DIY Laundry Detergent

I'm almost out of Tide, so I thought I would be domestic and somewhat crafty and see if I could make my own laundry detergent.  It's the in-thing now, ya know.  I kind of made a mess of my kitchen, but it didn't take very long, and it worked!

So, here are the ingredients.  I made a half batch, which uses 1 bar of Zote, 1 2 lb box of baking soda, and half of everything else in the picture.  A half batch made me about 190 loads, I figured that was sufficient...The instructions and pictures are for a half-batch, the instructions at the end of the post are for a full batch, using the full boxes of everything in the above pic.

So, step 1: grate the Zote bar.  You can either use a cheese grater and risk bloody knuckles while being thrifty, or you can do a cool science experiment instead, by microwaving it.

When you nuke a bar of soap, this is what you get!  It will be warm, so let it cool in the fridge for a few minutes so it hardens up.  Then you can put it into your food processor or blender and it will chop it into fine little bits.  No bloody knuckles, and cool science!  It's a two-fer!

Step 2: Put Zote into blender and blend it to smithereens.  To help get the fine grain you are looking for, you can add the Purex Crystals and/or some of the baking soda in there as well.  Depends on how good the blender is.

Step 3:  Once the right consistency, dump half of everything and the blended Zote into a bucket and mix well.  I just used a garage bucket lined with a garbage bag.

Last: Put in airtight container and use at your own discretion!  2 tablespoon per load for front loaders (just put it right into the drum with the clothes), 4 tablespoons per load for top loaders.  It smells pretty, and is cheap!!  I got about 190 loads for about 6 cents per load!  Whoot! 

That is a 6L sterilite container, full of homemade laundry detergent.  

Recipe for full batch:

1 (4lb 12 oz) Box of Borax - detergent aisle

1 (3lb 7oz) Box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda - detergent aisle

1 (3lb) container OxyClean - detergent aisle

2 (14.1 oz) bars Zote soap (can use Fels Naptha as well) - detergent aisle

2 bottles of Purex Crystals (or 1 big bottle as seen in my picture) - detergent aisle

1 (4lb) Box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (or 2 2lb boxes) - baking aisle

1.  Grate Zote soap (cheese grater, or microwave/blender method)

2.  Mix all ingredients in a large bucket.

3.  Use 2-4 Tablespoons per laundry load.

This is a forgiving recipe, so substitute at will.  You can even leave out the Purex entirely and it would cut your cost in half or more, I just like the pretty smell.    If you make it and use it, let me know what you think!  

Now, to clean up my kitchen...should be easy since I have soap on the floor already!

The Saga of the Well and the Ants

Ah, the wonders of country living.  We learn something new every day.  Last Friday, I came home with the 5-yr old in tow (waiting on his two older brothers to arrive shortly) to find that our house had no water.  Fan-freaking-tastic.  I called Jason, the electric company, our developer, a well-drilling guy...long story short, no one knew what the problem was.  The running theory was the the guys doing some trenching up the way may have caused a bit of an underground earthquake and killed our pump...well, that's just ducky.  I pushed this and hit that, blah blah, nothing.  No water. Zilch.  Awesome... So, the well guy is out of town, but he called a guy he works with who said that he could stop by but not until Saturday morning.  So, now we are a family of 5 with 2 dogs and no indoor plumbing.  Anyone see a problem with this?

So, dinner menu got scratched and we went out for Chinese, then to grandma and grandpa's house for running water and such.  We had all the kids go to the bathroom, brush teeth, take showers, etc, (then we waited out a nasty hail-producing storm) and then we went home and rolled them into bed, praying that we would have running water when they woke up and needed to do it all over again.

Saturday morning, the guy shows up around 8am and determines that the pump is fine, but a colony of very determined ants took up residence in the electrical box and electrocuted themselves, thus stopping any power from getting to the pump itself.  He cleaned out the box, sprayed it down with ant spray, and voila, we have water!!  AND, Jason mentioned that the water pressure in our house seemed low, he checked and said it wasn't set high enough, so he set the psi higher, and now we have indoor plumbing with pressure to back it up!  Booyah for the well dude!!  No charge since we haven't lived there long enough, and he said that as long as we spray the thing with ant spray once in a while, we should be good to go.  Hallelujah!  The weekend is looking up!!

