just made laundry soap

So I have no pics this time which stinks because I don't think that I will have to make laundry soap for a very long time after today (doubled the recipe).  I have spent the last 3 months procrastinating (in just about every area of my life) and simply not wanting to get into the "mess" that I thought making laundry soap would be.  I even considered spending a whole lot of money to buy another 5 gallon bucket of Charlie's Soap (which I do love) but then I remembered that with 2 kids in school next year and double the expenses with the older one since she will be starting middle school...yeah, yeah, can't waste money just to save time.  Didn't I get into this staying home and living on a dime for a reason?  Isn't this part of running a household on a tight budget?  So this afternoon I just got to it.  


Guess what, it turned out to be easier than baking a batch of cookies from a mix!  I loved it!  I could do this once a month if I had to (but thankfully, I don't).  So if you too would like to save a ton of money on a laundry soap that is great for laundry and rinses clean from dirty diapers (very important in our home as we have a lot of those) just go here to the Duggars site and check out this recipe for laundry soap.  I made the liquid because I was sure that it would rinse clean from my diapers and I surely didn't want to go through the trouble of making such a large batch of it if I wasn't sure that it would work for our needs.  


That's all for today, off to cook dinner for the little ppl (and the husband).  Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures of something great next time.

it's PTO auction time again!

So I dropped off the face of the earth for a little over 2 months.  I am sorry for that.  I have just found that blogging while in the throws of morning sickness, sick kids and room parenting was just too much for me. That and the sad truth that not much has gotten done around here in the creative realm since Christmas.  

I did have the honor of putting together two auction baskets for my daughter Yasmeen's fifth grade class to donate to this years PTO auction.  I didn't get pics of the baskets complete but I did photograph the inspiration for the theme. 

Every time I have been in charge of an auction basket I try to come up with a theme that will be cost effective.  This means a theme that would involve making a product that would retail for a good bit lol.  This year I decided to make 2 sets of aprons with chef's hats.  One with a girlish theme and the other with a boyish theme.  I purchased two over sized mixing bowls and filled them with cooking utensils, cook books, baking supplies and mixes.  Then added the aprons with chef's hats and a cooking lesson gift certificate from a local cooking studio (Thank you Young Chefs Academy for the generous donation; ).  The auction is tonight and I'm giddy with anticipation to see what we end up bringing in with these.

I got the apron tutorial here and the chef's hat tutorial here.  I have used this tutorial loosely in the past to get an idea of measurements but this was the first time I actually followed the directions exactly.  I was rather pleased to find that adding D-rings for the shoulder strap was actually easier than making 2 straps for a tie back.  I can't believe that I opted for the tie backs for so long!  I don't know if I will ever make a tie back again lol.  If you are into sewing aprons and have yet to use D-rings, I highly recommend them!  I went back to the store and purchased several more packages so that I will have them on hand for other projects now.  Funny how you can spend so much time avoiding such an easy process all because of unfounded fears.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the fabric from the floral print has been on hand long before the Rumpelstiltskin Challenge so the floral apron counts as a project complete for project #2 complete!  Only 2 months later and with no pics of project #1...oh well.

Here are some pics of my daughter Yasmeen modeling the aprons:

robots and stripes chef's hat

robots side of reversible apron

striped side of apron

adjustable shoulder strap with d-hooks

floral and polka-dot chef's hat

polka-dot side of reversible apron

floral side of apron

The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge at Five Green Acres

I saw the challenge posted last week.   I thought to myself; "no, no, no!  DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER CHALLENGE!  You will only regret it when you accomplish nothing due to general lack of motivation induced by carrying your fourth child and then, your failure will be displayed for all the world to see in blogger land".   But then I saw (and read) Mary Jo's report at the end of week one and it dawned on me The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge posed by Mary Jo over at Five Green Acres goes hand in hand with the biggest challenge that I have going on already so I have decided to take it.  

We have roughly six months until the arrival of our newest member of the family.  During this six months I hope to have rid our home of all the extraneousness items that do not belong here.  I would like to come home from the hospital to a clean and orderly home (for I seriously doubt that there will be any sanity past that once there are four of them and two of us).  The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge is to use what you've got to make what you are going to make.  Well I have a lot of things around here that need to be used or sent to a new home where some one else will use them.

There is the collection of frames in my garage

There are boxes upon boxes of fabric

There are pillow inserts waiting to be covered

There are ugly shelves waiting to be made beautiful

and the list goes on and on and on....

So I am taking this challenge and encouraging you to do so too!  If you haven't already gone to Five Green Acres , I suggest you get your tail over there and check out Mary Jo's great blog and of course you can read all about The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge there.

while unable to create...

Yes, it is true that this baby inside of me is wreaking havoc on all of my plans for January and the many things I had planned to create.  So instead of posting pics of things I am not working on right now, I will share my funny moment on the ride home from Christmas with the grandparents.

It is about 7 or so driving hours from my parents house to mine and this was the first time that we all have taken this ride in the same car so...well, I'll just let you see the pic of all three in the back.

please ignore the not so clean windows and simply note where Yasmeen's shoulders are.  My guess is that we need a new car quick if we are going to fit another child in before the next drive to Mobile, AL.  We do have another car that has more room in back but this is the one that my husband deemed road worthy for this years Christmas trip.  None the less, of all the things that we thought of when we found out we were expecting another child, this seemed to be the most pressing.  It looks like we will be in the market for a minivan in the very near future.  

Yasmeen was a trooper and a great help with the little ones on the ride home.  I think that she is getting the big sis of the year award for 2011!

We did stop for a good long visit at Cracker barrel in Baton Rouge where I discovered that the front porch has giant checkers games and all three kids (no, Evy didn't really know what she was doing) had fun playing the game for a little while.  I'll leave you with some pics of their checkers fun.

Evelyn

Moses

Yasmeen

Happy New Year....and she's back!

So I am finally back to share a few pics of the kids opening some of there hand made gifts.  It took me long enough, I know but the worst of it is that I didn't even get that many shots of the gifts!  I have a stellar excuse this time though really.  After weeks of hunger, nausea, and extreme fatigue I discovered that I am not really in need of meds for manic depression but rather that I am expecting baby number four this coming August!  So I will try to get great pics of the rest of the things that I made and continue to make things but I will do them as I can while I deal with the first trimester and all that it brings to my already crazy hectic life.  

I had to get a tree shot in here so that you could see the wonderful vintage ornaments that my mom and dad have.  I love all the felt ones from the seventies.  My grandmother made them.  I think that the Raggedy Ann and Andy are my favorites this year.

She has worn this a few times already but I have yet to get the camera out when it is actually on her body!  This is the very bias skirt that can be found here at no big dill with a complete tutorial to show you how.  She loves it and for the first time in years, she got compliment after compliment when she wore it to school the first day back after winter holiday!  Yes, this mama was very proud ; )

not the best shot but I promise it is cute in person.  I made this while driving (don't worry, my husband was at the wheel) to see my parents for Christmas.  It goes with the skirt.

and here is my Moses who immediately decided that his little sister didn't really need her car roll or her cars lol.  They played with these a good bit on the long ride home at the end of the week.  If you didn't see my previous post here , these lovely car rolls were not my idea.  I found the tutorial for these here at home made by jill and made six of them for the kids in my family.

So it is late and this is all I have to show for all my hard work right now.  I will come back soon I hope with more pictures of the things I made and gave this Christmas.  Then it's on to the next big thing...Valentines day!