Can I Blame This Rambly Post on the Cord Too?

It's been 3 days since I was all, "Hey! I'm gonna share frugal recipes with you!" and now I have been missing the cord to the camera and cannot upload the photos in order to write the next post in that series.

And then Sweetheart woke me up at 2:30 am to tell me she didn't feel well. Like 101 degrees of not well.

But I did get a lot of housework done today.

And I finished my chair for my new black and white homeschool room. Hey! Wouldn't you like to see a picture of that too?

Stupid cord.

Now on to some cushions for the girls' chairs and then I want to start planning for the school year. Right now I'm just in the "thinking about things" stage. Such as how I realized that we fell into a very bad habit of eating our lunch in front of the TV last spring and how I don't want to do that this year. It isn't that my kids watch bad things on TV, because I'm actually very picky and careful about what they watch. It's more about all the things that TV prevents from happening. If we ate together at the dining room table we could, I don't know....TALK or READ. Those would be good things. We'll reserve lunch in front of the TV for Fridays. I can usually find a video or something from the library to go along with what we've been studying.

In other news, I am loving www.paperbackswap.com. At first I thought it was kind of a bother because you never know when someone is going to request one of your books and running to the post office is a bother. (You don't have to do it that way, you can purchase postage online and just drop it in your mailbox but I haven't done it yet.) But now that school is almost here and I have ordered school books with my credit points for FREE---I'm loving it! All for getting rid of some books my kids didn't want anymore.

Really, I'm ready for the schedule that the school year gives us. Oh my word, I just looked at a calendar and realized that there are only 2 weeks until I plan to start the year!!!!! I better get going on that planning and SOON!

Also, I've been doing my Motivated Moms planner pretty well for a while now. However, I have noticed that some things are not coming up on the to do list like I need them to. For example, where is "wash inside pocket of denim skirt with peanut butter and scrub with nail brush to remove gum that was washed in pocket"? I haven't seen that on on the list, and yet I found that very thing in need of doing today.

But I did clean the oven like the list said to the other day. I know that I did because when I turned on the oven to make empanadas and smelled something funny it was THEN that I remembered how my organized self had sprayed oven cleaner the day before and forgot to wipe it off.

Come to think of it, I haven't looked for that cord in the oven yet....

How's your week going?

Homemade Laundry Soap--Three Months Later

Back in April I posted this about making my own laundry soap.

Can it be possible that I have been making my own laundry soap for that long? I had no idea! I have used at least 4 Fels Naptha bars, so that means 4 batches. I need to make one in the morning. I still have PLENTY of Borax left in the original box I purchased back in April. After this batch I will have to buy more Arm and Hammer Washing Soda BUT we used it for something else and that is the only reason we are almost out.

Boy, talk about savings!!!

I'm totally rounding here, but all this means that I have washed my family's clothes for 3 months for a measly, what? Fifteen bucks? I can't really remember how many bottles of fabric softener I've used but that's a pretty good estimate. And this savings will continue as I still don't need to buy some of the ingredients.

I've found out a few things along the way:

1. WalMart sells refills of fabric softener that come in a cardboard container (like a milk carton). They are cheap and you just pour them in your fabric softener bottle.

2. I dilute the fabric softener. I don't use the Downy Ball anymore because we got a new washer and it's a front loader (clearance aisle baby!). So I just keep a little cup of water on top and after I pour fabric softener in the little drawer, I give it a shot of water. No, I have no idea the measurements.

3. If you have a "high efficiency" washer, this is going to save you money, because it doesn't foam up. I have not once purchased high efficiency laundry detergent.

4. Yes, you can use vinegar instead of fabric softener and that would be really cheap. I don't know how that works exactly but you could find out easily.

5. Honestly, the Fels Naptha smells good. I like how the kitchen smells after we've made a batch of detergent. But the fabric softener smells wonderful!!!!

6. I started throwing the grated Fels Naptha bar into my old blender and it works great. Then I mix it with the other ingredients.

Now that we feel all empowered with making our own laundry soap, S and I have gone a little crazy making some other things. If you are needing to cut the budget a bit---may I suggest giving this a try?

I'll share about those other recipes this week as well! It'll be a FRUGALFEST!!!!! :)

Diary of a Room Makeover: The Important Stuff

July 24, 2009

How long have I been talking about redoing this room.....6 months? Oh well. Here's the update: I found fabric for the bedspreads.

The whole make-over depends on the fabric and this doesn't look anything like what I originally pictured and yet we all like it.

The girls wanted green (Sweetheart) and blue (Little Bit). I think they had in mind light spring-y green and royal blue, but when we found this fabric, they both said they liked it. And it has the dots/circles I wanted. Check that off.

