Good Deal on Freeze Dried Foods and Such

Got this in my email today, thought I'd pass it along, it's a good deal and they have super cheap shipping, we all know that the S&H charges always run the bill way up! Has anyone had any dealings with this company? If so, please let me know your experiences with them, good or bad.

Greetings from Honeyville Farms:

SUMMARY:  OUR BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR!  15% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER* from Thursday, September 30, 2010 thru Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 6:00PM PST.  Simply enter the coupon code FALL during checkout. This week we're introducing our New Survival Backpacks featuring Freeze Dried Entrees.  We're also blowing out our Powdered Whole Eggs by the case with our lowest price of the year!  Save on these and all of your favorites for a limited time.

DISCOUNT CODE:  FALL

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/newproducts.aspx

LONG VERSION

Don't miss out on our biggest sale of the year!  These 15% off sales are few and far between so make sure to stock up and save.  From Thursday, September 30th, 2010 thru Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 you'll get 15% off of every item in your cart*.  Just order as usual and enter the coupon code FALL during checkout.  The coupon code field is on the second page of the checkout process.  Enter the FALL coupon code, click the APPLY button to the right, and the savings will automatically be calculated.

This week we're introducing 2 new Survival Backpacks featuring Freeze Dried Entrees from Wise Foods.  These kits have everything you need should a disaster occur.   We're also making room for new products by blowing out our Powdered Whole Eggs in the case.  Save an additional 15% on top of our clearance price.  A great buy.

See our CLEARANCE ITEMS at:  http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/clearance.aspx

 Visit us at http://store.honeyvillegrain.com.  ACT NOW as this discount will end promptly on Tuesday October 5th at 6:00PM PST.  If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to place an order over the phone call us, toll-free, at (888) 810-3212.  We're happy to help.

Thanks for your business.

Regards,
Chris Ondatje
Director of E-Commerce
Honeyville Food Products, Inc.
chriso@honeyvillegrain.com
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com
Toll-Free:  (888) 810-3212

*15% off discount does not apply to our already low flat-rate shipping fee of $4.49.  Discount valid for INTERNET ORDERS ONLY placed from Thursday, September 30th, 2010 thru Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 6:00PM PST.  For assistance call (888) 810-3212.
This message was sent by: Honeyville Grain, Inc., 9175 Milliken Ave, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Test Kitchen Deodorant Day 3

After using the DIY deodorant for 3 days now, I have to report that it somewhat works, well not that good. I'd say it works at about 80%, it's better than nothing at all, but it does not stop my body odor completely. At the end of the day, I can detect a faint smell of BO in my arm pits, I would feel comfortable standing next to someone, but I would not want to give a hug. Today I gave it the final test, I shaved my underarms, washed very well, then applied the spray, I can say that it didn't sting, and I expected it to. But at the end of the day, I detect a slight BO smell, bummer.

I might try one more thing, I have tea tree oil, I'll add some of that to the spray and give it another try, it is so close to working, I can't help but think that adding tea tree oil might take it the rest of the way and make it work 100%. I'll post another update in a few days.

If nothing else, I will use it as a muscle spray, it is known that ES is good for sore muscles, I'll see how it works for that purpose, I'll also use it as a foot spray, it does have anti-fungal properties, so it's not a total waste.




All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Save Your Sanity

Are you still getting those pre-approved credit card applications in the mail? While it may make you feel proud that you "qualify" for these, let me tell you why it's a bad idea to get those. First, if you read the fine print, usually these aren't really pre-approved, you probably still have to qualify. Second, if it IS legit and someone is giving you another credit card, that may mess up your credit, even if you don't use it, if you needed to get a loan for whatever reason, that credit card may cause you to have too much available credit and it may get you a big fat "NO". Third, it's too risky to have these pre-approved credit applications floating around, suppose that envelope got "misplaced", stolen or you throw it in the trash and someone else gets it, it's possible for someone to take that pre-approved credit application and fill it out, use it, max it out before you even know what hit you.

I used to get these pre-approved credit cards all the time, once a bank I had no dealings with sent me a credit card with a $5000 credit line, I never asked for this, it was a real credit card, not just a pre-approved application... suppose I thought it was just another piece of junk mail and tossed it out without opening it? Suppose someone stole it before it ever got to me, I would have not known about it until it was too late.

So how do you stop this from happening? It's simple, there is a way to opt out of getting any more of these. Here is where you go to opt out, https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
I know this works, I did this years ago and haven't received any pre-approved credit card applications since.

Another thing you might want to do is sign up on the DO NOT CALL registry, this is supposed to make it so that telemarketers cannot call you. https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Doing these two things will make your life easier and safer.



