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March 26, 2020

Quarantine Week 2

Week two of quarantine and the whole world feels like it’s been thrown into a giant mason jar, shaken up, and tipped upside down. It’s hard to get your bearing from one moment to the next, let alone get a four-pack of toilet paper.

Who would ever have thought toilet paper would become the most sought after commodity of the apocalypse? I would not have guessed that friends.

I haven’t purchased toilet paper since this all began. I know we’re odd around here, but we’ve been using the soft-white fluffy stuff for years. It’s something I keep on hand. I guess I just believe in feeding my family fiber, so toilet paper is one of those things I buy in bulk. It’s bad enough when the upstairs bathroom runs out and I’m stuck sitting on the throne screaming until someone happens to pass by the staircase and realize mom has either lost her mind or she needs something. I wouldn’t want to be out-OUT. Ain’t no amount of screaming gonna help me then.

Now, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. While I have some TP on hand, I’m not a “prepper” by any means. I’m more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants-er”. So, I have ten cans of Rotel tomatoes, two bags of dried beans, four pints of ice-cream, plenty of frozen meat, and the only form of potatoes I have are chips. Last night I made quarantine casserole. It’s where I randomly pull things out of the fridge and off the shelves of the pantry, mix it all up, and melt copious amounts of cheese on top. Cheese makes everything better. I cook like this normally. In some small way, my frantic six o-clock dinner scramble has uniquely prepared my family for quarantine shortages. Instead of complaining about all those mystery meals, they should be thanking me.

Of course, our biggest hurdles haven’t been cooking dinner or fighting over the last four squares of toilet paper. School has been canceled for the rest of the semester. I have one senior in high school praying she’s going to get the diploma she’s worked for and a college sophomore who went from dorm-life to mom-life in a split second. I can assure you, dorm life is much more fun.

He’s already started his classes online and has enough homework to keep him busy. Thank you college professors! But, online schooling hasn’t come without challenges. He needs to practice stage-kissing, an assignment he’s been looking forward to all semester. Unfortunately, he just left behind the three thousand girls willing to help him with his homework. Besides, in these times of social distancing, pretend kissing, even at six feet of separation, is out.

Then I remembered the creepy foam head that stares at me from the back of our closet. I high-five myself and feel like mom-of-the-year. I secretly wonder if having a stash of foam heads will officially qualify me as an apocalyptic prepper. As I cradle the foam head in my arms, those creepy eyes staring up with a hollow look, I suddenly question the classes my son is taking and why I’m paying a lot of money for him to practice stage-kissing doll heads.

But, in these long days of quarantine, all that really matters is that I have my children at home, food enough in the freezer (translation: ice-cream), and a creepy foam head. After all, nothing else is really that important anyway.

December 27, 2019

Christmas Light

“It’s going to be a dark, dark Christmas without you.”

That verse was sung on repeat while frantically running from room to room in the church basement looking for the box of Christmas candles.

They were here just a month ago. I saw them, touched them, moved them to neaten things up. At least three others saw them, in all their beautiful pre-lit melted waxiness. Now they are gone.

What is a Christmas Eve service without candles? It’s almost sacrosanct. Will we even be able to sing Silent night without staring into an open flame? It can’t be. It mustn’t be! Who would steal the Christmas lights? Is there a soul so black in our midst?

It was December twenty-third and all my mind’s eye could see was a giant green Grinch sneaking away with a box full of half-used Christmas candles.

What were we to do? Go buy new candles you say??

Please understand, we’re a geographic anomaly…two weeks from everywhere.

We looked to the heavens and then to our phones (we are on the brink of 2020 after all). Amazon made a promise to bring us Christmas light in twenty-four hours.

The countdown began. I doubted. I fretted. In my heart, I cursed the Grinch.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a brown UPS truck and one hurried delivery man. Amazon Prime saved Christmas. Better than Santa, do you suppose?

I looked out the window with a heart full of wonder. How did they do it? Less than a day and a box of shiny white candles did appear.

And then it hit me, like a ton of bricks from the chimney. Why, it must be so. Under the cover of darkness, a giant green Grinch sneaked into the church down the road, grabbing their Christmas candles, and running right to our doorstep. It must be what happened to our our own Christmas light.

