Laundry Soap and Dishwasher Soap

I have found a couple recipes for homemade laundry soap and homemade dishwasher soap. They use the same base ingredients so I figured it would be pretty easy to take care of them both. I've been making laundry soap for something like a year now, and just started on the dishwasher soap. I have a big cereal container and only use 1 tablespoon at a time so for like 9 bucks I can have enough dishwasher soap for a really, really long time. The laundry soap lasts about a month. I figure that's pretty good for a recipe that costs me like ninety cents.

Here's how you do the laundry soap:

Recipe: 4-Quart or larger pot

2.5 Gallon or larger bucket

Grater

1/2 c. measuring cup

1 Quart Measurement spoon or whisk

1/2 Borax

1/2 Washing Soda

1/3 Bar of Fels Naptha soap (can substitute other soaps but you'll need to use the full bar)

2 Gallons Water

First heat 2 quarts water to boiling. Add 1/3 bar grated Fels Naptha soap (shown above)

Turn heat to medium-low. Stir until soap is dissolved.

Add 1/2 c. soda and 1/2 c. Borax. Stir until dissolved.

Remove from heat.

Pour 6 q. water into bucket. Add soap solution. Whisk until well mixed and cover. You can add essential oils here but in my experience they tend to rinse out in the wash without leaving scent behind anyway. Dryer sheets add plenty of scent for us.

Wait 24 hours. It will congeal into a mostly gel state. After 24 hours whisk again to break up congealed parts and mix again with liquid parts. 

Use 1/2 c. per load of laundry.

In my experience, it will separate between laundry loads. This is fine; just mix it all together again. I love having it in the drink container shown above. I can just pick the whole thing up and shake it to mix it all together. And there's a pour spout to make dispensing into a measuring cup easy. 

I love this stuff. It rinses virtually scentless. I also use vinegar as a stain remover and fabric softener. I put a 1/4 cup of vinegar in with the laundry soap, and fill my downy ball a little past the fill line to dispense into the rinse cycle. Easy.

Dishwasher soap is even easier. Just measure all the ingredients and dump them in a container.

1 c. washing soda

1 c. Borax

1/4 c. kosher salt

1/4 c. Citric acid. Alternatively, use 2 pkgs. lemonade kool-aid. (ONLY lemon and ONLY sugar free)

Use 1-2 Tablespoons plus 3 drops dish soap in the soap dispenser. Plus splash 1/2 c. to 1 c. vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher. It helps the soap rinse. 

I added a bunch of table salt. I was looking up why on earth kosher salt is called kosher salt and it's partly because it doesn't contain anti-clumping agents 'like other salts.' So I ran into some trouble with my soap over-clumping to the point I was afraid I'd have a solid mass of it on the bottom of my container in a few days. So I had a brain storm that if kosher salt doesn't clump but others do it wouldn't hurt to add a little of another salt. So I dumped a bunch of table salt in it. I didn't measure, sorry. 

I do enjoy not buying these soaps anymore. It's great. The dishwasher soap in in the test phase, but it seems to work well right off the bat. I hope to keep going and do hand soap soon too!

Peak, Pit, Prayer and Praise

Peak: This day was unbelievably peaceful. I got done everything I wanted to accomplish. All three girls were in school so I took the dog for a run, which felt wonderful. It's beautiful here today, blue skies, brisk breeze, my favorite. I found out my laptop fits in the bag my hubby doesn't want to use anymore so I got a 'new' bag. I'm a dork for bags and purses so that makes me ridiculously giddy. I vacuumed, mended, folded laundry, straightened the house, and ironed. I feel like I am where I should be and I can't wait to see what God wants with the future.

Pit: I really can't think of one. Maybe a small one, and that is that I lost my patience with the girls when they came home all shouting a hundred things at me at once. 

Prayer: Hubby is probably going to sign papers to accept a job offer in the next couple days. Prayers of blessing/ for God's will to be done would be appreciated. 

Prayer 2: C asked again about home schooling. She has been in such an obnoxious class this year that I told God that I would look into it if she asked me before the new school year. And she did. And so we begin looking into it. And praying. Prayers that I would do God's will in this would be wonderful. The fun thing is I keep having ideas about how to make it work... 

Praise: I am unbelievably blessed. I have a husband who would go to the moon and back for me. I have 3 loving, intelligent, incredible daughters. God is once again providing for us with a steady job for my hubby. Today was full of peace and productivity. My cup is overflowing. Some days I don't understand that phrase. Today I really and truly do.

Oh wait, I did that too.

Ha! I forgot to put up stuff about the 25K. I did it, and I survived, though there were moments when I wasn't sure if I was going to. My mom and sister ran with me, and our goals were to 'run the whole way, and not need an ambulance.' Well, we accomplished that, and I shaved 4 minutes off my time last year. This is the farthest either of them ever ran, so they have a lot to be proud of even though they both could have gone quite a bit faster than me. Next time they can work on PR's! This time we had fun even though I was kinda crabby from not feeling good.

