Homemade Goodness

If I had my way, I very well may live on a farm...or be Amish.  I told Big Daddy more times than I could count that I loved the way the Amish lived and that I would love to try that life out at least for a little while.  Our recent business trip with Big Daddy didn't go all that well, but the day that we spent in the Amish country was pure bliss for me.  They aren't as primitive as many people think and most of them do NOT homeschool. (They have one room school houses.)

I LOVE the clotheslines that they have and I could have driven around all day looking at barns, fields of corn and clotheslines.  I do LOTS of laundry, but we do not have a clothesline.  The thoughts of having to carry laundry baskets full of clothes outside and then back inside is not appealing to me at all.

I DO make my own laundry detergent and cleaning supplies and I LOVE it!

This is the recipe I use for laundry detergent.  I started following How Does She? a long time ago on facebook and they share lots of neat things!  I have a large plastic storage container that I mix this in and then I transfer some to a pretty glass canister and keep it on the shelf in my laundry room.  The hardest part is grating the soap and it's not that hard!  I do recommend mixing this outside because it can create quite a cloud.  I do not add the Oxi Cle@n and it still cleans as good as any other detergent I have used.

Here are a few recipes (via pinterest) that I like for homemade cleaning supplies.  I am using the bleach cleaner and the window cleaner.  The only pre-made cleaners that I buy are toilet cleaning gel and window cleaner for our cars that is safe for tinted windows.

I have tried two different cleaners for tubs and showers.  I still like to put baking soda on a damp cloth to "exfoliate" my shower- I just do that after I have sprayed on a cleaner.  The baking soda really removes soap scum so well (with mild abrasiveness) and using with a spray cleaner makes cleaning the shower nearly effortless...yet I still procrastinate about doing it.  This is a good version and it uses less dishwashing liquid that some other cleaners and still works really well.  (via pinterest)

And one of my latest obsession is the homemade goodness that is...Kale Chips!  I had been interested in these and when Jo-Lynne posted her recipe I felt like they were safe to try!  I trust Jo-Lynne's opinions and have made several of her "Tried and True" recipes with great success.  We LOVE these and I had an entire pan of them at lunch today.

Happy Homemaking!!

Happy and Tired

We had a Block Party at church last night to kick off our week of  VBS, which our church calls Week of Wonder.  It was so hot and so crowded and we had lots of fun.  Maggie and Ellie had snow cones and dinner and bounced until they couldn't bounce anymore!  We went to my classroom to get everything set up a little early.  The girls loved playing with "baby toys" (I teach a two year old class) and cooling off a bit before the next round of fun started.  We are tired today, but excited about tonight.

We (me, Maggie & Big Daddy) are hooked on kale chips.  They are yummy, healthy, crispy, cheap and delicious!   I made two big batches of kale chips for 64 cents!

Big Daddy is in another season of heavy travel.  It's not as hard as it once was, but we all miss each other a lot.  Prayers would be appreciated.

We had special speakers at church yesterday.  This is a really amazing group of girls and they are well spoken and wise beyond their years.  They have already accomplished so much.  (And three of them are homeschooled!)  Our offerings from Week of Wonder will be donated to them.

I think the polyp in my uterus took care of itself.  Needless to say, I did not want to have to have surgery, but had decided that the pain was impacting my daily life too much and that it was going to be necessary.  Hopefully, I'l continue to be pain free.

And that concludes what is going on right now!

A Few Pictures

Just so I don't forget

To me.

You like to go places, but you do not like hotels.
You are a homebody.
Business trips with your husband are just like when he's away on business trips and you are home.  He works long hours, doesn't have a chance to talk very much and is on the phone until at least 11:00 every night dealing with problems at work.
The kids may say that they had fun, but their behavior was horrible and they missed home.  A lot.

You really do want to be Amish even if it's only for a few days.
Your hair was made to wear a bonnet.
Clotheslines and cornfields really do make you happy.
The clip clop of the horses hooves and those piles of poop all over the roads made your kids' day.
Amish Whoopie Pies, lemonade and Kettle Corn are so yummy.