Either way, the miracles of Christmas continue.

Christmas Eve service was saved.

Let there be light.

July 14, 2018

Healthy Zucchini Bread

If you follow The Domestic Fringe on Facebook, you know John (FringeMan) likes to garden. It’s therapeutic for him, and judging by the size of his garden, we must all be driving him absolutely bananas. (Bananas are about the only thing he doesn’t have growing right now.)

I’ve got zucchinis the size of clubs. Every time I pick one up, I feel like I should be on an episode of The Flintstones. It’s like I’ve stolen BamBam’s favorite toy or something.

Anyway, I pretty much hate zucchini unless it’s baked into a bread-like dessert, but adding all kinds of sugar to a vegetable defeats the purpose of eating your vegetables, at least that’s what the healthy people would like us to believe. So, I set out to make a healthy zucchini bread.

Then my family convinced me to drown my healthy veggie bread in a sugary glaze. I’m so ashamed I caved to their sweet teeth (that’s a collective set of multiple people’s ‘sweet tooths’, in case you were wondering), but I’m happy to report that the bread does not need a glaze. Do yourself and your diabetes a favor and skip the glaze.

Here it is – minus all the stunning food photography, because let’s face it, I’m not in jeopardy of missing a cookbook contract. Just ask my kids. Or better yet, browse the food section of this blog.

This bread is absolutely delicious. I pinky-promise. Don’t even be scared to try it!

Healthy Zucchini Bread

Recipe type: Easy Baking

Cuisine: All American

Cook time: 50 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Ingredients

1½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1½ teaspoons Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
½ teaspoon Salt
1 heaping (to overflowing) tablespoon Ground Flax Seeds
2 Eggs - beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cup Coconut Oil
½ cup Honey
1½ cups shredded Zucchini
½ cup chopped Walnuts

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients
Mix wet Ingredients
Combine
Spray 9" loaf pan with cooking spray or grease pan
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes

Simple and Healthy Zucchini Bread Recipe

I guess now is as good a time as any for a cooking confession. It seems like every time I step foot in the kitchen there needs to be a confession or penance done. The moments I’m in the kitchen are not my finest.

When someone compliments my cooking, I always feel a little guilty, because I know there’s a secret story behind the nice meal I bring to a potluck or the dessert I bring to a friend’s house. There are people who actually think I am a good cook, but I know the truth.

The truth is that I set my stovetop on fire all the time. Seriously. The fire department should hire me for kitchen fires, because I don’t even think twice when my pots start flaming. It’s gotten to the point that when I’m on the phone, I could be extinguishing a four-alarm blaze and you’d hardly even notice.

I’m really not good in the kitchen, but I do get lots and lots of practice with cooking. For some reason, my family likes to eat dinner every single night.

I know. It shocks me too, but like clockwork, my kids come in the door and immediately ask “What’s for dinner?”

I hardly ever know what’s for dinner. It’s a mystery right up until the last second.

I made a loaf of this bread to bring to a ladies meeting at church. It was a busy morning and people kept coming into the kitchen and talking to me. Now, it doesn’t take much to get me sidetracked. In fact, I don’t even need help in that department. I do a wonderful job of distracting myself from the task at hand; however, I managed to get this recipe mixed up and thrown into the oven with just enough time to bake it before I needed to leave.

A few (very short) minutes after I’d thrown the bread into the oven, I realized I forgot to add the nuts. I guess I really wanted the nuts in this loaf, because I snatched the pan back out of the oven, scraped the contents back into a bowl, and added my nuts!

Then I popped it back in the oven like nothing had ever happened.

And, I prayed I didn’t screw-up the bread.

I believe in miracles my friends and anytime something good comes out of my kitchen, it is nothing short of miraculous!

So, if your garden overfloweth and you’ve got giant zucchini’s like me, try out this healthy version of bread and tell me what you think.

If you take a bite and don’t like it, simply make that sugary glaze (powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract) and I guarantee everyone will eat it.

February 19, 2018

How We do Winter Wellness

I’m not a doctor. I don’t even pretend to be one on TV, but I do love to make a good self-diagnosis. In fact, I pride myself on being better than Google when it comes to diagnosing an illness. Google takes you straight to your death bed, but I prefer a slightly more optimistic approach.

