Today’s theme is “Old-fashioned.”

Where is my picture? There is none. Because right now, when I should be searching my photos and preparing my PhotoHunt post, I’m frantically filling out passport applications online and printing them. Seems that kids only get 5 year passports as opposed to adults who get 10 year passports!

So Nick and KT’s passports expire 3 weeks before our upcoming cruise! ACK!

At least I thought of it now, when I can do something about it, rather than a week before we sail!

I hope to return next week with a picture for the “Narrow” theme.

Until then, check out other PhotoHunters this week: PhotoHunt

Technorati Tags: photohunt

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….that I’m living at the theater.

I “finished” another cross stitch project:

It’s not quite done because there are two angels and a star that go with it, but I’m still debating how I want to tackle those. The actual pattern calls for making them on fabric and then starching them to death. I might just do perforated paper instead and skip the starch. Here’s how the pattern suggests putting it all together:

See those little sheep in the bottom right corner? I’ve got my eye on a kit that is just too sweet. But of course, it would involve learning yet another craft.

Of course, this pattern, Sweet Nativity, is out of print, and therefore the custom frame is no longer available. Now, if I just knew someone who was good at woodworking and possibly was related to me, maybe I could have a frame custom made. Hmmmmmm…..

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I think I’ve mentioned briefly in one of my posts that Mike goes on an annual fishing trip to Canada. My dad and brother have been going for as long as I can remember, but only in the past 7 years or so has Mike “earned” the right to fish with them.

So every year Mike, my dad, my brother, and one other person (usually my uncle) pack up and head to St. Catherine’s, Ontario for a long day of fishing. Then they pack up their fish and head home. The fish is carefully cleaned and put into vacuum sealed pouches. It is then frozen. For years. And years. And years. Because the fish has bones. And I don’t like fish with bones. So each year Mike brings home a bag of vacuum sealed fish and it gets added to the freezer with the other fish from the year before. And the year before that. And so on and so on.

Finally last year I gave him an ultimatum. I said, “You can go fishing this year, but if you bring home any fish, you will not be allowed to go on the trip next year.” I mean, seriously, I have fish that dates back to the Clinton administration in my freezer!

So this year, he didn’t bring home any fish. Apparently all of the “big ones” got away anyway, so there was very little fish to split up between the four guys.

Now I’m in the process of de-fishing my freezer. And this is a great time of year to do it because Dingle, our outside cat, needs extra calories to keep warm. “Fresh” fish is the answer!

So the other day I got out my stock pot and filled it with salmon and lake trout and whatever other kinds of fish I had. I added a little water and boiled it down just until it was flaky. (Dingle does not like his fish overcooked.) Then I mushed it all up with a berry masher and put it into margarine containers (reduce, reuse, recycle, eh?) Now these will go back into the freezer and, ta-da, cat food!

Mike’s share of the cost of a fishing charter: $125
Gas to get to Canada split 4 ways: $50
Hotel room, food, incidentals: $75
Knowing the fish is turned into cat food: Priceless

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Ever since KT has been little she has looked like me. Well, that’s if people saw her with me. When people saw her with Mike, they said she looked like Mike. It was funny because no matter who she was with, that’s who she looked like.

Well, I was following a track back on the blog today and I found this. You plug in a few pictures and it analyzes faces and determines who the child looks like.

So we’re going to settle the question once and for all. Does KT look more like ME or more like MIKE?

3%!!! I win by 3%!

Ok, let’s check out Nick. People usually don’t comment much on him. Well, not about his looks anyway, more about his personality, but I have yet to find a web-app for that assessment. Anyway, onto the look-alike meter…..

Wow. He is a perfect blending of our genes!

Honestly, People have made comments before about how much Mike and I look alike, so I guess these results are not that surprising. But I swear we are not first cousins or anything like that!

Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t create a look-alike meter with Smoothie Dad in the equation. And maybe I did and maybe I didn’t create a look-alike meter with Cowboy in the picture. I’ll never tell!

