Do You Have Any Tissues?

Tis the Season! Although the stores have already declared it to be the Holiday Season, the season I'm talking about is Cold Season. You know, the "there's a nasty bug going around," "you're sick too? I was sick all last week and now my kids are sick," and of course the various versions of the flu that seem to be circling that hungry vultures .. just waiting for you to collapse so they can swarm in.

So, we notice that with the start of this season comes the shopping and preparations that are similar to the Holiday Season, but just a little different. A warm-up course perhaps? hahaha

I posted on www.mamataneyskitchen.blogspot.com about making some Garlic Honey to help out. Honey truly is golden this time of year. And I am getting ready to order Elderberries for making syrup, another must-have for Flu Season. But .. there is something else that isn't medicinal, but is vital. Tissues.


~oh .. Earth Friendly~

Being the frugal, tree-hugging, barefoot (yes, it is not even 50 degrees out and I'm barefoot .. that's another story), crunchy kinda mama that I am, I decided that I'd had enough of store-bought tissues this year. 1)Recycled tissues just are NOT as soft as the other options. 2)Softness is KEY when you're blowing your nose repeatedly. 3)Eco-Friendly store-bought alternatives are also WAY more expensive, something that is a BIG issue. 4)I found a cool alternative.

We were cleaning out our attic for the weatherization that was going on, and I found a box of old towels. You know, those ones that just get softer and softer with age. The ones that they just don't seem to make anymore .. unless you maybe spend a small fortune on towels? Anyway, I didn't really NEED these towels though. We have our towels. So .. what to do. And .. then .. inspiration struck.


~Inspiration struck - a homemade tissue~

I got out a pair of pinking shears and began folding and cutting. This was really easy to do, and in fact I did it while sitting on the front porch of our neighbor's house, while all the kids played in the sandbox. (Since when does work like this need to be hidden away?)

The result from one old, soft towel was an empty diaper wipe container full of homemade tissues. Using the pinking shears meant I didn't have to worry about hemming the edges and fraying. I also gathered up some old baby washcloths, and toseed those in the container too. I wrote on the lid (as you can see in the top photo) what was in the wipe container - both so our kids would know and so that guests would understand.


~the finished product, ready for use~

For "what to do" with the used tissues, the answer was just as simple. I had found a package of clothespins that had a hanger top when cleaning out the attic and put one to use here, holding an old pillowcase. You can easily rig up something that would do the same job. Used tissues go in the pillowcase. When we need to wash them, they get the rare priviledge of being washed on HOT water. Most things don't really need hot water, but for obvious reasons, go with hot hear. To dry them, it would be best to line-dry in the sun. The sunlight will help kill any residual germs that might be lingering about. If not, just toss them in the dryer on a high-heat setting. You can also add some Eucalyptus essential oil to a rag and toss it in there with them for the last 5-10 minutes of drying. This will give them a nice scent as well as help kill germs. Another good essential oil for this would be Tea Tree Oil.

And, there you go. TA DA!! We have discovered handkerchiefs!! Here is a little fun history from wikipedia: A "handkerchief" or "hanky" primarily refers to a napkin made of cloth, used to dab away perspiration, clear the nostrils, or, in Victorian times, as a means of flirtation. A woman could intentionally drop a dainty square of lacy or embroidered fabric to give a favored man a chance to pick it up as an excuse to speak to her while returning it. Handkerchiefs were sometimes scented to be used like a nosegay or tussy-mussy, a way of protecting those who could afford them from the obnoxious scents in the street.

Re-using, re-purposing, re-cycling, and saving some money in the process .. does it getter better or smarter?

Failures & Successes

Failures and Successes, today has been full of both of them. We did make the soap. We rendered the cattle fat into tallow and used it, along with olive oil, to make an oatmeal, honey, and cinnamon soap. Today I was able to take it out of the molds. Taste tests to test the ph balance proved the lye was too strong, so the soap is a failure. But really, it isn't. We can use it for laundry detergent, so we will still be saving ourselves a lot of money and it is still a step towards greater self-sufficeincy. And, most importantly, this was our first batch of soap, so it was a good learning experience, and we did learn from it.
And the successes? Shannon has been the epitome of them today, though Tristan is quickly trying to follow along as well. Justin found a "cloth" bag under the couch that a pop-up Thomas the Train tent had come in. Shannon has taken to carrying around his trains in, and then hanging the bag on door-knobs ... just like I hang our cloth grocery bags on some cabinet knobs in the kitchen. They are both pretty taken with recycling, but Shannon is of course much more aware of it. He gets very upset when he sees litter and he runs to pick it up so that "Mother Earth will feel better." He points it out when he sees it and can't get to it and says how it makes Mother Earth feel bad. It's really quite sweet.
Maybe there really haven't been any failures today, just varying degrees of successes. Success as a parent, as a person, as an enviromentalist, as a teacher, as a homemaker, as a homesteader. That's good enough for me.