Naturally Optimistic

In this post I talked about making homemade laundry soap. Almost 15 months later I am making a 2nd batch! What a money saver this has been! Oh and I have been using MORE than one cup of it per load, I think it isn't *quite* as strong as my beloved Tide. But still. 15 months! It probably cost us about $4 to do laundry for a year (not including, you know, power, water & mental anguish, of course. Hooray for the homemade!

My friend Lindsay posted this recipe for laundry soap a while back. It coincided perfectly with a scary presentation we had at ECFE about chemicals in all of our products & how toxic the environment is. So, I thought now is the time to break my addiction to TIDE (oh how I love thee!!). Plus its ridiculously cheap to make. And that fits into my budget right now. Here's the recipe: 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap (found in the laundry soap section) 1 c. Arm & Hammer WASHING Soda (Not baking soda!! Also found in the cleaner/laundry section) 1/2 c. Borax (same section) 5 gallon bucket Clean, empty laundry detergent container Essential Oils (optional) 1.Grate the bar of soap and throw it in a saucepan with 4 c. water over med-high heat. Stir until all the soap is melted. 2. Fill the 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. 3. Add the melted soap/water, washing soda and borax to the 5 gallon bucket. 4. Fill the bucket the rest of the way up with water. Give it a whirl, cover and let it ...

Today we: Built many castles, houses, dog houses, garages; had numerous birthday parties, slid down slides & ran in & out of the rain - all with Dahlia's little people - all by 8am. Colored many a picture in the new Princess color book & the Dora color book. Dug out lots of tiny pink newborn clothes that I am now going to put in the "giveaway" or "sell" pile in the basement. August is clearly a boy & I'm not going to get away with dressing him in purple cupcake onesies as much as I might like. It makes me a little bit sad....but it is time...*sniff* Fed & pumped - numerous times. Went for a walk to the playground. It's only 4 blocks down & 3 over but coming back UP the hill pushing the double stroller qualifies as my workout for today. Ate lunch & executed a perfect "it's now nap time" "No, REST time, Mama" "Okay, rest time." Read approximatelly 1 1/2 pages in my book. Called the bank to inqui...

*Get two kids changed, dressed, fed, etc. (repeat throughout the day) *Make banana bread for weekend camping trip *Make pickle/cream cheese roll up thingys for Carolyn's party tonight *Make veggie pizza for Carolyn's party tonight *Cut up pineapple for tonight/weekend *wash dishes *Pack for weekend camping trip Included but not limited to: clothes for self + 2 kids swimsuits diapers swim diapers wipes towels sunscreen bug dope sleeping bags sheets potty chair changing pad therma rests air mattress tents camp chairs head lamps beach ball + sand toys mosquito netting for Auguts bouncy seat Food camping 'box' with supplies *lunch with a friend (we'll see if I get that squeezed in or not) *putting puzzles together with Dahlia *clean house for upcoming visitors Bertil & Maud (from Sweden) + Sudhara next week! I'm tired already.

I've been doing a lot of laundry lately....

I have a boatload of things that I want to accomplish today. So instead of writing this post at the end of day, chronicling what I've gotten done, I'm going to list my accomplishments right now...and then see how I do.... * get up & get Dahlia & I 'ready' for the day. *unload dishwasher & dish drainer *bake cookies *clean back bedroom (for tomorrow's guests!) *dust/vacuum downstairs *prime 2 bedroom walls (behind non-connected radiators) *paint quarter round for our bedroom *decorate for Halloween *run errands to grocery store & "Riley" apt *start painting radiators *sweep/vacuum upstairs *make thank you cards for Halloween goodies from Gma & Gpa & Auntie Kathy So, we'll see how I do...wish me luck!

Spent all day at the old house, pretty much...well we started the day by taking Miss Dahlia up to Grandma B's house and picking up a desk, dresser and a few other things that we had stored there (most fun - my fabric cabinet! Whohoo!). Dahlia spent the day there, thank goodness and we went to work. We packed up all the remaining CRAP (and I mean, crap, really) in the old house and then Steve brought the truck/trailer home and I stayed there and cleaned. How fun. Vacuuming, scrubbing, wiping, getting the baseboards de-dustified, more vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the oven & fridge (two of my most FAVORITE tasks. Blech. and hauling more crap out and into the garage. I left a huge pile of garbage for the garbage man. I hope they love me! haha. Pretty much everything is done - well, there's one box that's too heavy for me in the basement & some hanging coats/costumes which are too high for me. There are two cans of paint brushes in thinner which I don't know what to ...

Ugh, We're still moving stuff out of the old house. My god. I'm so sick of it. Today we were going to get an early start - but didn't. No big surprise there. We got over there and Dahlia who previously was good as gold, was whiny & clingy and wouldn't let us work! I managed to get some of the upstairs vacuumed and the bathroom cleaned but that was about it. We moved a ton of crap out of the basement (a mini-pickup truck's worth) but there's still more. Tomorrow Grandma B is watching Dahlia so we should be able to just get it done quickly. Oh and a FUN note! It was really cold in the house. The thermostat was set at 60 but it was only 59 (felt much colder). So we tried to turn it on...nothing. Steve hit the "reset" button on the furnace...it would run for about 30 seconds and shut off...we tried this a few times, him at the furnace, me at the thermostat...one time he comes flying up the basement stairs and runs out into the yard...apparently the ven...

I just did two loads of laundry - with no soap. Awesome. Sort of defeats the whole purpose of the "high efficiency" thing, eh?

Ah my first loads of baby laundry! I loved it but know that will pass quickly enough. It was just so much fun to take everything out and sort & wash/dry & fold it. Now if we could just get the baby's room DONE so I can put it away. Hmph. I have 3 options for a "going home" outfit....I'm trying to decide which I think will work the best. Of course not knowing how big Baby B is that might be difficult until later but at least there are options. Wheeeee! Me? I'll be wearing my uniform of late - black velour sweatsuit (jump suit?) which I love. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs from my sister. In other news - I didn't screw up dinner last night. Thank goodness. It would've been pretty hard to screw up anyway. I picked a recipe & bought ingredients. I had Steve throw everything in the crockpot around lunchtime yesterday...I added some peas & onions and voila! "Easy Chicken Ala King" - I even made biscuits (okay - trans-fat free bisquic...