Now, the way sister and I designed the bedspreads was to use trim of a different color around the edges to make it long enough to tuck in all around the bed. Oh, I should mention that loft beds are in the distant future. Like maybe, Pluto distant. And we unbunked the beds. But still there is an edge all around to tuck the bedspread in so that is what I plan on them doing.

Sweetheart's will be trimmed in the olive fabric and Little Bit's in the turquoise. (Didn't I just paint over turquoise walls?) And yes, sister made me another stellar "pattern" for making the bedspreads.

Anyway, it was VERY HARD finding the right paint color! Lowe's did not let me down though and I found the perfect color. It is called Homestead Resort Moss. The darkest color on the paint chip was La Fonda Deep Olive and it perfectly matches the olive in the dotty fabric. So, I went 2 shades lighter. I love it! It looks very sophisticated. This color will not be outgrown. It's not "little girly."

Unfortunately, it required 2 coats. But it was so beautiful when we got done!

So, the next step is putting the room back together so the girls can sleep. I had to take the closet door off there to shove a dresser in the closet. The other dresser is in the hall and so far only 2 people have walked into it.

So let's check off my goals, shall we?

1. Pick out fabric for the bedding.

2. Sew curtains.

3. Sew the bedspreads.

4. Paint the inside of the closet. That would be in the play room now.

5. Sew/find pillows for the beds.

It seems pretty clear to me that lots of sewing is in my future.

And now I think you can take a long break before you see one of these updates again.

And Then There Was Progress....

There is primer on the walls of the girls' room!The shelves are organized!!!! (But blurry)

Most things are in place in the homeschool room. By the way, that kitchen stool will NOT be serving as my chair this year. That project is up and coming. Can you see the black and white fabric peeking out on the table there next to Little Bit's foam seat cushions? All upcoming projects. Next week. Next week.

Our school room is on the right immediately after you step into our house. This is the first view you get. I have plans to improve on that, but they will have to wait.

So things are cracking along finally. Is that even a saying? I feel very motivated to get done because I am already itching to start planning the school year. We got our last bit of curriculum the other day so now I'm really ready to sit down and get organized. But first, the month of the house must be completed.

You will receive updates tomorrow on my progress! I know you can barely wait. Try....TRY to contain yourself.

The Month of the House is Crashing Fast!!!!

I said July would be about the house. August is for planning school.

It all seemed so simple.

Well, I have rearranged 3 of the rooms in this house. I have purchased the fabric to sew bedspreads for the girls' beds. There are not that many more days in the month and I still want to:

1.Paint the girls' room. This will happen on Friday as sister is coming over to help. Oh the logistics of doing this. Dressers in the hallway. Girls sleeping in the playroom floor. Everything torn up for 3-4 days. YIKES! Oh and I should probably choose a paint color before then.

2. I'm not painting the playroom right now because it's fine. Really. Who even sees the walls with all that crap in there anyway?

3. Clean out the playroom closet. Remember those laundry baskets of toys I need to go through that I shoved in the closet? The Organizing Fairy has not paid my home a visit and they are still sitting there. The nerve.

4. Sew bedspreads for the girls' room.

5. Decorate the girls' room. Hang stuff on walls. Hang curtains. Get a rug that matches. In my spare time.

6. Finish the homeschool room. The shelves are looking great but the table is....well....not visible at the moment. And there are stacks all over the floor. I've got lots of stuff to get rid of and no idea where to send it. Anyone need some homeschool stuff?

7. Plus there is a bit of decorating to do in there. The girls' chairs need to be painted. At LEAST I need to put cushions on the seats. Little Bit needs a really big cushion so she can see over the table at least. If I had unlimited funds, I'd get one of these chairs. But she's probably going to have to settle for 2 foam cushions stacked and covered in fabric remnants. And I have a chair project for myself too.

8. And I'd really, really like to clean up the laundry room and sewing room before school starts.

I know I don't HAVE to get all of this done. But, but, but.....I really want it done. I'm really fun before we go out of town too, trying to make sure every last little thing is done. I never do, by the way. But I drive everyone crazy trying.

Little Bit is VERY ready for Kindergarten to start. She spends her spare time writing and drawing in notebooks. She has, on her own, sounded out all kinds of words this week. Sunday she wrote:

dok....duck
kak...cake
kat...cat
tet...tent
bae...baby
flar...flower
apl...apple
jos....juice

Pretty good, huh? Just imagine what she'll be able to do with, you know, instruction. Because please remember this is the child who refused to do any school work for the better part of last year. Not sure I'm ready for this one.

I will be back later with pictures of the progress over here. I'll borrow my dad's camera just so I can show you all the wonderful things going on. Perhaps that will motivate me to finish off the month of the house?

We'll see....