Home Remedy for Outdoor Fly Repellent

Yall its HOT here in Texas and we have flies so bad this year.  Seems like they are invading us by droves...or would that be swarms?  Anyway I have a DIY remedy for outside use. 

According to Pinterest flies HATE pine-sol!  I decided to give this homemade repellent a try, never hurts to try huh?  It only costs me $2 for this experiment. I was at Walmart so I picked up the spray bottle for .97 cents and the "PineGlo" for .98 cents.  Cheap enough for an experiment.

This is a 50/50 mixture of pine-sol and water.  My spray bottle is marked clearly with 24 oz, but also says it holds 32 oz.  Anywho.....

Step 1:
I poured in the pineglo in to the 12 oz mark.

Step 2:
I added water to the 24 oz mark and then replaced the sprayer nozzle onto the bottle.

Step 3:
Mark your spray bottle accordingly so you know what you're spraying.

Step 4:
Spray the area outside that you will want to keep flies away from.

I sprayed all around the seating area on the patio and then sprayed the perimeter of the back door going into the house too.  Right away the flies were beginning to disappear.  I was impressed!  I'm not going to tell you that ALL the flies disappeared, because they didn't, but there were very few and it was a much more pleasant atmosphere to sit and enjoy our patio.

NOTE:  Right away I thought this would be an excellent thing to keep in the RV/camper for those camping trips where flies think they are invited to the party.  Um, no flies, not YOU!


Flies in the house...that's another story for another time.  I found another remedy for that but I haven't tried it yet.  I'll let you know if it works.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!
I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch

DIY Camper Waste Tank Cleaner

We love our camper and we love camping, but sometimes it can become a bit spendy with the upkeep of it all.  We ran out of the chemicals you need to freshen the waste tank, so I went looking on Pinterest for a more household friendly solution. Thanks Love Your RV!

Borax Detergent and Calgon Water Softener was the best solution I found. This combination is way cheaper and last way longer than those little bottles of blue chemicals. Win!

For our recipe you will need:

1/2 cup Borax Detergent

1/4 cup Calgon Water Softener

1 bag of ice

After cleaning out your waste tank the best you can, you will add the recipe above directly into the toilet in the same order listed. The Borax helps control the odors and cleans the tank, the Calgon makes the water softer and more slippery which helps waste from sticking to the bottom of the tank. The bag of ice trick  is a process my Daddy taught us and it acts as a "scrubber" to loosen waste from the tank.   We normally add this mixture to the toilet on our way home from a camping trip so the ice can do its job as the camper jiggles and jumps down the highway.

The combination of these three items will save your nose and your camper's atmosphere from the stinkies!  

Want to know more about camper tips?  Click below.

Camper Repairs 

DIY Floor Update 

Fridge Makeover 

DIY Cabinet Update

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
We Call It Junkin

Clover House's Top 10 Posts of 2014 - A Year in Review

Whoa! What a collection of top posts we have for the year 2014! It's quite the diverse collection of subjects, that's for sure!  One thing though, we couldn't have done it without all of our visitors this past year.  THANK YOU!

Here's our top 10 project posts of 2014.  Just click on the link below each picture to be taken to the original post, there you can read all the good information that a lot of people found interesting too!  Enjoy! :)

#1 - Building a Drop-in Kitchen Cabinet

#2 - DIY Soft Summertime Feet

#3 - How to Clean Your Return Air Vent

 #4 - Make Your Stainless Sink Shine - My Natural Secret Ingredient

#5 - Old Book Page Heart - How to Make Paper Roses

 #6 - Pantry Remodel Revealed - You Won't Believe the Before and After

 #7 - Cleaning Your Hairbrush the Easy Way

#8 - Yarn and Felt Valentine Wreath with Loopy Felt Flower How-tos

#9 - RV Fridge Makeover with Chalk Paint

 #10 - 2 x 4 Candy Corn - A Tutorial

People love a good how-to, that's for sure!  I hope you've enjoyed browsing our top 10 posts of 2014!  Did you get some good ideas?  I hope you pinned them to try later! Thank you to all who visit our blog and especially to the readers who take time to leave a sweet comment, we love comments!   Keep watching in 2015 for more great ideas, recipes, tips and tricks!  :)

Would you like to see our 2013 in Review?  Even more awesomeness HERE.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
We Call It Junkin

Campfire Foil Packs

Recently we took a little 3 day camping trip to Lake Murray State Park in Oklahoma. It was beautiful and oh so peaceful!  While we were there we made this yummy recipe and I thought I'd share it with you.

These campfire foil packs are very easy to prepare and I believe you're going to love them as much as we do.  Oh and in case you aren't planning a camping trip anytime soon, these can be made at home on your grill or in the oven too.

First of all you need to decide what you want in your foil packs.  We chose smoked sausage (we like Eckrich skinless beef), yellow bell pepper, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, whole garlic cloves, salt and pepper.

Build your packet with the amount of goodies you think you need and top with a tablespoon of butter.

Fold up the sides of  your packets to form a good seal.  This keeps all the steam and juices in.  Place them on your campfire for about 20-30 minutes depending on how much you placed in your packs.  If you want to use your oven, it would be 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I marked our packs with H for hot and M for mild.  My honey loves his hot stuff, me, not so much!

Just look at this yumminess!  The combination of flavors is so good!  We made extras for the night we traveled home, that way I didn't have to cook after all the unpacking and such that goes on after a trip.  I've also made these at home and we had leftovers for lunches the next week.  Yum!

How about a few pictures of our trip?  If you follow my Instagram (ddcamp170) you've already seen these pictures, but if not.....you're welcome! :)  This is our rig just before we left our house early that morning.

This is our little camp site in the Oklahoma Lake Murray State Park in Cedar Cove, lot #10 to be exact.  The lake was just a rocks toss away.  We loved it!

The friends we met at the marina.  Can you see the giant fish in the water?  The marina had food to feed them too!  We went to the marina to purchase a one day fishing license for my honey, he loves to fish.

This is our first sunrise there.  I took this sitting on our "front porch" looking out toward the lake.  So quiet and peaceful there.

Here's my honey checking his minnow trap.  The Oklahoma minnows were way too smart for this trap, either that or they just were not hungry.  He never caught not even one even though there were thousands of them swimming around his feet.

And our final sunrise of the trip.  God's work is amazing isn't it?  We will definitely go back sometime soon.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
We Call It Junkin