Happy New Year!

I'm raising a toast to all of you for a very Happy and Healthy 2012!

My resolutions this year are:
1.  Back on Weight Watchers as of 1/2/2011 - ( I need the 1st to load up on Oliebollen (A Dutch New Years tradition - translation "Oil Balls".  Think fried apple fritters. May I just say YUM!))
2.  More one on one time with the hubby.  Dates, lunches, what ever - time together with out the kiddos.
3.  Get my house organized again.  2011 was a very busy year for us, and my whole home went to pot when football season started.  My goal is to finish getting organized and formulating an attack plan for football season, so we aren't eating crap on the run and letting the house go again.
4.  Occasionally doing something for myself. 

Where have I been?

Wondering where I have been? 
Well, I can tell you I have NOT been at home cleaning (or doing laundry).  I have NOT spent much time at the grocery store buying real food for our family to eat.   I have NOT been to the car wash.

I have however spent pretty much August through the first 1/2 of November eating, sleeping, breathing football and cheer.
My weekly schedule went something like this: 
Monday: Andra either had cheer practice at 4:45 or tumbling at 5:30 (occasionally both on the same day.)  Lane had football practice from 6-8.

Tuesday:  Andra had cheer practice from 5-6.  Lane had football practice from 6-8.

Wednesday:  The kids go to Awanna at our church from 6- 7:45.  We have a class from 7:30 to 8:30 at the church as well.

Thursday:  Lane had football practice from 6-8.

Friday:  We often have Sunday School activities, dinners with my parents, or open gym for tumbling.

Saturday:  Both kids had games. (Lane's were at 8:30, Andra's were 12:30ish.  So we were there all day.)

Sunday:  Sunday School and Church.

At one point, the wrestling season had overlapped the football season, so we pulled Lane out of Awanna and had him in the wrestling room working out on Wednesday nights.

Keeping in mind that I work at least 3 days a week at my real job (I put the kids on the bus, go straight to work, and then leave work in time to meet the school bus again.) and I've had a lot of blanket business lately (which is great).  So I had to give up things like updating my blog, pictures, etc. 

But it was well worth it...  My kids had a TON of fun doing it and they both learned SO much.

My sons disclaimer...

If you are to have my son over for a sleepover - here is his disclaimer..

1.  Go ahead and give a dose of Motrin before putting him to bed.  His growing pains randomly strike and make him scream like nothing you've ever seen.  Avoid this episode by giving him a dose of Motrin.  Its in a zip lock bag in his backpack.  (I usually do not encourage dosing any child with any un-necessary medications, but I find for the sanity of the supervising parent, this is a necessary dosage of medication.)  Rubbing alcohol or a cheap after shave can be applied to the legs to ease some of the muscle cramps should he have one of his Exorcist moments and you are desperate for the screaming to end.  It won't be the first time he smelled like a gigolo.

2. Cut him off from drinks early in the evening and make him pee before he gets into bed.  If he argues and says "MY NOT FEEL IT!" Tell him to go try anyway.   THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.  Make sure he empties his bladder.   If he has to pee in the middle of the night, you have a 50/50 chance of it waking him up.  The other 50% chance is that it will trigger him to sleep walk and find some random place in your house to drain his main vain at.   No, I am not joking.

3.  Make sure all doors are locked.  He sleep walks.  (Sometimes with the urge to pee, sometimes not.  If you find him sleep walking, its best to go ahead and help lead him towards the bathroom to try and pee.  Trust me on this one.)

To our friends who have lived through his growing pains episodes with out these warnings, I'm sorry.  I hope you aren't scarred for life.

And to our friends, who had to clean your sons bedroom carpet after Lane used it as a urinal - my deepest apologies.

All future sleepovers involving Lane being away from our home will come with the disclaimer above.  (And we understand if you decide not to have him sleep over after these being given these warnings.  Seriously.)

(And if it makes you feel better, I have spent many mornings reeking of cheap men's aftershave.  And personally had to drag the carpet cleaner up and down our flight of stairs that Lane used as a urinal once before I got him redirected to the bathroom.)

(Irony?  As I was finishing this post.  Lane came sleep walking through!  I'm going to tie bells to that kid!)

My Home Made Laundry Detergent Recipe For People On Well Water

I've tried a couple of different liquid laundry detergent recipes, but they never seem to come out right.   They always gel up well, but never stay gelled.  It ends up looking a lot like egg drop soup.  (The crazy hot, humid weather we have probably has something to do with that as well.)


So this last batch I tried, I used distilled water and that seemed to be the magic fix.


Supplies you will need:
A large stock pot and a small stock pot
A long spoon (Metal or plastic if you plan on using it for something other than detergent making. I personally use a wooden paint stir stick, meant for 5 gallon buckets.  It cost about 28 cents.)
A 5 gallon bucket with a lid
4 Gallons of Distilled Water (If you are on a well like me.)
1 Bar of your favorite soap
1 Cup of Borax
1 Cup of Washing Soda (NOT baking soda, these are 2 different products.)