I can breathe!!!

Oh, just kidding.  False alarm.  I could breathe.  Now, I can't.  Let me explain.  No, that take too long, let me sum up.

I went to the ENT today and he removed the silicon septal button from my nose.  In order to do that, he had to spray this nasty-tasting junk up there to numb the tissues.  The side-effect of that stuff is that it shrinks the tissues as well, opening up the field-of-view for the doc.  For the first time in over 6 months, I could easily breathe through my nose without any work or thought!!!  It was GLORIOUS!!!  And then...it wore off.  And I can't breathe again.  *sigh*  I asked the doc if I could have some of that stuff, and he said he couldn't prescribe that because my nose would get addicted to it. I thought "I'm already addicted to it, this stuff is awesome!!".  Anywho, I had a blissful hour or so, and now I am back to square one.

The button is out, he has me on a rose-geranium oil rinse as well as a gentamicin rinse to try and get the possible infection and swelling to go down, go back in 6 weeks to see if there has been any improvement.  So, for right now, my nose is all crusted up and swollen on the inside (looks fine on the outside, so that's a blessing...at least I only feel horrid and don't look it!!) and bleeding and painful, just like it was before the button was in.  I will pick up the meds tomorrow and start them and maybe they will do some good.  Oh, and I have a blistering headache.  Not sure if its related or not, but it hurts nonetheless.

In other news, I got a shipping notification from Burpee that my first shipment of live plants is on its way...for anyone in the upper midwest, you can guess that this will pose a bit of a problem since there is over a foot of snow in my garden right now...I called Burpee a week or so ago and asked them if they could push back the ship dates of these live plants, and the lady says "well, the first shipment is onions and strawberries, and they should be fine, they can handle a light frost without a problem."  "Light frost", she says.  "They will be fine", she says.  *ahem*  Does 15" of snow seem like a light frost, lady?  Now what is a girl to do with live strawberry plants for weeks on end?  huh?  huh?  Ugh.  Might be calling Burpee back and asking what they suggest I do with the plants until I can successfully plant a garden in June...

SPRING!!

I don't know about you guys, but I am so incredibly happy that it has been nice outside that I am just plain giddy about life!  So, some updates:


1.  I am done with CostCo until fall.  Too much to do during the summer for a part-time job, so I'm going to work just enough days to stay on the books as active (once every 6 weeks or so), and come back in the fall. Yeah weekends!!!

2. We got an 8x12 wooden shed built this past weekend, so now we can put stuff like the lawn tractor, snowblower, trailer, etc. in there and have our garage back!  Wheee!

3.  We have started landscaping!  We were given a couple fruit trees (cherry and pear) that are planted, with more that we ordered (2 apple, a peach, and a black walnut) coming soon.  We planted a couple evergreens that we bought over the winter and have mulched around a few flowers we bought (including a couple rose bushes, yeah!!).  We are watching and waiting to see what trees survived the winter.  We had a bunch of baby trees that were decimated by a local snowmobiler who doesn't have any concept of land ownership, apparently, so he mowed them down.  *moment of silence for dead willow trees*

4.  We have sod coming *hopefully* next week, so at least part of our yard will not be mud anymore, yippee!  Living on a mud pit has its disadvantages, let me tell you.  The poor puppies are fenced into the front porch to save us all the irritation of multiple baths every day.  Soon guys, soon!

5.  It has been so wet recently that our pond, which suffered the drought last summer by turning into a crater, is now so full that it is up over the outlet!  Lets hope it stays that full, that would be wonderful!

6. And the best news of all, Jason got a great job!!!  He is going to be working on the St. Croix River Bridge up in Stillwater as a senior inspector through a fantastic company that has given him a wonderful entrance into this job that is projected to last 4+ years!!  When the hours get crazy in the summer, he will probably be staying up there and coming home on weekends, but that's okay.  We are both so excited about the opportunity!

