Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ah, The Sweet Stench of Life

Life with two dogs, three kids, one infant and two semi-adults (that would be Mr. Clean and I) can get quite a bit, shall we say, aromatic. There are those, not so delightful days, when you walk in the house and frankly, wish you lived somewhere else.

Growing up, my house was always immaculate because my mother is a basket case (um... just kidding Mom; sort of) and she was particular about her home and abhorred dust of any kind. The house always had a wonderful smell in the air, a mix of a wood fire in the wood stove, scented candles and fresh drywall (some room in our house was usually being revamped or updated since the house was built in the 30's). To this day, the smell of drywall is one of the most comforting scents to me. More than likely because some chemical in the drywall mud permanently affected my brain.

Scent is important to me. I dream of having one of those houses in laundry soap commercials where the fresh breeze is continually causing the curtains to dance while the house is sun filled and fresh smelling. Not like last night's salmon and cous cous dinner.

So today I was day dreaming once again about a master bedroom with painted walls (ahem... Mr. Clean), a sparkling bathroom with no boys size 7 Joe Boxer underwear left haplessly on the floor from last night's shower (why do I even let the children in my room?) and bright white bed linens scented with a $40.00 bottle of linen water that I cannot afford. Then the thrifty side of me took over. I could make my own linen water. So here is the recipe I intend to use from Nostalgic Homemaking. I will let you know how it turns out...

I have decided NOT to use Absolut in this recipe, LOL! Thanks Heather!

Linen Water

Materials:

Glass or plastic bottles with caps (or spray bottle)

Essential oil (try lavender or rose for traditional scents, jasmine or plumeria blossom for exotic scents)
90 ml non-flavoured, high proof vodka (approx. 3oz)
750 ml distilled water (approx. 25 oz)

Directions:

If you are using a glass bottle, sterilize it with boiling water. If you are using a plastic bottle, pour a little very hot water into your container to rinse it. Let it dry before mixing your linen water.

In the cooled bottle, mix the vodka and 1 teaspoon (5ml) of essential oil together. Close the bottle and shake it well to mix the oil with the alcohol. (The alcohol emulsifies the oil so you will have an
evenly mixed solution.)

Add the 750 ml of distilled water to the bottle. Close the container and shake again to mix the scent and the water.

Use your linen water when making the bed, pressing your linens or simply by misting the air to freshen a room. You can also try misting linen water while you are ironing or try adding a little into your dryer while your table linens are drying. You can store your linen water for 6 to 8 months. Cap your bottles tightly and store them in a cool corner to make them last.

4 comments:

Laura said...

I like this idea! Thanks for the recipe.

This would make a good Christmas gift, too!

Love ya!

Anonymous said...

Great recipe. If you get to lazy (I know I am) try http://www.mrsmeyers.com... the lavender scent is awesome!!! They have just about every kind of cleaning product you can think of and are somewhat reasonably priced (the room spray is 4.99) Some Target's sell it.

Anonymous said...

Ironing? Oh, that is what I'm suppose to do with that thing in the basement!

Samantha from Colonial Curve Cottage said...

Hey you finally got a good use for that vodka!