The Bible According to Jenna

Over the last year we've been total slackers with church. First we had a hard time finding a church we felt comfortable with. Then there's the logistics of trying to get 4 kids to Sunday school and church as a single parent. But at the beginning of this school year, I vowed that we would be better.  And other than the Sunday's we've missed because we had the plague H1N1 flu, we've been pretty good.  In fact, we're so good we've been going on Wednesday nights.   Yeah, so they serve dinner on Wednesday nights.  That's not the only reason we go.

Yesterday after dealing with the aftermath of Emma's marker mural, I decided to calm myself down with a non fat, no whip Mocha from Starbucks.  (Hey, it beats buying crack on the corner.)  I picked Jenna up from school and we headed straight to Starbucks.  On the way, I told Jenna that we were going to church later.

"I don't want to go to church!"

"But we have to go so you can learn about God and Jesus."

"I already know all about God and Jesus."

I was impressed.   At 6 years of age Jenna has achieved what most theologists have strived  for their entire lives.  "Okay,"  I said.  "Tell me about Jesus."

Jenna seemed disgusted at the pop quiz but explained, "Mary didn't want Jesus so she put him in a basket and floated him in a river and a princess found him.  He grew living with the princess."

After giving myself a mental head slap, I questioned which was worse-- The Gospel according to Jenna or when Jenna came running up to me after Sunday school last spring very excited that she had discovered that she could pray anytime, not just at dinner and bedtime.  (My friend Heather, Jenna's Sunday school teacher at the time, still won't let me forget that one.)

"Actually," I said gently so that I wouldn't upset her, "that was Moses."

"Oh, yeah."  She seemed puzzled that she had got that one wrong.  I decided to try again.

"So tell me about Jesus."

After thinking for a moment, Jenna said, "Jesus had to travel to a city really far away because people could be counted, I can't remember what it's called..."

"A census?"  I volunteered.

"Yeah, he had to travel on a donkey to a census."

Great.  I had failed my daughter's Christian education, yet ever the cock-eyed optimist, and just like when Jesus asked Peter who he was 3 times, I tried for the third time to see if Jenna knew about Jesus.

"But what about Jesus and the cross?"

"Oh yeah... Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins so we can go to heaven."

So I wasn't a total bum.  Thank goodness.

"But I still don't want to go to church."  She added.

How could I make my daughter go to church and want to be there?  I pondered this as we waited in the Starbucks drive through lane.

"They're having fried chicken for dinner."  I told her.

"What kind is that?"

"You know, crispy chicken on the bone."

Her entire attitude changed.  "I love that kind of chicken.  I want to go to church."

That's my girl.

Frustrated Artiste

Artists are often tortured souls, or at least that's what I've always heard.  They battle the demons that struggle to be released in an artistic medium.  If Emma could clearly articulate her thoughts, I'm sure that's the cockamamie bull she would tell me to justify her "creative urges."

Emma is drawn to writing instruments, particularly (but not limited to) markers.  At this stage of the game I pretty much have all markers under lock and key but when I heard Trace yell in a very exasperated voice "Em-ma!"  I knew it couldn't be good.

Weapon artistic medium of choice.

Oh that's sweet.  Emma drew a picture.

She then moved to the table.

Then the sofa.

The piano.

And a stool.  But these furniture pieces are getting rather old, don't you think?

Let's artistically express ourselves on the wall. (So her previous art work is there too, She just added to it.)

Let's take it around the corner too.  These pictures were taken after I used Mr Clean Magic Eraser.

And then she finally stopped here when she was caught in the act.  What did Emma think of her accomplishment?

It's pretty obvious she's quite pleased with herself.

Ya do the crime, you gotta do the time, only this wasn't punishment to her.  She was crying to help wipe the walls.

So what are my options here?  Mr Clean Magic Eraser hasn't taken it all off so I could repaint but then I'd have to paint--

Here.

And here.

And here.

Here.

You get the point.

So we're reverting back to caveman times, next thing you know she'll be hunting down the dogs and building a fire in her bedroom.  Wait, don't give her any ideas.