I see a future full of parties and bonfires, grilling out and playing in the dirt to (try and )grow stuff.  Loving life!!

Tracey

Research Study, Post #1

Just spend the night at SMH for a research study I am participating in.  Overall, it was okay, but these things always have a few bumps...these bumps happen to currently be on my arms from the 3 IVs and 2 other attempted IVs...and I'm pretty sure one infiltrated towards the end and now I have a huge lump on my arm where the fluids all accumulated in the tissues...these are gonna be pretty bruises!  My arms are both very sore and tired as well, from being held at odd angles and from not having free movement for so long.

I had a few moments of low blood sugar+high blood pressure (let me tell ya, that is an odd feeling, and not in a good way), and, of course, the required IV issues one always has during these things.  I actually slept pretty well, all things considered, so that helped my outlook on life.

I survived.  Next overnight is next week, that one will involve muscle biopsies, which don't hurt at all during the procedure, and hurt like heck after the local wears off.  After that, I have 6 months of either omega-3 supplement or a placebo, and then two overnights with the same tests again.  Yippee!!

NOT allergic to life?!?

Well now I am completely baffled.  6-7 years ago, I had allergy testing done, and came up mildly allergic to grass, ragweed, pollen, dust, and dogs.  Now, when I am having tons of allergy issues, and they get worse with each successive dog I live with, I went in for another round of testing, to see if I had become allergic to anything else, since clearly my dog allergy has skyrocketed.  Today's result:  not allergic to anything.  nada.  zip.  zilch.  *insert sarcastic smile here*  Now, come on people...I know I'm allergic to stuff!  I was fine until we got dog 1, then I went on Claritin.  We got dog 2, I had to go on Claritin and Flonase, and it still didn't quelch all the symptoms.  Now, I'm not allergic at all?  Hmpf.

So, plan B.  I have a call in to my ENT to ask if the nasal septal button I have in my nose might be causing some of the issues (perhaps my body is rebelling against the material the button is made out of, and thus causing all sorts of inflammation and other issues in my nose?), and I have an appt with an allergy doc next week to talk about my results (or lack of them, as the case may be) and try to come up with a plan of action.  A friend informed me that sometimes the scratch test that Mayo performs misses allergies, and that the "gold standard" of allergy testing is a more invasive injection under the skin (think TB skin test).  That test is sometimes used if skin testing is negative or unclear.  So, perhaps that is what we will go to as the next step?

Either way, I feel slightly better now because I can go back on my allergy meds, but am baffled and annoyed at the lack of clear-cut results, and a lack of a plan because of that.  Why can't anything be simple?

My head, my head!

I am still getting over the crud, I'm still overcome with allergies to life (see previous post of same title), and now I am, apparently, on the verge of a double ear infection, per my chiropractor.  I mentioned that my ears plugged up when I laid down during my appointment with him, so he took a look in my ears and said that there is fluid behind each one and it is, and I quote, "red and angry".  Fan-freaking-tastic.  My head is out to kill me!  My ears, my nose, my sinuses, the cough-that-just-won't-quit...I'm feeling a smidge overwhelmed by my body at the moment.  Give it up already!

However, you will be happy to hear that I have not let any of these unfortunate symptoms stop me from working out.  In fact, my workout buddy couldn't make our Monday or Wednesday workouts this week, but I went anyway, all on my own!  I'm proud of myself.  I cough and hack my way through them, but I feel accomplished and sore (in a good way) when I'm done.  They are becoming easier, I may have to tick up the intensity a bit. But for now, I'm proud that I have kept it up, even while feeling like crap.  Hopefully, the fates of fitness will smile on me for my accomplishment and show me some results.  :)

I have allergy testing next Friday, which means that as of Easter I can no longer take my allergy meds...so next week oughta just be a blast!  *eye roll*

Bell training and Baklava

Parenting Fail Story:

