Last year we made laundry soap.  Initially I liked the soap but, cooking it took a while and it’s consistency when completed was a bit gross.  Oh, and one batch I made got knocked over in the laundry room.  Huge mess (of course it was a new batch so the bucket was full) and a big waste of time.  So, I was off the soap making for a while.  Then, I was directed to this site.  She makes her own soap but it is a powder.  I was sceptical at first because I had bad luck with the store stuff not dissolving.  But, true to her claims it all dissolves no matter the water temperature.  I also think this recipe cleans better.  The baking soda is the difference here.

The measurements for the original recipe made a huge batch.  Being that I have little storage in the laundry room and the fact that it is so extremely easy to make I scale it down.  When it’s time to make more I just make as much as needed to fill my container.

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups Borax

1 cup Baking soda

1 cup washing soda

1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap

I use my micro planer to grate the soap.  It easily grates the hard bar of soap into tiny shavings.  I have never had the soap not dissolve in the washer.  If you don’t have on get one!  Just kidding…I mean you should but you can grate it with a normal cheese grater and then put it through a food processor with some of the baking soda to chop it up a little more.  You may have problems with it not dissolving if you skip this step.  The tip is to just pulse it to keep it from clumping.

So just mix it all together and you’re done!  Make sure you are in a well ventilated area and/or wear something over your nose and mouth when stiring it as it is all powder.  You only need to use 1/8 of a cup per load and I recommend putting it in the washer before adding the clothes. 

It’s so easy even a 4 year old can do it!  This last batch was made by Zoe.  She grated all the soap and measured everything out.  The only thing I did (other than supervision) was stir it up.  It was my easiest batch ever. 

And here is the finished product.  This  size container (also in above picture) will last me at least 3-4 months.  I have been using this soap now for a while and love it. 

And just a note…I still by regular fabric softener and bleach my whites.  :O)

~ Merriann

We have found the camera ( and it wasn’t out in the rain storm).  Nope, it was in a plastic bag in the shop.  Yep, you know, the one I picked up 20 times to make sure the camera wasn’t under it.  That’s the one.  I think we need a beeper on the thing.  I was quick to put it to use.  This picture I was lucky enough to get while playing peek-a-boo under Zeke’s blanket.

In case you haven’t heard…we are expecting a new baby to join the family in November!  We are all very excited.  Zoe decided she wants 10 brothers and sisters.  I think the only reason she stopped at 10 though was because she ran out of fingers. 🙂

I can’t believe it.  The camera has gone missing.  I have looked high and low and nothing.  I had this dreadful thought that it was left outside.  Many of you may remember how Zoe acquired her digital camera.  And after all we have had A LOT of rain these last couple of days.  I would show you a picture of our flooding but, you know…  So I checked outside today and nothing.  Both good and bad news.  I had some great pictures of our beautiful (and large) chicken house we just finished too!  Well, hopefully we will find it soon.  And since I don’t like posts without pictures here’s a random one.

That’s right folks…we have chickens!  A week and a half ago we got our first six.  General Tao, Sweet, Sour, Scramble, Southern Fried, and Omelette.  Can you believe there is a chick shortage this year?  Who would’ve guessed. 

This is Scramble with Sweet in the background.

One week later we went back to get six more.  Three layers (black) and three meat birds (yellow) (Greg wanted to give this a try 🙂  We had quite the separation at first.  The older chicks were acting scared of the little day old babies.  At one point the older girls were jumping on each other trying to get as far away as possible.  They new chicks don’t have names yet.  They are really hard to tell apart.  We may wait till they get older but I don’t know that it will be any easier then.

However, it didn’t take too long for them to get over it and get along.

From our family to your’s

GO VOTE!!

As long as I can remember, I have always colored Merriann’s hair, I know that this surprises many of you out there.  Well today I have some proof.  On Oct 24, I again colored Merriann’s hair and this time I remembered to grab the camera!!

It had been some time since we colored her hair so her El natural color was what you mostly saw.  Well Merriann really likes her hair to be red-dish so this time she picked Nice’n Easy’s Light Spice Natural Reddish Brown so that the color change wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

So you maybe wondering why do I (a guy) do my wife’s hair.  Well simply because she asked me, to be honest I didn’t like doing it in the beginning but now I kinda look at it like building some thing,  I get to see the before and the after picture.  It is kinda of like our own personal “What not to Where..” a TV show we used to watch with some of friends.  For those of you that know that show, the hair dresser Nick has an accent.  I am not sure where he is from but much to Merriann delight, I do a very bad version of it whenever I do her hair.  I guess she just deals with it in order to get her hair colored.

Well, as I knock on wood, I have never totally screwed it up.  I have in the past missed small patches of the roots, but never enough that anyone has noticed outside of Merriann and myself.  Yes, I am proud to say that I color my wonderful wife’s hair.  But that is as far as Merriann and I am comfortable on taking my hair dressing skills.  I don’t cut her hair, and I pray she never asks me too.

Doesn’t her hair look wonderful!!

~Greg Thames