I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. Only Martha Stewart and every single one of my ex-boyfriends can make me feel more inadequate. Just when I think I've got my crap together....BOOM!!! I find out that the "good" moms are making Monet waterlily paintings out of broccoli and kale for their kids. And buying $30 bento boxes for carrots and string cheese! A life-sized replica of Westminster Abbey made out of empty toilet paper tubes?!? Are you freaking kidding me?!?
However, every once in a while, I come across something that doesn't take an advanced art degree to make. I present....Laundry Soap. This is by far the best idea I've seen on that soul-sucking site.. 

1. It's economical.
2. I'm capable of making it. 
3. It actually works.

To make four batches, you'll need less than $12. I make this much at a time and it lasts for around 6 months. 

Buy:
1 box of Borax
1 box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 
4 bars of Fels-Naptha laundry soap
2 large bowls

Using a food processor, grate the 4 bars of laundry soap. They will resemble cheddar cheese. CAUTION!! They do not taste like cheddar cheese. I was making this just yesterday, went into the laundry room for something, and heard The Husband exclaim, "Oooh! Cheese!" I stopped him just in time.
Put all of the shredded soap into a large bowl and add 4 cups of borax and 4 cups of the washing soda. 
Change out the shredder attachment on your food processor to the regular metal blade and add your soap mixture (in small batches), process, and add to second bowl. You will have a powder that is slightly more coarse than store-bought powdered detergent. 
I use 1 - 1 1/2  TB per load of laundry....2 TB if I'm washing The Husband's stinky gym clothes. 

Questions you may have:
1. Is this *really* that much cheaper? Yes!! Yes!! A thousand times Yes!!
2. Will it work in my HE washer? I'm not a Whirlpool or Maytag expert so I do not know if the manufacturers would recommend this detergent. I do know that I use it in my Maytag and my mom-in-law uses it in her Kenmore and we have yet to experience a problem. In fact, I don't have that musty smell in my washer that so many HE owners complain about having. 
3. But what if I'm making a monster batch of this stuff and I lose count and accidentally add in an extra cup of washing soda? The Horror!  I've done this and noticed no difference in cleaning performance.

So will I continue to "pin" on Pinterest? Yes. Because for every 100 times that I feel like a failure, there's that one time that makes it all worth it. 

The end of our first semester is in sight!! Could I *be* any more thrilled? (You simply must use your best Chandler Bing voice for this) No, I cannot! We have been rather loosey-goosey with the schedule this year and are now cramming everything into these last few weeks. One subject I've been rather pleased with is our morning "God Class". 

We homeschool for many different reasons, but religious ones were not a huge factor in our decision. I don't even remember it coming up much at all except that homeschooling does allow us to add some God into our regular studies.
Having said that, we actually do begin each and every morning with Him. Now Babygirl and Beans have gone to church since birth....Sunday School, Children's Church, "Big" Church, VBS, etc., and while they have been entertained, they have not learned a whole lot about why we are a Christian family. And because I firmly believe that one of the best gifts God has given us is the gift of choice, I want them to make their own choice and not just blindly follow along with the choice The Husband and I made for ourselves. 

I found out about this book (the one in the pic up there) at CurrClick.com one day as I was looking at all of their lapbooking resources and deciding whether or not cutting and pasting a bunch of tiny things in folders would be a good fit for a teen and tween. This book contains 10 chapters or lessons that do an excellent job explaining who Christians believe God to be. There are also a ton of side stories, mini-biographies, works of art, and worldview info. And CurrClick had a $24.99 lapbook on sale for $5.00 (score!!!) that went along with the book. (To be clear, they only sell the lapbook printables on their site....I bought the book on Amazon) We had never done a lapbook before and I wasn't sure if it would be too "babyish" for my kids. It wasn't. We covered a LOT of information using this book and the lapbook provided a way to organize all of that info into little colorful bites instead of it just being a long list of boring facts scribbled in a notebook and quickly forgotten. 

I'm thrilled that we remained true to our schedule for this class and I'm excited for them to begin next semester's work.

Below is a pic of Babygirl's nearly completed lapbook:


 

I've never followed a blog from the very beginning so I have no idea what that first post normally looks like. Do they start off with an introduction? Or do they just jump right in with their existing thoughts, ideas, projects? If you've stumbled upon my little blog, then I presume you're more interested in the latter. But if I'm wrong, and you want to know about me, click the About box. If you want to contact me, click the Contact box. If you click on any of the other boxes, you'll be disappointed as they are currently empty. 

My prevailing all-consuming task is keeping on top of the resolutions that I made on 1/1/14.  Deals you make with yourself are tricky. You start off with good intentions and then somewhere around Day Two, you begin making side deals. "Exercise Every Day" becomes "Vacuuming Counts". "Eat Healthy" becomes "That Cookie Counts As A Grain". "Read The Bible Every Day" becomes "I Read That Scripture On The Highway Billboard....That Counts". And on and on.... However, here we are on Day 21 of the new year and I have kept up every. single. one. of. my. resolutions. Countless books, articles, and internet tales have told me that it takes exactly 21 days to form a new habit and my biggest fear is waking up tomorrow and finding out that they're all a bunch of liars. 


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this short maiden post. I told the one person who agreed to follow me that I would regularly update this blog and I will remain true to that promise.