When my children were young, at the age when brainwashing by parents is perfectly acceptable, they believed in my care. My daughter has been drawn to medicine since she was a small child, as have most of the matriarchs of my family. That “white lab coat” gene has been passed down for generations. Although a license to practice medicine is not immediately gifted upon birth, we haven’t let that stop us from self-diagnosing and treating common illnesses. For a while my kids believed my mother was a legitimate doctor. It’s that whole brainwashing thing…we do it well.

For all these years, the primary difference between the doctoring of my ancestors and my own medical skills is that I would merely diagnosis while my family used home remedies that would make a witch-doctor proud.

If my throat hurt, my grandmother would open the freezer. I thought I was getting an ice-pop, but before I knew what was happening, a slab of frozen salted pork would be pressed to my neck. I don’t think the frozen pig drew the poison out of my throat, but the cold definitely numbed the pain. My own kids are so lucky I used ice-pops.

Another favorite home remedy was similar to a hot toddy. At the first sign of a cough, a Tupperware container would appear and I would get a spoonful of honey, lemon, and a shot of something that came from a bottle hidden on the top shelf of a dark cabinet. A cough was my constant companion as a child, subsequently I’m pretty sure I spent at least half of my young life with an elevated blood alcohol level.

My kids have no idea what they have escaped.

As I age, I find myself drawn to home remedies. While the salted pork is just too gross to repeat, I’m not against trying some ancient wellness rituals, as long as they have a modern, less gross, and hopefully safer twist.

Here’s how we do winter wellness on the fringe.

Vitamins

I believe in a good multi-vitamin. In a perfect world, a world where I was a good cook, all of our vitamins would come from food, preferably organic, locally sourced, and nutrient dense food. I don’t live in a perfect world and I’m not that great a cook. We take our vitamins and do our best to eat real food, the kind that grows on actual plants. In our busy culture, fast food has become a staple in our diets. I think it’s killing us. I’m not an expert on nutrition, but I know that when we eat better foods, we feel better.

Fresh Air

This may seem simplistic, but breathe fresh air. I’m always amazing at how many people never crack a window in the winter. It’s not healthy, in my totally unqualified opinion. I believe in fresh air. I know that air is mostly frozen in winter, but that’s okay. It’s better than the stuffy, stale, germ infested air that’s been trapped and recycled through your house for months. Put on a sweater and crack a window. Air the place out.

My kids have been properly brainwashed, so every time they clean their rooms, which isn’t often enough, they open their windows. It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside. In fact, the colder the air blowing in, the better.

Sunshine

This goes along with the whole fresh air thing, but we get loads of Vitamin D from the sun, and did you know that Vitamin D helps protect you against the flu? It does.

Disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. This is what I believe helps my family, but I also believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy, so you see where we’re at.

Emergen C

I love this stuff, and I’m not getting paid to say how much I love it. You can buy a box of thirty packets in Walmart for under $10. You dump the packet of powder into a bottle of water and drink it up. It’s loaded with Vitamin C and B Vitamins. Lately, I’ve been making my family drink one every morning. I do this when sicknesses are going around, and there’s no time like the present to up our vitamin intake. It doesn’t taste that bad and it’s a real boost. It makes you feel better than a cup of coffee in the morning.

*Pick your jaw up off the floor.*

It’s true.

Essential Oils

I’m totally a latecomer to the whole essential oil fad, but I’m a true believer. I purposely avoided them for years. On purpose. I thought it was cooky and I didn’t want to waste my money.

Now I use a variety of oils, both topically and diffused, especially in the winter. I think of oils like I think of vitamins, fresh air, and sunshine. It’s not a cure, but it helps give us a natural boost.

I’m a big fan of doing something, no matter how small, rather than doing nothing. I can pretty much apply that philosophy to every area of my life.

Mind over Matter

I’m not attempting to say we can think ourselves well, because that’s ridiculous, but I do believe our mental health affects our physical health. I believe in supporting good, positive mental health just like I believe in taking vitamins to support physical health.

Do whatever you have to do to get yourself mentally strong and supported. It’s part of the whole health package, and it’s always okay to say you need help or someone to talk to. We all do from time to time.

