Homemade Laundry Soap

I just finished making a batch of homemade laundry soap. The batch makes 10 gallons of soap and it only costs about $2 a batch. The recipe is from the Dugger Family (The Learning Channel)(they have 18 children). See the recipe below: Homemade Laundry Soap - (red print is from me, Chris) TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2. Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value (I found all ingredients at Krogers (local grocery store)) 4 Cups hot tap water 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 1 Cup Washing Soda ½ Cup Borax - Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. -Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. -Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser (container) half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (it will gel) -Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons. -Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads) -Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads) I was at Kroger (to get supplies). A lady stopped me in the aisle and said "You're going to make soap". She had already made some of the soap and had a few suggestions... You don't need to use prewash. If you want, put some soap on the stain and then wash. You don't need to use softener. Lastly, when you are ready to put the homemade laundry soap in the small laundry soap container (equal parts soap and water) only put enough soap and water to fill the small container 2/3s full. That leaves "mixing" room. Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes Recipe #1 1 Cup White VinegarAdd vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too. Recipe #2 1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener 4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet. Sorry this is all run together - I haven't figured out how to get spaces between paragraphs. Can anyone tell me how? Thanks

Monkey Pattern

http://www.monkeemaker.co.uk/page45.htm Over to Monkee Makers site she has had enough of making monkees made of knit. So she has made her monkee pattern available for free to anyone who would like to have it. Go to the site above if you'd like the way cute pattern. Thanks to Monkee Maker for sharing with us.

Bushfire Appeal Raffle

The "Austrlian Red Cross Bushfire Appeal" Raffle, held over at Trashalou has concluded. All the prizes have been awarded. The total funds raised from this raffle came to $2,041! Isn't that something! What a wonderful effort!! Thanks to all those who participated, by donating prizes and those who donated $ to the Bushfire Appeal! Special thanks to Trashalou for heading up this raffle!

Raffle at Trashaloucan.blogspot.com

Please see the cuteness of monkeyness to the right. He will be one of the offerings in the raffle over at Trashaloucan.blogspot.com. The proceeds from the raffle will go to help folks in Australia who have been affected by the terrible bushfires of recent days. Please have a look at all the goodies that will be raffled off one day next week. Something may be calling your name. Its certainly for a good cause!!

Miles 1st Bday

Happy 1st Birthday to our Miles!

Love Gramma & Grampa Watson

Happy B-Day Harry Barker

Our cutie-boy dog had his 3rd birthday on Sunday.

I've been doing a bit of knitting toward NEXT

Christmas. Please see a few pix of the mitts I've

been working on and stripey scarves made from

Boku yarn.

Grandpa Santa

Just a quick pix of Miles with GrandpaSanta (on his Mom's side). He wasn't the least bit scared.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Giveaway & the winner is. . . .

Today is the day of the giveaway!!!

I put all the names in the knit hat and had Hubs pick one.

The winner is JODIE!!! Yea, huzzah, woohoo!!!

Jodie, please email me (stine4115@yahoo.com).

Congrats Jodie, you will enjoy this little girl.

Giveaway!!

I'm nearly up to 100 posts on my blog! (its only taken about 4 years - ha!)

To celebrate the (nearly) 100th blog, I'm going to have a giveway. Well, that would be if anyone enters their name.

Oh, what will be in the giveaway? I will be giving one of my knit monkeys. Her name is Fern. Have a look.

If you'd like to participate and possibly get this little girl, please leave me a comment and be sure to leave your email address or send me an email at stine4115@yahoo.com

The cutoff is Monday, Dec. 15th. So leave a comment or send me an email.

Be there or be square!

Update

My sister and family were visiting from Wisc 2 weeks ago. Its was so nice to have them here and we had such a good time - eating out, & shopping, shopping, shopping.

Then her family drove back to Wisc. and sister stayed another week. More eating out and shopping. OH and LOTS of knitting. Sis made 4 pairs of wool knit socks for grandson Miles. I made a pair of mittens and an earflap hat for Miles. That little boy will be plenty warm this winter! Have a look.

Miles

Just a quick note to say the unpacking and trips to the Goodwill are nearly finished. Boy do I miss our old REALLY LARGE walk-in closets! But I guess if I have to store it in a closet, I probably don't need it.

Please see the latest adorable pix of our grandson Miles. He is now 10 months old and he is doing a lot of "cruising" (hanging on to furniture and walking around).

Gotta go, more thigns to unpack (yuk, crapjob).

Its all done!

You thought I meant all the boxes have been emptied and everything put away?! HA! Not pickin likely, my friends!!! No, what I refer to is that all the things that needed fixing in our place have been taken care of by the landlord and his workmen. New toilet in the master bath, new switch for the garbage disposal (thats all it was) and the faucets for the washer no longer lead (everywhere). Thanks guys! Also the new washer was delivered this morning and I've been washing lots of things and it works like a champ! Its an LG (Life's Good). Tomorrow we are going to try and get an Ohio drivers license. We'll see how that goes. I went by Hobby Lobby this afternoon (what a fun store!!!). I found a few pix for the walls. Had a look at some of the Christmas decorations. Wow, that could take hours. . . . Better go, need my sleep for the written test for a new license (I hope).

