Snowmageddon 2013

After a fairly mild winter, Kansas City got blasted yesterday.  The local weather guy said there were times when we had 4 inches of snow falling per hour!!  Needless to say, Michael and I have both been home from work the last two days.  We are completely blocked in our driveway thanks to the foot of snow that's surrounding our car/garage.  The snow has stopped for now (another storm is apparently on it's way for Monday!), so it's probably time to do a little digging out.  By the way, I couldn't help but share this.

I don't even care that we have to make these days up in the spring.  

I LOVE me a good snow day (or two!).  

So, here's a time lapse-ish picture of yesterday.  It starts at about 8am and ends a little after noon.  Keep an eye on the level of snow on the table compared to the top of the chair.

This is what happens after two days worth of being locked inside, no makeup, no flat iron....time to go shovel the driveway.

Darn snow blower won't start!  We had to dig Michael's car out of the driveway just to go get some gas for the snowblower.

Got some gas for the snowblower and started working on snow drifts to my knees...and decided I was a little underdressed...

Maybe the cute knit stocking cap makes this outfit look a little less ridiculous.  

Maybe not.

My hubby workin' that snow blower!

Thankful to have a driveway we can get out of.  And hoping reports of another foot of snow on Monday aren't accurate!!!

Show Us Your Life - Favorite Picture Ideas

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner this morning for Show Us Your Life - Favorite Picture Ideas.  My favorite pictures right now are from our wedding.  We had an amazing photographer!!  Here are some of my favs!

The bridesmaids had different shades of blue dresses.

When The Right One Comes Along

Laundry Soap CleanOff

***This post is from several years ago and mysteriously ended up back as a draft.  So, here it is again!***

I had no idea so many people made their own laundry detergent until I started posting about it on Facebook!  Holy moly, there are a lot of recipes out there!!

A few weeks ago I made a recipe I found on Pinterest for something called Laundry Sauce.  I like it because it seemed different from other recipes I'd seen.  It looked more professional....or something like that.  So, I made my first attempt, and it was just okay.  I blogged about it here.  The Laundry Sauce was kind of gritty, and after reading a lot of the comments, I learned that I hadn't let all of the soap dissolve in the cooking process.

First attempt at Laundry Sauce

Throughout this process, I also learned that my oh-so-handsome hubby used to make homemade laundry detergent.  (I know.....I was surprised at this information, too.)

Isn't he HANDSOME?!

Michael's laundry detergent was liquid, and was much less labor intensive than mine.  Which left me wondering.......Which detergent is better?  Which should I be using?  Maybe I should just stick with good 'ole Tide.

So I decided to take this laundry soap thing up a notch and have a (drumroll please!)......

Laundry Soap CleanOff!!  

(Yup, I really am that big of a dork.)

Liquid Laundry Detergent in the bucket and setting for 24 hours.

Liquid detergent finished!  It's only kind of liquid....it's more like a gelatin.  The big whole in the middle is from me using it for the CleanOff.

Laundry Sauce being made.....It turned out GREAT this time!!!

The bad batch is on the left...the good batch is on the right.

So, here's what happened last weekend.  I took three socks that had lost their partners and labeled them.  

L = liquid soap

S = laundry sauce

T = Tide

Then I buried them in the dirt and poured some water on them.

I washed them all with their assigned soap, and here are the results.

They all did pretty good, but in person, it's clear that the Laundry Sauce did the best!!  Here's my disclaimer on that, though.  The socks with the liquid detergent and the Tide sat longer than the one with the Laundry Sauce.  

So, I've decided I'm just going to use all of the detergent I have (liquid and sauce) before I worry about making more.  But when it's time to make more, I think Laundry Sauce is my winner!!!

Here are the recipes for both:

Liquid Soap

After reading this recipe again, I think maybe I should have stirred up my gelatin/liquid detergent. Oh, well! Live and learn!

Ingredients:
Borax
Super Washing Soda (not Baking Soda)
a Bar of Fels Naptha
Cheese Grater
5 Gallon bucket
Measuring cups
A Pot
Spoon with Holes (optional)
Funnel (optional)
Beverage Dispenser, Old Laundry Container, etc.