Money Saving Madness: Ordering a Side of Beef

In my quest to save money at the grocery store I decided to order a side of beef from a cattle farmer who sells at my local Farmer's Market. I've got a house full of people to feed and I knew that if I ordered a side of beef we'd definitely use it. The problem was I had NO idea what to ask or what to look for when getting my beef so I did the smart thing and asked my network of friends. Deanne from Trying Traditional answered my plea for help and did me one better-- she wrote a blog post about it!

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Deanne:

First a bit about me. I am a stay-at-home mother of four beautiful girls and am blessed to be married for 11 years now to my highschool sweetheart. We live in the same very small community that we grew up in, met each other, and where grandparents are only a 3 minute drive down the road. I love to cook and bake, though along the way I feel like I was thrown a couple curve balls. If anyone already reads my blog, you know that I have a child that is very sensitive to processed foods. If it comes in a box, she probably should not be eating it. With the exception of a brown rice pasta I love (Tinkyada brand) and the occasional loaf of bread when I am feeling lazy, we make it all from scratch. We make our own stock/broth, soups, casseroles, pizza, salad dressings, cereals, baked goods, and even ketchup. I can barely remember the days where I would open up a can of cream of mushroom soup or a package of mac and cheese. If the label has any form of wheat, milk, soy, sugar, or msg on the label we make it ourselves. This is what got me started on feeding my family a nourishing, whole-food diet. I hope to answer some of the common questions I am asked about ordering a side of beef. Being that I always order a side instead of a split side, from here on I will talk mainly on ordering a side of beef. If you are interested in a split side, ask your butcher for more specifics about what cuts you will be receiving (seeing as you will be buying either the front or hind quarter) or buddy-up with someone and split the roasts, steaks, and other cuts as evenly as possible.

What exactly is a side or split side of beef and why would I want one?
A side of beef is half of a cow, with a split side being a quarter of a cow. There are many reasons people buy a side of beef. For us the reasons are part economical and part quality. While I would love to buy a side of organic beef, that is simply not in our budget. I have found a farm that uses antibiotics sparingly, allows their cows out into the sunshine and to chew grass to their hearts content, but also feeds them some grain as well. We will get to cost later, but for now this is the best I can afford to feed my family and I know the farmers personally and am pleased to help support their family. When I order grocery store meat, I know nothing about it but the grade assigned to it by the USDA. What I do know is that it has been injected with a sodium solution to make up for the lack of marbling. Let's face it, fat means flavor and with the popularity of reducing fat in our diets tough, tasteless meat wasn't selling either. These solutions help to flavor the meat and plump the weight as well. Think about the last time you paid $5.99 a pound for beef, you were also paying that much for salt water. While it is possible to find meat without the sodium solutions, it can be pricey and hard to find.

Other reasons people buy a side of beef could be: trying to eat more local foods, wanting organic meats, preferring to know where the meat originated from, and it just tastes better.

You mentioned economical, how economical are we talking?
This is where it gets tricky. Costs vary widely. I can give you an example of what we pay. We will usually spend around $650 on a side of beef, before you click on to the next blog keep reading as I will give you an approximate tally of what you get for that kind of money on down the post. If you are working direct with a farm, they will give you a per pound hanging weight price and the processors will give you a per pound processing price. Say the hanging weight of your side of beef is 300lbs and your farmer is charging you $1.50 a pound. You will be writing them a check for $450. Then say your processor is going to charge you $.75 per pound for the cutting and wrapping of you side of beef. Do you see how this adds up? And, just to make it more confusing, you will not be taking home 300lbs of meat, in fact, about 20-35% of your hanging weight is waste (fat and such that that is trimmed away.) When all is said and done, we average a little over $3 a pound for the meat we take home. Imagine paying that for T-bone steaks at the store! I said it before, but will say it again, this is just an example of what we pay. Prices vary greatly due to local economy, organic or not, and so on. A good source should be able to give you a loose idea of what you will be paying.

