This 'N That

I'm in the mood to blog but just can't think of anything interesting. Since that's never stopped me before, here I go with just a bunch of random boring ramblings....

I'll start with some new pix..

Friends.
Babyest's pretty eyes.

Lane and her puppy.

The never ending kitchen work.

See how cute her braces match?

~Check out my new favorite family picture on Honey's blog.

~In an attempt to be more healthy (and frugal) I've tried yet another homemade laundry soap recipe. I'm hoping this will be the one. So far so good but I've only done one load. It seems to work well in front loaders.

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap grated
10 C. hot tap water

1/2 C each washing soda and Borax

Dissolve soap in 6 cups of water on the stove, heating on low. Add washing soda and Borax. Stir until dissolved and thick. Add 4 cups of water. Pour into a pitcher and let sit overnight. This will thicken and need to be stirred with a spoon. Use 1/2 cup per load.

~I just finished a great book. A Sane Woman's Guide To Raising A Large Family by Mary Ostyn. Mary is the mom of 10 kids from 3 different countries. I was "introduced" to Mary by her blog and was immediately smitten. I love her practical ways and easy style. When Honey bought me her book, I couldn't wait for a quiet moment to read. This is a great book to pass along to anyone wondering just "how do you do it with so many kids".

~If you have stainless steel appliances don't buy the ss cleaner at Sams. It leaves streaks. Too bad I had to buy 2 cans of it.

~I've decided that Arkansas is colder than Colorado. It's the "wet cold vs. dry cold" that people talk about. Now I know what they mean. I like it though. It should be cold this time of year and I'm learning to enjoy different things about each season.

~Time is my eldest son's love language. I haven't been very good to do this lately so I determined that I would do something special with just him. I called him in my room and we wrapped presents for about an hour. He also helped me with some Christmas cards. When we were finished he said, "Thanks for letting me wrap with you, Mom. I really like doing this!" I liked it too.

~I won a cookbook this week at a brunch w/ my homeschool friends. Thank you Jennifer! My first new recipe will be carrot bread. Doesn't that sound good? The topic of the brunch was healthy eating for 2010. A great reminder for me to lay off the sugar. And you know what I discovered? For some bizarre reason I've been catering to the kids' taste too much. Like making cheese pizza instead of vegetable. Whatever is wrong with me?

~My blender broke. I think I need something between a cheap Walmart kind and a Vitamix. Something that can handle frozen fruit easily but I don't need it to grind grain. Any suggestions? My food processor is messed up too, so I guess I need my new machine to handle that kind of stuff too.

~Guess what!? Meg and I have met the fitness challenge! 6 days of exercising in a row. (We had to modify it b/c exercising on Sunday was too hard.) Last week we got all the way to day 5 and I blew it. Meg was very gracious though.

~My dog, Joey, has had a bad couple of days. I don't know what he ate, but let's just say that new flooring in the living room just got bumped up on the priority list!

Hmm, what else? I guess I'll end with tomorrow's meals...

Breakfast - french toast casserole. I had lotsa pieces of bread left over from a craft with the kids. I was going to make croutons but this works too.

Lunch - leftover vegetable soup

Dinner - spaghetti in the crock pot, salad, bread