Are you prepared for an emergency? After the East Coast was blasted with back to back snow storms/blizzards last month, many people were caught unprepared.  Grocery stores emptied out of bottled water and other essentials quickly.

Or consider the recent earthquake in Chili.  Newspaper headlines pointed out the stores were looted and water was the first thing to vanish from store shelves.

Natural disasters: earthquakes, floods, tornados, and more have been in the headlines.  Are you prepared for an emergency?

The Urban Homemaker believes it is very important that every family be prepared for an emergency. Multipure not only offers the lowest cost most effective solid carbon block water filters, but they also offer a unique emergency kit including the Multipure Emergency Filter to ensure that your family has quality drinking water in an emergencyThis comprehensive Emergency Preparedness Kit will provide you and your family with some of the essentials you need in an emergency.

These important items are contained in a sturdy and portable back pack.

A few of the items included in this kit are:

- Flash light/radio/phone charger          -  Multipurpose tool

- Emergency water filter                       -  Flares; matches

- First aid kit and booklet                      – Emergency tape/rope

- Rain poncho, blanket and 8 foot tube tent

- Much more…

While supplies last, I am making this kit available to you for the special low price of $99.95. This Emergency Preparedness Kit is valued at $175 so it is a limited time offer.  Order now and receive a $75 savings.

While you and your family are evaluating your emergency preparedness, I would like to suggest that you consider the following other Preparedness tips:

• Keep Emergency Supplies in one Place so they are easily found.
• Keep some cash with these supplies.
• Keep some water storage with Emergency Supplies
• Make sure your Family Preparedness Plan includes alternative heating/cooking fuels.
• Consider investing in cast iron cookware for cooking over fires or charcoal.
• Keep canned goods on hand that only require heating.  In an emergency heating fuels may need to be conserved.
• Store nutrient dense dry snacks such as nuts, seeds, energy bars, jerky, and dried fruit.
  

I recommend one Emergency Preparedness Kit per member of your family, as well as one in each car.  You never know when disaster will strike.

Don’t wait.  Act now!  Protect your family today!

Call (800) 552-7232 to place your order.

A couple years ago I promoted a baking contest called Bake and Take Day sponsored by many state wheat organizations. Baking, I have found, can be a fun and inexpensive means of treating people in a special way.

Bake and Take Day, celebrated annually on the fourth Saturday in March (this year will be the week-end of March 27-28) is a great opportunity for families and service groups to get together in the kitchen and around the oven. Prepare gifts of fresh-baked wheat foods for relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors, the elderly and shut-ins. The visit when you deliver the baked goods is one of the most enjoyable aspects!

I took up the challenge, a few years ago, and my neighbors still talk about how much they loved the small loaf of bread that I brought them.  This small gesture really opened up opportunities to build relationships with neighbors I would not otherwise have had. This priceless memory has encouraged me to occasionally treat my neighbors to a loaf of home baked bread for no special reason.

Mark the date on your calendar and plan to participate!

Even if you don’t take on this endeavor, I challenge you to get started with whole grain baking today using Marilyn’s Famous Whole Wheat Bread Recipe to make a basic loaf of bread or use this Dough to make cinnamon rolls.

Enviro Cloth – Use on windows, textured, and dark colored kitchen appliances, spot clean upholstery and carpet, lamps, plants, computers, stainless steel, walls, white boards, counters, bath tubs and sinks, toilets, fixtures, stovetops, baseboards, mirrors, cars, shelves, shower doors, ceiling fans, light switches and plates, telephones, remotes, sticky price tag residues, shines shoes – and anything else you have that needs cleaning with just water!

Window Cloth – Used in conjunction with a wet enviro cloth it polishes any smooth surface that you can imagine with little effort, mirrors, windows, jewelry, chrome, stainless steel, glass surfaces, fixtures etc. It can also be used alone with a spritz of water. Will leave a streak free shine!

Dust Mitt - Used dry for mini blinds, plants, furniture, pictures, TV, electronics, spindles, lamps, baseboards, window sills, dirty window screens etc. It works great to dry your shower to prevent buildup of lime scale and soap scum. You could use it to wash your body or your car too!!