What cuts of meat will I be getting?
This is where it gets fun. The first time we ordered a side of beef, you can imagine the crickets chirping in the background when the butcher asked me how I wanted it. Umm, how about cooked and ready to reheat, is that an option? What on earth was I supposed to tell the guy and why didn't anyone warn me? Thankfully, he was took the time to explain many a thing that I was clueless about. He started by asking me if we were particular to roasts, steaks, ground or any other certain cut. From there he started asking if wanted -bone steaks or strips and a tenderloin. I communicated to him, that we weren't big steak eaters (turns out we love steaks now that we are getting quality meat) and that I used a good bit of ground beef and he obliged. Now when I order, I tell them that we prefer our ground beef in 2 pound packages and that I prefer our roasts to be about 4 pounds. We do not have them make any of our ground beef into patties, though this is an option that some places charge a little bit more money to do. I also instruct that we will eat nearly anything and to please include soup bones, liver, heart, tongue, etc. in our order. (Don't cringe, if you eat hot dogs than you are likely eating all kinds of unknown meat pieces and you know it!)

When you order your side of beef, you can expect to get the following (this is not a precise list, just an estimation):

* 4 chuck roasts
* 2 chuck steaks
* 3 arm roasts
* 10 pieces of short ribs
* 8 soup bones
* 6 pounds of stew meat
* 1 rib roast
* 10 rib steaks
* 2 sirloin roasts
* 8 sirloin steaks
* 2 rolled rump roasts
* 8 T-bone steaks
* 8 porterhouse steaks
* 6 round steaks
* 12 cube steaks
* 60 pounds of ground beef
* 3 packages of liver

Keep in mind that these quantities change with the size of cuts you prefer. The average cut for roasts is 3 pounds. We do 4 because there are more of us and I can throw leftover roast in soup or fried rice for an easy meal. You see, there is flexibility here, you can get the sirloin steaks instead of roasts, same with the rib section. Instead of the T-bone steaks you could get a tenderloin (have the tenderloin cut into filet mignon if you like) and strip steaks. This all affects the cuts you get, but in the end you still get about the same weight of take-home meat.

That was a bunch of information, can you simplify that for me?
Sure, your will be getting a huge amount of meat cut into steaks, roasts, ground meat, and more. Here is what you are going to need to tell your butcher in regards to your side of beef:

* how big do you want your roasts
* how thick do you like your steaks and how many to a package
* how much ground beef per package
* if you want some of your ground beef in patties, how big do you like your patties
* do you want the rib section to be steaks, roasts, or both
* do you want the sirloin tip as steaks or a roast
* do you want the top round as a roast, steaks, or London broil
* do you want cube steaks and if so how many to a package

Okay, I'm going to do it...what now?
Once you order your beef, you should be given an approximate date of pickup. The butcher will likely call you when it is ready for pick up. One thing you should know is that you will need coolers and or boxes to pick up all this meat. Think about it, we are talking about 200 pounds of frozen beef. Even if you did manage to bring enough grocery bags for that much meat with you, can you imagine that rolling around in your mini-van after a sharp turn or stop? We usually use either boxes or milk-crates unless it is a hot day, then I borrow all the coolers I can fit.

When I get my meat, I try to start sorting it as I put it into boxes as I put it into my vehicle. The butcher has my meat stored in carts in his freezer, they roll them out to me and I start loading up. Ground beef is stacked like bricks all into a couple milk crates that will stack one on top of another in my chest freezer. Roasts go into another, steaks another, etc. This helps me keep my freezer organized so that when I want to make liver I am not digging through 150 pounds of ground beef, roasts, and steaks tossed into the bottom of the freezer.

Do not be afraid to ask questions, you will be paying quite a bit of money up front for a large quantity of food...might as well do your best to get exactly what you want for your family. Ask others that have ordered a side of beef, ask the farm or ranch you are getting your meat from, or ask your butcher. Most of these people are proud of the work they do and are more than happy to help you in the choices you have.

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Denise: I think if you are a person who strictly buys your beef when it's on sale at the grocery store and price is your primary focus, ordering a side of beef probably isn't for you. But if you get a lot of different cuts (steaks, roasts, etc) then ordering a side is something you should investigate. I was also interested in it because I could get meat that was organic or as close it as possible without having the official organic seal (which takes farmers a lot of time, money and energy to get.)