We are attempting to bell-train Peter the Olde English Bulldogge.  He tends to go to the door to go out, but he makes no noise to alert us of this. So he just stands there a second, and if we don't recognize he is at the door, he just squats right there, probably figuring "well, I tried, you people are just dumb".  So, we hung a bell by the door and are attempting to train him to hit the bell with his nose (hit bell, get treat, door opens, repeat).  Ethan (10 1/2 year old) lets Peter outside often when they are with us.  Jason told him "make sure he rings the bell before you open the door".  One time this weekend, I happened to be watching the two of them, and I saw Ethan ring the bell, and then open the door and let Peter outside...I looked at him and said "son, the idea is that the DOG rings the bell, not you!".  "Oh, I didn't know that, sorry!".  So, apparently, we have successfully bell-trained the 10 year old.  Go us.  Now, for the puppy...

In other news, we had a wonderful time making Baklava with friends this Sunday!  We do this about once a year, a group of 7 or 8 of us get together at someone's house and crank out 15 pans of baklava or so, with everyone helping and snacking and chatting, and then we all take a couple pans home.  It is great fun, and my family loves it because most of them just devour this Baklava like it's made out of crack.  So, this year, we gathered at our new house with the big open kitchen for this party, and it was a blast!  I meant to take pictures to post, but got so involved in the process that I forgot entirely. But, we ended up with about 14 pans of baked greek yumminess, had some appetizers and punch, and had a very fun time!

Week one - accomplished!

Well, the first week of the "new me" is nearly complete.  I successfully kept track of all my food intake via calories and hit below my calorie goal all but one day.  My friend and I worked out 3 times at the DAHLC just like we planned, and we are both definitely feeling it today!  We did two strength classes (Mon and Wed) and then we hilariously attempted a "Hip Hop Groove" class on Thursday...yeah, these white girls don't do hip hop very successfully.  We are re-evaluating our Thursday cardio plans.  We both like the strength classes though, so we will stick with those twice a week.  Perhaps a class in the pool on Thursdays?  Or maybe just a treadmill or track kind of workout?  We'll discuss. Either way, we stuck with it, we made it, we encouraged each other, and we have made it through week one none the worse for wear (except for the muscle fatigue that threatens to topple me every time I go to stand up or cough).

I am feeling good about the life changes, the hubby is very supportive of me and the time it takes to work out 3x per week.  My main issue right now is just the muscle fatigue.  Apparently, the failed hip hop attempt worked out some core muscles yesterday, which is good, except when you are getting over a chest cold.  Now, whenever I hack up a lung (which is on an hourly basis, give or take), I feel like my diaphragm is going to rip in two, so that's fun.  Hopefully, with the weekend to rest, we will be good-to-go on Monday to start it all over again!

Trials and tribulations of my feet

Some of you may know that I have been experimenting with custom orthotics these past few months.  Apparently, I walk very poorly and have essentially no arch to speak of, so the orthotics were intended to make me walk properly and support my non-existant arch, and thus help my lower back and hip issues that I have had since I was a teenager.  All well and good, except they didn't help, they hurt.  A lot.  In fact, my chiropractor (who told me to get them) told me to throw them out, I was much easier to adjust and needed much less treatment without the orthotics.  Awesome.  I have had them adjusted a couple times, each time they feel better, but just not right. But then again, what's right supposed to feel like?  Clearly it isn't supposed to feel like it always does when I walk, because I do that incorrectly.  So, for a few months, I just wasn't sure what "right" was.  Did they feel good?  Not really, but they didn't feel bad either.

Well, I got tired of fighting with them and decided to give them a rest for a couple weeks, so I haven't worn them now for about 2 weeks.  My legs, hips, and back feel better than they have all year, so that's a plus!  So, yesterday, I went to a workout class, it was a combination Zumba/HIIT class at a local place that was giving an intro-to-our-new-gym class for free.  I felt great, had a good workout (though had trouble breathing because I am still working on getting over "the crud").  Drove home, took a shower, and while getting dressed, my right foot began to hurt.  Badly.  Really badly.  All of a sudden, I couldn't stand on that foot without being up on my tip-toes.  The outside bottom edge of my foot all the way from my arch to my heel hurts like a son-of-a-gun, and I have no idea why.  We went on with our evening, me limping along, hoping it was one of those walk-it-out injuries.  Went to dinner, came home, still limping.  Got into bed, slept through the night, got up this morning, and I was REALLY limping...wanted to cry it hurt so much.  Ok, suck it up, gotta go to work.  I am now at work, and I can safely say that my foot hurts a little less than it did this morning, but it still hurts a lot.