**If you are having a hard time locating Washing Soda, check smaller or locally owned grocery stores.  This is where I've had the best luck finding it.  Target carries Borax.

In the large stock pot, start heating 3 of the gallons of distilled water.  It does not need to be boiling, but it does need to be hot when its ready to be mixed up.

Grate the bar of soap.  (I use Coast.  I've tried and liked Fels Naptha.  I did not care for the detergent that Ivory created.)

(If you use Fels Naptha, it looks strikingly like grated cheese!)









In the small stock pot start heating 4 cups of the remaining 1 gallon of distilled water.  As the water starts warming, slowly add the grated soap and stir almost constantly until all of the soap is totally dissolved.  I stir slowly as not to foam it up too much, but soap bubbles are pretty normal.

Once the grated soap is all dissolved, pour the 3 gallons of hot water into the clean bucket. 

Add the 1 Cup of Borax and start stirring.

Then add the 1 Cup of washing soda and keep stirring.

(I stir this step for at least 2 solid minutes.)

Then add the melted soap mixture to the 5 gallon bucket and stir some more.

(I stir this step for no less than 3 minutes.)

Store in a cool place over night to give the mixture time to cool and gel.  (This is where my problem lies, there is NO cool place here!  lol)  It is normal to have some water that doesn't gel with this mixture. 

This is what mine looked like when it was done gelling up:

I use an old laundry detergent bottle to keep small amounts of this on the washer and refill from the 5 gallon bucket as needed. 

If you like, you may add a few drops of essential oil or fragrance oil to scent your detergent.  I add that to my small bottle, instead of the large bucket.

I also shake well before I pour it out.

I use between 1/4 and 3/4 cup of detergent per load depending on the size of the load.

The nice thing about home made laundry detergent is that it is a low sudsing soap, so it has worked really well in my HE machine.

My 2005 Pontiac Montana

I drive the Tighty-Whitey.  A white minivan with a gray band around the bottom.  Its like driving a giant pair of men's underpants upside down everywhere I go.  (As if having a minivan wasn't cool enough!)

But I can not complain too much about her.  Mechanically, she has been a SUPER sound car!
She's 6 years old, but aside from general maintenance (oil changes, battery, tires, breaks) we've had nothing major go wrong with her.
There was a small problem with the passenger front window switch not working.   I could roll it up with the one on the drivers side, but the passenger couldn't roll their own window down.  Matt kept saying he was going to stop at the dealer and pick up a new switch, but magically it "repaired" itself and hasn't been a problem since.
There is also an occasional glitch with the transmission shifting hard.  Matt read somewhere that its some pressure switch (FYI, this is where I may translate man-talk into blond) that he'd have to pull the whole transmission out to change out - but it stopped doing that on its own too.

The first real problem arose recently.  When  I go 60 or over, I have a pretty wicked shimmy.  (It stops at above 75, so I just drive faster..  ;) That fixes everything, right!?)  I apparently need a new front drivers side hub.  With only 3 payments away from being paid off.  GO FIGURE.

Oh well, it doesn't hurt to be married to a mechanic eh?? 

Once I've made that last payment, we're going to setup automatic deposits into our savings account for at least the amount we've been making in car payments..  That way my budget is still used to that money being pulled out, and if we can keep her going with out any major repairs (this hub thing isn't super expensive, it will be $120 for both sides), we'll have a nice chunk set aside for a deposit and TTnL..

But what to get?  I don't like driving a mini-van and having the "mommy mobile" label..  But I often have those 3 rows of seats full of kids, plus I need something big enough to haul not only my kids around, but our 100+ pound vehicularly ill-mannered lab as well.  (I can't think of the last time I took him to the vet and didn't have the kids with me).  Plus I HATE grocery shopping, so I try to just do one giant trip a month, so I need to be able to fold that 3rd row down and make lots of room for groceries...
But I don't want the added fuel cost and insurance cost with an SUV.

GM got rid of the Pontiac line (and kept Buick?  Not one of their better decisions, in my opinion.).  I looked at the Chevy Traverse, but after having 2 Pontiac's - the interior seemed really cheap and dull to me.  (I had this same dilemma when I bought the Tighty Whitey, it was a toss up between it and a Chevy Venture - and even though the Chevy had a lot more options going for it, I chose the Pontiac because it just had a much nicer interior option..I mean, I don't stand outside checking the color of my car out as often as I am inside looking at the interior.)
I didn't have time to go look at the GMC Acadia (the GMC version of the Traverse), but all I can do is hope that they have a nicer interior package like the Pontiac's had.  I've never been drawn to the Buick line (don't you have to have to be a certain age to be able to buy one of those anyway!?  ;)  )

So for now I guess the Acadia is on the top of my list..  Hopefully I'll get to check them out before too long so I know if I need to start looking at other options...

