A Southern Exposure: Plums, Vinegar, and Mark Richt

There have been many times when I've been cleaning, using all my store-bought cleaner, when I've thought, "This CAN'T be good for you." I mean, have you smelled that stuff? There's no way that stuff isn't doing something bad for your brain cells.

Since I am a teacher, I really need all my brain cells....so this concern sent me researching for more natural cleaning methods. The overwhelming result was vinegar. Plain 'ol white distilled vinegar. People use it for everything from pickling to mopping hard wood floors...and it's a disinfectant! After a little research, I found that by simply adding some water to vinegar with a little "smell good" will get you super-cheap, super-fantastic all-purpose cleaner. Seriously, it worked SO WELL. I even tried it on my windows, and sweet Mary, it worked better than Windex. And it cost about $0.87. Okay, I really have no idea how much the total cost was because I don't do math, I do know that the entire gallon of vinegar only cost $2.50, much cheaper than your standard bottle of cleaner.

Take one empty bottle....

...add some smell good. I used this stuff from Bath and Body Works, but essential oil would work. So would plain old lemon juice.

I used 2 parts vinegar, 1 part water, but any ratio would be fine...I wanted mine relatively strong because I wanted to clean my counters with the concoction.

Voila! You've got your cleaner. Look out Martha Stewart.

These plums are from the tree in my backyard. This afternoon, I looked down and saw Shiloh eating something....and it was a plum! It suddenly dawned on me to go check on the tree.....and it was brimming with plums. I picked as many that were ripe, but there are so many that are still green. We'll have quite the harvest this year. I guess I'll be making plum pudding....because that's the only recipe I've ever heard of that calls for plums. Or maybe that's fig pudding? As in, bring me a figgy pudding? I don't know.

Any suggestions? What else could I do with a whole mess of plums?

They're little but they are DELICIOSO...very sweet.

I was driving to A and G's house to feed their dogs....and look who I saw at the country club! None other than Mark Richt. You know, they say he wears make-up and that's why his skin always looks so good on camera. I don't know about that, but I do know that Alabama beat Georgia so bad this year that I know a few DAWG fans that are still crying about it. Just sayin'.

I hear that if Spurrier doesn't start winning at South Carolina, he might have to drive this thing around to make a living.

The girls that I run with are out of town, at the beach without me. So while they are getting tan, I am getting fat and lazy and feeding A's babies. I brought the camera along just in case something good happened....and I'm glad I did.

This is Henry and he LOVES the camera. I mean, really, really loves it. Every time I would put the camera to my face, he would sit down and hold up one paw and look directly at the camera. It was very regal.