Directions:
1. Grate bar of Fels Naptha and add it to the pot.2. Add 1 quart (4 cups) of water to the pot, and melt the soap on low/medium heat.
3. Add melted soap mixture to the 5 gallon bucket.
4. Fill 5 gallon bucket with water halfway.
5. Add 2 cups of Borax to the 5 gallon bucket.6. Add 2 cups of Super Washing Soda to the 5 gallon bucket and stir the mixture thoroughly.7. Fill the 5 gallon bucket all the way with water leaving enough room for the lid so it doesn't spill over, and stir again.
8. Cover the bucket with the lid or with cling wrap and let it sit overnight (24 hours).
9. In the morning, stir the detergent some more, breaking up the gelatin clumps at the top (the fenestrated spoon helps with that).
10. Put in desired container.


Mom's Super Laundry Sauce
(You really need to check out this website and read all of the comments before making. Plus, the website has lots of GREAT step-by-step pictures. The whole process is definitely an ordeal.)
~ This makes 1/2 Gallon of concentrate ~
~ Btw, that's a full 128 loads of laundry!! ~


1 bar Fels Naptha
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA!!)
4 cups of hot water


Quick Note: Follow the directions Carefully, adding the ingredients at the wrong time will result in a grainy textured detergent that will not dissolve well in the washer.


Step 1: Put 4 cups of water in a large heavy saucepan over high heat. While that is heating, mix the borax and washing soda together in a bowl, mixing well, set aside.

Step 2: Grate the Fels Naptha- the easiest way to do this is to cut it into several smaller chunks and then run it through a food processor- otherwise, you can just grate it with a hand grater or shave it with a knife.

Step 3: Add the freshly grated soap to the water in the saucepan, stirring almost constantly. Reduce the heat to medium, It will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes for the Fels Naptha to complete dissolve. If it takes longer, your heat wasn't up high enough. Alternatively, you can melt the fels on the stove over low heat without water then add the water afterwards, stirring it in, as the original recipe called for. I find that it's much easier to melt IN the water. Absolutely do NOT let this Boil over, or you'll have a sudsy mess that you do NOT want to contend with!!  It should be a rolling, simmering boil where you must stir Constantly but it does not foam heavily or seem to "creep up" the saucepan. See the photo below- note the amount of "foam" - that's all you should see.

Step 4: Once the fels naptha has completely melted, remove the pan from the heat and add in the Borax and the Washing Soda, stirring constantly until the powders are completely dissolved, this will take about 3-5 minutes. Do not under-stir or your soap texture will be very grainy rather than smooth. (You can fee the "graininess" on the bottom of the pan, once you can't feel it, it's incorporated fully!)

Step 5: Pour the liquid equally into (2) 1 quart Mason jars.

Step 6: Add just enough water to bring the contents up to the “shoulders” or Rounded part of the jar, leaving approximately 1 ½ inches of headspace.

Step 7: Put the lid on the jars and turn them UPSIDE DOWN and let them sit a few hours (about 4 - 5 hours). The reason for this is that the soap is going to Separate into layers while it's resting and occasionally will form crystals on the bottom. Rather than waste these trying to scrape them off, in the next step we're going to incorporate them easily! Btw, if you leave it overnight it will have a slightly grainier texture than if you whip it immediately after 4 hours.  The Layers will separate after a few hours.  Then the bottom layer will become very, very thick.

Step 8: There are two ways to do this next step, depending on what you have for equipment. Here's how I like to do it- unscrew the blade and bottom from your blender and screw them onto your regular mouthed mason jar containing all of your ingredients.   Place the entire mason jar on the blender and whip until smooth and creamy throughout, about a minute. Flip back over, unscrew the blender blade, attach a cover and seal.

HomeMade Laundry Detergent - Take One

So, I'm totally addicted to Pinterest.  And I've seen tons of homemade laundry detergent recipes.  One such recipe caught my eye.  It's super thick (like mayo) and it's called Laundry Sauce.  I spent last Saturday working on this yummy smelling stuff.  Here's what I ended up with.

In the process of making laundry sauce, it's supposed to separate pretty significantly.  Mine didn't so much do that, which makes me wonder if I messed up somewhere.  So, I did a comparison test between my Tide and my Laundry Sauce.  