All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Test Kitchen Deodorant Day 1

I'm trying the DIY epsom salt deodorant right now. I got a clean 8 oz spray bottle (it used to have spray crystal deodorant in it), I poured in water until it was almost to the top, have to leave some space for the epsom salt. I poured this into a non-reactive pan (stainless steel, you could use glass or enamel), I gently heated the water, then added epsom salt (hereafter referred to as ES), I don't have an exact measurement, I'd estimate a quarter to a third of a cup. I stirred until it was dissolved. I tested the liquid, it got a little thick, and when I put some on my skin, it had an oily feel, but only until it dried, then it felt smooth. I poured this mixture into the spray bottle. I cleaned my armpits with regular soap and water, then sprayed the ES water on to my pits. It's funny, I wonder what people will think if they see me sniffing my armpits, well how else will I know if they stink or not? LOL, I'll post how it works later.

One of the things I read yesterday was about magnesium oil, turns out that this substance is known for it's healing abilities, I'm sure you already know about soaking in a ES bath, especially good for sore muscles and such. From what I can glean from the web about magnesium oil, it's a super saturated solution of magnesium chloride and water. When you apply it to your skin, it has the feel of oil, yet it's not an oil and will soak into your skin and leave no oily residue. There are far too many things for me to list here about what this can do for your body, just do a search for "magnesium oil" and you will find everything you ever wanted to know about it.

Magnesium oil is made of magnesium chloride, I made my own using ES which is magnesium sulfate. I'm not a scientist or chemist, but ES has been used for a very long time by humans and is generally considered safe for internal and external use. When I made up the ES solution, I wasn't completely sure if it would act the same way as magnesium oil, but once it became thicker, and I tested it on my skin and it felt like oil, I knew I was on the right track.

I intend to use this on PB as well, I'll use it as a massage oil on his back and arms. He has been working very hard lately, physically hard, his left arm, mainly his elbow is giving him trouble. I hope this will help relieve some of his pain, he tends to be very skeptical about "home remedies", so if he says this works, then we will know it words, it will not just be wishful thinking or the placebo effect.

Now it's time to go outside and get sweaty, hopefully not stinky. :)

Almost forgot to add, this is a great site about ES information
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/epsom_salts.html

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

DIY Deodorant

I am always on the lookout for natural alternatives for things like deodorant and such. I have used those crystal deodorants off and on for years, they work great to keep the odor down, you still sweat which is a good thing, don't want to clog up those pores, sweating is natural, it's unnatural to try to stop that process. Since the hot months have passed, it's a good time to try out something new without worrying about driving everyone away if this doesn't work. LOL!

I have been reading about epsom salt tonight, from what I have read, this can be used as a natural deodorant too though it's not as common as some other natural deodorants. I am going to try it out and see if it works. I'll make a super saturation of epsom salt and water, put this in a spray bottle and give it a go.

Here is my theory, body odor is caused when the normal bacteria on your skin grow and give off the byproducts of growing and dying, this happens especially well in the warm, dark, moist recesses of your armpits, in your shoes and other areas that get smelly, do something, anything to disrupt the life cycle of the bacteria, and no odor can occur. Baking soda does the same thing, but for some people it's too harsh to the delicate skin under your arms. Some mix it with corn starch and that helps.

I'm going to try the epsom salt saturated water, I'll post how it works.


All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

This Is Really Sick

Go here to read about a new bill in CONgress, it's about allowing/requiring HHS to ask anyone signing up for social services (food stamps...) about their sexual orientation, (gay, lesbian, trangendered...), that isn't the really bad part, this question isn't just for adults, they will ask SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN this question as well.
http://conservativewithlibertarianleanings.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-is-sick-bill-requiring-children-to.html


All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Thanks!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to thank everyone who has clicked on and made purchases through my Amazon links, that is one of my sponsors and it helps me greatly. I get a little commission when anyone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, even if you don't buy what you clicked on, if you buy something else though Amazon after going though the link on this page, I still get a commission on that item, it's not huge, but every little bit adds up.

I opt to get a gift certificate instead of getting a check, that saves me a few dollars (processing fees) and allows me to purchase the things I want and need from Amazon. I should have enough earned up this time to get another payment, I just can't decide what I want to get this time... I have been eyeballing this for doing laundry, it's a Rapid Washer - DIY Manual Hand Washing Machine

Of course for quite a bit less money, I can get a Stainless Steel Square Potato Masher - 5-1/4, I'd bet this would work just as well, this is an industrial sized potato masher, and being made of stainless steel, no worries about rust, it should hold up quite well.

Then there is the Deluxe Household Mop Wringer Pail - 46Pl 14 Qt Oval Mop Pail, this would work great as a wringer for my clothing and other wash related items.

And for the kitchen, I have wanted a grain mill for quite some time, a friend out here has loaned to me her grain mill, I need to get it back to her, though she has an electric one that she likes very well, I still need to get one of these Hand Grain Mill soon. I used it the other day to grind popcorn to make cornbread, we had that with a pot of pressure cooker pinto beans, wow was it good eats!

