Category: home and garden

Today I am sharing tidbits of all things house that make a home information.

A design, decorating, dish and detail show and tell resource of information is what drives us here at Places In The Home.

And away we go!

Jackie Gleason

In a recent survey of home decor consumers, the colors blue and purple top the list of color preference when selecting the decorative throw pillows to decorate their humble abode with.

Consumers tastes and preferences also trend toward patterned throw pillows.

Sir Kitty Kat

Fleas drives me crazy.

What a swing in subject matter, but into every household an unwanted guest of the bug species will creep in.

We’ve been fortunate over the many years of our pet ownership to only contend with fleas inside the house once.

That is until last month when I noticed we had company.

Sir Kitty Kat aka the culprit gifted the entire house with fleas.

Flea bombing the house with unwanted chemicals was out of the question, and calling an exterminator would be an option of last resort.

After conducting a quick google search for help, I decided to go with a natural, safe and inexpensive alternative.

Is 20 Mule Team Borax a detergent booster or is it a miracle flea be gone treatment?

It’s both!

I used 2 boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax over a two week period.

Patience and persistence paid off.

We treated Sir Kitty Kat with a topical flea treatment under our veterinarian’s advisement.

Kitty was scratching to take up residence outdoors for a few days, and admittedly I was happy to oblige him.

I purchased a plastic storage container, a broom, rubber gloves and a box of disposable face masks from the dollar store.

You’ll need two(2) new empty vacuum cleaner bags- one to use during treatment and a fresh new one for after treatment.

Perform a discoloration test by selecting a small area and applying the Borax to rule out the possibility of discoloration.

I only treated the carpet, rugs and floors with the Borax.

I did not use it on fabric or upholstered furniture.

What You Do:

Fill the storage container about 3/4 full per room with 20 Mule Team Borax.

Lightly dust floors, carpets, and rugs with Borax along baseboards, under furniture, in closets.

Use the broom to work the Borax into the carpet.

The Borax dries out the fleas and larvae.

I let the Borax do its thing in the carpet for one week.

Overkill for sure, but we were on a flea killing mission.

Vacuum up the Borax, discard the vacuum bag into a garbage bag and immediately place outside, and pop in a new vacuum bag.

I’ve got the hem tape thing down to a science!

I’ve been called a lot of things in my lifetime, but seamstress is not one of them and rightly so.

All those years ago in high school home economics class I aced the cooking part of the semester.

Sewing cooked my goose.

I come from a long line of no-sew seamstresses.

Button detail and hem tape I’ve mastered, but that’s it for my sewing prowess.

Pincushion curiosity struck while staring at the tomato pincushion that was my mother’s mother’s mother, trying to decide if I really needed the button to be on the pant and not in the drawer.

After consulting with the fountain of information guru that is Google, the what and the why a strawberry is attached to the tomato pincushion mystery was solved.

Emory powder is the filler source for the strawberry.

The powder is an abrasive, and serves as a cleaner of rust and sharpener of pins and needles.

Glad that’s answered.

I was on pins and needles.

Crazy cake is crazy easy and crazy good.

Do you ever look at recipes and projects and wonder if they really are that easy, that tasty and worth the effort?

You now have it on good authority that this easy peasy crazy cake is.

One pan and no eggs- I love this concept.

Crazy Cake

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups cold water

Directions

Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a 9 x 13 inch ungreased cake pan.  Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well.  Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

To frost or not to frost.

That is the question only your personal preference can answer.

I did not frost the first chocolate crazy cake and it was delicious.

I did frost the second chocolate crazy cake with Duncan Hines Salted Caramel frosting topped off with coarse sea salt, and it was scrumptious.

Choices and caramel make the world go round.

Tidbits of all things house that make a home information does too.