Cleaning Your Wood Floor

Searching, searching, searching...for a good way to clean wood floors. After 4 years of carpet in our home, my husband took out the carpet and installed wood floors due to my not so subtle hints about my carpet "phobia" issues. The wood floor was not a problem because my husband and son-in-law are both carpenters, however this also means that my options for cleaning the wood floors are limited. No machines, no excess water, no fancy equipment, nothing with pads and liquids squirting out the ends, I did try a chemically infused mop type device a few times (icky!!), so the search went on and on.
And being true to what I already knew was the best way to clean my floors, just as in the "old days" and keeping it simple, we ended up with a hands and knees approach (thankfully most of the time my husband or daughter do this for me). In the beginning we used vinegar and water, it works pretty well but it is now my second choice.

I found the ultimate product! You may already know that my sister and I love Dr. Bronner's products, well let me tell you about Sal Suds. It's the best! It is my first choice for the wood floors, counter tops, laundry, fruits, veggies, windows and more!! For the wood floors, I mix 1-2 Tablespoons of Sal Suds per 4 gallons of warm water. Don't use more! No streaks and a beautiful finish on the floor. For an added touch or for a quick clean-up, I use this recipe from Lisa Bronner's web site. Here is the link to her web site and a very helpful Sal Suds Cheat Sheet.

Wood Floor Spray: 
2 tsp olive oil
20 drops essential oil, I used lemon
1/4 cup white vinegar
Mix the above ingredients in a large spray bottle then fill rest of spray bottle with water, then spray on your clean wood floor and use a microfiber or cotton cloth to shine. Shake the mixture each time before using it.

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Grandma's Sunflower Seed Cookies

Our grandmas were great bakers! Breads, cookies, cakes and pies were my favorite baked goods from the grandmas! I have pictures of me even as a toddler in the kitchen "helping". There were other things I remember like canning, making jam and jellies and who could forget lefse at holiday time? This is still one of my favorite cookie recipes and my family loves them. Grandma would sometimes use salted peanuts instead of sunflower seeds, so feel free to substitute, either way....always yummy!
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup crushed corn flakes
3/4 cup sunflower seeds or salted peanuts
1 1/4 cups oatmeal (I use old fashioned rolled oats)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Directions:
Cream together the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Don't over mix. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. I used a medium cookie scoop for the dough and placed on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. We like ours a little on the chewy side, so when they are not shiny anymore on the top, I take them out of the oven and let them cool on parchment paper on the counter top.
Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Easy Cheeseburger Pie

Here is another one of my "go to" recipes when I am running short on time and everybody is hungry and
waiting to eat! I usually make it for supper but it also good for breakfast. Sometimes I make a double batch for leftovers.
Here's what you need:

• 1 pound ground Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage (you can use 1 pound of meat of your choice)
• minced onion (optional)
• 1/2 c baking mix, (like Bisquick) or you can make your own pancake mix
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar

Heat oven to 375, grease a 9 inch pie plate or 8x8 square pan. If you double the recipe you can use 9x13 pan. A single batch makes about 6 pieces. I don't always double the meat, I just spread it out more in the baking dish.
Brown meat and onion, drain, spread in baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 cheese.
In a bowl combine the following: baking mix, eggs and milk
Pour mixture onto the meat/cheese add the rest of the cheese on top
Bake, uncovered about 25-30 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.

~Simply Angie

Decorating on Canvas

 

My daughter and I were looking for an easy, cheap project for some dorm decor, when we saw these cool vinyl words and quotes in the craft store. We found some white canvas frames on clearance, grabbed a couple other things, came home and got busy crafting!  Of course, I had to make one for the house too!

Here's what you need:

• canvas, any size you want (ours were between $3-$5)
• vinyl letters or phrases
• acrylic paint
• Mod Podge, or white glue with a little water added
• foam brushes

If you want your canvas a color, paint it first, let it dry between coats. When you have the background the color you want, then paint a layer of Mod Podge. This will help the letters stick better. We are both impatient, so we waited a few hours while they were propped up in the window sill drying. Once they are dry, follow the directions on your vinyl letters, ours said to use a credit card or Popsicle stick and rub over the letters to make sure they stick to the right side of the adhesive. Peel away the sticky side and then position the letters on your canvas, we just eyeballed it but if you want to be sure it's centered you can measure. Then put a book under the canvas so you can put pressure on the letters to rub them onto it. Peel off the paper slowly and make sure your letters stay on the canvas. 

This is the first one, before I painted over it

**After I thought mine was done, I looked at it for a couple more days...because I'm never really done with a project..I had to try something else.  It just didn't quite look right, I wanted it to look a little old and worn, so..to my sons horror, I painted over the whole thing, yep..letters and all, with gray paint, then I slowly peeled off the letters(that I had so carefully rubbed on!) to reveal the yellow paint underneath...now it's how I want it...I'm pretty sure!
The whole project was around $15.

~Simply Angie