Making Laundry Soap

I am a Pinterest addict. I have found so many great ideas from there. The newest one making your own laundry soap. Until recently we'd had success with store bought laundry soap but Holli has been getting rashes from the soap lately. And yes, I know it's the soap. Holli is in her half nudist phase and only likes shirts. She has only been getting the rash on her upper body but not her lower body. Let her go naked and it goes away.

So when I saw a friend pin DIY Laundry Soap I wanted to try it and tonight I tried making some. It came out great! I followed the recipe from Why Not Sew? Quilts' blog. Reading through the comments I found out it's great for sensitive skin and HE washer compatible. Both of which I needed. Tomorrow we are going to start using it on laundry. It works out well because I needed new laundry soap anyway.

To make your own laundry soap you will need:
1 bar of soap (we used Irish Spring)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 large pot that will hold 2 gallons (We used an extra canning pot but a 10 qt stock pot would work perfectly.)
A grater
A large spoon
A funnel
2 gallons of water
2 1-gallon jugs/bottles or 1 2-gallon jug


Directions:
Grate your soap into the stock pot.
Add 1 gallon of water to the pot.
Cook until all the grated soap has dissolved. I brought it to a small boil to make sure it all dissolved.
Add the borax and the washing soda.
Bring the soap mixture to a boil.
Boil for about 1-2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add 1 gallon of cold water.
Stir well making sure to scrap the bottom of the pot for any soap that may be on the bottom.
Using the funnel pour 1 gallon of laundry soap into each container. Be careful when pouring as it bubbles up a little when you pour it in.

Some picture fun:

1 bar of Irish soap grated up

Getting ready to add the two soaps

Just after adding the 2nd gallon of water

The finished product. It's sitting on the counter cooling off ready to go for tomorrow.

Feeling Disconnected

Last month I posted about the changes we are going through and David being laid off from the Navy. Since then he has detached from the ship and been moved to the TPU (Transient Personnel Unit). He  is going through a medical board process through the Navy/VA. It has been a definite change. While all this is going on I have had my own roller coaster feelings about everything. There are ups and downs to everything and the military lifestyle is no exception.

I am so very grateful to the Navy and the wonderful (and not so wonderful) people I have met along the way. I have learned a lot things in the past 6 1/2 years as a spouse please the girlfriend/fiancee time as well. I have many friends who are milspouses, including my two best friends who have become family. I read other milspouse blogs. I love the events that I have gone too with other milspouses. There are a lot of great memories and I wouldn't trade those for anything. I have become involved and used to the military lifestyle.

As I think of where we are going I feel disconnected from the milspouse world already. We are still in WA and David is still in the Navy. I just feel like we're in more of a holding pattern than anything else. Sometimes it doesn't feel like David is in the Navy anymore and other days it feels like he is. It's very weird. I read friend's statuses and blogs about PCSing, military life, and deployments and it just doesn't feel real anymore. It doesn't feel like we're really a part of it anymore even though David is still very much in the Navy. Feelings are a funny thing sometimes.

I am trying to keep everything in perspective and look as this as a new adventure. I guess we just have to wait for the adventure to start. Until then I am sure my feelings will go up and down about all of this. I will just take it all in stride as best I can at the time.

30 before 30: Do a family themed Halloween

This is really, really late but I wanted to post about it. David hasn't been home or has been on duty the last few Halloweens. I didn't think this one would be completed for at least another year or so. I am so happy we did it this year. We did a storybook character theme. We let the girls pick which storybook character they wanted to be.

I was pleasantly surprised when Lillie picked to be Fern from Charlotte's Web. I love that book. Surprisingly the hardest part of her costume to find was the stuffed Wilbur pig. It took over a month to find a stuffed pig we could use for Wilbur. She also had a plastic spider that we attached to Wilbur to be Charlotte.

Ivy and Holli picked their costumes out the year before and they just fit well into our theme. Ivy went as Dorothy with a little Toto. (To this day Toto is still carried around a lot of places.) Holli went as Little Red Riding Hood. On one of our trips to goodwill she found the red basket and clung to it. She loves that little red basket so much. And it matched her outfit perfectly.

David and I had a harder time coming up with our costume ideas. We went through a lot of ideas, searching costume websites, and going back and forth about what David would want to dress up as. I finally convinced him that we should go as Waldo and Wenda from Where's Waldo. Did you know that the extra girl you can look for (along with the Wizard) was named Wenda? I actually knew that but a lot of people were surprised when we told them. It was a fun night. We dressed up and went to our church's trunk or treat. We definitely got a few giggles in our costumes. I had someone come up to me and tell me "Someone is looking for you." It took me a second to remember he was talking about my costume. Haha

We had a fun time dressing up together. The girls had a blast and Lillie talks about what we are all going to be this coming Halloween. She loves dressing up and dressing up others. I had a great time this halloween dressing up with David and the girls. I am hoping we'll be able to do it more in the coming years before the girls start to think it's not cool anymore.

Snowmaggedon 2012

I think I take for granted all the years I spent growing up in Vermont. I remember one winter my Senior year of high school. It was me and my sister at home. My sister was working the overnight shift at a school and taking classes. We get dumped on overnight with 4 feet of snow. It was up the side of the house and on the porch. Obviously, school was canceled. Guess who got to shovel out the driveway and walkway. Yup. That would be me. Thinking of the winters in Vermont are nothing like they are here in Washington State. I have learn to appreciate the rain and cold. Why? Because there usually isn't snow to go along with the rain. I'll take the rain over snow any day. David on the other hand would rather have the snow.

The snow storm that came in start on Tuesday is being called Snowmageddon or Snow-pocalypse. For the past two days (and tomorrow too) schools are closed. Some businesses are closed. Most people are rational and staying indoors. Of course the girls got to play outside before they even had breakfast. They were so excited about the snow the first thing they did was ask to go and play. They really enjoyed themselves. They used our driveway as a sledding hill. They made snowangels at the bottom of the driveway and chased the dogs around in the snow.

What do David and I do? We go out. We loaded the girls in the Jeep, turned the 4 wheel drive on, and went out to see what was open. We were surprised when we realized quite a few places were open. We had been told that most places would shut down. David taught the girls what a donut was in an empty parking lot. They thought it was like a roller coaster. It was fun getting out yesterday and the girls really enjoyed it.

Today was a different story. The temps dropped and everything iced over. I took a quick trip to JoAnn's for some thread and fabric before David had to go to work. The girls were okay with staying home today and staying inside. Lillie went outside once and then declared the snow was too hard to play in and she didn't like it anymore. The snow/freezing rain continued off and on today but it looks like it has finally stopped. We'll see in the morning if we get more snow or ice.

I am hoping we can go out somewhere tomorrow. The girls are ready to get out. I am ready for the schedule to get back to normal too. My classes start up again on Monday. I am looking forward to them starting. Mostly, I am looking forward to the snow melting. I hope all my other PacNorWest friends are keeping dry and safe.

Semi Wordless Wednesday: First Lost Tooth

It was a big day in our house today. Lillie lost her first tooth. This is the first of many lost teeth. I see more lost teeth in the future. The bottom center tooth is also loose. She is so excited that she has lost her first tooth.