Microfiber Mop System – Dry mop is used on all types of flooring to remove pet hair, dirt etc. Also works on walls and ceilings and ceiling fans to remove cobwebs. Wet mop cleans floors to a streak free shine, dries in minutes. The mop is also great for cleaning tall windows with the telescopic handle and the addition of mop clips. The rubber brush is a must to clean off the wet and dry mop pads and also works wonderfully to remove pet hair, and to clean stairs.

Carpet Stain Buster – Your complete carpet cleaning solution for shampooing, spot cleaning, deodorizing and neutralizing protein based stains and odors and keeps working hours after cleaning! Highly concentrated – use 1 Tablespoon per cup of water.

DeScaler - Very effective for removing lime but no toxic fumes. Use on shower doors, around fixtures, glass or anywhere you have water spots that just won’t go away! Spray, leave 1 to 2 minutes and wipe with an enviro cloth, rinse and dry.

Mattress Cleaner – Use after vacuuming to eliminate dust mites and all organic material on your mattress, sofa, upholstered chairs, pillows. Use every 6 months. Lasts a long time!

Odour Eliminator – Great in smelly laundry (use 1-2 Tbsp).  Or use diluted 7 parts water to 1 part odour eliminator for use in bathrooms, garbage cans, lockers, changing rooms, litter boxes, laundry. Can also be sprayed as an air freshener. Leaves a fresh and clean fragrance and is not overpowering. Lasts a long time! Non- toxic and safe.

Cleaning Paste - Use this environmentally friendly paste to clean, polish, and protect chrome, stainless, aluminum, porcelain and similar surfaces. Good to remove rust. Great for smooth cooktops.

Ultra Plus Laundry Detergent - Use in all laundry for bright, clean clothes, drapes, rugs, bedding etc. Highly concentrated, and low sudsing but very efficient. Use only 1 Tablespoon in top loaders. Use only 1 teaspoon in front loaders! Totally dissolves, no fillers to aggravate allergies! Works great as a carpet shampoo too!

For more information, please visit marilynmollsnorwex.com.

In this utube video, Healthy Child,  the speaker talks about how some chemicals can be 10-65 times more toxic to our children because they have lower body weights and less developed immune systems.

He states that increasing incidences of asthma, allergies, autism, ADHD, diabetes, and childhood cancers have all been linked to environmental toxins.

Yes, investing in our well-being by purchasing safer products sounds “expensive”, but the reality is that it is expensive not to!  For more information go to marilynmollsnorwex.com.

Did you know Whole Foods carries many Organic Foods from China?   I didn’t know any particulars about many of our food sources coming from China even in Whole Foods Stores where I would expect to find reliable choices!

This ABC – I -Team story documents some Organic Foods found in upscale Whole Foods stores are labeled in fine print:  “Made in China.”

Don’t take my word for it, watch this “youtube” documentary for yourself by Clicking Here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y

Made in China? How can we be sure Chinese Organics are certified and reliably labeled?

As always, buyer beware, read labels, and buy local whenever possible! And please post your thoughts below!

Ed Note:

Multi-Pure TM has received many phone calls about Haiti  so I would like to share with you what’s happening with Multi-Pure’s efforts there.   They are working with several emergency response organizations in order to get the filters to people who desperately need them.   We have already shipped out some of our MP911 and EF8 units to doctors and nurses who are transporting them in their suitcases as they’ve flown into the country.

They are currently designing a special filter for Haiti to meet their unique needs.  A very large shipment of those filters will be sent from their factory into the Dominican Republic and then carried across the border, since the seaports and airports are struggling to keep up with their activities.

I feel very grateful to be associated with a company that offers important products  and is actively working to distribute effective filters to people who are struggling with the very basics of survival. Clean water is one of the very first concerns in a disaster. Clean water makes a difference in the lives of those suffering the after-effects of a disaster or just trying to maintain basic health.

If you are traveling to Haiti soon and would like to include some of our emergency filters in your suitcase for delivery, please contact Multi-Pure’s marketing department at 1-800-622-9206.