Now, my first inclination is to say I hurt it doing jumping jacks or something.  But if I did that, wouldn't it have hurt at that point, not 1 1/2 hours later?  And wouldn't it have felt better after a night of non-use while sleeping, instead of hurting more? It is a very specific pain, I can draw a line over the area that hurts, and it doesn't really feel muscular, it feels deeper than that.  I can push on the muscles and it doesn't draw out any more pain than I already feel.  It feels better with shoes on, and walking barefoot is horribly painful.

Well, regardless, I'm trying to "walk-it-out", and I'm going to a strength-training class tonight with my co-worker friend who said she is also having heel/foot pain.  Her and I are gonna be a funny duo tonight, but we are gonna go anyway!  Persevere!!

Back on the wagon

As most of you know, I have gone through hell and high-water to lose weight, including two different weight-loss surgeries.  Well, successful as I was, I have fallen off the wagon and I need to figure out how to get back on it.  For so long, my whole life revolved around losing weight and being healthy.  Then, life got stressful and I forgot about myself.  I started worrying about everyone else, and I took my weight-loss success for granted.  Then one day, I noticed my pants didn't fit anymore.  Uh oh.  But, apparently, that wasn't enough to spur any action.  Well, now the "fat-pants" are getting tight.  Now, that is enough to get my attention.

Back to basics.

Time to start tracking every food that goes into my mouth.  Time to start paying attention to my breakfast every morning instead of just getting eggs and bacon at the cafeteria.  Time to start working out again, even if its not much to start with.  So, that is the goal.  I know myself well, I have been doing this for my entire adult life.  What I tend to do is this:  I get super excited about starting over, I get really motivated, I do great for about a week, and then I decide this is a lot of work and I stop.  I have done it too many times to count.  So this time, I'm gonna try something different.  I'm not going to go all-in for the first week.  Each week will have a new goal.  This week, it will be to just track all of my food, and exercise just once.  When I do that successfully, I will add one more day of exercise.  Then, perhaps, I will institute a calorie goal and ensure I don't go above that.  Let's see how I do.  Baby steps, right?  I've done it before, let's do it again!

Turtle Cake - it's not what you think

So, this past Wednesday was Keegan's birthday (he turned 5!), so we are celebrating this weekend.  Jason called Keegan and asked him what he wanted for his birthday.  His answer: "A land tortoise".  Uh huh.  Jason:  "What else do you want?" Keegan: "A stuffed bunny."  That's better!  Anyway, this got me thinking, perhaps I could make him a turtle cake, you know, with chocolate, caramel, nuts, etc.  What a funny play on words, huh?  Then, I remembered my audience.  5 year old.  Humor = lost.  Alright, let's regroup.  How about a cake shaped like a turtle or something?  I have no cake decorating skills to speak of at all, so this is going to be an adventure.  The all-powerful Google was consulted, and I found this!

Adorable, right?  It is made out of a dozen cupcakes, all frosted together to look like a turtle!  Now, this looks like something I might be able to pull off without a miraculous intervention by Betty Crocker herself.  So, tonight, I gave it a shot.  And I took pictures at all (or most) integral points of the process!

I started with a basic cake mix.  Whenever I make cake from a box, I always futz with it a little bit...I added coconut oil instead of butter, and I doubled the amount.  I added 4 eggs instead of 3, and I added milk instead of water.  Mix, pour into cupcake pan, bake, obligatory toothpick test, add 2 more minutes, remove from oven and cool.

Clearly, I am not very good at pouring cake batter into cupcake pans evenly.  Eh, life goes on.  Those can be quality control cakes, since I only need 12 and the mix made 18.  Fabulous.  Now, they cool.  

