sam vs. the lemon, tide vs. homemade detergent & more

i just had to share this video of sam eating a lemon...



i laugh every single time i see it!!

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i've tried something new - homemade laundry detergent! i'm a pretty skeptical person - just ask my hubby - so my expectations were not high. i've seen this recipe (and others very similar to this) a lot lately. so with much hesitation, i jumped on the bandwagon.

i'm sad to admit, but my main concern wasn't "will this get my clothes clean?" but it was "how will this make my clothes smell?" i'm a little peculiar when it comes to smells (thanks dad!) and i'm particularly concerned with our clothes. lee confirmed my strange behavior when i told him about my latest endeavor. he quickly said, "that'll never last because you won't like the way it smells."

before i tell you my final conclusion about this, let me tell you how it was made...

there are just 3 simple ingredients and all were found at wal-mart and kroger; borax, fels-naptha, and washing soda (not to be confused with baking soda). i admit that i had never used any of these things before. actually, i had never heard of these things before!

to make the detergent, you first grate all of the fels-naptha (it's basically a bar of soap) with a cheese grater. then you mix it with 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda. that's it!! nothing more, nothing less. you use 1 heaping tablespoon per load or more to your liking.


conclusion?!?

i'm pleasantly surprised!

the smell is fresh and clean and it really does clean your clothes! i confess - i still use one of my absolute favorite things...

...downy fabric softener. i love, love, love this stuff!!

one the most exciting parts?! all 3 items cost me less than $5.00! and the borax and washing soda will last a long time! needless to say, this detergent will be a regular around our house!


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a glimpse into our "pumpkin patch adventure" from a few weeks ago

{click on the collage above to enlarge the pictures}

this time of year makes me happy!

navitat

Navitat: “Navitat” combines “navigation” with “habitat;” two words that express our passion and relate to your adventure with us.


As Lee and I looked back over our 10 years of marital bliss, we decided it could be summed up with one word...adventure! In 10 years, we've lived all over the country, traveled all over the world and had amazing adventures together! So what better way to celebrate this milestone than to add another experience to the list?!?




We enjoyed a weekend in Asheville, NC and spent most of one day in the trees! We went on one of Navitat's Canopy Tours. {Here is their website if you're interested.} Basically, it's a 3 1/2 hour long zip line course that includes sky bridges, repelling and other exciting elements! At one point, we were flying through the trees (literally!!) at 45 mph. And we're not talking little dogwood trees...we were over 200 feet in the air going from one mountain to another, crossing a valley.

getting geared up


zip "school"


here we go...




repelling


the short sky bridge


the long (and intimidating!) sky bridge



great times were had by all!

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On a similar note, tomorrow begins another chapter of adventure around our house. It's the first day of school!! And somehow, my girls have grown without my permission and we now have 2 school-aged kids. Addie will be starting 2nd grade and Ellee...well, it's Kindergarten time.

It's sure to be a day full of excitement and tears (on my part, of course!)

not so sure this counts as a holiday weekend!

Aaaahhhh...Memorial Day weekend! The kick-off of the wonderful summer season. Both of my girls had their last day of school this past week so we are ripe and ready for some summer time fun!

(Side note...Addie had "Awards Day" at school on Friday and a proud Momma must brag! She got the "Top Phonics Student" award, "A & B Honor Roll" award, and the "Gratefulness" character award!)

I'm not so sure that this weekend is going to go down in the books as one of our best holiday weekends.

First off, the family was one man down - and the most favorite man at that! Lee is spending his Memorial Day weekend traveling to Boston. (Insert my Boston accent..which even at best would be completely unrecognizable! For some reason, all of my accents, no matter their supposed origination, end up sounding like Forrest Gump! I digress...)

So while I was riding solo, wouldn't you know that things go wrong! Pretty soon after Lee left, the washing machine spun for its last time. It has served us well for the past 10 years, but I believe the end has come. After a few phone calls, the conclusion was for me to leave it alone until Lee came back. Inevitably, I have begun to see unwanted piles of clothes around my house! My approach to laundry is to stay on top of things! I hate to see mounds of our dirty clothes and have never had a "laundry day." I know that works for many, but around here, every day is "laundry day!"

In addition to the demise of my washer, my sweet boy and I have been feeling under the weather. I'm really doing ok, but my Sam has not felt well at all.
can you see his leaky nose?
He did cheer up at bath time which he has grown to love! When he was first home, bath time wasn't exactly his favorite time of day!


Now take a look at what has occupied a little of my time this holiday weekend...


Can you even tell what it is?!? It's what some call a garage! If looking at this makes you nervous, then you're in good company! I start twitching every time I open the garage doors!

We've been collecting "treasures" since last summer to have another garage sale as a fundraiser for Sam! Well the time has come and we are planning on having the sale next weekend. I have been (along with my dear friend Samantha!) pricing and rearranging things for a good chunk of the weekend.

Now don't worry, there was some fun to be had this Memorial Day weekend! As an exercise in humility, I am going to show you what occupied my girls for several hours. It's really quite embarrassing, but take a look at our redneck pool(s)...


After all, I am from south Georgia!! :)

On Saturday morning, the girls were sneaking around asking for random objects and made me promise not to come in their playroom. A little while later, they ran up to me and presented me with some very beautiful cards!!