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This is not a paid endorsement. I received nothing from BioKleen or Seventh Generation as compensation. BUT, if they want to, I will not say no to free products! Hint, Hint!

In one of my recent strolls around Wild Oats, I was looking at the cleaning supplies. We just happened to be low on dishwashing gel, and I decided to try something a little greener than the normal Cascade I have always used. So I picked up a small container of BioKleen automatic dish powder.

As I continued to look around, I also found a laundry detergent for front loading machines by Seventh Generation. I bought both, but in the back of my mind I thought, “These aren’t going to be worth it if they don’t clean as well as my normal stuff.” I mean, seriously, “being green” is nice, but how in the world can things get clean without high powered chemicals??

I’m here to report, that not only do things get clean, but they do it very well, and by using much less product. Whereas I used to have to totally fill both of my dishwasher’s compartments in order to clean a load, now I only need one tablespoon of powder total to do the same job. We did buy an extremely cheap dishwasher, so I can’t say it gets my dishes absolutely clean every single time, but it actually does a better job than the Cascade did!

The Seventh Generation laundry detergent did an equally good job cleaning my clothes as my Tide HE did. And I learned something I didn’t know. Most commercial laundry detergents are derived from petroleum….a non-renewable resource. Hmmm, who knew that the same type of thing fueling my car and keeping my house warm, was cleaning my clothes.

Since I was impressed with the job these two things did, I decided to branch out. My next purchase was BioKleen’s Bac-Out. At first, the only thing I used it for was to add to the water I used to soak KT’s Lunapads. It’s super concentrated so I only used about a teaspoon at a time. At that rate I figured the bottle would last several years. That is, until I decided to test it out on other things.

So one day I put about 2 or 3 cups of hot water in my sink and added about a teaspoon of Bac-Out. I then grabbed a rag and swished it in the water. Then I cleaned off my Corian countertops. These same countertops streak with every cleaner except Windex. Well, Windex and Bac-Out! My counters looked perfect. So in true OC style, I moved everything off of my counters and cleaned behind, under, and around everything. Not only did they look great, but they smelled great–and not in a harsh “burn the hairs out of your nose” kinda way.

Today, I did the same thing–a couple of cups of water in the sink, a small squirt of Bac-Out, and a rag to clean my Pergo-knock-off kitchen floor. The floor that streaks if I use anything except plain water. Now it looks and smells good! No, not good, GREAT!

I’ve also used it in the bathrooms with the same great success! In fact, it cleaned the soap scum off of the shower tiles very well! And I understand it’ll clear drain clogs without using harsh Draino-like chemicals. I haven’t tried that yet, but I’m excited for my drains to clog again so I can!

The only down side…Wild Oats stopped carrying BioKleen. Whole Foods doesn’t carry it. There are a few places 50 miles from here, but they don’t carry the bulk products. So I ordered from Good Humans. Shortly I should be getting enough dishwasher powder to last me 2 years or more, enough Bac-Out to clean the entire neighborhood for a year (but I’m not going to try that so don’t get your hopes up) and a few other products I want to try out.

I figure I can eliminate a lot of the single use products in my home by using these multi-purpose cleaners. I mean, I’ve already figured out my Bac-Out can replace my Lysol, my Mr. Clean, my floor cleaner, my Draino, and several other things! Talk about clutter control! And most of these products are super concentrated so you only need a small amount to get the job done. This decreases packaging, and waste from the packaging, and fuel to ship the products to your store.

And, for some really odd reason, I feel good about cleaning with this stuff. And so I’m less hesitant to do it. When I finish cleaning something, I wonder to myself, “What can I clean now?” Yeah, it’s an illness.

Did you know that if every household in the U.S. replaced just one 48 oz. box of petroleum based laundry detergent with Seventh Generation vegetable-based product, we could save 96,000 barrels of oil? That’s enough to heat and cool 5,500 U.S. homes for a year! One box. Wow. I encourage you to give it a try. I was skeptical. I tried it. And I love it!

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