natural home: vodka fabric refresher

The heat just isn't letting up and our house is more unbearable than ever.  I was ranting to my husband last night about the energy flow of our house, yes that's right, energy flow.  There are no two windows across from each other and every room, including the living room and kitchen, is divided by a wall or narrow door.  A fresh breeze may come in the front door but gets stuck and stagnant quickly with no place to go.  I believe the same applies to the energy flow in this house.  Although cute and charmingly vintage, ever since we moved in here we've had a hard time feeling settled, keeping things clean, and feeling energized for the day ahead.  Yes this place is small, and yes we live somewhat stressful lives, but we know ourselves better than to let that get in the way of daily happiness.  Yet when we step through the front door a weight comes down on our shoulders, a negative energy that can't escape because of the windows and walls.  Yes I know this sounds a little silly, but I think it has some merit, even if its a way to rationalize that we are probably just lazy.

Moving on from crazy lady talk, I thought I'd share my favorite way to freshen up the house.  With a cat, a dog, and a lot of hot air, I need something that will perk this place up.  I used to be an avid Febreze user, dousing every fabric surface with it, but over the past couple years as I've transitioned to natural products not full of chemicals and artificial fragrances I thought Febreze would have to be a thing of the past. But a simple Google search for natural fabric refresher turned up the simplest and most effective recipe for a fresh home.  I've experimented with variations, but this mix works best for me.

Vodka Febreze

-spray bottle

-cheap vodka

-about 30-50 drops or 1/2 tsp grapefruit essential oil (or any essential oil blend)

Shake the bottle up and spritz on fabric around the house.  You can also use it on hard to wash clothes, like winter jackets, that need a pick me up. 

Note: you could add distilled water to dilute the vodka, but I've never bothered.  Its never been a problem on any fabrics, and for me the simpler the recipe the better.  Plus, sometimes I just need the extra strength stuff. 

I feel like I'm in college again strolling into the liquor store to buy the cheapest vodka possible (just add kool aid, serve in red cup). I also feel like I'm in college again when, to this day, I spray my dirty clothes with "Febreze" so I don't have to go to the laundry mat.  The vodka doesn't really smell like alcohol  and evaporates pretty quickly leaving fabrics fresh with a light citrus scent.

breaking a sweat

So I've started packing boxes and no we haven't bought a house yet.  We've barely started looking, and the bank says it will be like two months from when we put in an offer to have the keys in hand, so we are not going anywhere anytime soon.  But yes I am packing it up, my brain has moved on from this place.  The things we own just sit there watching me as I pout around wishing that the perfect listing would come up any day now.  The pressure is building in my head (especially with pinterest taunting me with cute home decor) that if I don't do something productive to keep my mind off the waiting that I will go crazy, like B.Spears crazy.  It manifests in different ways, mostly me occasionally dropping to my knees in the kitchen and yelling "house!" before returning to cooking or whatever I was doing.  Packing is a daunting, time consuming process, and since I'm (sad to say) over this place, I'm wrapping it up.  

Its amazing how much stuff has accumulated here over the past 2 and a half years.  We merged our stuff, got married, got a lot of presents, then picked up a newlywed, hand in hand strolling through the flea market hobby that has brought an influx of neat, often useless, pieces into our home.

I've starting packing up the chachkies since they just sit there, then it's onto the closets and cabinets.  If it isn't used or adored regularly its going to be donated or packed.  Then I will work my way through the garage, and hopefully by that point we will be in escrow somewhere.   Then down will come the art off the walls and the rest of the house will follow suit.

At the current rate it takes me just to get one box done, starting this early will leave me just enough time to completly freak out and throw everything in random boxes two days before we have to leave.  That's always how it goes for me, good intentions on the front end and massive disorganized panic at the back end.

The heat is unbearable today.  I know I can't complain since we are in San Diego, but the problem is most places here, even the stores, don't have air conditioning.  So when the intense heat of August hovers over this little town of ours I come to a standstill, sweating, complaining, and sitting in front of the fan.  Pickett being the short nose pup he is can't even go on walks without getting heat stroke.  But the heat will pass, and soon it will be that perfect time of summer, early September when the ocean is still warm and the tourists have gone home.

a piece of cal

This past weekend, sad circumstances took us up on a last minute trip to Northern California.  Despite the tone of the trip, we managed to get in some antiquing, and take a quick trip over to Berkeley to pick up the coolest thing ever.

My husband attended UC Berkeley and I lived there for year.   It's a lively place and an amazing urban college town.  Established in 1868, the campus is filled with so much history.  My husband, Jesse, is obsessed with Cal football and follows all the games.  Every fall, we try to make it up to see a game and hit our old hangouts.  Even though we plan on going back in a couple months, I figured while we were close by we could pick up a very special treasure.  

Since 1923, Berkeley Memorial Stadium has hosted the Cal Bears football team.  This past year it was renovated and retrofitted (it sits directly on a fault line) and during construction some old wooden bleachers turned up.  A local wood shop in town, The Wooden Duck, managed to salvage the bulk of it and is now selling it.  We knew it was essential to have a piece for our home.  We rooted through a giant, filthy pile of beat up blue and yellow boards, all inscribed with numbers, and found a couple pieces to turn into a small bench or side table.  Yes its very beat up, but not lacking in potential.

All of the boards had numbers on both sides and even numbers on top of faded numbers.  They managed to get a long life out of these boards. Each number a seat for an enthusiastic Cal fan, probably waving a felt pennant and rooting for the Blue and Gold.  

We also hit up a little antique shop and founds a few more treasures.  I keep finding neat stuff that I claim is for our future house, guess we will see if it works soon enough.  My new obsession is American stoneware crocks.  They usually have a cream or grey salt glaze, stamped by the maker, and range from small to huge.  

I also picked up some big thread spools (I see string art and friendship bracelets in my future) and a milk glass Old Spice shave mug with the logo faded to the perfect shade of grey and pink.  

Lastly, we picked up these puppies.  Jesse builds beautiful wood encased vacuum tube amplifiers.  Vacuum tubes made a lot of electronics work back in the day.  These tubes were probably from old TVs, they don't work, but I love to incorporate my husbands interests into our home design, now I just need to find the perfect apothecary jar to display them.