When I ordered my side of beef it was already butchered, processed and boxed up waiting in a deep freeze to be sold. I paid $3.50 a pound for my half side of a 630 pound cow. (However, I only received a little over 200 pounds of processed meat, so I really paid more than $3.50 a pound.) I met the farmer in the Farmer's Market parking lot on a weekday and he transferred the meat into my van. (His farm is about an hour and half south of where I live.) I took home 5 boxes of beef, set them in my garage and began to inventory what I had.















I kept hearing how hard it was to keep track of the beef in your freezer but my new chest freezer has built in compartments so I made a chart of where I put everything. I also made a list of every package of meat that I received and planned to check off what we got out to use. This is a great plan and might work for someone else but not for us. We just aren't that organized but I think with my chart showing what compartment the specific cuts are in is organization enough for us.















I have to say that I didn't expect that big of a difference between grocery store beef and my farmer's beef, but even the ground beef is better. The farmer's ground beef is a deep red instead of the grocery store's pink tones. (That's one of the two packages of ground beef we're having in our chili tonight.) We've also tried out the steaks and they are incredible! I can't believe beef can taste that good.

It takes a chunk of money up front and a lot of freezer space but buying a side of beef just might be something for you.

And no people, I'm not dressing up like a cow.

What I'll Do For a Little Sleep

With this many kids in my house, I've got to be strong and try to be consistent. Most days I feel like I accomplish this goal. But kids, being kids, will figure out your weakness. Superman's is Kryptonite. Homer Simpson's is donuts. (Jill's is white mini donuts) Mine is sleep. And Crack Bars. And Starbucks. And Diet Coke. Okay, okay we'll stick with sleep in this post.

Since last spring when I was Mean Mommy and took away Emma's bottle, I've gotten spoiled with my 5-6 hours of consecutive sleep. Don't be messin' with my sleep people! So when children wake up in the middle of the night I take the path of least resistance. I put them in my bed.

I would like to insert here that I have also been known to not totally wake up when the older children have come into my room in the middle of the night and have said some pretty off the wall things, according to them. The rule is now that if you really need me you have to keep talking to me until I'm speaking coherently. I think that's a good rule for when I'm awake too. But that's another story.

In any case, you can't sleep? Get in my bed. Had a bad dream? Get in my bed? There's a thunder storm outside? Get in my bed. You're a young hot stud? Get... oh, never mind. I'm just plain lazy and I throw those kids in my bed. I've been known to have up to 3 kids in bed with me. (Four if you count our trip to China last summer.) I don't get much sleep but its better than none. I keep telling myself that anyway.

Last night as I was getting ready to go upstairs, I heard a small child beginning to cry. When this happens, I always hope that it's Ryan. Ryan's easy. Sometimes he's not even awake so I can pat his back, tell him Mommy's there and he'll stop crying and go back to sleep. Emma's not so easy, but seriously, who's surprised by this? Emma has to be rocked and rocked completely to sleep, otherwise she'll start to cry again. This often means at least 15 minutes of rocking. I will do this if I'm still awake, so last night, it was her crying and I rocked her, dozing as I rocked, and got her back in bed. But less than an hour later, when I was amazingly enough asleep, she began to cry again. There was no way I was going to rock her again so I brought her back to my bed.

No problem, right? Big king size bed, a small 24 pound 33 inch long child in my bed, plenty of room, right? Need I remind you? This is Emma. About 3 am I found myself completely plastered against the edge of my bed. I finally roused around enough to consider moving her. Did I move her and risk waking her up? Sleeping on the edge wasn't working.

This past weekend Julia was sick and came into my room in the middle of the night because she was coughing so much she couldn't sleep. Between her coughing and the TV, I ended up sleeping with Ryan. (Much to his complete surprise and delight the next morning.) This could have been an option with Emma but I was too out of it to think of it. I also could have moved to the other side of the bed, but didn't think of that either. Instead, I gently moved her and was thankful she was still asleep. Only to find myself plastered to the edge again about an hour later. Sure I slept, but not very well.

