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!

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas!!  Everyone wanted the big box to be their gift.  Big groans from everyone except Steven when it was placed in front of him.  The gift of warmth - new winter coat, new boots, new gloves.

 Molly is loving her bike.  She has learned to climb up and down from it, but as with most toddlers, pedaling is still a mystery.  Her bike even has a baby seat on the back for a doll.  That was what sold me on that bike!

 A rare picture of Pete- smiling even.  Only because he was trying to hide his face behind the ball and wasn't fast enough!

Zach opening his RC helicopter.  His favorite gift of the day.  As usual, Mom was behind the camera taking the pictures.  Christmas started very calmly.  Mike and I were woken up early by the kitten - even before the  kids were up, so we made a hot breakfast - egg, potato, sausage and cheese "muffins" which were ready when the kids got up.  We all ate our breakfast before the gift opening.   This year, Mike handed out the gifts, so I got to just watch which was great.  Steven's favorite gift?  2 new pairs of jeans.  Funny how things change with age.  My favorite gift was the sewing machine I got a couple weeks ago when my other one died.  Mike got his favorite - Chocolate Charlie candy, a huge Snickers bar, and some other, not quite so exciting gifts.    We had a nice day - everyone was off line all day.  We watched Zach's new movie and the boys all took turns playing the new Wii game Pete got (his favorite gift) - some kind of car racing game that Mike picked out and is apparently a hot item - we didn't even know that, Mike just thought it sounded fun and it met my game rating criteria. 

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas - relax now that the rush is done.

Conversation

Mike (as he was starting my car to check some kind of gauge and the teenagers were helping to empty all the crap their stuff out of my car)  Honey, did you do a lot of driving today?

Me (picture me after just returning from my tax class)  No, just to class and back, why?  (looking to see why he's asking, see him still looking at the gauges) Oh, because I'm almost out of gas?  Could be that I filled my tank Friday and since then you made 3 trips to the big city, with a fully loaded trailer helping your parents move and never put any gas back in my car .......

Mike (a bit sheepishly) Oh.  Yeah.

UpDate

I was asked if I could elaborate on just how much laundry soap is made by my recipe.  So, I just spent the last 45 minutes making a triple batch.  It was a week or two earlier than I normally would have made it, but in the interest of science, and because it's been a while since I actually calculated, I decided that today was the day.

Now, here's one tip:  I hardly ever make a single batch.  If you recall it takes about a half hour to make one.  Since I use a 5 gallon bucket, a double batch can be done in the same amount of time.  Since I'm in the middle of day 2 of solid laundry..... I decided on a triple batch.  While I was mixing the detergent and filling bottles I was boiling water and melting the soap for the last batch, saving more time there.  If I had done these all individually, it would have taken me an hour and a half total.  But I digress.  I had 4 of the large 96 load size detergent bottles - they say 1.17 US gallon - (you know the ones with the dispenser nozzle made to sit on it's side and not have to be picked up?).  That is the size detergent we used to buy, so I have several of those and then a couple of the smaller, pourable sizes.  I fill the pourable bottles from the large ones as needed.  That allows me to be able to pick up the bottle to shake before use.  Also, since this is a gel detergent, it does NOT come out of that little dispenser .... found that out the hard way the first time I made soap!  My triple batch filled 4 of those 1 1/4 gallon bottles.  When I fill these bottles, I'm not so neat even though I use a 4 cup measuring cup to pour into my funnel, so I pour on top of a towel (I also do that when I fill the smaller bottles).  I spill enough on that towel that I put it in the next laundry load without adding more soap.  So that made about 5 gallons and I estimate that this will last me through the end of the year.  I only used 1 bar of soap, 1 1/2 Cups of Borax, and 1 1/2 Cups of Washing Soda total for all 3 batches.  Again let me remind you that washing soda and baking soda are NOT the same.

The soap cost me about a dollar for one bar
The Borax was about 3 dollars for a box
The Washing soda was about 3 dollars for a box
And my recipe barely makes a dent in those boxes.  Let's estimate high and say I used a dollar for the soap and a dollar total for the borax and washing soda..... $2.00 for 4 jugs of soap and 45 minutes out of my day.  Some people think it is too much bother to make your own, but for me, it's worth my while.