Here's the before:

Here's the after:

I'm totally bummed with the results.  It's super obvious (especially in person) which sock is whiter.  I'm going to try the recipe again and see if I can get it to separate like the recipe says it should.  Otherwise.....back to the drawing board for laundry detergent recipes!

Roasted Red Pepper Ravioli

I cook dinner now.  Before Michael, I pretty much just ate a bowl of cereal of a can of corn (I really like corn) for dinner.  Now that I have someone else to think about when it comes to dinner, I decided I needed to get serious about cooking.  I have fallen in love with the cooking blog Baking With Blondie. We especially love her Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

The problem with this dish is that the sauce really is time consuming.  BUT the last time I made this, I ended up with lots of extra sauce.  So I thought, What the heck?!  I need to try to freeze this stuff!!  Well, this week I pulled my frozen roasted red pepper sauce out of the freezer, and....

SUCCESS!!!  It tasted just as good as it did when it was fresh!  So, the lesson of this story?  Take a Sunday afternoon to at least double the recipe, and put that yummy goodness in the freezer for a quick and oh-so-delicious meal!!  I'll be spending a Sunday in the very near future doing just that!!

Single is Easier

***DISCLAIMER:  I absolutely love being married.  I am so beyond blessed to be able to "do life" with my husband.***

When I got married a few months ago, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  I didn't really understand what marriage was and what it required of me and what it didn't require of me.  I didn't truly have a full picture view of what a Biblical marriage really meant for me.  

Let me try to explain where I'm coming from by rewinding back to our engagement.

I knew I loved Michael.  But I didn't know if I really loved him enough.  Part of that is that I totally over-analyze ev.ry.thing. in my life.  The other part of that is I didn't feel that movie romantic-falling-all-over-myself-can't-see-straight kind of love.  And that scared the snot out of me.  That's what I thought I was supposed to feel when I got married.  That passionate, lustful, romantic love.  You know.  The kind we see in every chick flick movie that we all adore.  

I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my parents (after Michael and I were engaged) and finally "coming clean" with how terrified I was that I didn't feel the right thing.  I was scared that my love wasn't the right kind of love.  Or strong enough.  Or movie-worthy enough.  Shortly after that conversation (in which my parents assured me that the movie love wasn't really love), I confronted Michael with my fears.  I told him that I didn't feel that movie love for him, and that I was scared.  You know what he said to me?

"I don't feel that for you either."

WHAT?  HUH?  You mean to tell me that it's okay to love me and want to marry me and spend the rest of your life with me even though we don't have that crazy chick-flick romance?????  I was SO. BEYOND. RELIEVED.  After talking with Michael, I realized that what I felt really was love.  It wasn't the passionate, lustful, can't-function-in-my-daily-life kind of love.......because it was true love instead of love from a fictional movie.  (I can totally hear my sister quoting from The Princess Bride right now.....Wuv.  Twoo Wuv.)  

Soo.....that being said, I thought that after realizing what I felt really was right, and after some AH-mazing pre-marital counseling from our pastor, I really thought I had this marriage thing in the bag.

Uh.  Wrong-o.

I really had no idea what marriage was or what I was getting myself into.  Every day I'm learning what marriage really is.  Man, it's serious self-sacrificing, which is hard when you've been single and independent for 30 years.  And I never really understood how much marriage really is making a choice to love.  Even when I'm ugly in the physical sense (early mornings are not my best) and in my attitude....Michael chooses to love me.  I'm really only beginning to understand how to do that.  

And the most wonderful thing I'm learning about marriage is that I get to be a part of something incredibly holy.  An institution that God designed to portray how He loves us.  

It's so wonderful.  But soooo hard.  I've said several times in the last few months that being single really is easier.  But I love that the Lord is allowing me the opportunity to share my life with an amazing man.  And He is using that relationship to make me more and more like Jesus.  There's nothing I could want more than that.

If you are a single gal and really wanting to understand and be prepared for Biblical marriage, I would totally recommend reading Timothy Keller's "The Meaning of Marriage."  Michael and I are reading it right now, and I wish so badly that I had read this before we even met so that I would have had a better idea of what to expect a marriage to be.  I'm playing catchup in my understanding, but you don't have to!!