Exercise & Sleep

Okay, this may seem hypocritical coming from me, but as little as I actually exercise, I do believe in it. And, despite how I may look, I do make an effort to move and move often. I don’t think exercise has to look like a gym membership, but getting off your rump is a good thing. Just move your body. Do whatever you like to do to get moving. It helps blood flow, lowers blood pressure, boosts happy endorphins, works out the kinks in your muscles, and helps you sleep better.

Make sleep a priority. I’ve been working on this, although it hasn’t gone so well. I honestly don’t think my body requires tons of sleep, but we’re all different. I think sleep is really important for overall health and well-being.

So, what kind of weird and wacky home remedies does your family use? I’d love to hear all about them. Maybe I can add one or two to my arsenal. My family will be so pleased.

Not really, but they put up with my germaphobic fussing.

February 15, 2018

School Shootings…something has to change.

It’s a sad day when I find myself sitting in the car with my kids and asking them what they are going to do if a gunman enters their school.

No. It is a downright terrifying day!

I talk about it, because I know it can happen in any of our school districts, in any of our churches. It makes me feel like I’m doing something, anything, to have a plan in place. God forbid we should ever find ourselves in the unthinkable moment of terror, maybe we’ll go on auto-pilot; perhaps our brains will remember when our hearts are too scared to beat.

When I was in school, I worried about forgetting my lunch. How did things change so very much? How did we all get so screwed up?

Is it the guns?

Is it the kids?

Is it our ever growing mental health crisis?

Is it drugs?

Is it bullying?

I have no idea what “it” is, but it is evil.

Eighteen shootings on school campuses this year? How can that number possibly be correct? How do we continue to put our kids on a big yellow bus in the morning and just pray they return in the afternoon? The unthinkable has already happened.

My heart breaks for the families, for the other kids, for my own children.

I hate the helplessness I feel.

If you ask your kids and their friends if there’s anyone in their school they’re worried about, whom they think could do something like become a school shooter. I bet they’ll all come to the same conclusion and name a name. They know who has problems too big for the school to fix. They know who is troubled beyond the point of safety, but what can you do?

There is no safety net. We don’t have rules and regulations in place to function within. There seems to be no help for those who need it the most.

I look at our own community and school system. I step up high on my soap box and wag my finger at those of financial means. They all send their children to private schools. I wonder how different our school system would be if those kids were part of the norm, if their parent’s money was filtered back into the local schools. Then I look inward. Wouldn’t I too choose the best for my kids? Wouldn’t I give them better if it were mine to give? I eat a big slice of humble pie and kick my soap box to curb.

I have no answers, only questions and sadness.

A few Saturdays ago I drove my son to school. He had play practice. As we were driving down a back road in nowhereland, Virginia, a man sat in a car in his driveway “air shooting” at our car as it went by. I say “air shooting”, because I’m not really sure what to call it. He didn’t have a weapon, only his hand. He formed his fingers into a gun, took aim, and pretended to shoot us. Should I call it practice?

What world are we living in?

I want to be the one who looks at the bright side and spreads hope, but today the light is dim. I want to be the one who believes one person can make a difference, who lives with eyes wide open to the needs of those around her. I want to be the one quick to help and to forgive and to offer a second chance. I want to be the one who believes in the impossible and sees a bright future.

As I sit here on the porch and wait for the big yellow bus, all I see is heartbreak.

Something has to change.

We have to change.

I pray for the families in Florida today. I can’t imagine their pain.

And I pray for us, for all of us.

February 12, 2018

Feels Good to be 29 Again

This is the fourteenth time I’m celebrating my twenty-ninth birthday and it hasn’t gotten old yet.

I must admit some things have changed since the first time I celebrated twenty-nine. I can’t read small print unless I hold that print pretty far away from eyes. I have oddly long random hairs sprouting from my face. My right knee is plagued by tendonitis, but only when I use it for repetitive movements. Why would I ever need my knee to make the same movement twice? My gray hairs are reproducing like hares, and the internet has begun showing me ads for things like wrinkle creams and plastic surgeons.

I get the hint world-wide web. I’m not as young as I used to be.

I’m just twenty-nine. Again.

For my birthday, I thought I’d share some things I’ve been enjoying.

