bits of random

right now i am:

** trying standing at the kitchen counter making Meg tapioca pudding, because girlfriend knows good 17 degree weather food like her mama.


***really hoping that I can get motivated to clean the house...it's disgusting.

****wishing I could curl up with a good book and take a nap with Meg, but I can't... see above.

*****looking forward to a pseudo-date night with my man tonight.

******excited about some deals I scored this week at Old Navy and Goodwill.

Happy Weekend. I am of to scrub toilets.......

before and after

Out with the 90's brass trim...

...and in with the more neutral and updated black!

(dining room fireplace got the same makeover!)

in the wash

I have seen posts about making your own laundry detergent and how it is better for you, better for the environmentand the biggest reason, cheaper than buying it already made. Then my friend, Angie made some and likes it so I decided it was high time I made my own as well.

It's super easy and I found all of my ingredients at Wal-Mart. The most expensive item was the glass container, but come on, it needs to look cute, right?


Here's what I used:
1bar of Soap
1cup of Borax
1cup of Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Oxy Clean (walmart brand)

First you use your grater and grate up the soap so that it looks like shredded cheddar.

Then you get a cute assistant to help you measure, dump and stir all of the ingredients EXCEPT the Oxy Clean in a big bowl.

Once they are stirred pretty good, I put it in the blender to make the soap even smaller so that it will dissolve easier in cold water washes.


Once it was all a fine powder, I mixed in the Oxy Clean!

That's it!

I have the washer going now! I'll let you know how it goes!!

loving....

Trying for more posts in 2012

I have to admit... facebook has replaced my blog. It's shameful, I know.

Over the last few weeks I have read one of my most favorite blogs, whatever, from beginning to end and realized I really miss blogging. Not that I am nearly as good of a photographer or writer as Meg is, but I can pretend, right?

So here we are the second day of the new year and I am going to try my best to keep this current and up to date!

First Day

Rough Start.

This is the story of a beautiful bracelet and its owner who in a crazy bizarre sequence of events lost the bracelet and but then found it.... but it looked like this:

and...
and last but not least,

as you can imagine, the owner was very upset. There were tears... she was disappointed, sad, and frustrated. And yes, she knows that is "just a bracelet" (even though she loved it and wore it daily even though it pinched her arm hairs out one by one, and had sentimental value) and in the grand scheme of things it's really not so bad....right?

But most importantly, she has an example to set.

There are two little people watching her get upset and throw a fit over this beloved bracelet.

She doesn't want them to think that they can't be disappointed or sad over things like this, but she also wants to show them that it doesn't have to ruin their day/week/year.

So, I sucked it up and started doing what my mama taught me to do when stressed....

clean.

When I came down stairs to get the paper towels, I saw this:






and heard, "Here Mama, here is a new bracelet that you can wear every day and it won't break! Can you tie it for me?"

Could she get any sweeter?

Then, a bit later she even helped me fold laundry.

I sure do love this girl. She helped make a day that started out bad into one that has seen more smiles than tears.

And who knows, maybe I'll get a new bracelet... some day.