It occurs to me that my children could use this weakness to their advantage, exploiting my vulnerability for their own selfish whims. They could come into my room in the middle of the night, ask me for anything and I'd probably say yes. Get it on camera and it's iron clad. But it also occurs to me that I could use it to my own advantage as well. How did that hot young stud get in my bed? He must have asked me in the middle of the night.

Maybe this isn't a weakness after all.

Blogging is a State of Mind

So where have I gone? And why do I feel like I'm always explaining myself?

All summer I felt like I was in overwhelm. It's better now since the kids are back in school but some days I feel like I start going from the moment I get up until the moment I go to bed. Lots of other bloggers are busy. So what's my excuse?

The beauty of reaching, ahem, a certain age (over 40) is you begin to really become familiar with who you are. I think I've reached the point that I accept some of my flaws and realize that if I haven't changed by now it probably isn't going to happen.

I've learned that I'm terrible about returning things. I've run through my fair share of video rental stores. I've funded more then a couple of books in various public libraries across the lower 48 states with over due book fines. I used to beat myself up about this but I realized that there were worse flaws and to just accept this one. I don't borrow things from friends of neighbors. I rarely rent a movie other than Netflix. I try the library from time to time and then go back to allowing myself to buy a book at Costco every other week, it's what I would pay in late fees anyway.

But I have another flaw that probably needs some work. I'm a classic avoider. The more a situation gets out of hand, the more I avoid it. It's a terrible character trait, one I really do need to work on. Honesty has always been my policy on my blog so here's the honest truth: the longer I go without blogging, the harder it is to do it.

There's so many reasons for this. One is stated above. I don't blog and when I finally do I feel the need to explain myself. So here's the deal. I've confessed my flaw and I'm going to stop apologizing for absences because this is getting beyond ridiculous. Sometime I won't be here. Sometimes I'm going to just jump right in like I have. Hopefully the more I just do it and stop being intimidated (by my ownself, I might add) the sooner I'll get back to normal. Not that anyone could really call me normal.

Two, blogging is a state of mind. When you're full on blog mode everything in your life is potential blog fodder. Your view of life is skewed a bit and it's not entirely a bad thing. But when you get out of blogging mentality its harder to jump right back in.

I'll also confess here that I've considered giving up blogging but ultimately have decided not to stop. I really like to blog when my heart is in it and I really do miss it. I just need to jump back into the saddle again.

And while we're on the topic of blogging and the love of blogging I'll mention one other thing. You probably noticed (or not) that my BlogHer ads and blog roll are missing. I removed them. They used to pay me about $25 a month but after the first of the year I was lucky to get $10 a month and I had more page loads than when I was making more. BlogHer has rules and requirements and I decided I was tired of worrying about them. There was a time that I saw getting on the BlogHer network as a sign of "making it" in the blogging world. I guess my priorities have changed. That or I've grown up a bit, as improbable as that might seem.

So, I hereby promise to stop beating myself up for not blogging more and just blog. I promise to have more fun with blogging and I promise to just get over myself. This is supposed to be fun.

Welcome to My Little House on the Prairie

When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with Little House on the Prairie. I devoured the books and read them several times each, well except for Farmer Boy. (Not only was it boring to me, it was about a boy.) I wanted to live 100 years in the past. I wanted to be Mary Ingalls. Forget Laura; I wanted to be a girly girl.

To the amazement of my children, we only had 4 tv stations when I was a girl. Oh the horror!!! No Disney channel, no Nickelodeon. What was kid to do? We played outside and used our imaginations. Our neighborhood was the land of make believe-- Lost in Space, Huckleberry Fin (which we had completely wrong), and Little House on the Prairie. All the others were prop-less but with Little House on the Prairie, I would wear one of my mom's old dresses and a baby dress on my head, the bodice cinched to make a sun bonnet. What can I say? I had a rich childhood.

When I decided to make my own laundry, memories of Little House came rushing back. Doesn't making soap seem like something Ma would do? So before I started my soap making endeavor, I had to have my props.

I was ready to make some soap but my girls were horrified. Maybe some things are better left in the past.