Are those people related or what?

Nice shot of the start line by S, manning the camera.

That's me with the dorky two-handed wave.

I was so glad to see them cause it meant we were close to the end!

Awkward pic of us going around that guy. 

Holy Bananas, We Are Busy

My kids always giggle when I say 'Holy Bananas' which I figure is a better overall reaction than if I actually swore so that works. Plus I'd much rather they repeat that than anything else so we'll stick with that.

So, busy. This week we had Dress Rehearsal on Monday for C and A, for the Recital that is Saturday. They are profoundly adorable in their little costumes and I am so proud of them I can't even stand it. C is dancing to 'I Won't Grow Up' from Peter Pan, and A is dancing to the french version of 'L.O.V.E.' by Nat King Cole. They've worked so hard, put in lots of class time, gotten nervous and excited and ready and nervous again, sometimes in the span of a couple hours. In a little while here I'm going to get up again and get all their stuff laid out to go in the morning. It's quite a process to get it all set and get them all dolled up and we have to be there at 9:20. But for now here's some pictures of dress and such.

A at blocking rehearsal

C (in the purple) at blocking rehearsal. She definitely has the right amount of attitude necessary for this dance.

Full costume for dress rehearsal.

Tuesday and Wednesday were softball games for S. She's on an actual little league team this year, which means learning to hit off other little girls doing the pitching, learning to deal with different interpretation of the rules at different fields, and even doing a little pitching herself. She's been doing great! It's a huge step up from coach pitch and they even steal bases. It was quite the learning curve at first!

Batting

Pitching!

Thursday we spent at a little program S's class put together. Tonight was the Girls on the Run 5K. S improved her time from last year and had a great time doing it. She got to run with my hubby and her grandma (hubby's mom).

After the run. They look especially hot because it was 80* outside.

What a week. I am SO excited to see them dance tomorrow and then I'm going to be ready to be done with this season of not sitting down to any meals at the table, but instead catching them in the car at worst and at the island in the kitchen at best. I love these activities and am so proud they get to do them, and proud of the work they put into them. It's worth every minute of busy-ness it brings. 

Not giving a... well, never mind.

Yeah, I got most of the ideas I'm going to expound on from a blog that used some pretty grown up words. I hesitated for a long time in posting this and linking to the article because of the language used. So consider yourself warned.

(Here's the link, to give credit where credit will be due: Right here 'cause even the link had bad words...)

But it also had some interesting ideas. It pointed out that we all have this internal 'eye' watching us all the time. It's the expectations that have built up inside of us from those we come in contact with. Our parents, culture, friends... all those feelings we have about how others see us and how they will react to EVERYTHING we do. I had to agree with much of what he was saying.

His points are, there are billions on this planet. There's no reason to care about what every one of them thinks about you. Most of them, even if they do notice you, will not think twice about you. So he suggested breaking through the things that make you most uncomfortable by just doing them. In fact, the example he gave was what resonated with me and made me want to blog about it. He had a pair of Vibrams and rather than worry about what people would think if they saw him in them, he just wore them. Who cares what people think? And if they don't like them, how would that change whether or not you like them? I have a pair too and the fact that I barely wore them right away is due largely to the fact that I cared what people would think if they saw me in them. Well, who cares what they think about my shoes? I like them, my feet feel good when I wear them, so... so what.

Recently the issue has been skirts. I want to be wearing more skirts but I was worried about whether people would think I was trying to make a religious statement or trying to be more proper, but the truth is that I just like them. I have some cute ones and want to wear them. I'm finally doing that more and more (even wearing dresses for everyday stuff instead of just church), and I like it. And no one else really cares.

His point is as long as it's not illegal, then knock yourself out and forget other people. They'll soon be forgetting you anyway. I would amend that by adding that if I'm still trying to reflect Christ in the way I treat people, how I dress is not going to change much. 


There's a saying, I found it today attributed to Maya Angelou:  “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Also, they'll forget what you were wearing. So, have your own style. Don't worry about dressing to please others. God made us individuals for a reason. The whole reason we're here is to love on others and model Christ anyway, not to impress them with our dress.

Stuff my Kids Say

The other day C and I were listening to a song called "Dancing in the Minefields." The first lines from it are:

"I was nineteen, you were twenty-one

the year we got engaged

And everyone said we were much too young

but we did it anyway."

And Christy agreed. "She wasn't MUCH too young, but he was. Nineteen is YOUNG!"

And I answered, "Well, Mommy and Daddy were seventeen when we got engaged."

Her jaw actually dropped. She's a dramatic one, my youngest. "That's MUCH too young! I don't want to get engaged until..." And here she thought. I held my breath. What was 'old enough' to a five year old? 

"At LEAST twenty-two!" 

And I chuckled. Sounds good to me, little one.