Frugal Fun Friday~ Part Two

Okay, boys and girls, today I am going to show you how to make your very own homemade window cleaner, which I also use on all of my glass and mirrors as well.



Please feel free to just completely ignore me. ;)

I found the recipe for this homemade window cleaner in this great cookbook that you see here in the picture below.



Here is the very simple recipe for the window cleaner.



And here is everything that I used to make this cleaner. I did not have a "formal" gallon container for a cleaner, so I just used one of my old tea jugs, and it worked just fine.



The first step that I did was to add two cups of rubbing alcohol into the empty container.



Then I added 1/2 cup of ammonia.



Next it was time to add the water, but I did not fill it all the way up, because I needed to leave some room for the next ingredient to be added.



Now, it was time to add 1 teaspoon of dish washing liquid, like so.



Then I topped it off with just a little bit more water, just until the container was almost full.



Then I placed the cap back on the gallon container, and I gently shook it to mix all of the ingredients together.



Once all the ingredients were mixed together, it was time to pour them into the spray bottle. I recommend using a funnel to help you fill the spray bottle, because it is just too easy to make a BIG mess if you don't. (Not that that has ever happened to me, but I've heard stories.)



As you can see, I had an empty glass and window cleaner spray bottle, so I just refilled it.



Another little glass and window cleaning tip that I found (although for the life of me I cannot remember where) was to use a paper coffee filter in place of a paper towel when cleaning glass and mirrors. I have done this several times, and it works very well.

Now, if I could just find a recipe to make a "Rosie" robot like the Jetsons had...I would have it made.



Sigh.

"A clean house is the sign of a boring person." ~Author Unknown

♫ Hark The Herald Angels Sing ♫

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we decided to put our Christmas tree up.

Ta-da!



I know, I know. You are probably thinking this right now.....



Charlie Brown (seeing the ornamented branch droop to the ground): "I've killed it. AUGHH! Everything I touch gets ruined!" (he walks away, his head hanging in shame)

*Good Grief!*

But with a little imagination, love, and tenderness, a Charlie Brown Christmas tree can be turned into this.....



Linus: "I never thought it was such a bad little tree." (wrapping his blanket around the base of the trunk) "It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

*Sigh*

I really do love our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

It is covered in white and multi-colored strands of lights, although I could not get them to show up in this picture to save my life. So, you will just have to trust me that our little tree is covered in lights.



It is also covered in so many ornaments, all of which have some form of special memory attached to them.

Here are just a few pictures of some of our favorite ornaments.

I got this family ornament in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, when the boys and I took a trip there with my parents.



Isn't it sweet?

It also probably goes without saying that I got Baby Girl an ornament in Gatlinburg too, and she loves it.



I truly adore all of the ornaments on our tree for one sentimental reason or another, but if I had to pick just two that are my absolute favorites, it would have to be my two angels.

My Matthew and Daniel angels to be exact.



*Sigh*

Everyone: "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!"



♫
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
♫

Thanksgiving Memories

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma Bombeck

Depression Cake

"We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it." ~Donald Horban

Today I am going to share with you a recipe that I got from a wonderful blog site called "The Grocery Cart Challenge." If you are trying to save money on your grocery bill, and you have not been to this blog already, then you should go there immediately. Trust me on this one. You will not be disappointed.

Gayle shares some amazing ideas for slashing your grocery expenses on her blog.

The recipe that I tried from her blog is called Depression Cake. Here is a quote from Gayle about this cake: "It's called Depression Cake because of it's thrifty ingredient list...no eggs...no milk...no butter which made it popular in the 1920's during the Great Depression. And it's so incredibly moist and simple and cheap that it's our go-to cake when we are having a dessert craving. So here you go. You're going to love it."

So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Depression Cake.

Depression Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon vinegar

4 teaspoons cocoa

6 tablespoons of oil

Mix all ingredients together until combined. Pour into an 9 inch square pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This cake is better cooled. It seems to get even more moist as it cools and is even better the next day. We cut it into 9 squares. It needs NO frosting.


If you would like, come join me in my kitchen again, and I will show you how to make this recipe come to life, so to speak.

Here is everything that you will need to make Depression Cake.



And although the recipe does not call for either of these ingredients, Shannon and I think they add a nice flavor and texture to the cake, and we had both of the ingredients on hand, so we added them.



The first ingredient that I poured into the mixing bowl was one cup of Walmart's version of Splenda. (The recipe calls for sugar, but this sweetener has NO calories, and it was only $1.00 more than regular sugar. And Shannon and I both agreed that it was a $1.00 well spent to save all of those calories.)



Then I added one cup of water.



Next up was one teaspoon of salt....



Followed by one teaspoon of baking soda.



Then I threw in one teaspoon of vinegar....



Followed by one teaspoon of vanilla.



Next up was the cocoa. I added four HEAPING teaspoons of this yummy ingredient.



Then I threw in six tablespoons of canola oil.



Now it was time to add the biggest ingredient of all....one and a half cups of flour. (The recipe calls for regular flour, but I used wheat flour, because that is what we had on hand, and it worked wonderfully.)



Now for the optional ingredients......

I added four tablespoons of chocolate chips. *sigh*



Then I threw in a handful of sliced almonds.



After all of the ingredients were safely in the mixing bowl, it was time to mix them all together. Like so.



Then I spooned all of that chocolaty, almond goodness into an 8x8 dish that I had lightly coated with a non stick cooking spray.



Once I had spooned it all out of the bowl, I then smoothed it out as evenly as I possibly could. Like so.



I then placed it into my oven that had been preheated to 350 degrees. The recipe says to bake it for 30 minutes, but with my oven it only takes 22 minutes. So, you will just have to watch yours carefully the first time to see how long it will take in your kitchen. When you insert a toothpick it should come out relatively clean. And it should look a little something like this......



After it comes out of the oven, I then cut it into nine almost equal squares.



Like Gayle said on her blog, these are even better once cooled.

If you would like, you can serve them up on a plate like this and photograph them.....



Or, if you're like me, you can just grab a plate and a piece of cake for yourself. Like so.



Mmmmmmmmmm! Come to Momma!

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need." ~Vernon Howard