*jeopardy theme song*

While we wait for the cakes to cool completely, I have another funny and related story.  At supper this evening, we asked Keegan what he wanted to do for dinner tomorrow to celebrate his birthday.  He hems and haws, hmms and huffs...and comes up with...wait for it..."pancakes and mac & cheese".   Uh huh.  Ask a 5 year old to make a decision, and you must be ready for the consequences of that decision.  After we all shake our heads, Jason says "how about we have pancakes for dinner tomorrow, and then mac and cheese for lunch on Sunday?"  Keegan decided that was acceptable.  So, that's settled.  Pancakes for supper, followed by a cupcake for dessert.  Delightful. Calorie count: 1 bazillion, give or take.  Sidenote, the quality control cupcake passed with flying colors.

Ok, now for the frosting extravaganza!

I organized the cupcakes per the above picture (didn't take a pic of that step)

I frosted it and decorated it, with the help of Ethan playing goalie, making sure Keegan didn't venture upstairs (which he attempted to do twice during this project, the little rascal).  And this is the final result!  

Ta-Da!  Ok, I am the first to admit, it doesn't look much like the picture.  But, I think you can still tell it's supposed to be a turtle, right?  Right?  (It is entirely possible that this belongs in a "Pinterest - FAIL" blog, but I am just not going to admit it) I thought so.  Whew!  Project - Complete!  Now, to put it safely into the fridge and to present it tomorrow with the pancakes for dinner!

Thanks for reading!

Allergic to life

I have determined, through much trial and error, that I am allergic to my two lovely neurotic dogs.  And that, combined with the silicone button I have in my nose to plug up the hole in my nasal septum, has led to a nasty issue of not being able to breathe through my nose along with constant pain due to open sores that are all along the inside of my nose.  I was trying a new med this week, but I don't think it's gonna work...every time I spray it up my nose, it burns like I have sprayed Hades himself up there, and it doesn't really do anything besides that.

The next thing I'm gonna try is perhaps allergy shots, though I have to go to the allergy clinic and prove to them that I do, indeed, have bad allergies to my life.  That's right, I'm allergic to my life.

*sigh*  You know, I grew up with dogs.  Dogs that shed, does with lots of fur...I can't even begin to contemplate how much dander and fur and dog spit I have ingested throughout my life.  So why, when I got into college, did I develop allergies to this most wonderful pet, and why has it gotten so much worse as I have gotten older?  Very frustrating.  The simplest explanation (getting rid of the source of the allergens) is definitely not an option.  Things that I spray up my nose don't seem to do squat, and pills seem to do very little, if anything at all, and I already do two saline rinses per day, minimum in order to breathe at all.

Anyone have thoughts or suggestions?  Main problems I need to fix include: excessive crusting all the way up my nose and inflamed nasal passages, which all leads to the inability to breathe through the two big holes in my face that are designed for just that purpose.  Oh, and my sense of smell sucks a$$.

The first post

For some unexplainable reason, I have felt this driving need to start blogging recently.  I can't understand why I suddenly care to put my random thoughts and stories on "paper", so to speak, but I do.  Perhaps it is because my life always seems just a couple steps away from complete anarchy, or because I feel like I'm a couple comments away from being committed for life.  Either way, this may be a waste of time, or it may be a good outlet for me and a humorous random read for you.  Let's get started, shall we?

Some topics I plan on talking about:  my crazy family, my insane job(s), my neurotic dogs, and my adventures in cooking and gardening.  I will post recipes I have tried or made up on the spot, with pictures if I remember to take them at the appropriate times (crapshoot on that, really).  I will post our garden as it progresses from little seedlings just coming up out of the ground to a complete jungle that seems to lack any semblance of organization but is really a study in organized chaos that feeds our family all year round (if we are lucky).  I will post funny stories, quips, quotes, and scientific mumbo jumbo that I find fascinating, but that my husband (non-scientist extraordinaire) finds dull and uninteresting.  I find his job dull and uninteresting, too, so we are in the same boat there.  We just play the part and act interested when required. You know how it goes.

So, that's the plan.  I welcome comments and suggestions.  We'll see how it goes!

Tracey