Dr. Flower’s Handmade Soap

Here are a few posts that I thought were important to point out in more than one place. (twitter)

drflower post: You’ve just boiled some veggies on the stove & have a pot full of water left. Don’t pour it down the drain, use it to water plants! (cooled)

drflower post: Nutrients from foods like pasta and veggies will serve your house plants well, giving them added vitamins instead of your drain.

drflower post: I water my plants with leftover coffee sometimes (black) - and old green tea. both are acidic so little goes long way

twitter friend post: @drflower what does that do? That sounds harmful to plants…curious

drflower response: No Not harmful…NPK (nitrogen, potash, potassium) is what fertilizer is…this is just natural way. mind the temp though!

Seriously, these tips are worth trying! ALL of these liquids need to be cooled down to room temperature before using on ANY plant.  Acidic loving plants such as azaleas, LOVE coffee grounds and tea leaves.

What do you do with your coffee grounds?

Happy Washing!

~Regina

Tags: Acidic, coffee grounds, green tea, house plants, nitrogen, nutrients, organic gardening, potash, potassium, tea leaves, Twitter, vitamins

Wow! It’s been almost a decade ago when I traveled pretty regularly to the Netherlands for work.  In my time there, I found that Irish pubs seemed to help cure the homesickness that comes with an extended stay abroad.  With the jetlag and candle burning at both ends due to work, (teehee! …now I MAKE the candles and burn them at my leisure!) it was easy to develop a scratchy throat from being run down.  The feature at the irish pub would of course include Irish whiskey by the name of Jameson.  The cure was almost immediate! I began to order the drink just to study what they did to make it!!  Some call it Hot toddy, others Hot Whiskey…I call it curative elixir! It’s beyond simple to make!

Hot water, Fresh lemon slice, 3 cloves embedded in lemon wedge, 1 shot of Jameson whiskey. THAT is all! Too simple? Just try it!

What do you drink when you are a bit under the weather?

Tags: homesickness, irish whiskey, jameson whiskey, lemon slice, scratchy throat

As I write this post, my hubby is working on the dishwasher that has been pulled out and sitting in the middle of the kitchen.  At some point today, this appliance will either be fixed and back working or it will be ready for replacement.  Either way, the idea of choosing an environmentally smart dishwasher is on our minds.

Energy Star has a slick website that is aimed at helping in these kinds of decisions.  http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=dishwash.pr_dishwashers

There are two spreadsheets you can download at the right column of the site, Qualified Dishwashers and savings calculator. These are the first two files I looked at. The qualified dishwashers is a long list of dishwasher models with neat factors added such as:

Energy Factor

This Energy Factor is a number computed for each dishwasher which enables you to compare the relative efficiency of different units. The equation for Energy Factor is estimated loads per year (215) divided by the annual energy usage (kWh/year).

% Better

ENERGY STAR rated dishwashers must exceed the minimum federal standard (NAECA standard) by at least 25%. This column tells you by how much each model exceeds that standard.

These had the highest rating of both on that spreadsheet:

Brand

Model

Size

kWh/Year

Energy Factor (EF)

Federal Standard (EF)

Percent Better

Active

Active Date

Bosch	SHE98M02UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	No	5/31/2007
Bosch	SHE98M05UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	Yes	5/31/2007
Bosch	SHE98M06UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	No	5/31/2007
Bosch	SHV98M03UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	Yes	5/31/2007
Bosch	SHX98M05UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	Yes	5/31/2007
Bosch	SHX98M09UC	Standard	190	1.14	0.46	147%	Yes	5/31/2007
Asko	D5893	Standard	187	1.15	0.46	150%	Yes	12/5/2008

Perhaps I’ll just see what a Bosch dishwasher would run!

Happy Washing! (hopefully I will be doing the same with dishes soon!)

~Regina

Tags: bosch dishwasher, energy factor, energy star, environment