Nothing Important but a nice day off

Although it feels like I did nothing important on my day off, I got plenty done. And even had some time to relax and catch up on my favorite blogs and found some cute craft idea's I'm excited to try out.

I'm wanting to make a Fall or Christmas Wreath this year...click the link for directions/blog-
Cozy Fall Yarn Wreath


A trip to the newly remodeled library in town and came home with a few new books...
What I'm reading now...loving the homemade book-
My next homemade adventure is going to be making face powder to replace my current "Covergirl" pressed powder!

One step at a time attempting to get our home clean and in order- being that we recently moved, I am realizing that one step at a time and one room at a time is really how its going to go- not happening over night but I'll get there...so for today, working on my office/desk space- cleaning, organizing and getting some decor idea's online. I got some scrapbook paper and material to make lettering and found my new large bulletin board that had been hiding amongst boxes...now to get crafty this weekend!

Hey improved a bit from last month when we moved in...BEFORE....yeah the wood desk hidden in the corner? Yeah, there's still some boxes but at least my desk is unburied!

And last dinner....ahhhh dinner- SUCCESS measured by the kids eating seconds and thirds...crock pot, BBQ Pork...made Pulled Pork Sandwiches- YUMM!

Homemade Greenhouse

Simple, easy, green.

I came across several idea's for gardening during the winter months and thought this one was something the kids would like to do and be easy for them to do as well...

A milk jug or clean bottle with lid- poke a hole in the top and two holes in the bottom for drainage.
Cut the sides mid way down but leave part on so it opens/closes....

A couple inches of organic potting soil, some seeds of choice and another layer of potting soil, water a little, label it (kids just wrote on the bottles in permanent marker- nothing pretty this time!) and its done! Most directions I found said that if it gets too cold at night to bring the bottles inside and then during the day leave them outdoors.

An easy and fun kids greenhouse project!

Saturday - Family Fun and some plants

Between work, school and housework our family needed a break....even for the afternoon- just to be away from the house- even though there is plenty to do at home!

A trip to the London Bridge for the afternoon and dinner out made for a nice outing-

 The entrance and then of course the bridge- the lamp posts on it were awesome!

 The kids were amazed by this map to see how many people had visited the Bridge since January 2011- there was also a map of other countries that was impressively marked as well!

4-H Watermelon's, comparing sizes-
September:

 October:

And then our lonely basil, moved from our old house in a bucket of the kids...the yard will eventually get fixed up for a garden and it can get replanted, but it's doing well so far!

Laundry Soap Tuesday

Running out of laundry detergent yesterday and having a few loads left to do immediately made me decide that instead of quickly buying our usual $5.00 purchase of detergent, getting '32 loads' as stated on the bottle, I'd purchase the items needed to make our own. Now, I've been reading several recipes regarding types of soap to use, what people like and don't like, whether to grate it large, medium or fine and for our first time we went with the following: (Next time we may online order some all natural, better soap)

A&H Super Washing Soda, 20 Mule Team Borax (All Natural Laundry Booster) and Fels-Naptha laundry soap. 

The recipe I followed was as follows:
1 cup A&H
1 cup Borax
4.5 oz Fels-Naptha soap grated

I also grated it large instead of medium or fine- the debate I've found on blogs is that the large grate of soap may leave residue......So, after washing my first load with it I'm proud to say....
NO residue
GREAT smell- nice and fresh laundry
and CLEAN!! Two thumbs up on the first load!

Cost?
2.98 4lbs of Borax
3.24 3lbs of A&H
.97 1 bar of Fels-Naptha
7.19 total

but my Borax will make 8 batches total and A&H will make 6 batches total, so for the next 6 times I just need to purchase the bar of soap! Per 32 load batch most blogs say it averages depending on your store you purchase from anywhere from 1.60 to 3.00 per batch! Even a few dollars helps!