Penny Stove

 So, I was wandering around the internet aimlessly, as usual, when I stumbled across this Instructable. I had to give it a shot, so here it is, my "penny stove".

 This is everything you need to make it, please ignore the Imirie shims in the background, that's another project. And yes, that is a rather large silver tarp on my dining room table. Sometimes a tablecloth just won't do.

I cut a piece of scrap paper to fit around a can, and folded it so I would have eight sides. Really, so I would have eight creases, but we're getting to that.

 I folded it in half the long way, unfolded it again, wrapped it around my can snugly, and taped it together. Then, I punched holes on all the places where the folds cross each other.

 Following the Instructable, I rigged my can cutter. Razor blade in clamp, clamp clamped onto the T-square. The razor is set to one and a half inches.

Carefully scored my cans. (Just the two, you'll see what the third one is for soon!)

 Using a spoon, pop that sucker open. It kinda folds and crinkles at the score mark, and eventually pops.

Ta-dah!

Slip that paper back on, and punch holes through the can. Only one of the cans! One the came can bit, use a hammer and a small nail, and poke a few holes around the top, and one in the center.

Like this:

                                    

Snip the can right down to the holes. This part is going inside the other can bottom, and this makes it easier to fit. The round holes make it so it won't tear past that point as you're struggling to fit it together. =)

 This is where the other can comes in handy. Since the two cans are the same size and you need one to fit inside the other, the cuts we just did help make the top part smaller, and pushing the third can into the bottom can (gently!) and kinda rolling it around the edge, will help stretch it out just enough to make it work. So, put it in there like this, and rotate it around a bit.

 This part wasn't in the Instructable, I came up with it myself! *behold my brilliance*
Just like the can-in-a-can we just did, only backwards. I used the side of the scissors to push the edge of the hole in a little bit.

*Because* when you're putting the top can into the bottom can, and those cut bits are folding together, those hole edges kinda stick out and catch on the bottom can. Like this:

 Slowly and gently, push the top into the bottom. Don't rush! If you push too hard, it can slip in sideways and get stuck. Ask me how I know. I dare you. -_- Mine didn't get too stuck, otherwise you'd be looking at a picture of my trashcan with a title of: "What I screwed Up Today".

There it is! I sanded around the edge of the bottom can a bit so I wouldn't cut myself. Now I just need to get some denatured alcohol, some small bottles to put it in, and a penny. Maybe I'll even try to do the rest of the Instructable and make the carrier/platform part.

Resolutions, Old and New

At the beginning of last year, I wrote this post listing my goals for the year. In the interests of being lazy, let's check back and see how I did, and what's still to do.

1. Learn to make soap. I have some molds, I have some books. I just need to do it. 
2. Make laundry soap with homemade soap. Not necessarily my own homemade soap, I have some that I bought and that will work fine. =) DONE! On 5-28-2013 and 5-31-13 
3. Learn to make saurkraut or kimchi. Just ferment something! DONE! On 5-15-2013 
4. Learn how to read my Almanac. Seriously, why keep buying it otherwise? (Update: I didn't get one this year!)
5. Knit socks. Yeah, I need to learn more than just knit and purl. Learning!
6. Refinish kerosene heater. It would be so great to use it!
7. Make mozzerella cheese. I bought the stuff, I just need the milk from Bina. =)
8. Make mead. I have some of the equipment, but not the 24lbs of honey. (Yet!) Update: I think I now have ALL of the equipment, just waiting on the honey. 10-31 The honey is here!
9. Take a drop-spindle lesson at New Pond Farm. (I just took a spinning class on a wheel.) (Update: They haven't offered one yet. Maybe in the spring they will.)
10. Finish sewing my apron. Shouldn't be too hard. If I can find it, that is. (Update, I haven't found it yet!)
11. Learn how to crochet. DONE! By 10-31-13
12. Tap the maple trees and make maple syrup. Which will involve learning which ones are maple trees, without the leaves to tell me. *sigh* I should have marked them in the summer. Found one! Keep looking, before the leaves are gone!
13. Take a yarn dying class at New Pond Farm. (They haven't offered one yet. Again, maybe this spring they will.)
14. Work on starting a fire with my flint and striker.
15. Finish the denim quilt.
16. Learn how to use the pressure cooker. Well, really, just use it. Now that my father has changed the stovetop, I'll have to borrow somebody elses' stove. =(   
17. Trim goat hooves the next time you sit for them. Haven't been called to sit for them yet. 
18. Finish something on the beading loom.
19. Make recycled glass into birdbaths. DONE! On 5-18-13  And sold one too!
20. From Granny Miller, learn 10 new recipes. I've made a list, subject to change.

1. Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Already changed to Cream of Broccoli Soup, and I made it once already. So good! DONE! On 1-9-2013 
2. Tapenade I love it so, and I got myself a food processor for Christmas. DONE! On 2-9-2013 
3. Tomato Sauce
4. Ketchup
5. Mayo
6. Pasta DONE! Why don't I have pictures of this? Late September?
7. Guacamole. Kind of basic stuff so far... But if I add the things from my list above,
8. Saurkraut or kimchi. I fermented, something! DONE! On 5-15-2013 
9. Mozzerella cheese
10. Mead 
11. Cheeseburger in Paradise Added this one when I found it, Counting it as one DONE! On 10-31-13

Ok, not too bad. Finished 4 of 20, and worked on 3 others. Cooked 5 of 11 recipes. Plus all the other stuff that you may have read about, that wasn't goal-listed. (Like weaving class, and making lip balm.)
So, here's this years list. A combination of old and new.

