanted to learn how to run the skid steer.  Yep, you read that right. 

Here's my seat, I'm thinking of finding a pink seat cover for it.  What do you think?

Maybe pink camo. Hmmm.

I had to get some instruction first.  The very first thing that I was told when we got the skid steer was that I can't ride it with McD.

Bummer!

The next thing I learned was that I absolutely, positively, have to put my seat belt on or it won't work. Literally, it will drive, but the bucket won't move.  I'm wondering if I can strap it behind me.

So... I handed over my camera and took the wheel controls.

I'm off!

I'm having a little bit of fun here.  There are several things I like about this photo and a few things that I don't like.  I will let you figure all of that out. 

I am here to tell you that you can wear just about anything when you operate a skid steer.  I just happened to have on a swimsuit top, running skort, and flip flops.  Yep, I was stylin'!

Just look at that determination.

Mission accomplished!

I now know how to run the skid steer.  I think McD needs to get another one, because I am taking this baby over! Love it!

 

Money Saving Recipes

A couple of months ago, my friend Stefanie made her own laundry detergent, hand soap, etc.  She told me how it saved her money making it herself, so I got the recipe from her and made some too.  I had to try it out before I suggested the recipes to you.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I will tell you that we have an he washer, and it works great! I use one tablespoon for regular loads, and two tablespoons for large or heavily soiled loads.  I felt brave one day, so I put the detergent in the dispenser.  It worked great!  But, I also washed loads with the detergent in the tub, and it did great that way too.

Homemade Fabric Softener

The thing about this fabric softener is that it softens without such a strong scent.  After making my first batch, I read someone out on the www that it helps to heat up the water and the vinegar before adding the conditioner.  I will try that next time.  If you try it let me know how it works for you.

I've also heard that you can use straight white vinegar with essential oil for your fabric softener as well.  (I haven't tried this yet.)

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

This is the recipe I used, but here Jillee has revised it a bit and I have not been able to try it this way.  I am getting ready to go throw all of my glasses in the dishwasher to try it out though.  Will update this as soon as the dishes are dry. :)

I have several more recipes to try, but I just wouldn't feel right sharing them without trying them out first. 

Do you have any tried and true money saving recipes?

Cowboy Beans - The Recipe

This recipe came from our friend, Ann.  She is the better half to the doctor I once worked for, and she has made this for us several times.  We love it so much that I just had to share it with you, especially since today is the perfect weather for some yummy comfort food.

Cowboy Beans

1 pound hamburger

1 pound bacon

1 pound sausage

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 cup barbeque sauce

2 Tablespoons mustard

2 onions, chopped

1/2 cup ketchup

1 can pork & beans

1 can black-eye peas

1 can butter beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can northern beans

jalapenos to taste

- Fry hamburger, bacon (chopped), and sausage.  Drain.  Combine with beans after draining juice from beans.  Add all other ingredients, and cook for 45 minutes or so.

This recipe freezes well.

Let me know if you try it!  It is delicious!!

What Is Over Your Toilet? - Update

Back in October I asked you what you have above your toilet, and what you might suggest to go over mine.

I considered each and every suggestion, and finally came up with something.

Here is the before photo:

And the after photo:

What do you think?

Just to clarify, I did not paint the walls.  It is just different lighting. 

Now, to decorate the guest bedroom! At least I have ideas this time. :)

Thanks for all your help!