Though I worry, can I teach the kids to be mindful of opening the car door and NOT opening it into the car next to me??

Aside from the obvious driving you to and from places, mommy mobiles are:

A place to eat ice cream in on the ride home from the mountains:

A place to nap on long car trips home:

A seat at the drive in:

A place to do lotion art:

For bringing friends to meet their new baby brothers:



For using as a rain gague when its flooding out...

You know, looking at all the places that van has taken us, moves, trips, birthday parties, shopping adventures, etc..  It kind of makes me sad to think about getting rid of it.  BUT ONLY FOR A SECOND OR TWO.

I've lived through my worst nightmare..

If you know me at all, you know that I have a totally irrational fear of snakes.  There I said it, its irrational.  But that doesn't mean I can convince myself to react any differently.

I once ran out of my office (and my shoes), down the stairs, outside, and to the next building before I was caught by a coworker, because someone had played a trick on me and put a dead baby snake on my desk.  That coworker walked around carrying the snake in his shirt pocket, with its head poking out all day in triumph.
(I then came into work the next morning with my desk covered in fake snakes.. 12 years later and some of those snakes are still lingering around the office somewhere..)

I refuse to go into herpeteriums at the zoo.

A snake jumped (yes, they can jump) in front of the lawn mower I was riding on last year and I stopped mowing.  Matt asked why I couldn't just mow over it and kill it, I did have 3 giant spinning blades that would probably take care of it, but I just drove the mower to the front door, got off the mower, and told Matt where I left off.  I was done.

I DON'T DO SNAKES.
I'm ready to move back to Alaska, I'd rather come face to face with a moose or bear than be near a snake.

(Just talking about this, I've pulled my feet up under me as I type.  I'm getting the heebeegeebees and don't want my feet on the floor.)

So Saturday morning we were getting ready for a long day of kiddo activities.  Andra came in my bathroom where I was getting ready and says quite bluntly "You NEED to come with me." 
(Andra is a little bit of a drama queen, and likes to drag me around for dramatic effect when tattling on her brother, but this time her attitude was very different.  This wasn't "I'm ratting Lane out for something.."  her tone said "DANGER!" and her skin color said "I MAY PUKE!" )
So instead of telling her to use her words and just TELL me what she was tattling on so I could keep getting dressed, I followed her. 
Down the hall into the kitchen, she stopped about 1/2 way into the kitchen and pointed towards the laundry room, refusing to go any further.
I (being the giant fradey-cat chicken I am) slowed and tip toed over towards the laundry room thinking there was a giant spider or tarantula in there...

I wish.

I ran back to Andra, grabbed her squarely by the shoulders and said "Let Oliver in the back door, take him and your brother to your room and lock the door." 
And I booked it back to our bathroom where Matt was in the shower. 
I barged in and said "The faster you finish this shower, the better.  There is man work to be done.  There is a snake in the laundry room!"

Then I grabbed my camera and came back to stalk it.  I didn't want it to come into the kitchen or hide under the washer or something.  I NEEDED to know where it was.

And because of him:

WE ARE MOVING!

Well that was embarrassing...

Well that was embarrassing...
I've been going on bike rides as often as I can to help with this weight loss adventure I am on..  I was enjoying myself and decided to not be my usual chicken self and went further than I have before.

I turned around at what I thought was a good spot and realized the second I started back that I was going to get to peddle home against the wind, a lot of it uphill..  NOT SMART.
I got passed by a jeep full of teenagers, who laughed at me.  I whispered dirty things under my breath about them and how they'll be old and fat one day too..

In the midst of my huffing and puffing I missed my turn.  I was concentrating hard and not
I looked around at one point and thought "Hmm, this doesn't look familiar.  I must not have been paying attention during this stretch..." and kept huffing and puffing along.

Then I passed some cows...  "Uh, I don't remember passing cows.."
Then I came to a bridge.. "Uh, I really don't remember crossing this bridge!"

I debated turning around, but I was afraid I'd get even more lost, so I just kept going straight, thinking I'd get to an intersection and know just where I was.  I did.  I looked up and saw the "Welcome to Harrah" sign and went "HOLY CRAP!"  I ended up out on a main road, not where I had intended to be AT ALL..

Now I got to publicly humiliate myself huffing and puffing uphill against the wind on a four lane black top.  EXCELLENT!

I get to the next mile section and the storm rolling in gets a little close.  Lightning and thunder start rolling in and it starts sprinkling on me.  And its getting dark to boot.  I kept huffing and puffing and trying to get home as fast as possible, but I knew I still had 2 miles til I got home.

The lightning got a little close for comfort, so I grabbed my phone out of my little bike pouch and called Matt.  Who was already headed in my direction, coming to find me.

I kept riding til I heard our truck rattling up and got to do the walk of shame to pass it off to Matt and get a ride the rest of the way home (I was 1 1/2 miles from home.)   I rode about 7 1/2 miles.

I will pay for this tomorrow.