I assembled all my ingredients and prepared to start mixing. For those who might have missed my Money Saving Madness post about making your own detergents the recipe is:

1 box of Borax
1 box of Washing Soda
6 cups of Baking Soda
6 bars of Fels Naptha, shredded

Gathering the ingredients was actually a scavenger hunt. I had never bought Borax, but apparently it's everywhere. I bought my box at Target in the laundry detergent aisle, but I also saw it everywhere else I went. Borax is easy.

Washing Soda was found at my grocery store, HyVee. It was also in the laundry aid aisle. Interestingly enough, it wasn't at my Super WalMart. But the Fels Naptha was. Baking Soda, no explanation necessary.

I realized the toughest part was shredding SIX bars of Fels Naptha. Let's get this party started!

With a quick break to update my Facebook status.

Still shredding, and by the looks of things, I've got 4 more bars to go.

Trying to stay motivated.

By this point, Jenna was taking pictures and I was making all kinds of poses.

I freely admit that we watch too much America's Next Top Model in this house.

Julia thought that shredding soap looked fun and wanted to give it a go.

Her ANTP pose. She couldn't be out done by her mother.

Okay! The shredding is done, as you can tell by the smile on my face, and the mixing has begun.

Unlike Cynthia, I don't live close to a ginormous cheese factory where I can buy big tubs for $0.50. So I found this file box clearance priced at WalMart for $3.50. I poured the ingredients in layers and stirred it with a wooden spoon.

I wrote the recipe on the top of the box so I wouldn't have to look it up again. I completely stole this idea from my friend Heather at Five Bucks, who called me multiple times yesterday with questions about finding the ingredients. (That's okay, she tells everyone that she's my stalker.)

I used my old laundry detergent cup and marked the 1/8 cup line all the way around the cup.

And here it is in my washing machine dispenser tray. I've washed a load of towels and my kids tell me that they smell fabulous. I'm onto some bigger test cases later this morning (my kids clothes.)

Was this hard work worth it? I buy my laundry detergent at Costco for $13.59 and it washes 110 loads which equals $0.12 per load. The price for my homemade detergent:

Borax: $2.56 (Target)
Washing Soda: $2.69 (HyVee)
Fels Naptha: $5.82 (6 bars at $0.97 each, Super WalMart)
Baking Soda: $1.59 (used 6 cups of an 8 cup box, Super WalMart)
Total: $12.66 divided by 300 (approx loads per batch)
$0.04 per load vs $0.12 per load.

And who said I'd never use those math story problems???

Yes, this endeavor was totally worth the effort. But that's not where my Little House adventures end. In the near future I'll post about my bread making experiences. Next thing you know, I'll be getting my own butter churn. But I'm stopping short of getting my kids a pigs bladder. A girl's gotta have her standards.

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Edited Wednesday, Sept 16 afternoon: I have ran 6 loads through my washing machine using the homemade detergent and there isn't a single trace of detergent when I open the tray.

Also, I made a small batch of the homemade Dishwasher detergent (equal parts Baking Soda and Borax.) Cynthia suggested to get the dishes pretty clean before putting them in the machine but I wanted to really test out this recipe. So put dishes in with chocolate and peanut butter still on them. Not covered, but still present. Then I ran the load and when I opened it up and began to put the dishes away I was astounded. Not only were the dishes clean but they were more sparkley then I've ever seen them.

Money Saving Madness-- Laundry and Dishwasher Soap

I ain't gonna lie: the first time I heard of people making their own soap I thought they had jumped off the deep end. Visions of Little House on the Prairie ran rampant through my head. But then I got serious about saving money and thought about all the laundry I wash with a house of 9 people and the 3 dishwasher loads I run a day. I figured it was worth a shot.

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Hello everyone! This is Cynthia from Under the Misty Mountain with your guest blog today… ready to get clean for PENNIES??????


Earlier this year I had a change of heart about spending money. I started to resent any and every company getting one thin dime of ours, especially if I felt like it was something we could make at home for next-to-nothing. Baking soda and borax have become my best friends. Somewhere around here I even have an Idiot’s Guide to Cleaning and it was a tremendous help getting me going, but basically if you start with baking soda, you’re off to a good start!! And Costco sells the GIANT BAGS of baking soda for nearly nothing…so get mixing!!

