Laundry Detergent

Finally got around to buying the right things at the store to make some homemade laundry detergent.  I looked up a couple recipes all of what were just slight variations of the same thing.  I did opt for the powder versus the liquid.  It seemed easier to make and store.  It would be interesting to see if there is a performance difference I suppose.


This is the recipe I ended up using.  Basically 2 parts Baking Soda, 2 parts Bar Soap (flaked), 1 part Washing Soda, and 1 part Borax with the borax optional.


I realized I only took one rather stupid picture of the soap I grated.  I used Kirk's Castille bar soap and a hand grater on the smaller notches.  I also added some grapefruit essential oil.


I'll have to follow up how this turns out.

Menu Please

So I just have it on paper and I'm too tired to transfer it on the computer or anything.  I made a menu plan for the week.  I desperately need to go to the grocery store but I struggle with coming home with anything to prepare for a meal.  It end up being just a little of this and a little of that.  Some things I'm looking forward to though is a sweet potato shepherds pie and garlic turkey burgers.  I also hope to add some more greens to my diet via kale chips, omelets, and smoothies. 

Boring blog post I know but hopefully I'll follow up with at least a couple of the new menu items next week.  And I have high hopes of getting a lot done for my daughters new bedroom so hopefully I'll have some material then too.  It's been another tiring day, baby growth spurt maybe?  : )

Cloud Dough

Made some cloud dough today.  It's just flour and oil in a 8:1 ratio.  I only did half because I didn't have enough oil.  I also didn't have baby oil which is what most recipes call for so I just used vegetable oil, just fine with me since I didn't want to eat that stuff.  I added some lavender essential oil since that's about all I have that smells really good to me and decided to throw in some nutmeg because back when I made the hot/cold rice sock I read somewhere that nutmeg and lavender smell nice together.  I honestly couldn't smell it though.

The way I did this was quite messy.  I just set her on the kitchen floor with a bowl some little cups and a cookie sheet.  She ended up spilling it everywhere and was sitting in it.  Then she thought it was really funny to come up and put hand prints on my black pants.  So the planning aspect wasn't the greatest.  This is definitely something to put in a shallow tub on a table with a large mat underneath. 

She made up for the pant marks though she said," Thank you for making this Mommy, I love when yo make me things and read books to me and play with me."

Add caption

I think she like being a flour monster just as much as playing in it

Such a poser

Cookies and Friends

Woot, woot!  3 days of posting in a row.  I've defeated my blogging failure. 

I didn't really 'make' anything very exciting today.  After it was done I realized I am really missing my friend.  It's kind of funny really because I called her this morning but just left a message and missed her return call.  When I made lunch I realized I still had the cookie log that she made me for Christmas so I sliced it up and they are so good and quick.  Now I need to get the recipe, I don't even know for sure what they are called Pecan something I think.  Then for dinner I needed something quick and easy to take a long to rehearsal and once for lunch she served shredded chicken and avocado mixed into like a dip with tortilla chips, so that's what I made.

Overall I had a productive day calling people, getting organized and washing lots of laundry since I had a friend bring over some leftover garage sale clothes.  That has been a life saver so far I desperately needed some more clothes.

New Bedroom!

New to me anyway.  We painted and ripped up carpet and voila, huge transformation and I love it.  Now I just have to get some super neat photography on the wall.  I'm not sure what to technically count this as, I made the carpet disappear or I made a new bedroom, whatever doesn't really matter it's awesome and I'm so happy.

It sure was a lot of work though.  I have a blister on my hand from yanking the staples out of the floor.  Can't complain too much for a beautiful hardwood floor as easy as ripping up the carpet.




Carpet closeup



Before





He borders the celing and writes cut love notes on the wall.  : )



Look at that FLOOR! 







Ta-Da

And if you are wondering why it looks like we have a crib next to our bed it's because we cosleep.  Right now our 3 year old bounces back and forth between us and the crib but we plan to put the newborn in the crib in June and our next big project is our girls bedroom.  Found out she was scared of the plant golden wallpaper, can't blame her.  : )  Anyway the crib idea came from activist Jennifer Coias and you can read all about it at the drmomma peaceful parenting blog here.

