Coming soon...

A MUCH easier recipe

for laundry soap!

52 Weeks of Organizing



Before I even begin, I am going to

apologise for the atrocious

pictures.

I actually took them with the computer

because I wanted to get the post

up ASAP.

The plan is to go back with the good

camera (and in the daylight)

to take better pictures and just

edit the post later.

Good luck with that.

One of my new favorite blogs,

I'm an Organizing Junkie

is having a challenge of sorts.

52 Weeks of Organizing

SHE actually enjoys organizing.

I'm not completely sold on the process,

BUT

I do like the results.

SO

I'm gonna try it. 

What's the worst that can happen?

I do nothing...just like

the nothing I've been doing the past

10 years? 

LOL.

I was supposed to come up with a list.

52 projects.

I couldn't come up with 52.

Just coming up with 4

made me slightly twitchy.

Will I be able to do this in one week?

What if something "comes up"?

It would really ruin me if I started on

project 1 and didn't get it done in time

for project 2...

The perfectionist in me would scrap

the whole ordeal.

BUT

I have 4.

And here they are.

1. Organize the landing on the way down to the basement.  Previous owners installed shelves here that are SO NICE (well, not nice looking, but a nice thing to have on the landing of the stairs) I just can't seem to decide what exactly to use them for.  Because I can't seem to decide what to use them for...everything that is SUPPOSED to go to the basement but we are too lazy to take all the way down there makes a pit-stop here.  And then never leaves.  I think I would like to use these shelves as extra pantry/kitchen storage.  Extra boxes and cans that we pick up when Price Chopper has a sale. Extra kitchen machines and pans that maybe I don't use often enough to constitute them taking up precious cupboard space, but I don't use them so little that they require long-term storage or a trip to the Salvation Army.  Here is how it looks now:

I was trying to show you how the disaster has moved from the shelves and spilled across the actual floor of the landing...making it a real hassle to even get in the basement at all...in fact, the other day I smacked the edge of my kneecap on that stupid crock-pot there and it brought tears to my eyes.  How awful it would be if we had to have a furnace person or plumber come fix something down there!

2.  This picture is even worse than the basement picture because it's so dark, but hopefully you can see it.
     The second project is going to be my front porch.  I think I secretly have not accepted that the previous owners decided to enclose this space.  Yes, it is nice in the winter...it gets all nice and warm from the son and probably really helps keep the front of the house warm.  But the rest of the year I really wish it were an "outside" porch like it was originally meant to be.  Because of this, I believe I subconsciously ignore it.  We use it for, well, anything we don't need that we can't fit in the basement... So the kid's bicycles are out there, their scooters and skateboards, some chairs we can't fit in the house...my favorite: the exercise bike.  Everyone has one of those to hang clothes on right? I do have a little decorative ladder out there that I used to do up all nice, but since our recent home-improvement project, that has been inaccessible.  The picture only shows a tiny sliver of the clutter.  Maybe when the light is better I can get a "whole porch" picture so you can really share in my utter embarrassment.  I guess this is another place I need to make a decision about how I want to use the space...and commit to it. Oh, and accept the fact that the porch is enclosed and not a southern-style veranda!

First and foremost, this is the first thing people see when they come to my house!  This is unacceptable.

3.  The third project is in my DD's room.  Her room is the nursery.  It is TEENY TINY.  We are biding her time in there until my oldest leaves in 5ish years...then she can inhabit his room for the rest of her time here.  But until then, she gets her very limited space.  I want to concentrate on her "toy box".  Somewhere along the line, someone figured out that it was safer to have these collapsible storage units for children.  I do see the genius in it, since my second son was good for taking hard-sided objects, stacking them up, and climbing them to get toys near the ceiling of his room.  However, they stink. Or maybe we stuff too many toys in there?  Whatever the reason, I aim to organize her toys.  I need to find a way to organize them that makes it WAY EASY for her to put them away, but that looks nice when they are put away.  I'm thinking a cubby unit from Target...but we'll worry about this when it comes time to start the project.  Here is the "before" picture:

Quite fuzzy, I know.  Sorry.  This space is actually behind her door.  So whatever goes in there will need to allow the door to open enough to safely get into and out of the room...