I'm sorry

I'm sorry I was less thn kind about the new owner where we now live. He has been by and has sent his plumber by to have a look-see. The plumber will be by today and replace the cracked toilet, put in a new garbage disposal and fix the leaking knob in the laundry room. Thank you owner - you are looking after things! Our things finally arrived this past Friday. How that driver ooched that 18-wheeler into the cul-d'sac I'll never know - but he did it really well. The guys got everything unloaded in about 4 hours. The furniture is all in the house and in the correct rooms. The garage is full of all the boxes and boxes and boxes. The new tv is hooked up to Directv but as yet, we haven't been able to find the Directv box. It will probably be in the LAST PICKING BOX. My sister says to find the box that looks like its the last one and look in it now. The kitchen is a complete shambles - boxes everywhere and "stuff" all over the sideboards. I'm working on the kitchen today. Its hard trying to decide where to put things. I went thru things while packing and lots went to the Goodwill. I've started another Goodwill pile of things we just don't have room for. The 2nd bedroom seems to be getting lots of boxes that "I'll go thru later". Goodgrief, this is going to take forever. I did put up some pictures yesterday. It really makes a room look finished. I took a few pixs of the chaos but I haven't been able to find the cord to hook the camera to the computer - its probably in the box with the directv box (sigh) Oh the "best" (not) thing yet. Went to do a load of wash and the washer was acting strange. Called "The Appliance Man". He came out to have a look. He asked if we had stabilized the washer before it was moved? Do what? Its a front loader and that is supposed to be done before its moved. Seems there are these large cement weights inside (for whatever reason) and the moving smashed them all to heck. When the repairman open up the front panel on the washer all these bits and pieces of cement and electronic parts fell out (that is a bad thing). He just sighed and said it would be less expensive to buy a new washer - which we did. Its being delivered today. Today I will be calling the movers to see if we can get any money for our wrecked washer. I'm not holding my breath. I better go work on the kitchen. I probably should do something with my hair before any deliverymen show up - I look a little wild right now. More later.

Why is it. . ?

OK, so we found a new place (you remember, the 4-plex). SO we got the keys from the owner. He showed us around - the garbage disposal didn't work (he'd have his guy fix it), the house had not been cleaned (he called WHOEVER and said to come by and clean the house) - We finally have moved in with a card table and two chairs (from our son's basement), we purchased one of those blowup beds - amazingly its very comfy and will be great when my sister and family come to visit (but can be put away in the closet when not needed). The garbage disposal still doesn't work and the house had not been cleaned. Well, its been cleaned now - we did it!! Why is it when the owner gets his sheckles you don't hear from him again? Creep. He seemed nice - silly me! I sent him a nice l;ittle note with a list of the things that need looking into - as yet no word from the owner. I believe our things should arrive this coming week. I called them and of course, their total still owed is not the same total I was given by the fellow who picked up our stuff 3 weeks ago - and what can you do, they have your stuff held hostage! So we will pay it - CRAP!(again) But its all worth it to be able to see our son and his wife and to hold their son Miles! He is soo sweet and cute. Of course he is smart as a whip! We stopped by a garage sale out in the middle of NO WHERE (that being Ohio or Indiana) and found a great little rocking horse for $3. Its not very tall so Miles won't get hurt on it. Did I tell you about Ohio and Indiana? No, well let me say this - the people are wonderful and friendly. The roads are long and straight and there are farms EVERYWHERE. Its either corn or soybeans and between the fields are cows, horses, some goats and some llamas and of course the farmers homes. Every so often you run into a town at the end of these long straight roads. Also on these long straight roads are a lot of roadkill. I'm asuming the dead animals are the ones being culled from the pack because they aren't smart enough to get across the road safely. I've seen possums, skunks, lots of raccoons, a few red foxes, a couple of deer, a few cats and lots of squirrels. My sister and family are coming to visit in November for Thanksgiving. We're excited for them to visit. We have several fun places to take them - like Ritters the most wonderful ice cream place - its custard ice cream - oh my, to die for!!! There is a fun antique mall in Centerville that takes several hours to walk thru and try to see everything. There is a place in Hamilton called Jungle Jims. Its the worlds largest grocery store. What a fun place. Besides the regular food stuffs, veggies, fruits, meat, frozen foods, etc. they is a huge international section. You look down an aisle and see "Indian" "Asian" "Hispanic" and whatever other nationalities. There is a kitchen gadget section that goes on forever. Pots and pans, a huge cheese section, a sushi takeout section, and more and more to see. Better go, need to see if the wax on the kitchen floor is dry. Glad that job is done! Crap-job, let me tell you.