So many choices, again I want to thank each and every one of you who made Amazon site purchases after going through my links, every little bit goes toward supplying the Sky Castle with all the goodies to make this homestead a little happier. So remember, if you want to help support this site, and you are going to be buying something through Amazon anyhow, I would greatly appreciate it if you would come here first and click on one of the Amazon items on this site, then you can go on and purchase whatever it was you originally wanted to get, I'll get the commission even if it's something different. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you have a blog, you might want to consider signing up for your own Amazon seller account, it's very easy, costs nada, you just pick out what you want to promote on your blog, it helps if it is something related to what you are writing about. You can also do review on items you already own and can be purchased through Amazon, it's easy to get started.

All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Big John Is Blogging Again

Hey everyone, an internet friend who has been gone way too long from the blogosphere is now back and writing. Some of you already know him, some like him and others do not, that's OK too, we can't all agree with one another all the time but hopefully we can agree to disagree in a civil manner.

Big John has varied interests from survival to dowsing, he has a lot to offer and gives a lot to his readers, he is a bit controversial (in some circles) so he ends up with a lot of trolls leaving comments, there seem to be those who think that John is responsible for taking care of them, well that don't float with John and he is quick to say so, he is very much into personal responsibility, taking care of yourself and your family.

Visit Big John's blog and click on the follow button, let's give him a big welcome back. :)

http://bigjohnlipscomb.blogspot.com/




All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Family Visit, Dogs and Yarn Stashes

It's been quite the month, my Dad has been here since the middle of last month, he left just this morning, driving the 500 mile trip back to the DFW area ( I spoke to him a little while ago and he made it home just fine). I am so proud of him, he's 82 years, he just had knee replacement surgery and he is doing so well! During his rehab, his therapist was amazed at how quickly he was healing and bouncing back, he had lots of motivation though, he wanted to be able to walk up our mountain to get to the sky castle, and he did it with flying colors! We placed a few chairs on the trail going up to the house, at first he did have to sit in each one to rest, but as I expected, by the end of his visit, he used the chairs less and less.

Our little dog Pekoe, a 11 year old long hair chihuahua, usually doesn't like other animals, but she tolerates my Dad's dog who is half chihuahua and half pomeranian, her name is Baby Girl. It's funny, because I call my dog baby girl too, when I tried walking them both down the hill, my dog would go rather slow, my Dad's dog would race around, she's quite a bit younger and way more rambunctious... so I would call out "Baby Girl wait!" and like a good dog, she would stop, but so would my dog, so I would say "Pekoe, let's go", slowly she would start walking and Dad's dog would start running, I would say "Baby Girl, wait!" and they both would stop... it was like herding cats, eventually I would get them both down the hill, more or less at the same time...

I've noticed the weather changing, getting cooler at night, I have been itching to get into my yarn stash and start working again. Last year I learned how to loom knit, this season I decided that I wanted to do more crochet, learn more stitches so I have been pouring over YouTube and have found a wealth of how-to videos on crochet stitches. I wanted to learn some new stitches and make hand or wrist warmers, also known as fingerless gloves, though they are more like fingerless mitts.

I stitch I wanted to learn is called the larksfoot stitch, it looked easy and pretty enough, my mistake was not watching the video AS I crocheted, I watched it a couple of times then tried working it by memory. Oh, did I mention I hate trying to follow a written pattern? I learn much better from visual sources, watching it on video, then if I have a written pattern, I "get it". Well, my pattern doesn't exactly match the original pattern, but I'm happy enough with it, now I have a pair of wrist warmers to help keep my hands warm this winter when I'm sitting at the computer in the middle of the night in the frigid cold.

I also added a little ruffled edge on the bottom of the wrist warmers, it adds a bit of fun and interest and it lets me know which side goes where. The whole thing is very easy to make, I just crocheted a chain stitch using 4 chains per section until I had it long enough to comfortably go around my hand and wrist. I used 2 different yarn colors to make the pattern, I crocheted the (modified) larksfoot stitch until I had a rectangle long enough to go from my knuckles to just below my wrist, I could have made it longer if I had wished. Then I sewed up the sides leaving a space for my thumb. After I had it stitched together, I added the ruffled edge on the wrist side of the wrist warmers.

I might make some more wrist warmers, this time following the pattern a little more closely. I'll post more pictures of whatever I make.




All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

It's Sooooo True

I stole this from another website, I can't believe how true this is:

If you are 30 or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning before the sun came up...Uphill...Barefoot... BOTH ways, in the snow... yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, uh forty-ish, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Then they would call your home and your parents would spank you AGAIN after you got home! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car..We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless.
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". Think of the horror...not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent...you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen...Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play...all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside...you were doing chores!

And car seats - please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place! See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!



All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Contest-Enter Now!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE freebie giveaways! Go here to enter, it's easy, just fill out the form.

http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2010/09/reusable-canning-lids-giveaway.html

The prize is a set of re-usable canning lids, something we can all use, or barter with. :)





All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!

Stop Big Bro From Killing Small Farms

If you are interested in keeping up with what the government is trying to do with the food we eat, go here to learn more about it and if you don't agree with what is being done, you can do something about it here:

http://conservativewithlibertarianleanings.blogspot.com/2010/09/stop-big-bro-from-killing-small-farms.html


All written text from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message.

Wretha,

Thanks for visiting!