Homemade Laundry Soap

I finally got around to making laundry soap while we were snowed in for four days and we ran out of the store bought version.

I've seen this a few different times and my sister has been using it for a while so I decided to give it a try.

I love it!

The clothes come out of the washer smelling clean. Just clean. No weird perception of what rain or sunshine smells like. it just smells like nothing which is a wonderful scent.

It was easy to make too.

I started with this recipe. (she even breaks down the cost so you can see for yourself that it saves money. Plus it's better for you, I can't even inhale when I walk down the soap aisle at the grocery store, yuck!)

After talking to my sister I made a triple batch (one bar of Fels Naptha). Do all of your dissolving on the stove per the recipe, transfer the mixture into a five gallon bucket and top it off with water. You won't use as much water as the recipe calls for but it just means you'll end up with a slightly higher concentration.

Check Amazon for Fels Naptha first, I've been told it's the best place to buy it.

We've been using it for about a week and it's fantastic. We are going to try and make a bucket with a spout big enough to allow the gel like consistency of the soap through. I'll let you know how that works.

Right now, I just want to go wash everything in my house. Which is saying something because I hate doing laundry.

Recently Starred

Just for fun, here's some of the things I've been starring lately on Google Reader.



White Chocolate Raspberry Bites from New Nostalgia. I can't wait for my raspberries to produce!

Miniature snowmen from Meet the Dubiens. I have a fun spin on this idea planned for the boys.

I love this just because. I was thinking laundry room rather than a bathroom though.

Starwars snowflakes. Who wouldn't love these!?

Rolling storage crate. I need one of these for my livingroom with a lid.

Reading Challenges: Week 4

I'm a little bit behind on updating my reading challenges. Actually, it's taking me longer to read The Scarlet Letter then it probably should...but I'm almost done!
To back track a little, here's week four.


The Scarlet Letter
I'm not done with this one yet...but I will be soon. So far I like it. It started out a little slow (actually the introduction seemed to go on forever) but once the story got going it has turned out be to pretty good. We'll see how it ends!
Reading Challenges:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die Book 3
The Unread Book Challenge Book 7
Historical Fiction Book 4
 52 Books in 52 Weeks Book 4
100+ Books
150+ Books

Mrs. Dalloway
I didn't particularly like this book. I chose to listen to it on audio book and it was a bit hard to concentrate as it didn't hold my interest. Maybe because I have no patience for frivolities in real life. I frankly think Clarisse is a bit of a snob, the type of person whose money makes them blind to reality. This isn't a book that would make my must read list.
Reading Challenges:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die Book 4
52 Books in 52 Weeks Book 5
Historical Fiction Book 3
Audio Book Challenge Book 1
150+ Books

Beatrix Potter Collection

I believe I found this at a garage sale for around a dollar (I LOVE finding books at garage sales). Beatrix Potter is a classic, I would recommend it to anyone with littles. We read The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. I plan on working our way through all of the stories, they are all precious, I remember reading them when I was a child.
Reading Challenges:
Excellence in Reading
3660 Minutes

Valentine Printables

I put together my wall for Valentines this weekend.

There are SO many cute printables out there for people to use. These are the ones I used.

There are several color options. I went with the pink and black.


Love the pink and gray color scheme!


These are technically cupcake toppers but I scaled it down to fit my 4x6 frame and used it as is.


Again...just re-sized to fit a 4x6 frame.





I have a couple of finishing touches and then I will show you my wall!

Organizing Eye Candy

Every once in a while when I need a little break and some inspiration I Google "organizing ideas" and go to images. I limit myself to about five minutes, otherwise I would be lost forever.

I just thought I would share a few ideas that caught my eye recently.

The Crafty Crow I actually have burlap and some of that plastic sheeting in my stash. I love this idea for my boys' room. I think I'll use grommets at the top so it's easy to move around.

When Monkey is a couple of years older I want to switch their bunkbed out for loft beds. So much more floor space.

Cute cute ribbon storage

Snow

We have been having some crazy weather lately. The first two days of snow was pretty fun. The kids got to go outside and play and the roads were clear.

The Boys' aunts and uncles gave them these sleds for Christmas. We don't have any hills but The Mister and I tied ropes to them and pulled the boys around the yard, they had a blast!

Monkey was in this picture but he absolutely would not hold still.

Whenever it snows we have to make snow cones.

On the third day we got hit with 18" of snow and ice. It went downhill from there. I will have pictures of that mayhem eventually.

Halloween

I never posted our Halloween pics. Oops. I'm going through my pics so here we go....

Isn't he so stinking cute!?

Carving pumpkins.

We grew all of these little pumpkins in our garden this year. They were just the right size for the boys.

I borrowed Mr. Potato Head's pieces to create my pumpkin.