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

My homemade laundry soap recipe came through a friend of mine on Facebook after I sent out a complaint, I mean, a status update… asking why we couldn’t make our own soaps for regular household cleaning. We were almost out of our regular laundry soap and I wasn’t looking forward to going to Costco and buying yet another giant plastic bottle of whatever detergent they had for sale this week.

This laundry soap is VERY simple, it has four ingredients:
1 box 20-Mule-Team Borax
1 box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda!)
6 cups of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (THIS is baking soda!)
6 bars Fels Naptha soap, grated with cheese grater


Use 1/8 of a cup for each load. Our giant bucket of soap, that cost around $15 to make will last (my friend reports) over 300 loads. This recipe works great in front-loading as well as top-loading machines, as the Fels Naptha soap makes little to no suds.

It took a bit of elbow grease to grate all of the Fels-Naptha, but it really wasn’t that bad. The soap isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, just slightly harder that an aged cheddar. And it smells AWESOME. Which means you will smell awesome when you are done grating all of that cheese. I mean, soap.

I used a giant tub to gently stir all of the ingredients together and then we keep it in a giant plastic tub with a tight-fitting lid. Keep in mind Borax is poisonous if you inhale or swallow too much of it, so I don’t advise inviting all the toddlers on the block on a windy day to help you stir your soap. I used a big tub with higher sides and a long whisk and had the kids unglue themselves from my legs for ten minutes while I gently stirred the soap.

After we started using this recipe for our laundry soap, we haven’t used dryer sheets AT ALL, which is REALLY excellent, since we were nearly out of those, too!! And it doesn’t matter if we put the clothes in the dryer or hang them on the line, they smell SO GOOD and are SO CLEAN, my husband was even amazed and we’re never going back to store-bought soap again.

The only things we don’t put out on the line are our bath and hand towels, because of the rough texture they come back in with. BUT – that was the case when we were using the other kind of laundry detergent anyway. Everything else comes back in super soft and smelling wonderful, so we think it has more to do with the fabric of our towels. So they are spoiled and dried in the dryer.

There are a million other combinations for laundry soap out there, and some will tell you how to make a liquid soap, so don’t be afraid to experiment! I like our powder. It’s easier to sweep up if it spills!

DISHWASHER DETERGENT

Okay… this is REALLY EASY. There is no excuse for anyone to be buying those giant tubs of little blue cakes with the pink pearls ever again.

Mix equal portions of baking soda and borax together (carefully – don’t want to breathe in a bunch of that dust – yuck!) and keep it in a tight-fitting lidded container. I started with 3 cups of each, and I put it right in the container that formerly held all of those little blue cakes with pink pearls. *snap*

Some websites say to use 2 teaspoons and others say 2 tablespoons, but what we do is fill the little spot up and close the little door, and that’s about 2 tablespoons. We put straight white vinegar in the spot where you would normally put your FUNKY BLUE LIQUID to keep your dishes streak-free, and so far, so good.

Oh, do not worry that Borax is poisonous and you are using it to wash your dishes. ANYTHING YOU BUY MADE FOR DISHWASHERS IS POISONOUS… just in case you missed that… ANYTHING YOU BUY MADE FOR DISHWASHERS IS POISONOUS. That’s why they all have those pesky “harmful if swallowed” warnings on them. Don’t worry about it.

Now, this has not been a perfect process for us, but I still prefer using this recipe over relying on the store-bought processed cakes for two reasons – I always have borax and baking soda on hand and therefore will never run out of dishwasher soap, and it makes me pay more attention to what I’m expecting my dishwasher to do.

Our dishwasher is 11 years old…that being said, it’s obvious it’s not a top-of-the-line machine like the Bosch we stuck in our last kitchen (the one we remodeled from the floor joists up and recovered none of the costs when we sold the house? Yeah…THAT kitchen has the GOOD dishwasher…), so I make sure I give the dishes a swipe before putting them in the dishwasher. I check for dried-on cheese and other things that may still be there when the cycle is finished. I also am careful and I don’t overload the dishwasher, because if things are too tight, then *stuff* could be left behind. But it’s still better.