YouTube

My kids love YouTube. They each have their favorite YouTubers, and I’ll watch with them every once in a while; however, I was never really into YouTube. Then Christmas break happened and the snows came and my kids had a month off from school. Somewhere along the line I decided to explore YouTube for myself and I kinda got hooked. I think I like it because the videos I’ve been watching are generally short and I can watch them while I’m doing something else, like cooking or folding laundry.

My absolute favorite YouTube channel is Justine Leconte. She’s a fashion designer from France, although she is currently living in Germany, and she talks about fashion, beauty, color, capsule wardrobes, and so many other great topics. She’s smart and sweet and gives great tips. Love her! She uploads a video every Sunday and Wednesday. You should definitely check out her channel.

Books

I’ve been slowly reading through all those books pictured above. I get my reading time in when I’m waiting on other people. I do a lot of picking up, dropping off, and giving people rides, so I throw a book in my purse and get some reading done while I’m sitting around waiting.

I recently finished High Performance Habits. Honestly, I didn’t love it. There are some really great tips in this book, but I feel like I could’ve just read the Cliffs Notes. I’m certainly not giving this book a negative review, but it felt like I was reading the same thing over and over, and maybe this could have been a shorter book. It was probably just me though. I have little tolerance for wordiness these days. Not that you would ever know that from my blog!!!! First class hypocrite here.

Love the book Boundaries. I can go back and read sections of this book again and again. I talked about it a little in this video on Facebook, but I need to do a proper book review at some point. Definitely recommend this one!

I’m about half-way through A Million Little Ways. Love Emily’s message. Her writing style is a little different (more poetic maybe?) than I usually read, but she’s certainly put her heart in her writing.

I haven’t made it through the other books yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

Bullet Journaling

I started a bullet journal in the beginning of the summer and I LOVE using it! This is my second notebook since summer and I use it for meal planning, grocery lists, blog ideas, random lists I’m always writing in my head, projects I’m working on, notes I take from online classes or videos I watch. Basically, I use it for everything.

I’ve always been one of those people with a million little scraps of paper all over the house. I would write down important things and then promptly lose my scrap of paper. It was a terrible habit and I’ve lost so much good information and so many good ideas over the course of my life. Keeping everything in one notebook is revolutionary. Seriously. Go get yourself a notebook for under a dollar and start a bullet journal. I use Edie’s method of bullet journaling. She blogs over at Life in Grace and shares her simple method in this video.

Pocket Letters

If you like paper crafts and pen-pals, you’re going to flip over Pocket Letters. I just discovered them!

Thank you very much YouTube. It was a much better suggestion than Facebook’s wrinkle cream video.

Go search pocket letters on Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube. If you head over to YouTube, search “Pocket Letter Unpocketing” and you can watch someone open their pocket letter. They are so much fun! I’ve already made three of them, and I’m giving one away here on the blog.

In honor of my birthday, I’d love to send one blog reader a pocket letter made by me. Please leave a comment here on the blog and I will randomly select one person and send you my pocket letter. All comments must be left before Sunday, February 18th. On Sunday, I will use a randomizer to pick one winner and I will contact you via email.

In each pocket, behind the card, there are little bits of craft supplies and little gifts (like a tea bag or chocolate). You can get on a pocket letter swap list and swap with people all over the world. How fun is that?!?

Okay, this post is long enough and I’ve already complained about wordy writers. So, leave a comment and get yourself entered into the pocket letter drawing. I’m going to celebrate my twenty-ninth birthday once again. It’s good every single year!

February 7, 2018

Better Cleaning Choices for Home & Family

I love a clean house, but I really hate to clean it.

Raise your hand if you can identify.

I mean, who wakes up in the morning eager to scrub the toilet or mop the floor? I know there are some of you out there who take great pleasure in making dirty things clean. If you ever run out of things to do, you’re always welcome in my house. There’s never a shortage of muddy boots and dog hair.

For those of you who hire someone to clean your house, I applaud you. I’m also a little jealous, but cleaning is good for me. I totally count it as exercise. #don’tjudge

This fall, I downloaded the Think Dirty App and started scanning items we use everyday – handsoap, dishsoap, lotions, etc. If you’re not familiar with the Think Dirty App, go download it. It’s free. You can scan beauty and cleaning supplies and the app will tell you the level of toxicity in that item. Prepare yourself to be horrified.