The Big Move!!

Been gone a while! We decided to sell our home and move from Oregon to Indiana. Why? you ask? We wanted to be closer to our son and his family (our only grandchild Miles). We wanted to be involved in their lives and not be the grandparents Miles aw once a year. We put our home up for sale on Friday. Sat. the realtor called and asked if he could bring someone by - eventhough the house was a shambles and not ready for anyone to see it (packing boxes everywhere!!). We said "Sure, come on over". The lady liked the house and they left. During the next week I got the house squared away and cleared all the counters so it would look as large as possible. The following Sat. (1 week later) the same lady came by and was pleased with what she saw and kept commenting on "how large" the house was. She made an offer, we countered and we hade a deal. Two weeks later we signed, got our check and 3 days later the movers hauled our things away. We loaded our car with the basics, put the dog in his car seat and away we went toward Indiana. We discovered we could only drive about 8 hours a day (about 350 miles). That was all we could handle. It took us 6 days from Oregon to Indiana. We are staying at our sons home until our things arrive. But we did find a new place to live,. Its on a cul-d'sac (sp?). Its one of a 4 plex. All on ground level. It has all the things we were looking for - air conditioning, washer/dryer hookup, & takes dogs. Most all the neighbors are retired so it should be fairly quiet. We're hoping to move in within the week. Once we're settled, I'm hoping to get back to some knitting - I've missed it.

Elephant

Just finished a knit elephant from "Knitatnoon".

He is a pretty cute fellow. What do you think?

Garage Sale update

My neighbor has done really well and handed me an additional $36.50 this evening, for the things she was able to sell from the stuff I left in her driveway (2 chest of drawers and misc.). Thanks Pam, very kind of you! The new total is $304. How cool is that!? Way!! Hubs has been visiting with some neighbors and asking how they did with the sale. Most say "Not too well". I guess selling most things at $1, 25c, 10c was a good thing. $304 is a lot of quarters.

Garage Sale

This weekend (Fri-Sun) is the annual garage sale here where we live. Not everyone participates but its advertised in the local fish-wrap and in the fish-wrap acros the state line. We decided to take part this year. I went thru MUCH STUFF collecting for the sale. We only had a few big things - 2 bikes, 2 chest of drawers, 2 lawn chairs, 2 small tvs, a VERY heavy doll house and lots of misc crap. The sale started at 9am on Friday. I didn't sleep AT ALL Thurs. evening and finally got out of bed at 4:30 am on Friday. My mind was buzzing and wouldn't let me sleep. About 6am I started taking things out to the driveway, and I was all ready to SELL when 9am arrived. I'm sorry I didn't take pix - didn't think of it until just this morning. But there were lots of lookers and buyers. I had a lot of things marked at 25c so there was a brisk business. I didn't spend any $ at other sales near me, but did do a bit of trading with one neighbor. She got a couple of knitting books from me and I got a couple of recipe books from her. When it was all over, I didn't have a whole lot left to try to sell on Sat. & Sun. My neighbor offered to try to sell what I had left and said just put it in her driveway (so I did). I have to work Sat. & Sun. so this was very kind of her. When all was said and done (not counting what might be made Sat, Sun) the grand total for Fri. was $268. WooHoo! I was amazed, pleased and pretty well chuffed! Thank you shoppers!

Zebra

I just finished a zebra from a pattern by "Knitting at Noon". I used fun colors rather than black and white. Since zebra is for grandson Miles and he will be nearly a year old by Christmas, Miles would enjoy bright colors. I'm afraid the red looks orange but zebra is bright red and bright blue. Zebra is done in acrylic so he can be washed and dried with no ill effects.

I saw an ad on tv yesterday for a new products from Arm & Hammer. Its called Essentials cleaning products. It comes with an empty squirt bottle and small bottle of the concentrated cleaning solution. You fill the bottle with water and then add the concentrate. There are 3 flavors, All Purpose Cleaner, Window Cleaner and Cleaner/Degreaser. Then when your bottle is empty you just purchase the small concentrate and use the squirt bottle you already have. When I got groceries at Wally World this evening I purchased the cleaner/degreaser flavor. I mixed it up. Then I needed to cut up some raw bacon. My glass cutting board was a mess of grease. I got the new bottle of cleaner, squirted my greasy cutting board, pulled off 1 paper towel and wiped the cutting board. The grease was already broken down and the one paper towel cleaned the board! Best of all, the cleaners are plant based products, so besides re-using the squirt bottles, the product itself is a good thing. I just wanted to share this great product. Don't be afraid to buy it - it really works!!!

monkeemaker.co.uk

Huzzah!!! MM, 007 and troup are finally back from a rest-cure (or something). We're just glad they are all back. I think I heard something about a backyard pizza party in the near future. Be sure to mark your calendars! MM made 7 (count 'em, 7) more 007 look-alikes while on hols.

Welcome back MM!!