DISHSOAP FOR HANDWASHING

Another thing I got tired of buying every time I turned around (or so it felt like it) was hand dishwashing soap. I was already buying the happy-happy-green alternative from Bio-Kleen at $6 a pop, but I felt I was going through it too fast.

Now…I love knowing I am Saving the Earth by buying green, but Saving the Earth loses when I am choosing between buying chicken at 79 cents a pound and happy-happy-green soap alternatives. I have to feed my family first.

So I looked to Costco again and they happened to have that week a GIANT bottle of something that sort of looked environmentally friendly, and it was less than $10. Sold. I smelled it in the store, because I hate soap that smells like chemicals, and it passed the sniff test, so we brought it home. It is a concentrated formula, so I add maybe ¼ of a cup to an old dishwashing soap bottle and fill it up with water. Now when I do dishes by hand, I am using a fraction of the amount of soap I used to use and still have bubbles and still have clean dishes. What more could I ask for?? (Maybe some rubber gloves that last longer than a week?)

SPRAY CLEANER

My final “homemade” soap solution is Mrs. Meyer’s lavender soap. I tried to find a picture, since I am out and actually need to pick some up, but the website is below for you to check out. The lavender soap is an all-purpose soap, and I dilute a small amount in a spray bottle with water. I use this to clean the countertops, the table, the stove, and the floor for spot cleaning. I am a stay-at-home mom with three kids, which means I am cleaning the counters and the table 2-3 times a day, and the floor about once a day in certain areas and for spills. This soap solution leaves behind a FABULOUS lavender scent that makes me WANT to clean (CAN YOU IMAGINE???).

Just keep in mind that this is just soap…it was not made with Killing Germs in mind. When I have a situation such as raw meat juices or raw egg on the counters or in the sink, I reach for my 409. I like to know some things are dead and in the trash. That is also the only time I use paper towels for spills. Otherwise, I have an army of dishcloths and I use about two or three of those a day chasing around our messes.

OTHER LITTLE IDEAS

I keep a small tub of baking soda by the sink because a little of that in the sink and some scrubbing gets it sparkling clean. I used an old cinnamon shaker bottle (one of the big ones from Costco) and filled it with baking soda and we use that in the bathroom to add a shake to the cat pans every day. I also shake baking soda all over the carpets once every two weeks, let it sit for about 15 or 20 minutes and then let the kids vacuum. They can tell where they still need to vacuum and they keep going until all the white powder is gone! *SWEET*

WHERE TO START FOR HOMEMADE SOAP:
http://www.soapsgonebuy.com
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml

MY LUSCIOUS LAVENDER SOAP I WOULD MARRY IF I COULD:
http://www.mrsmeyers.com

20 Mule Team Borax USES FOR:
http://www.dialcorp.com/documents/borax.pdf (has a picture)

ARM & HAMMER:
They have all the answers for what baking soda can do:
http://www.armhammer.com/basics/magic/
Here is a link to their washing soda (not on A&H website??):
http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/Arm_and_Hammer_Washing_Soda_p/ah1001.htm

Now…. Get crackin’ and have fun!!

Cynthia Moyer
mother: www.underthemistymountain.com
author: www.clmoyer.com

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Denise: Where do you get Borax and Fels Naptha? Oh and Washing soda too?

Cynthia: You can find anything online, but I actually found all of these products RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER at our Fred Meyer store. The borax you can usually find at Safeway or WalMart or whatever, but the Fels Naptha is a little trickier.

I am not sure why our WalMart didn't have it, but Fred Meyer did??? People will just have to look, and they can always ask the store to stock it if their big box store doesn't have it.

Denise: You say that you use this in your front loading washer, but the detergent is a powder. Do you put the detergent in the tray or do you add it directly to your wash?

Cynthia: I use it in the tray and it hasn't caused any problems yet, and I've been using it for months!!

Thank you Cynthia for these great ideas! Now I'm off to make some detergent.