I’ve used “green” products off and on for years, but when I moved to Virginia, I had a hard time finding the brands of cleaners I’d used in the past, so I went back to the available basics, like Softsoap, Clorox Wipes, etc. While I knew that cleaning products are toxic, I didn’t realize how many items contain ingredients that have reproductive toxicity. The Think Dirty App educated me, and once you know, there’s no forgetting.

Since I want grandchildren (some day far in the future…my kids are still teenagers), I needed to make a change.

I didn’t immediately throw everything away, although I did consider it. As we used things up, I just found better replacements for those items. My home is far from being toxic free, and I know there’s more I can do, but baby steps. I’m of the opinion that doing something, even if it’s small, is better than doing nothing. This coming from the girl who ate Cup O’ Noodle for lunch. I have a long way to go.

Pictured above are some of the better choices I’m making for my home and my family. I love how each of these products work and smell!

Mrs. Meyers products may be my absolute favorite. I use Mrs. Meyers dish soap, hand soap, all purpose cleaner, hand lotion, and dryer sheets. Did you know your dryer sheets are some of the most toxic items in your home? I know, who would ever have thought!?!

As much as I hate to clean, Mrs. Meyers almost makes me like it. I find myself spraying down my kitchen counters much more often, because I just adore the smell of the all-purpose cleaner. Also, the flu is going around and I’m a bit of a germophobe. Radish is my current favorite scent.

I recently joined Grove Collaborative. They carry a wide variety of Mrs. Meyers products, along with other good all natural cleaning choices. They ship everything right to your door and you get freebies. This month I got a really pretty red striped hand towel for free with my purchase. I love the products and the ease of having them automatically delivered. I can also buy large bottles of refills for the handsoap and concentrate all-purpose cleaner. It totally makes sense for my life, besides my Walmart doesn’t carry Mrs. Meyers, so I’d have to make extra trips to stores that are very far from local in order to find these products. I’d definitely recommend Grove for your cleaning products. And, yes, that’s a referral link I’ve included. If you sign up, you get $10 and I get $10. (Full disclosure.)

I also ordered the Method brand floor cleaner from Grove Collaborative and I love it. It’s easy to use, smells like almonds, and works wonderfully on my hardwood floors. I use a Swiffer Wet Jet to mop, and while I love my Wet Jet, the cleaner isn’t good for pets, it leaves a residue, and constantly buying disposable pads and the cleaner is pricey. I wanted to find an alternative that kept mopping the floors easy (remember I don’t like to clean), but produced less waste. I found these washable Wet Jet pads on Amazon (not an affiliate link), and I LOVE them. You can throw them right in the washer and dryer. They are super-absorbent and do a great job on my floors.

I also use Thieves cleaner from Young Living (affiliate link). I bought a bottle of concentrate for around $22 and that one bottle makes like 28 (give or take) spray bottles full of cleanser. I am a huge advocate of Thieves Oil (another story for another day) and was excited to try the cleaner. I like the smell, but my kids don’t love it. What I do love is that the fumes aren’t toxic! It also works really well. I use it on everything in my bathroom, from the shower to the inside and outside of the toilet and everything in-between. You can also add some white vinegar to the mixture. I’m not a fan of the smell of vinegar, but it works. I like it better than Scrubbing Bubbles on my shower.

If you’re not familiar with Young Living, it’s an essential oil company. I know essential oils are a big fad right now, but I’m a convert. I don’t think they can end all sickness or anything, but I think they help our body systems function well, like vitamins.

Thieves cleaner is definitely worth the price.

These are some of the better choices we’ve made for our home and family. Making better choices is an ongoing struggle and learning experience. We are far from being good examples, but I do believe our lives are made up of small choices, so the more good choices we make the better.

My word for the year is GROW, and I really want to see personal growth in all areas of my life, from the little things to big things. If I can educate myself and start making better choices for myself, my home, and my family, I am happy for the growth, no matter how small. Maybe tomorrow I’ll choose to eat something for lunch that includes real vegetables and not just dehydrated carrot bits.

Baby steps…

How about you? Do you have any favorite cleaners??