Updates

I just checked back on my blog and the last time I made laundry soap was Aug 23, with a triple batch.  Today is Jan 15 and I am getting ready to make my next batch of soap.  If you recall it took me about $2 and 45 minutes to make my detergent, but now we see that it has lasted almost 5 months.  Definitely worth that 45 minutes.

I make the dishwasher detergent roughly once a month, taking just a couple of minutes, and most of that time is just getting out the ingredients.  I spend about $2 per batch, once a month to clean dishes for a family of 6.  Definitely worth it, although some have tried to convince me it is cheaper to buy a store brand detergent. 

The pets are still getting along famously.  They both LOVE having a playmate.  In fact this morning (as has happened on a few other occasions) the kitten was chasing the St. Newphie through the house!  Crazy animals!! 

We survived the big storm that came through, and it was a good thing we were stocked up.  We ended up snowed / iced in for 3 days.  Once they were able to clear the roads it was WAY too cold for the salt to melt the snow on the roads.  We got calls from our church on Sunday to let us know all services were cancelled.  The boys ended up with an extended Christmas vacation, finally going back on Thursday (with a 2 hour delay)!!  Mike had 2 days off of work due to the snow emergency we were under - nonemergency people were ticketed for being out on the roads.  Boy was I glad for the boys to get back to school.  I think Molly was glad to get back to her regular routines too.

My Resolution

This year my resolution is to make my crafting business grow.  I want to really make this a profitable activity.  I really enjoy doing it, it allows me to spend much more time at home with my kids.  So along that line of thinking, I have come up with the newest addition to my crafts:  The table cloth fort.  If you follow my page on facebook, I know you've already seen these, but if not (Mom) here they are:  the Barn, the Boy's Castle, and the Girl's Castle.  I am going to add a house too, but since I am designing these and making my own patterns as I go, that one is not ready yet. 

 

BBRRRRRR

We are safely tucked away in the house for the rest of the foreseeable future.  We are waiting for this next snow storm to hit, with 8-14 inches predicted by Monday.  Then the deep freeze hits.  We are going to have a high tomorrow of -9, windchills expected to make it feel like -30 to -45.  All my Texas relatives.... enjoy your warmth!!  The children have orders to not open the curtains until the cold snap breaks to help the furnace.  We went to Meijer today - ours was for our regular weekend grocery run - and it was worse than Black Friday shopping.  We got into the self serve check out lane and just cringed at the long lines.  Mike left me in line with the groceries and he started bagging groceries for everyone in front of us so the line would move faster.  As it was, we got in line at 1:20 and left the store at 2:10.  But we have plenty of food, water, and toilet paper (and cookies baked by Aunt Jenny).  We have the snow plow scheduled to come plow the drive after the worst of the snow stops.  We have gas for the generator.  Blankets, flashlights and batteries gathered.  Plan to all sleep in the same room in the basement if we lose power.  And we have lots of board games and things to do.  Mike is prepared to take Monday off of work as a vacation day due to weather.  The boys are already scheduled to have Monday off school since it is the beginning of the second semester and it is teacher in service day.  And I bet school is called off on Tuesday too due to the cold -13 expected for Tuesday.  That's actual temp, not windchills.  The news reported that today one of the Meijer's in the area (not the one we shopped at) ran completely out of meat.  So now that we are completely prepared...... let the storm totally miss us!!!

The Girls

Ever since we got Sadie, almost 4 years ago, she has wanted nothing as badly as to play with the kittys.  We had 2 old lady cats who wanted nothing as badly as for Sadie to just go away and leave them alone.  Well, both those old ladies have moved on to a better place, with lots of fat mice and NO DOGS!  A couple of weeks ago we got our new kitten Fluffy.  Fluffy was around dogs in her birth home so she pretty much just looks at Sadie and is like "Whatever".  Now that Fluffy is comfortable in her new home, she has started playing with Sadie.  The other night she was laying between Sadie's front paws, attacking Sadie's face.  Today she was locked onto one of Sadie's front legs, biting and scratching.  Today Sadie took that for about 30 seconds with no reaction then PLOP!  Sadie drops her other leg over Fluffy's body, pinning her to the floor.  Sometimes we just have to "put our foot down" and say Enough is Enough!