Attempting to be a Super Mom

I have been in a little bit of a funk lately, but only when it comes to house work.  Now, we aren't living in absolute filth, I just have a couple baskets of laundry that desperately need to be folded and I did dishes right before dinner last night but haven't done them since.  I suppose I should, but I'd rather blog about how lazy I feel.  I know we all have those days, but this has been going on for about three days now.  I need to snap out of it, because I feel like the mess is stressing me out more. Does this happen to anyone else? I guess I'd just rather lay around and watch tv and snuggle with my kids. I need a maid for weeks like this.  Haha!

In my quest to go to homemade products and a more green lifestyle I decided I needed to make my own dishwasher detergent .  It was so easy and literally took minutes. Homemade Dishwasher Detergent What you'll need: 2 cups borax 2 cups baking soda 1 cup salt 2 cups lemi shine Mix all of the ingredients and store in an air tight container.  It is recommended that you leave in a bowl on your country for a day or two and stir frequently throughout that time to keep it from clumping together, then pour into an air tight container.  When you use, you'll use about 2 tbsp per wash and make sure you use white vinegar in your rinse compartment.

So, last night, I finally got around to making the homemade laundry detergent I've been wanting to.  It's so easy and not expensive, I don't know why more people don't do it.  I'm only assuming it's because they don't know how. Homemade Laundry Detergent What all you'll need: 1 bar soap 1 cup borax 1 cup washing soda a pot that holds more than 2 gallons 2 gallons of water a large spoon a funnel a grater 2 empty gallon jugs Grate the bar of soap and pour it into the pot. Pour in 1 gallon of water, and cook until the soap dissolves. Pour in the borax and washing soda.  Bring it to a boil.  It will coagulate.  Turn off the heat and stir in 1 gallon of cold water. Pour into the empty gallon jugs. Use about half of a cup per wash.  I kept an old laundry detergent cap to use.

But I'd rather blog.  To be fair I've done quite a bit today and now I'm thinking of recipes to post and updates on the stuff I've been up to, which isn't really anything other than what I'm usually doing... Here's what I have to look forward to when I'm done blogging.  Laundry... blech! Also, poor Mr. Unicorn is in need of Dr. Mom. I feel like I spend the majority of my time being Dr. Mom to my Destructo kid's toys.  Ben and Sydney watch this show called Doc McStuffin and she is able to fix all of these toys and somehow my kids think I'm able to do that.  Mr. Unicorns open belly is not a problem, but when pieces come off of Ben's Transformers and he thinks I can just glue them back on, I'm totally lost.  Some toys can be just glued back together but can Transformers? My blanket is coming along nicely and I'm almost done.  My kids have already voiced that they want their own so I went to Walmart and stocked up on beautifu...

I'm always looking for other uses for things that I have in the house and also, safer things to use. Yesterday I looked down at my ring and realized that it was filthy.  I had food stuck in it and it didn't really shine. After researching online, I found the best and easy option. Take 1/2 cup of hot water and 1 tsp of baking soda. When you put the baking soda in, it will fizz, like a science experiment.  Stir it up. Drop the jewelry in the cleaner. After scrubbing them with a toothbrush they looked as good as new. I also read that it's very important you be careful when make your own jewelry cleaners and research what you are using with what you are washing.  Vinegar will cause pearls to desenegrate.

Every evening I think, I'm going to do a blog post, and then I get sidetracked doing something else like crocheting, fishing, studying, or making an apron.  I've been so incredibly busy, even after the kids go to bed.  This has really been quite a week and weekend. I had to make multiple runs to the grocery store.  The kids like the organic store because they get to push their own carts. Ben loves pushing the cart like mommy does, but not Sydney.  She likes to run quickly down the aisles, knocking into displays and people the whole way.  Also, I may have a problem... I decided I didn't have enough different sizes of mason jars, so I bought a few more cases.  Putting them to use won't be a problem, but my husband is worried about our banking account as this addiction goes from just using them as cooking utensils, to home decor. Thursday evening was the 5th game in the Heat vs.Thunder series thingy.  I don't know.  I'm not crazy about b...

Yesterday afternoon, we went to my in-laws house and went swimming. Ben got over his fear of the water last summer and while we make him wear floaties, he's jumping in and being thrown like a mad man.  Sydney on the other hand has gained a huge fear of the pool.  To a certain extent I like them to be afraid.  It makes for less of a chance of them just jumping in, however, it's no fun to get in and have a child cleaning for dear life to you and can't do anything on their own in the pool.  I'd rather play with them and wear them out than carry them around the whole time.  Yesterday, we conquered Sydney's fear.  Finally!!!  By the end of the day yesterday, she was all over that pool without being held. This morning, we got up, dressed, and ate breakfast outside again.  While we were eating our banana bread, Ben said "This is the life, right Mommy?"  He was so sweet, and you could tell that he really thought it but was just wanting...

We've been busy little bees in our not new, but improved hive. Over the last week, we have cleaned our office and our garage.  We spent the weekend with family, and even went to the KU game on Wednesday night.  I'm telling ya.  There has been no time for blogging.  Last night and this morning I've been playing catch up with the internet world. So, the work on our house has been our big achievement of the past month.  I've showed you the kids bedroom and our bedroom, while there is still work to be done on both (things for the walls) they are mostly done.  This last week, we did the office, bathroom and garage. The bathroom was quick and easy since it's already pretty organized.  I added some art work and we put in a rug and it looks like a huge transformation. The office was a junk room.  It was the room that if you had something you didn't know what to do with, you threw it in there.  Well, not anymore!  It's a nice, functio...

The past couple of weeks have been a whirl wind!  We've been working on the house and looking for a new place to live.  We've been battling illnesses of both the stomach and head variety, and my brother stayed with us for a weekend. The house hunt The reason we were looking to move was due to the fact that the slab our house is on has a huge crack down the middle.  This causes major cracks in the walls when the house moves or settles.  It also allows for the massive spider problems we had last spring, summer, and fall.  The latest problem is that the man who lived here before us, didn't do a very good job of cleaning the gutters causing rot and drainage issues and with all the snow we had gotten, it was causing the overhang to almost fall completely off the house. We've looked at 3 different places.  Maybe I'm too picky, but I don't think any of them fit our family. The first was an apartment type place in an old, renovated grocery store from the ...