When I asked them what the occasion was, they said, "Because we love you and you're the best Mommy we've ever had!" I adore those munchkins!

And I'll leave you with a picture of how I found my Ellee this afternoon...


With her, you just don't ask questions! :)

Now we're off to watch "Gnomeo and Juliet" as we count down the hours until my hubby comes home. He makes everything better!!

Our thoughts on Jolly ole' St. Nick

disclaimer: I fully expect this little ditty to be pure randomness as I am working thru a foggy brain this morning. Because I've found myself in several conversations lately regarding Santa, this is an attempt to gather some of my thoughts on this jolly fella!

Yes, we are those people. Let's see - I've heard "fundamentalists," "scrooges," "Christmas wreckers," and I'm sure some things under muffled breaths that I care not to repeat.

Our girls have always known that Santa is not real.

It's really not that big of a deal around here. We are not Santa-Haters! As a matter of fact, you'll find Santa in our house...



On the girl's clothes...


And with the girls in pictures...




When family and friends (and strangers in the stores!) ask the girls what they want Santa to bring them, I don't jump in with haughty pride and say, "We don't believe in Santa." The girls don't say that either. They simply tell everyone what they want!

Here's how it works around here...

We treat Santa just like we treat Frosty, Barney, Dora or any other character! The girls still get presents on Christmas morning and we even leave out cookies and milk on Christmas Eve. They think it's fun to go along with the idea of Santa, the difference is that they quietly thank Daddy and Mommy for the gifts they got.

I don't know that I can give you a hard and fast reason why we chose to go this route. When Addie's first Christmas was approaching, we talked about it and this is where we landed...we're not banning Santa, but we're going to treat him like a character, not a real person.

Now to answer the question I always get - No, I don't think anyone is wrong at all if they choose to treat Santa like real person who really comes down the chimney during the night and really lives at the North Pole. Lee and I both grew up that way and we turned out just fine. Or at least I think we did! :) Not that we are experts on anything, but we don't think there is any harm in allowing your child to think that way, nor does that make you a bad parent. However - we also don't feel that there is any harm in allowing your children to know that he's not real, nor do we feel that we are bad parents because of that either. It's our personal decision and we don't expect everyone to follow suite.

The most challenging part is explaining to the girls that it is not their duty to let all the kiddos in the world in on their secret information! We have told them over and over again that this issue is between kids and parents and that they are not the ones to inform all the others. I wish I could say that they always heeded my instructions, but I don't think that's always the case! So far, I've not had any parents slash my tires because of this, but we'll see!

Our desire is simply that Jesus will be the focus and center of our Christmas - and our lives for that matter!

PS - I would love to hear any thoughts and ideas on this issue!

confession is good for the soul...

...or at least that's what I've heard. We'll see how it goes...

So last Friday night the plan was for me to join my hubby in taking a busload of people from our church to a concert in Evansville. Because we didn't think our girls were "concert ready," my sweet sis-in-law agreed to put them up for the night in Tennessee. She and I met in the middle, I delivered my precious cargo and began my trek back home.

This is the part of the story where things went wrong...

And this is where I'm going to let my ugly pride down and confess my utter stupidity...

Only some of you are familiar with the Natcher Parkway that runs between Bowling Green and Owensboro. Apparently I am not one of those people.

When I left my kiddos in Tennessee, I took advantage of some quiet time in the car and turned on my iPod to listen to one of my favorite pastors. As I was deeply intrenched in the gospel of Luke, I heard the "ding" indicating my gas light had turned on. Huh, I hadn't noticed I was that low on gas. But ok - no big deal, right? At that time I noticed I was in Morgantown and I thought I'd just stop at the next gas station. THAT GAS STATION NEVER CAME! Apparently there is a 30-40 mile stretch of the Natcher that has no gas stations (at least none that the common man would know of because there are no signs!). So what do ya think happened?!?

Yep, I ran out of gas and ended up on the side of the parkway - alone, in the dark, in very frigid temperatures. And I didn't even have a coat with me! Of course I freaked out, called my hubby in tears and did what every normal person would do - began blaming other people (or things)!

Stupid Kentucky DOT - why wouldn't you post a sign saying "caution - no gas stations for the next 40 miles."

Stupid Car - even when the gas light comes on you say I still have 45 more miles to empty. That's why I wait until the light comes on to fill you up.

And on and on the blame shifting goes.

After about 20 minutes (plenty of time to dream up horror stories of the freaks that could've stopped to "help" me), my Knight in Shining Armor saved the day. Lee sent the bus ahead to Evansville and rode in on his white horse to my rescue!

Here's the lesson I learned...

Unfortunately, I take pride in being an organized and prepared person. I don't like being caught off guard without a needed tissue or band-aide or tylenol. Running out of gas is such a doofus thing to let happen because even though I want to blame everyone else, I just goofed! I know I'm so not above making mistakes, but I prefer grammatical mistakes, or cooking mistakes, or calling someone by the wrong name. Things like that. Not mistakes in areas that I think I'm good at.

So here's the confession...I make mistakes in organization and planning. I'm sure everyone knew that, but I need to say it aloud. I asked my husband to keep this incident our little secret, but even in that request, I saw my ugly pride. So here's my attempt at letting my pride down. Confession...

Is it really good for the soul? I don't know about that, but I know I find freedom in it and I pray God is glorified through it!