laundry detergent

I am weird... this is nothing new. But I am reminded this when I say to someone "I need to cook some laundry soap tonight" and get a strange look. For over a year now, I have made our laundry detergent, and it's simple & affordable. Two of the three ingredients will last you over a year, easily.

You will need:
Arm & Hammer washing soda - this is NOT the same as baking soda folks!

~Borax
~Bar soap - often Fels Naptha is used, but I prefer some plain Dial (your clothes will not smell like the soap you use)
~ essential oil (optional, but I typically don't use this)

~ 3-5 gallon bucket or empty detergent containers

Grate approximately 1/3 cup of bar soap and put in a medium pot; cover with water. Cook over med heat and stir gently to get rid of clums. Once your soap liquid is mostly smooth, take it off the burner. Add 1/3 cups of both washing soda and borax. Stire and allow to dissolve. Once dissolved, pour into your bucket. While slowly stirring, add enough hot tap water to fill your bucket.

Your laundry detergent is now ready to use. As it cools, it may get gelly/gloppy. Don't worry, this is normal! If you like, give it a stir every now and then, but it's not necessary. Depending on the size of your load, you can use 1/2-1 cup of the detergent per load. I use the plastic scoop that came with some powdered soap long ago.

If you'd like to be even more thrifty, you can pour in 1 cup white vinegar during the rinse cycle. This will act as a fabric softener and and vinegar odor should dissipate once the clothes are dried.

28|28|28

“The only music minister to whom the Lord will say,
'Well done, thy good and faithful servant,' is the one
whose life proves what their lyrics are saying...
And to whom music is the least important part of their life.
Glorifying the only Worthy One
has to be a minister's most important goal!”
Keith Green

28 years ago today, on the 28th of July, Keith Green went to be with his Father at the age of 28. Join people from around the globe in a live webcast to remember his life, pray, and worship.

beauty is...

...the setting sun on my side of the bridge.

(This picture doesn't do it justice, but all I had was my camera phone. )

letting go

If I had to give this season of my life a theme, I would call it "letting go". We've had to let go of any hope to bring home our son Macsyn. I've also had to let go of the hope I had for my mother to stop her destructive ways. Regularly I am reminded that God will not give us more than we can handle. Every week my heart heals just a little more.

Having to embrace the fact that I will never get to see my son, let alone know what will become of him, is not easy to grasp. I think about Macsyn everyday. It's hard not to consume my mind with thoughts of him. It's funny how healing works. I can go several days feeling happy, then the smallest thing will remind me of him and I spiral down for days, if not weeks, at a time. I recently thought that perhaps I was pregnant. It turns out I wasn't but a good friend of mine is, and that was really hard to hear. All I want is to be a mother... through adoption or biologically. I admit, watching all our friends with their children sometimes brings out the jealously monster in me. I'm not proud of this. I am trying to take these feelings to God and am working on this.

The other day I found out that my mother is engaged. Again. If this engagement is followed through with, this will be her seventh marriage. When I questioned my mother about the engagement, a storm of words erupted. I know my mother is an adult and can make her own decisions, but when we involve her in our lives and the consequences of her hasty decisions come about, we are all effected. Because of this, Nick and I have decided it would be best to remove ourselves from her destructive lifestyle. Many hurtful things were said over the weekend and it's hard to begin thinking about forgiving. I know, in the end, I will but I can't be naive and put my family in her destructive path. I can forgive, but won't forget. I do hope that she will be happy and have a successful marriage. I hope she will understand the holy covenant that marriage is and considers this. Only time will tell.

loving the pnw

One good thing about the phone & computer network going down at work is I get a chance to write to you all. :)

The last week has been terrible for grass allergy sufferers in our area. A small price to pay for having such beautiful weather here. I'm thankful that I'm able to get all the free Zyrtec I need because taking double and triple doses sure would add up quickly.

With all this beautiful weather these past couple weeks, we have been able to enjoy some time at Lake Ki. We try to float the lake after work on warm days.

I've also been able to tackle our front and back yards. The back was by far the worse. Every night I make a point to work between 30 minutes to 1 hour in the back. I'm nearly done with mowing; all that's left is the grass-turned-wheat forest on the side of the house. Next I'll be tearing out about 100 brick pavers and around 70 square feet of slate pavers. After that all that will be left is to finish cleaning up the pond and weed whacking. I'm so close!

i've done it again...

... I'm making this blog PUBLIC again. Yes, I've changed my mind once more. The purpose of going private was to keep creeps from knowing my family's business, and to make sure our adoption information doesn't get into the wrong hands. Well I've come up with a way to safeguard against those two things.

1. Kaedmon's birth name, nor legal name, is not Kaedmon.
2. Rather than refering to Kaed's birth country by name, I will say "Kead's birth country" or "Africa" instead. If you know me or have been following me, you already know this information anyway! :)

Problems solved!

Raise your hand if you're glad you don't have to log in now
*I'm raising mine!!*

i'm thinking...

...that I should build me a chicken coop.

To be continued...

did you miss me?

My sincerest apologies for being a neglectful blogger. I hate to come across as a downer, but I haven't felt much like sharing lately. It's hard to journal about your life when you feel terrible inside and, most days, hopeless.

My birthday was this past Saturday (July 3rd). My sweet husband surprised me with the new Cricut Cake machine. I LOVE it.

Yesterday Nick asked me why I wasn't playing with it. I told him I had no reason to decorate anything. No less than one minute later, my kindred friend Tori called me asking if I could make a last minute cake.

Tonight I made the cake she requested... a wiener dog birthday cake for her business partner. It is a dark chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache glaze. It's not perfect, but I am happy with it considering the time constraint. I hope the birthday girl enjoys it!