We had Captain Jack Sparrow and Buzz Lightyear. We waited until the last minute and then I took the boys to the store. I just let them pick a costume because they were all half off the day before Halloween. Sometimes procrastination works out well for me.

Monkey picked Buzz Lightyear right away and was ecstatic. Bubby went through every costume at least three times until I was ready to explode. I refused anything that was bleeding or resembled something dead. I'm not that kind of Halloween person.

Word(s) Of The Year

I've seen posts all over blogland for the past couple of years where people talk about the word for their year. I decided to pick one (or three) of my own. 

I guess it's kind of like setting resolutions but I don't do well with resolutions so I figure I might be a little more successful with fairly broad terms.

Here goes....

Create - I want to spend more time "doing" art with my boys, designing scrapbooking pages, making gifts for friends and family. having a home that is welcoming and comfortable, finishing projects, learning new skills, and building my blog. I want to surround myself with others that create. I want to seek out time and spaces where everything else it put aside and creating is the only purpose.

Simplify - schedules, belongings, homeschool.
My So-Called Chaos chose the word "simplify" this year and she included in her post this image

I love it. Life gets too complicated. We worry about what others think, about fitting in, about having the best, about appearing smart, wealthy, etc.

Celebrate - take pictures, play in the snow, make birthdays special, laugh until I cry, live in the moment, celebrate who I am and what is right for our family.

There are some wonderful posts out there talking about people's choices for their word of the year and why they chose them. These are a few of my favorites.
C'est Chouette
Perfectly Imperfect
My So-Called Chaos
The Shabby Nest
Infarrantly Creative

Our latest zoo trip

We get to visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium fairly often. The boys' aunts and uncles have given them memberships the last few years for Christmas. We LOVE it!

These pictures are from our latest trip which was New Years weekend. It was cold but the rain held off until the very end of the day so it turned out to be a lot of fun.

 

 My two little snails.

The zoo has an amazing play area with all kinds of activities, a petting zoo, and animal displays mixed in.

 I think this is supposed to be a sea anemone but with Bubby in his brown coat it reminds me of a baby bird in a nest.

Peacocks wonder all over the property. This one heard we had snacks and came to investigate.



Good + Happy Day

I recently found a blog I wanted to share with you... Good + Happy Day.

Patricia shares fun ideas for your home and children. I simply love her pictures. Her home is white simplicity, wood warmth, and there is just a pinch of rainbows thrown in. It's inspiring me to simplify our home and brighten everything up.

Here is the perfect example!

She has recently been sharing her art adventures with her three girls including this fun idea for family portraits

I love that my boys draw and draw and draw. However I have no less than 100 pieces of red construction paper with multi colored scribbles on them that Monkey completed last Saturday.

Art has never been my strong point so days tend to pass by and we never get around to all of the fantastic ideas I have saved up. Patricia has inspired me to focus a little more on the task at hand and gently guide the boys in their creativeness.

I will be able to check off some of the "to-dos" on our school list this year, and the boys will be able to experience using so many of the wonderful art and craft supplies we have on our shelves.

I love my smart phone

A few months ago I upgraded to a smart phone. I debated and debated and debated until I had one of those mornings when my laptop was acting up (again) and I was trying to get out the door and I just wanted to check my stinking email! So I broke down and ordered one. I love it. It does everything. Well it doesn't fold the laundry, but just about everything.

Anyways, this is one of those great ideas I had that I'm sure you all have thought of but I'm going to pretend like I'm the first person to ever think of it.

I love to flip through magazines and for a long time I would rip out pages that I wanted to save for ideas or recipes or whatever. They usually ended up floating all over the house and I never figured out a good organization system for them.

Enter my phone. I use my phone for my primary camera these days, I always have it with me, and it's easy to upload pictures to my Web Picasa account. So, one night I had this great idea to take pictures of things in the magazine so that I can add it to my Evernote files.

Wah lah! (or however you would spell that)

Project I want to try

Wine I want to drink

Book I want to read

Modge podge glass plate stand I'm totally stealing the idea for

Isn't technology a wonderful thing!? When it's working properly....

All of these pictures are from Country Living Magazine

 

FIAR: The Glorious Flight Part 1

I am changing things up a bit and we will be using each FIAR book for two weeks rather than one. We just don't have time to get to everything and really enjoy it.

The Glorious Flight

I really enjoyed this book as did Bubby. The names made it a bit difficult to read but I just pronounced them how I wanted and moved on.

One of our go along reads came from a fantastic set of hand me down magazines my sister received from a friend.

The particular one we read was about flight of course but I can't find that issue online and I didn't take a picture of it.

We did some experiments from the Magic School Bus Flight Kit

I've posted about these before, Bubby still enjoys using them. I pull out the word families that we have covered in reading and he usually picks five or six to do before he moves onto something else.