I know it sounds a bit heretical, but instead, I have been searching through my freezer, pantry, and refrigerated produce bins to see what needs using up and then thinking of a recipe that would use most of the ingredients that are on hand or ready to go bad.

For example, I made a Layered Mexican casserole with the following on hand ingredients:

Crushed leftover tortilla chips, taco seasoned hamburger, fresh cilantro going bad, leftover sour cream about to go bad, leftover Monterey Jack Cheese about to go bad, a smidgen of cream cheese, frozen cherry tomatoes, an avacado, and a can of diced green chilis.

I can’t give the exact measurements, because I just used what I had.  Surprisingly,  a delicious Mexican flair casserole was served with a salad on Saturday movie night.  Mary and I both remarked it was delicious.

Tonight, I made blueberry muffins with frozen blueberries that had been in my freezer over a year, and sour cream in my refrigerator with some previously milled Kamut flour from my freezer.  I served the muffins with Hash Brown Quiche, made with leftover frozen hash browns that had been sitting around for about 6 months, leftover frozen grated cheddar cheese, eggs, milk, and frozen diced green peppers.

All was yummy, all was made with a little of this and that just sitting around.

What can you make with what’s been sitting too long in your freezer, pantry or refrigerator?

Tell me about your adventures in making something delicious with on-hand ingredients!

Photo courtesy of janetishungry.blogspot.com/2007/05/onion-and-…

In fact, the truth is I have wrestled with understanding that trials can have benefits, and perfect my character so I will not be lacking in anything.

No, I have never really wanted to admit, until more recently, that my character needed a little honing.

Nor have I ever understood that “The Joy of the Lord is my strength”. (Nehemiah 8:10)

John 15:10-11 gives me a little more insight:  “If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  These things I have spoken to you, ‘that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full’.”

Obedience, instead of being burdensome, is associated with joy, according to Jesus.  It just clicked in my head.  The fifth commandment admonishes children to obey their parents and it will go well for them.  Likewise, if we obey our Heavenly Father, it goes well with us, and that will bring us joy.

Joy is a choice, not a feeling.  Feelings lie, joy is not like happiness which is only fleeting and based on circumstances.  Most circumstances I have no control over.  Joy is a choice I have the ability to choose.  Today I choose for the Joy of the Lord to be my strength.

“Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.” Thomas Aquinas

Image from sjbrown58.wordpress.com

You see, my kitchen, built in 1975, has never been updated.  The appliances are hanging in by God’s grace, and the dishwasher gave up over a year ago.

The dark, poorly designed outdated cabinets, combined with a small 10 X 10 kitchen space with a low ceiling, and boxed in fluoresent lights all contribute to the closed in boxy feel of the room.

Friends who know my love of cooking can not believe I have put up with this small outdated space as long as I have.

But as I begin the challenging project of selecting  cabinets from the myriad of woods, styles and finishes to say nothing, about appliance choices, counter top choices, lighting choices, and so on, the project becomes overwhelmingly complicated to me.

Fortunately,  God, in his goodness, has provided a good friend with an eye for design to join me in sifting through all the options and zeroing in what will work with the rest of my home, my taste and my limited budget.

Baking bread is so much simpler than kitchen remodeling!

Try Marilyn’s Famous Whole Wheat Bread Recipe Today!

<<<One week ago, the unthinkable happened; the state of Massachusetts elected a Republican senator, and that in an election with a very high voter turn-out.

Since then, we’ve heard countless pundits telling us precisely what Senator Brown’s election does and does not say about our nation. As a general rule, of course, no two of these pundits can actually agree.

Regardless of what the “experts” say, it’s clear to us that Americans are simply tired of out-of-control government and even more out-of-control spending. We want less government, more respect for our money and our personal rights, and greater control over our elected officials.

We’re tired of telling our lawmakers what we want, only to have them ignore us and spend billions of dollars on whatever they feel like anyway.

We want to turn back to the days of limited government and strong personal responsibility. We want to get back to respect for the Bill of Rights, which preserves personal liberties by placing specific government limits into the text of the Constitution.