Just Sharing

Hello! Just wanted to share my The Green Mom column articles with you.

• Winter Herb Garden
• Healthier Cat Care
• A Greener Cleaning Guide
• Transportation Choices
• Family Gardening for Better Health

Happy Reading!

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 10/12/2009

We replaced the broken window. My stepdad had an extra window from when he changed the windows on his trailer. He brought it over and installed it.

I have cleaned out the previous owners trash from under the trailer while it has been opened up under there. Zowie will be lugging everything to the dumpster for me.

Mom and I closed up most of the underside of the trailer. When Zowie and I were out to breakfast one morning, Mom and Lloyd closed up the rest.

Mom and I will be banking the trailer soon to prepare for winter.

Friends and family have dropped off used candle holders and candle ends so we can make recycled candles for everyone at the holidays again. They all loved the candles last year.

I purchased myself a new outfit while at Wal*Mart with mom. It was under $20.00, and is the first one that I have purchased in forever.

Shannon

Hooray for Water!

LOL! Yes, I do love having running water again. It is wonderful. I saved a lot of water in the month that I had none, of course. I would like to share with you some of the things that I learned that I am still doing:

• I was only able to shower and one load of laundry per week at my mothers. I had to take sponge baths the rest of the week, washing my incredibly long and thick hair in a bucket. It is way too difficult to get soap out of my hair this way, and I would have flaky scalp issues because I couldn’t do it. I started just giving my head a good water rinsing every couple of days. NOW: If there is nothing pressing,  and it is not too hot, I will shower only every other day now. This will continue to save me money on my water bill.
• I had to wash my clothes out by hand every few days, leaving big stuff to do at my mothers. I had to learn to wear things more than once. NOW: The most important items to wash out after every use are underclothing. Unless you stain an article of clothing or you are very sweaty, you should be able to wear other things twice. This will continue to save me money on my water bill.
• Flushing the toilet takes a lot of water. I had already cut back on the amount of times that we flushed during the day, as well as added the filled soda bottle of water to the tank. While I had no water, I could only flush the toilet once or twice a day, and had to clean the bowl each time.  I had to do this with the dirty water from dishes, laundry, bathing and other cleaning tasks. NOW: I still use the cleaning water to flush the toilet. This will continue to save me money on my water bill.
• I used the cooking water to feed the plants, and (NOW) I am still doing this. This will continue to save me money on my water bill.
• I had to fill a bucket with rain water to aid in flushing the toilet. (NOW) I will be using that water in my gardening needs like I always have. This will continue to save me money on my water bill.

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happening for 8/3/2009

I just want to reiterate that I am so happy to have my water back! I cannot tell you how much easier it makes things, especially when cleaning is involved.

I used to have to wash clothes by hand because I couldn’t afford to use the Laundromat. I can still do this, and had to while there was no water, but it is one of least favorite things to do. I love having my washing machine!!!!

Zowie is back from Upward Bound for the rest of the summer. She starts school, her senior year, on September 1st. It is good to have her home now, as we won’t see her that much once she starts school again.

Yesterday, she and I went for a walk. She took some photographs of me. I need a few ‘professional’ profile photographs for my writing sites, and I think that we got a few that will work.

My friend is going through a divorce. Right now she is staying with family who do not want animals at their place. her husband agreed to keep her three cats there until she found her own place. He was neglecting them, and had them living in gross kitty waste surroundings, which (naturally) upset her. He gave her two weeks to get her two cats out. She took all 3 a few days ago, and either he doesn’t care that Peanut Butter was taken as well, or he just hasn’t noticed yet. Oh, well. He wasn’t taking care of them anyway, and it was gross.

So, one friend took Peanut Butter and will keep him, and I agreed to take the other two until she can afford her own place. She is buying their food and litter.

Of course, I already have six cats of my own, and we are living in this trailer, but things are working out just fine.

Shannon

More Water Damage

We had a window break, as far as we can tell, from falling ice at some point. This was the storage room window, so we didn’t notice. It has done some water damage to the wall and floor area directly below the window, and has apparently found its way down to the front door as well. We had been wondering what was going on, at the door area. Now we know.

We now have to fix these areas. They are not huge areas, but they are important to fix. Each area will require a section of good floor board, and I will tile the areas. I have some tile on hand, so this will not be an added expense. My stepfather, who also has a trailer, has an extra window from when he switched his out, so the window will be free.

My stepfather will be able to do all of the work, so I am going to see if the insurance company will pay for only the cost of materials that we actually have to purchase.

Shannon

I Have Water!

Last weekend, while I was away on my mini vacation, my stepfather came over and fixed my pipe issue. Apparently, it had something to do with something that the previous owners did.  The cost was next to nothing to fix this.

While my stepfather was doing his part, the landlords helper was installing a new water shut-off valve under my trailer. This didn’t cost me anything. If anything else goes wrong, I do not have to wait for someone to come and turn the water off.

This was all after my insurance agent had a talk with the insurance adjuster.

I came home from my vacation to running water, which I hadn’t had in almost 4 weeks. I showered and caught up on laundry.

On Monday, I received a check for just over $400.00, now in the bank. My stepfather will determine if I need a new liner and new insulation, and how much of it I will need. He can install this himself.

This weekend, my daughter is home from UB washing her laundry.

Shannon

Still No Water

This insurance process is taking far too long for me!

Shannon

Hi, Everyone!

Hello All,

I just wanted to toot my own horn a little.

I am now the Bangor Single Moms Examiner for Examiner.com. I just started writing, and have 1 article posted and another that I am writing. I also have helpful links added to my page there. You can visit my page here.

Feel free to check the page out, and please let me know what you think. While I am the Bangor Single Moms Examiner, most of the content will be geared toward anyone, with lots of tips.

I will still be writing here, of course.

Have a nice day!

Shannon

Can You Eat on 1 Dollar a Day?

This link will lead you to a short article and a YouTube video describing an experiment on low-cost eating. I cannot view YouTube videos on my computer, so I am wondering if someone could gives us a rundown of what is said.

Can You Eat on 1 Dollar a Day? Watch New Documentary ‘Food Stamped’

 

If this can be done (at $1.00 per meal or less), then we may want to have a challenge here on the blog. Let me know your views on this. I could post the challenge on my other blogs, too.

 

Maybe everyone would agree to let me combine all of their ideas, tips and recipes into an e-book that we can each have a free copy of. Then we could sell it here for a $1 or $2.

 

Let me know if this is something that you would be interested in, and I will get it all set up.

 

 

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 6/29/2009

Right, so…I lost all water one day last week, and wasn’t sure why. I decided to wait a few days before contacting anyone, knowing that when someone in the park doesn’t pay up, everyone loses their water. I am also aware that a lot of people in this park have issues with the water system here.

Friday I had my brother-in-law come and check things out. I had a nice flood going on under my trailer. Something seems to be wrong somewhere up under there with the pipes.

At any rate, I had the water turned off, and an insurance adjuster will be here early this week. Then I can call a plumber. I am hoping that the insurance company will pay most of the cost of having things replaced. They will not pay for a new pipe, though.

I’ll let you all know how things go.

Shannon