If that sparks interest and you want more information on it please check out James McKenna and colleagues research through the University of Notre Dame here.

As far as the bedrrom goes we realized we didn't put on the bedskirt and we have some decorating to do as well as hemming the curtains but so glad we got this far.

Whew!

I've really done it this time.  It's Saturday and I haven't made a blog post since Tuesday.  Now I've been wishy washy about this for a while now and keep thinking about throwing in the towel, but why?  I only have 2 followers (although I love you guys!), and one comment...from my husband.  So why not push through and see what happens.  Plus, I've been really busy improving my life and daily living.  I've also 'made' plenty just so exhausted at the end of the day I haven't wanted to blog.  Writing isn't my strong suit anyway.

So let's start with Wednesday since that's where I left off.  I went to the museum again and made a butterfly face on my daughter.  I also 'made' myself clean, clean, clean.  And we had our second rehearsal for the play we are in where I made blocking notes.  I'm happy to be a part of this show as it's a fundraiser for our hometown community theatre, and it's a mystery dinner show!  How fun!

Thursday was a tired day, so I splurged and made half caff coffee.

Friday I made several phone calls/appointments with the midwife, CPA (for taxes of which reimbursement will go directly to the former), and to go get my hair cut.  I made 3 meals...like not from boxes or bags, breakfast lunch and dinner.  And since I made my Lenten sacrifice of doing dishes and laundry that made for a lot of dishes I also did all day and got completely caught on laundry, even the bedding.  I vacuumed the entire house which doesn't have anything to do with making anything but it was tiring none the less and made me feel very pregnant.

Saturday (today finally) I made some walls PURPLE!  I'm so very excited to have finally made some great progress on getting our and thus my daughters room beautified.  I don't have 'before and after' photos yet because I want to wait until it's finished.  The paint is a nice deep gray/purple which I'm hoping will look awesome with our purple/gray/brown bedspread.  Eeeek!  Alas, even though it's extremely exciting it's even more tiring.  My back is mad at me so off to bed we go. 

*fingers crossed I'll post again tomorrow*

Shame

I missed another post.  I think the honeymoon stage is over and I'm no longer SUPER excited to make something.  It's becoming more of a chore or hassle.  Which is made worse by the fact that I'm overwhelmed with 'stuff' and trying to weed it all out yet need more stuff for projects.  And we are poor, because despite everything we are still one of those dumb Americans living beyond their means.  Not that our means our very high on a one salary household.  I feel some guilt about that often, yet I can't help but want to raise my own babies.

It makes me think of child rearing for some reason or more so that infamous word of 'discipline'.  I remember chatting with a coworker one time, who was saying shame is good and that kids neeed it and use it constructively.  I was really put off of at first, but I sort of see where she was coming from.  Basically cause and effect. If we feel bad about something we will change our behavior.  Except I'm the type of person that will shame myself, too much and the constant negative feelings within myself, God forbid somebody add to that, is so intense it puts me in a state of depresive stasis.  Who knows maybe that's where I am now sort of.  If I can't do something perfectly how I envision I get really upset and usually quit.  So in a way this project if nothing else will hopefully push through whatever rut I happen to be in at the time and show me that even though life isn't perfect, it's still a great life, filled with great people. 
I think the same applies to children.  If they find their own shame in their actions then fine we as parents can help them work through that feeling and find a solution, not just make them feel worse.

On to the whole point of the post I suppose.  I made a decision to give up sloppiness today.  Maybe that's gross and sad that I need to do this, but I'm going to try really hard to not have any laundry or dishes that need doing by the end of the night.  We are somehow going to try to apply it to the whole house but keeping up on laundry and dishes is our main goal.  I'm not sure if 'making' a decision counts but I'm going with it, afterall I'm quite the indecisive person so any decision is a project.

My goal for tomorrow is to make a craft station as it was just floating around until I got tired of it and just put it away, thus no crafts.