Riot and Frolic

A couple months ago, I decided that I would not buy anything that wasn't necessary and I'd try to make anything that could realistically be made.  New nail polish (I wear the same four colors all the time and end up buying replicas of the same four colors I already have) was off "the list," a purely mental set of things I always look for at Target, my archenemy in non-spending.  Also, gone, cute t-shirts and baby clothes, disposable diapers (we have cloth ones!), more yarn, awesome stationary, blue glasses (I have a collection), anything to decorate with…  Sad.  Except not really.  I learned how to make bread, pizza (duh, it's bread with cheese on it), roast a chicken *drool*, grow plants, and a few other handy recipes and skills.

Only after I stopped spending all my hard-earned money did I realize how much stuff I really had.  Holy craft supplies, Batman!  I mean, I could crochet, knit, sew, paint, and embellish for years and probably still have scraps left.  And books?  Between my husband and I, there are at least 50 books I haven't read yet.  So, there's my free time.  Movies and tv?  Not really necessary either, right?  I'm not going all Laura Ingalls Wilder or anything, I just wanted to see if I could do it.  But I am getting all hippy about natural products and knowing what I'm ingesting and all that.  

Plus, it's fun! Maybe I'm a nerd, but I don't work all that much and finding fun things for the ladies to do is always a challenge, so putting together some iced coffee or bread at night with V (she loves measuring and "dumping" ingredients) and playing with fabric yo-yos with Georgia kills two birds with one stone.  Plus, I like finding the easiest way to make stuff to get the job done.  

So, check this out:

 Homemade Vanilla Extract

– 16 oz. jar with lid

– vodka or rum

– 6 premium vanilla beans

Cut your vanilla beans in half the long way.  Put them in your jar and pour your liquor over them.  Put lid on jar and set in the sun (or not, it just needs to sit, but it'll go faster in the sun) for a couple weeks.  

The top two pictures show the extract right after combining, and the one on the right after two weeks.

If you want to give it as gifts (seems so swanky and amazing! really took 10 minutes and is super-cheap!), buy some 2 oz. jars and pour it on in.  Add a neat sticker label and voila!  Gifted!  Or keep it all to yourself to make vanilla syrup or chocolate chip cookies or whatever.  

 Swagger.