Summer

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

My Wrinkle

I am devestated.
At the age of 20 something (did you seriously think I was going to post my age for the world to see?) I have a wrinkle. I thought only old people with kids and bills and a mortgage got wrinkles.....oh yeah I guess I am one of them.
I pray that I can age gracefully and accept the changes!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

AH-HA Moment

I had an Ah-Ha Moment and a well duh moment this week. I had a shirt of Lily's that had a stain (if I had to guess spegatti sauce, her fav) so I washed it in 3 differnt detergents and tried spray and wash, nothing worked. We have this problem often with Lilys shirts, but this was a really cute one her Grandma just bought! So I gave up until I could think of something else to try. I hung it out to dry, in honor of earth week. When I went to get it from outside the stain was almost unnoticble. In fact I am probably the only one that could find it. I was so excited! Then it hit me duh the sun.
When I started cloth diapering I leared that the sun will bleach almost any stain out and you don't have to put harsh cleaners next to your babys skin. If it is a really bad stain a little lemon juice will help the sun along. So it makes sense that it works on clothes as well.
So I guess this is just another added benefit of drying your clothes outside!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Detergent Update

OK
I know you have all been on pens and needles wondering about my homemade detergent and dishwasher soap.
WELL (DRUMROLL).....
Laundry - No problems. It cleans just as good as Tide. I have not used this batch on T's clothes yet because I made it with a strong soap. I am making a batch this weekend with Ivory soap because I will be able to use it on all his stuff. I have not tried the vinegar for softner yet because I am in the middle of a bottle of Downy, but as soon as it is gone we will. I do miss the smell of Tide, but I am going this weekend to get Orange Essential Oil to add to my detergent and cleaning products for a clean scent. Also in honor of Earth Day (or Week in our house) we are not using our dryer (the biggest energy sucker) unless absolutely necessary. We are drying all of our clothes outside!
Dishwasher - Same result, no big problems. I did notice a film on my glasses, but I also noticed my Jet Dry was empty. So I have refilled it and that solved the problem. I also have not tried the Vinegar in the dishwasher as a rinse agent, but as soon as my jet dry is gone we will try that as well.
So Far So Good we are going to try household cleaners next. I will post recipes as I find and try them.
HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Lily's Being Creative




Last week when I told my friends I don't let Lily use scissors they looked at me like I was crazy, so I decided to try. She loves it and it keeps her occupied for 20-30 minutes.




Of course she can't cut with her mouth closed! It's genetic.

Our Peas Have Sprouted

We are so excied our peas have sproted, I am glad to see my hard work is starting to pay off. Of course Lily says it is her garden even though she didnt want to help plant it! Oh well. Anyway here are some pics of the garden so far.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I Bet You Would Have Never Thought!

I bet any of you that have known me for long would have never thought I would cloth diaper a baby or make my own cleaners.
Well these two thinks kinda have to do with one another. Once I started washing T's cloth diapers I starting having some problems with his little tushy breaking out. (I am sure he is going to kill me for this when he gets older!) Anyway so I have tried many different detergents "espically for sensitive skin babies" and no luck. So I started researching how to make laundry soap hoping I could identify what was making his booty red. I was VERY suprised to see how easy and cheep it is to make your own. I also realized that you can make ALL the cleaners you need for your house out of 6 different items (Washing Soda, Baking Soda, Borax, Vinegar, Bleach [never combine the two!] Dawn). So I am giving it a try, why not right. So for any of you that are interested here are the recipes I am trying first. I am starting with what I think are the most used and most expensive cleaners in the house

LAUNDRY DETERGENT
1 bar of soap (Ivory, FelisNepal, or something without oil or fragrance)
1 c of Borax
1 c of Washing Soda
1 c of Baking Soda
Mix all together and use 2TBS for a load of laundry or 1TBS for a load of diapers

DISHWASHER DETERGENT
2 c of Borax
2 c of Baking Soda

Really that is all. For the Fabric softner in your wash you will use white vinegar. You can put it in a Downy Ball or in the Fabric Softner dispenser. And for the Rinse Aid (Jet Dry) in your dishwasher you also use white vinegar.
This solves multiple problems for me. 1. I have 3 different laundry detergents I am using now (one for family, one for T's clothes and one for T's diapers). Not only does this drive me nuts, it sets us up to put the wrong thing in the wrong load and that causes problems! 2. I have to say this is better for the enviroment. 3. It is much less expensive, depending on the soap you use the laundry detergent is between 2-5 cents per load compared to 20 cents per load for Tide. 4. I don't have to keep a thousand different cleaneds on hand for cleaning day.
I have a realization I have come to recently, I think we make things difficult for ourselves. We have to have the bigger house, the more expensive cars, the name brand stuff.... And in doing this we HAVE to work, we lose time with our families because we have to work those hours to pay for things we WANT. If there is a silver lining to the recession thing I think it is that more families are spending time together, grandparents moving in with their kids and helping raise their grandchildren, and basically getting back to the way our Great Grandparents did things. And that was what I was trying to get at (before I got on my soap box!) I want to get back to a simpler way of doing things, the way it was done before all the short cuts.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Thomas' First BAD Habit


I am sure this is the first of many, but Thomas now bangs REPEATEDLY on his tray when he wants more food! It is drving me NUTS! Then he smiles and lays his head on his shoulder when I give him the look. Oh he has me wrapped around his little finger. :(