Homemade | Helpful

I have always been one who enjoys
homemade foods. When visiting a
friend recently, I made several
batches of a homemade Sloppy Joe
Mix. At least you know what goes
into it, which is different than
most packaged goods.

My friend, friendly only (not
friends) with cooking and the
kitchen seemed to like it and
enjoy how it tasted. Their
specialty: boiling water.

Given the opportunity, I will do
that with anything...even, making
my own pancake mix, bagels, breads.

There is a Domestic Goddess within
this Goddess who loves things that
are as simple as possible, even
if they take a little more work.

A niece of mine was amazed one time
how everything we made was from
scratch, and her mom made everything
from packages. I'd like to think I
inspired her with the cooking we did,
but who knows?

Anyway, there is also a crafty,
creative side to me, and I recently
heard of two things that I thought
might be helpful to the parents and
sports players out there: homemade
cold and hot compresses.

For the cold compress mix rubbing
alcohol and water and put into a
freezer bag. The more alcohol,
the softer it will be.

You can also use an old sock filled
with bird seed or rice. Just keep
in the freezer until needed.

For the hot compress, you can also
use the sock filled with rice or
bird seed. You just stick the
sock in the microwave until warm
(try 20 seconds to begin with).
It is also recommended that you
put it in with a cup of water, so
that you have less of a risk of
overheating or catching fire.

If you use either of these ideas,
please let me know how it goes.
:)

The best thing would be, of course,
that you would never need either
one...