1. Learn to make soap. I have some molds, I have some books. I just need to do it. Done on 3-16-14
2. Knit socks. 
3. Refinish kerosene heater.
4. Make mozzerella cheese. I just need the milk from Bina. =)
5. Make mead. I have everything I need, except the courage!

6. Take a drop-spindle lesson at New Pond Farm.

7. Take a yarn dying class at New Pond Farm.

8. Tap the maple tree that I did find, and make some maple syrup.

9. Work on starting a fire with my flint and striker.

10. Find and finish sewing my apron. 
11. Finish the denim quilt.
12. Learn how to use the pressure cooker.
13. Trim goat hooves the next time you sit for them. . 
14. Finish something on the beading loom.
15. Finish the lining in those knitted purses.
16. From the Granny Miller list, learn 10 new recipes. To be added to as I find recipes that I want to try. I'm open to suggestions!

1. Tomato Sauce
2. Ketchup
3. Mayo
4. Guacamole
5. Mozzerella cheese
6. Mead 
7.
8.
9.
10. 

Coupon Shopping

Yesterday and today, I did a little coupon shopping. =) Picked up 29 cans of soup and veggies for $25. 

And saved $26.95

Grabbed a couple of hams for .89 cents a pound. Spent $25.11 and saved $22.58 on them. I'm going to cut those suckers up into smaller portions, and freeze them for future dinners. (And breakfasts too!)

Look at the size of that one!

Yesterday, while ham shopping, I picked up a few toothpastes. The small ones were too small for my coupon, (less than 4oz) so I went with the larger ones. On sale for $1.99 and eight $1.00 off coupons. Eight tubes for $8.00. Not bad. But *today* they had restocked, and the new smaller tubes were "42% more" making them big enough for my coupons! On sale for 99 cents, with my $1.00 off coupons, these 14 were free!

Well, if I'm honest, and I usually am, I did buy the coupons on eBay for $2.00 so really I paid $2.00 for 14 tubes. Still pretty darn good. =) Well, wait... I bought 20 coupons, but she sent me 22. Does that count as getting my $2.00 back?

And last, but not least, a local store had Birdseye frozen veggies on sale for .88 cents. Again, I bought 20 coupons on eBay for .50 cents off. My store doubles coupons under a dollar, up to a dollar. (Or up to the price of the item.) So these 20 bags were FREE! (Or $2.00)

The shredded cheese was buy 1 get 1 free, and with the broccoli heads, I spent $5.08 on everything in the above picture.

 I'm not quite an "extreme shopper" but I do OK. I do have a rule of only buying stuff that I actually use, and not getting stuff just because I can get it for free. 

My sale and coupon savings was $92.22

 How was your day?

Making Lip Balm

It's my first time making lip balm. The recipe is from YouTube. Though the recipe given isn't quite the same as the recipe that they use in the video. *shrug* I kinda did both. Since I forgot the vitamin E oil the first time, I remelted those tubes into the next batch I made.

First step is to melt your beeswax. Took me forever. The wax in the bottom of the cup is wax that I'd bought from a retired beekeeper, and the honeycomb piece on top is from my own hives. =)

Almost ready. Notice the little dark chunky bits? Pollen. So I had to let it settle and cool down. When it was completely cool, I scraped the pollen out of the wax and melted it again.

Melt and mix all your ingredients.  I used a small Ball jar in a small pot of water. Once it's mixed, pour it in your tubes or containers.

Let them cool for a few hours. I let mine sit overnight.

And, so you know I'm a real person, here's the half-filled tubes that I'll deal with later.

And the one that I forgot to screw back down when I took out the first batch.

So, I have a few tubes now. Anybody want to test one for me?

A Warm Winter Day, or Two

The news told me that warm weather was coming this weekend, so I got ready for it by making some sugar candy for the girls. Cut it up into six pieces, and I was ready!

Started with the closest hive, at Nancys' house. Looking good, both sides are active and flying.

Added the Imirie shim and the sugar candy.

My only worry is that with the shim on, there's a gap where bees can get through into the other nuc. I did face the inside cutouts to opposite sides, but I don't think that will help much.

We'll have to see how this plays out.

Then, on to the Walkers'. Busy bees! Again, both hives are active. =)

Bring out your dead!

They've been eating the sugar that I put in before.

Shim on, new sugar in.

Second hive, pretty much the same as the first.

Some sugar left.

I took away as much of the wax paper as I could. They're making it easy for me by taking off the sticky stuff. Another shim on! Three down, two to go!

This is how they were when I left them, none the worse for wear.

That night, we had a scout fund-raising event. The kids hosted a Christmas-themed movie night. Served popcorn and lemonade, and showed all the classic Christmas movies. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas. I was as entertained as the kids were! =D

Came home to these beasty boys. We dog-sit for a few families. It's a good thing they get along!

These two are the biggest dogs that we watch. It's funny, the two of them belong to neighbors in a town near us. Must be something in the water there.

Sunday morning, checking on my first two hives. What a difference a day makes, look, there's no snow left!
The wild hive on the right doesn't look alive at all. Oh, dear.

But, to my surprise, they're OK!

Plenty of bees inside, just don't know why they're not flying.

The other hive was a bit more, obvious about it.

More out than in.

But they're in there!

The new sugar in under the lid, inside the shim.

And, I'm done! Here's hoping that the rest of winter will go so well. *knocks wood*