4.  And the final project that I have planned so far is my DS #2's room.  Now at this particular time, his toys are ALL OVER...and that will probably make the list also.  But before I get to that, I would like to organize his DRESSER.  To be honest, I would like to just chuck the dresser and buy him a new one...but I'm having a buy nothing year...so unless Salvation Army comes up with a promising one...we'll have to see what we can do with this one.  Let me just say:  those units they sell with the nursery furniture...the ones that "grow with your child"?  Don't buy them!  Unless your child is normal.  My child (he's the climber) broke his years ago climbing into the drawer to get on top of the dresser to....I don't even know what.  Maybe we can just put a new slider in it.  Regardless, we need to weed out clothes that are too small and figure out a  way to organize what is left in a way that he can start to put his own clothes away...and if it is possible, in a way that when he picks his clothes out for the day he doesn't un-fold everything in the drawer EVERY DAY.  Is this a pipe dream? Maybe we can use cubbies from Target for this too?  Those would fit right into his closet and give him TONS of room! Oh right. Buy nothing...unless it's necessary!!  lol.

See what I mean?  The bottom drawer is open because it's too hard for him to close himself...The rest of it is probably my fault...a started project gone wrong.  Now, if I do get the top of this cleared off, I need to think of SOMETHING to put on it to hopefully dissuade him from climbing up there...any ideas?

Well, that's all I've got.  Do you see now why I'm concerned that these projects will take more than a week?  I left extra room on my handy-dandy list just in case.  Just writing them down and seeing the embarrassing pictures has given me several other projects to tackle.  I cannot wait for the AFTER pictures!

There you have it.

A month's worth of projects for 2011.

The plan is to try to spend an hour

a day on them and no more.

We'll see.

Fly on over to

I'm an Organizing Junkie

to start your own

52 weeks of projects!

Just Amy

How To Save Your Pennies

Here are my thoughts on how to make

this year THE year you finally

save some money!

1. Do not buy anything new, unless absolutely necessary!
2. Keep a running list of things you think you "need".
3. When you've decided you "need" something, wait for a good deal. If you can't find a good deal, keep waiting.  I bet you will realize half the stuff you think you need, you really don't.
4. DO NOT BUY IMPULSIVELY!!
5. If it's not on your list...don't buy it. Deh.
6. If you see something you want, wait a week...if you still remember that you want it, put it on your list and revert to #2. I've heard this tip given as "wait a month" but I find that sometimes by then, you DO still want it but it's nowhere to be found...at which point I guess it could be argued that you don't NEED it if it's that fleeting...so go with what's comfortable for you.
7. Try to buy in the off-season.  So get your spring clothes in the fall, winter clothes in the spring, etc.
8. Barter.  Will someone till your garden in exchange for some of those peaches you put up every year?  You won't know 'til you ask!  Value is in the eye of the beholder.  lol.
9. Re-think those items you feel are necessary.  Do you really need a power mower? Or can you use a hand mower?  Can you borrow your neighbor's? Get a cow or goat?
10. Make it yourself with materials you have around already. Need a blanket? Take that box of old shirts destined for the Salvation Army and make a quilt! Need lined drapes?  Do what I do: hang quilts in the window. Seriously. Very cozy.

These are obviously just very basic ideas

for general penny pinching.

I'd love to hear your specific ideas

on ways you "make-do"

Without getting overly preachy,

I really feel as a wife and mother,

my job centers around assisting

my husband in this area. 

As the manager of the home, it is

important for me to use the money

my husband makes to the best of

my ability...and that means

stretching it as much as possible.

That makes my husband happy...

and makes him look good!  ;-)

Quilt-along Block Two FINISHED!

I am done with block two!!

AND EARLY EVEN

I know...don't faint.

Maybe blogging the progress

was a good idea after all.

Guess what?

Not only did I get Block Two finished,

But

I made a BONUS block too!

Doesn' that just take the cake?

Hope I don't need those pieces later

or I may cry...

and you will have to listen to me.

So here are the pictures:

Block number Two

I actually like this block even better than

the first one:

Block number One

However, I do not like them TOGETHER,

if that makes any sense.

I put them next to each other and

I didn't like it.

So NOW I am working strictly on

FAITH

that the finished product will have

a cohesiveness that I do not

yet see!

It HAS to...I am using a Jelly Roll

after all.

Then after I was done with the block,

I noticed several elements left over.

SEW...

I tossed 'em together to create

THIS

(and have NO idea what I'm going

to do with it)

Bonus block

There were SEW many ways

to fiddle with the left-overs,

but this way won.

I love to play spin the block!

How about you?

Did you finish?

Did you make a bonus block from the

left-overs?

Are you saving the left-overs until

a later time?

DO TELL!

For those of you following

along...(chirp, chirp...awkward silence)

find Block Three in 

the series

HERE

Thank you so much to

Moose on the Porch Quilts

for coming up with the

idea and blogging this first!

You rock, girlfriend!

Really, you should check her out.

