Yogurt Recipes and More

Just what I needed! See Denese's post for a list of homemade yogurt techniques, recipes with yogurt, and as a bonus, homeschool yogurt science.

I just made a mixed berry yogurt smoothie with one of the recipes, yum.

Natural Inspect Repellent Spray

It's that time of year again in our area. The mosquitoes are out in force already. This year we are trying a natural deet-free products. In the past we've used Avon's Skin-So-Soft(deet-free), but not all natural, with very little success.

Seven natural insect repellents:

California Baby(some Targets)
Aubrey Organics Gone!
Badger
Kiss My Face Swy Flotter
Repel
Sport Bite Blocker SPF 20
Homemade on Etsy

You can also make your own with essential oils added to either oil, vinegar, witch hazel or vodka. To name a few, these essentials oil are known for their natural bug repelling properties: lavender, eucalyptus, citronella, lemon grass, lemon eucalyptus, peppermint, clove oil, rose geranium, cedar, *neem oil, and tea tree oil.

*Neem oil stinks! I have found that citronella completely covers the smell of neem oil, so it's a good choice for pairing.

I plan to make my own, and purchase a commercially produced natural bug repellent. I have read that these products work with your skin chemistry, so no one product is good for everyone. I'm guessing that a combination of many different essentials oils that are known to repel mosquitoes is probably better than just a few.

Using natural soap scented with the bug repelling essential oils in addition to the spray might not be a bad idea for layering the protection. I think I'll look for some at either Target, Etsy or vitacost.com . Vitacost has a bar of neem soap for $1.32.

Check Vitacost.com as well. I buy discounted Dr. Bronner's products from them. The shipping is very low at $4.99 on any size order, and they ship fast. I'm trying

All Terrain Herbal Armor Insect Repellent Spray Deet-Free 4 fl oz $5.19. It's got one positive review. I'm also ordering some essential oils for some other projects - great prices as usual.

Also see :Five Plants That Repel Mosquitoes

7/09 update: I made my own and used the All Terrain. Both worked well! I still got a few bites, but then I got bites with DEET repellents as well. BTW, it works well as a natural deodorant too. I used vodka as a base, and added neem oil, eucalyptus, citronella, lemon eucalyptus and cedar essential oils. I didn't measure, but recall pouring about a tablespoon of neem oil and 2 tablespoons of citronella into an 8 ounces spray bottle full of vodka. The remaining essential oils measured out at about 10-15 drops.

I haven't tried this, but you might be able to add zinc oxide powder to your bug spray in order to give it sunscreen properties.

Hot Enough for a Pool!

It's so hot here! We put the kiddie pool room up again. This pool, green outdoor carpet, and screened tent are going on their third year. The tent has some small holes which have been patched, so I think this will be the last year for the tent. Family Dollar had one for about $30.00, so I went ahead and bought this for next year. They had it up in the aisle, so I was able to see it before purchase. This is a really good price, and it looked sturdy. The one we are using now was purchased from the camping section at Walmart.

This pool room is great for a few reasons. It has an outdoor carpet running right up to the back door to keep the little ones feet clean. Clean feet means a clean pool and house. The outdoor carpet is easy to sweep when it does get dirty. The zipper screened tent keeps it cool and bug free. Placing it right outside the back door of the den means that I can watch(pool guard) my daughter from inside, which is a must for me when it is sweltering outside. The only way I'd stay out there was if I were sitting in the pool. When it's very hot, I hook up the hose to a side pole and put it on "mist". My son and daughter loved this last year. My son is getting a bit too big to even sit in the pool, but he does it anyway in hot weather.

This was our set up in 2007. That blow up pool sprung a leak after only one season, so we went a hard walled pool.











When the daughter is six, we'll get a bigger pool. I've got my eye on a nice 10 ft. x 30 inch circular Intex pool(ages 6 and up). These metal frame inexpensive pools snap together easily, and are simple to take down when the weather cools off. I have seen mixed reviews for this pool online, so I'm hoping this pool works for us. Most complaints were about the weak pump, and leaks during the seond year. The tarp has to be purchased separately; without the tarp, the bottom is prone to leaks from sharp objects. Amazon reviews, four out of five stars.

The Intex Metal Frame Pool - 10'x30 is $79.00 + $55.00 shipping(heavy to ship) at Amazon.com. ToysRus might carry it as well. Target.com has got it for $129.00, and I think they may have free "ship to store" for pick-up much like Walmart. I'm keeping my eye on this one, but we have another three years before I'd feel safe enough to purchase this pool for the little one.