Laundry Recipe

I have had a couple of requests for the recipe I use for laundry detergent. I can't take credit for this one, a friend of mine turned me on to it. It is very similar to another recipe I have seen on the net but you have to mix with boiling water to make a gel. This one just stays a powder. I use to plastic containers that sit on my dryer. In one container I mix half of borax and half of baking soda ( the recipe actually calls for washing soda but in our small area I have had trouble finding it, the baking soda seems to work just as well). In the second container I use shredded ivory soap. I keep a tablespoons in one of the containers to transport to the machine. I usually use 3-4 tablespoons of the powder mixture and 3-4 of the ivory soap. So far I really can tell no difference other than the overpowering fragrance that you get from Gain. Soon I am going to start experimenting with how little of amounts of each to still get the same results.

My New Frugal Life

Today I went thrifting. I am really trying to stick to the plan of not buying anything new for the next few months. This book is a huge time line of the world and it was 2.95.

I have been collecting baskets recently for the purpose of using them to give gifts in such as baked goods. These were 1.00 each.

This is my new jar to use for homemade cookies and sweets. The jar was 3.00. I was looking at a ceramic canister set for 18.00 but thought that was too much. I really need one to store all the flour, sugar, etc. that I am using now for cooking from scratch. Depending on what the monthly bonus is will determine if I go back and get it in a couple of weeks. I am not buying any cookies or sweets anymore from the store, baking all our own. I finally got the bread to start rising and here is a pic of the first one, already baked another.

Living this way is hard work. Last night we went to get groceries that need to last us for 2 weeks. I am feeding 4 people, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and a bunny. I decided I needed to start writing out a grocery list and estimate all the prices to get an idea of what we would be spending, because there wasn't much there to spend. I also wrote out a menu plan to ensure that there would be no extra trips to the store. I was pleasantly surprised to come in $20 under budge with $144.50. So that is $72.25 for the week. I have crocheted three more wash clothes. We will not be buying any more paper plates, or napkins and cutting way back on paper towels. This past year I cross stitched about 20 ornaments for gifts and never got around to making them. Couldn't find what I needed in the crafts stores to finish the gifts in an economical fashion. I had a brain storm the other day and will be getting them finished for this Christmas. I will post a pic when one is done. I have to say I am really enjoying this new lease on life and trying to find new ways to save money. Oh, almost forgot, also made more laundry detergent today.

Art Giveaway Winner

A winner has been chosen:

Congrats to Wendy! She has been contacted by my husband via email.

Thanks for all the entries.

Drama, Snow, and Schoolwork

Got up this morning to go to fine arts classes. I dropped Grace off for her chorus and handicrafts class so I could go check on mom and see how she was fairing after the infusion yesterday. I had seen her worse. Some nausea and vomiting but not as bad as the times before. Got back for drama at 12:00. We have about 25 kids in the drama department and right now we are practicing for The Music Man. You would not believe how pumped these kids are about dancing and singing. Even the boys. They are loving it. The costumes are going to be fabulous. During the last hour of drama it started snowing. No snow was was in the forcast for our area or anywhere close to us. It snowed and sleeted for the next three hours. It snowed pretty heavily off and on but not much stuck. Did some schoolwork this afternoon ( Tuesdays and Thursdays are always our light book work days due to fine arts classes). Finished The Sign of the Beaver. Baking bread again, hopefully this one will rise just like the last. Crossing my finger. Taking a school day off tomorrow to go have a play date with friends, then off to dinner and the grocery store with hubby.

Typical Day and Update on Mom

Typical day. Do homeschooling families actually have typical days? I would have to say that no two days really look the same around here. We are constantly studying different things and going different places. Here is what a Wednesday looked like at our house:

1. Science- Started back reading our Zoology book about flying creatures. New chapter is Social Insects.
2. Math - Working in our new Life of Fred book about Fractions, also working on the new Pet Store Business math book from Simply Charlotte Mason.
3. Just about finished reading The Sign of the Beaver. Grace really has enjoyed this book. Next on the agenda for History will be a book about James Monroe. If I haven't mentioned it before we are going through American History chronologically using the Truthquest History Guides.
4. Olympics Lapbook - I purchased a lapbook from Currclick about the Winter Olympics and Ancient Greece. So far this has interested Grace more also. I am trying to get her to start working a little more independently with the lapbooks.(i.e. reading and finding answers to questions, research, etc).
5. Finished the third spelling book in the series from Queenhomeschool and now starting a dictation book from Simply Charlotte Mason.
6. Grace is reading Mr. Popper's Penguins for fun for 15 minutes each day.
7. Proverbs Bible Study and Scripture memorization.
8. Pronouns for grammar.
9. Grace also reads for 30 minutes each night a book of her choice. Lately she has been spending her reading time with either Percy Jackson or The Warrior Series.

Grace also enjoyed working on her new crochet project today. We had to get school finished early today because I had a doctor's appt. (just yearly physical). Blood pressure is up a bit and will have to watch that, both my parents have high blood pressure. Speaking of parents, my mom started her infusions again today and will be every week for another three weeks. We did get the CT scan results and there has been no new growths and the tumors that are there have not grown. So all in all good CT results.

Field Trip

Today our handicrafts class went on a field trip. First we headed to the yarn store and each student got to pick out yarn for a new project. Grace will be making a scarf and hat. Then we were off to brunch at a local cafe owned by one of the students in our class. The cafe specializes in tea and light meals. Each girl got a sandwich, soup, and tea. The hot tea of choice was vanilla and the cold tea was a special concoction from their cafe which was made out of tea and 10 different fruit juices. Yum! Grace got a peanut butter sandwich in the shape of a butterfly, grapes, and a piece of chocolate cake. The girls felt very grown up with all the beautiful dishes.

I had a chicken salad sandwich. They students are already planning the next trip to the cafe.

This Weekend

This weekend was fairly quiet. We were supposed to have two families over for games and cards on Saturday night but the weather predicted a major ice storm, so we postponed for another night. The ice storm kind of fizzled out. Branches of trees were covered with ice, but the roads were fine and power never went out. Friday we hung around the house alot and hubby got alot of wood cut up for the wood stove. Saturday we were starting to get a little cabin fever and after lunch decided to go to one of the major libraries we love so much that is 50 minutes from the house. We checked out a total of 35 books. Some of the selections were about the Olympics and Ancient Greece which is one of the studies we will be starting this coming week. Also checked out some materials on taking care of poultry, simple living, bread making, and art. Tried to make bread again in the oven (nothing has been rising for me) added an egg to the recipe and what do you know, it rose. Success!!!! I was so happy, starting to feel very discouraged about the whole bread making thing. I had resolved to use the bread maker, but felt that was kind of like cheating. Also made from scratch cookies for snacking, muffins for breakfast, and brownies this afternoon for the Chili cookoff we are going to tonight at church. Brother-in-law gave us some dry erase wallpaper that someone gave him and will be making a big dry erase board for the school room. Grace has friends over this afternoon and they are designing clothing with her project runway gift that her aunt gave her for Christmas. All in all a calm and relaxing weekend.