Toodles for now.

Just Amy

Soap Making 101

I was running low on the laundry soap

and had to make more.

SO...

I thought, why not try to document the

very simple process and

post it for all of you who say you

can't do it.

First of all, I got my "recipe" here.

I also got the soap from them as well.

There is a recipe for powdered soap - which

would be even less time consuming than

liquid soap, but I don't make it that way

because I have a machine that wouldn't

be able to use powdered soap.  Just

FYI.

I actually do all the grating and measuring

of the product one time.  I just place the grated

soap in a quart size baggie, the powders in another

baggie and toss them all together into a gallon

freezer baggie. 

I probably should have taken a picture of it

all together, but I'm new at this and

didn't think of it.

Next time it's a cinch!

So here we go:

I take my bar of grated fells naptha...

Not that you care, but next time I am going to use

ZOTE.  It's pink and more fatty and smells a little

like citronella.  I currently use it only on stains,

but I am going to try it in place of the Fells...

ANYWAY...

I put it in a medium sized saucepan and cover with water.

Do not freak out about how much water like I did

the first time. 

Just cover the soap by an inch - like you're

making chicken stock or something.

I put it on the stove on low.

You don't want to COOK the soap, just

melt it.

After a few minutes it looks like this:

Yum!  Fight the urge to whisk it.  Just gently stir or

you will end up with too much foam on top and

won't be able to see if the soap is melted.

Once the soap is melted into a clean-smelling watery

concoction, it's time to mix it all together.

I haven't looked at the actual recipe for probably

a year, so I do this step differently every time.

It usually turns out the same.

What I do at this point is:

I take my Borax

 you can find this at your grocery store laundry isle.

and I take my Washing Soda, which is in the same area.  I

am sorry I don't have a picture...I don't

currently have a box handy.

DO NOT CONFUSE WASHING SODA WITH BAKING SODA!

It is NOT the same thing.

I dissolve them with very hot water from my tea kettle in

this bucket:

I DO use a whisk here just to make sure it's good and dissolved.

While I'm doing the whisking, I am simultaneously filling up

my clean dishpan with hot tap water.

When the powders are dissolved or when my pan is overflowing

(whichever happens first)

I add the melted soap to the powder,

give it a few whisks to make sure it's

combined well...

And then add the dishpan full of hot water to the bucket.

I usually have to fill up a couple of pitchers too...

to get it nice and full.

And stir, stir, stir to make sure everything is all combined.

How do you like my fancy stir stick? 

Hubby made it for me.  It's a 1X4 (I think)

and he was nice enough to duct-tape the other end

so I don't get splinters when I am stirring my "cauldron"

as he says. 

We are all about SIMPLE here. 

At this point you could use it right now if you want to.

I usually do not need it immediately, so I cover it and let it sit

in my kitchen until someone big and strong comes home to

move it to my second story laundry room...

OR

sometimes it will sit there until I trip over it one too many times

and I will carry it up myself, cursing all the way up

and apologising to my Lord all the way down...

But that's just my house.

You are surely more organized and less

LAZY

than I am!

I am not quite organized enough to be able to tell you exactly how long

it takes us to get through a 5-gallon bucket of laundry soap.

I would say it's more than a month...but less than 6?  I should really

keep track.  But I won't.  I just know that

I have been doing this for over a year and I have only

had to purchase more washing soda and Borax

once.

With this last batch, I did use up the Borax, so I will

go get that and washing soda again.

I ran out of Fells Naptha as well, but as I said at the beginning,

I will be using another bar of laundry soap

next time, and if it works I will

have 8 more batches ahead of me before I need

to purchase any more soap.

I really like making my own laundry soap.

I hope you found this at least a little helpful...

if not, well, you can always follow the directions. 

Hehe.

Toodles for now!

Just Amy

Quilt-along Block Two

Here is the information

for our next block,

courtesy of

Moose On The Porch Quilts

Block Two, here I come!

Follow along with me.

It's more fun with friends.

Whatever you do,

Be sure to check out

She's WAY more inspiring

than I am.

Just Amy

Quilt-along Week One DONE!

Check ME out!

I finished my first block.

I think I am in love! 

She's so purdy.

The 9-patch in the middle is

accidentally made with the same

print on dark and light fabrics.

I didn't notice that until

I was done.

Then the border is almost

a blown-up version

of the darker squares.

SEW PRETTY!

If you're following along,

you will notice my version

is less scrappy than the original.

I'm all for scrapy, but

I liked it this way better.  lol.

Now we have two weeks

to complete block number two.

I'll post that info next.

Toodles for now!

Just Amy