I wish I were a bit more organized to save these sorts of posts for Jen’s 7 Quick Takes, but alas, if I don’t do it now, I’ll just forget. Just know, deep in my heart, that this is a Quick Takes post (although I won’t make it to 7, I’m sure!)
1. Many, many thanks to Suzanne over at Gladdest Hours for introducing me to the joys of label makers! Thanks to her, I am now the proud owner of a Brother PT-1090 label maker! (They are on sale this week at Office Depot for only $15… what are you waiting for?)
Now, I have always been a labeler at heart, as you can clearly see in this picture of my spice pantry….
Instant loveliness! (The kids were all clamoring to try, so I wound up labeling things that I wouldn’t normally… like grits… and pasta… and brown sugar… but hey! It was all for love of learning, so we did it!)
2. In the DIY category…
About a year or so ago I took the plunge and started making my own laundry detergent. I was tired of buying the stuff, and eager to see — in that pioneer spirit — if homemade stuff would really work (see, I blame it all on Martha Stewart. Once I learned from her that it was possible to make homemade pudding, and that it tasted better than boxed mixes, I was sold on the idea of homemade). The hardest part was actually FINDING Fels Naptha soap. For some reason, they don’t sell it in this part of South Carolina, so I had to call my mom and ask her to send it to me (thanks, Mom!). The recipe is simple: 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated (after I grate it I put it in the food processor to make it extra fine); 1 cup of Borax; 1 cup of washing soda (found in the laundry aisle), and a 1/2 cup of Oxyclean if you are so inclined. Mix it up, stick it in a jar, and use 1 tablespoon per load. It works great and the clothes come out smelling really nice. For extra oomph, I use a bar of Fels Naptha soap and rub it on the stains before washing.
Since I had had success in the laundry area, I was eager to try dishwashing detergent… and tonight was my night to experiment. We ran out of our normal dishwasher soap, so I decided to give it a go. I got the recipe from diy Natural. This recipe makes a ton of detergent! Doing a quick and dirty method of measuring, I calculated that I had about 330 tablespoons of this stuff… which, if I ran 2 loads a day, would come out to 165 DAYS worth of detergent. My total spent on everything was $9.00, which comes out to roughly THREE CENTS a load.
But does it work?
Well, bear in mind that I’ve only done two loads so far… but the results are promising! I would hate to recommend something based on only two tries, but I am comforted by the fact that the detergent has worked well for the couple at diy Natural. I’m hoping it works as well for us!
3. On a completely different note, I’m reading through CS Lewis’ space trilogy again. I think I read it about 15+ years ago the first time, and honestly I remembered very little of it. I am enjoying it much more this time around!
4. This is a wonderful movie.
No, it’s not the best movie ever made, but I thought it WAS well-done and I truly enjoyed watching it. In a nutshell, it’s an Indian version of the story of Helen Keller, but it’s much more than that. It’s a beautiful story of how her Teacher opened up her world to her, and how she in turn helped him. It was just a good reminder for me — again — that every life has value, every life has beauty, and that even in our brokenness we can be used by God to reach others. If you get a chance to see this movie, let me know what you thought of it!
5. Another Christopher-ism…
As I was explaining the concept of trying to subtract a negative number to Sean, I used the illustration of a double negative in a sentence (“I don’t have no pencil.”) to show that, in actuality, you have said that you DO have a pencil. I finished by saying, “so just remember, two negatives equal a positive.” Just then Christopher shook his head and said, “that shouldn’t be, ’cause as we all know, Mommy, two wrongs don’t make a right!”
Enjoy your Wednesday!
Lovely!!!! Gotta love that little machine!