Since recouping from knee surgery was going to keep Eric out of his usual winter basketball league, the man needed something to do. And, in true form, if he was going to build one shelf, why not build three? Yay for me!
Piles and piles of them:
Woodworker of the year around here:
My shelves, partially loaded and oh, so wonderful! Those are my awesomely fun turquoise-satin-peacock feather window panels. They make me smile.
It even holds all our family games, guitar music and etc.
The first time around, I used Zote bar-soap instead of Fels-Naptha, but it made me cough and sneeze when I grated it and every time I opened the tub to use it...that can't be good! The Fels-Naptha is MUCH better!
I used my food processor to first grate the bar soap, then switched blades and minced it until it was fine and grainy. Mixed with the Borax and Washing Soda (NOT baking soda) it looks just like your typical powdered detergent.
Each load takes just two tablespoons...just the size of a recycled Oxy-Clean scoop. So far, I've been happy with it though I'd like to try adding some essential oils for fragrance. 
Maybe I'll get a round tuit sometime.
Now for the emergency! I opened the dryer yesterday afternoon to get Kai's T-Ball uniform out for his last game. First I pulled out his pillowcase and thought, "huh? that's weird. where'd all these stains come from?" Then I pulled out a shirt smeared with brown and purple streaks, then his baseball pants, COVERED with multi-colored mushy marks. "Oh, dear! A wacky crayon!!!" Yes, the wacky crayons have come back to bite me in the butt. Kai's been coloring with them and must have had one in a pocket. The entire load of all his laundry was marred by melted, multi-colored, non-washable crayons. Of course this happens when we need to be out the door in 18 minutes...so...
I googled the issue and found a method that worked for some others. I didn't have all the right detergents etc. (because of my homemade experiment above :) ). So I threw it all in (except the uniform of course) to soak with some detergent, all the Oxy-Clean I had left and some Grandma's spot remover. All the marks were still there at 10 p.m. when I got back from a Target run with the correct ingredients:
I mixed about a Tide scoop amount of each into the washer filled with hot water and ran it on the Heavy-Duty cycle. Double rinsed. And....drum roll....I'd say 85% of it came out!! Woot! The casualties were the 100% cotton items like the pillow case and a couple t-shirts. Most of Kai's clothes are in the "comfort" line of things...athletic shorts/pants/shirts etc. and the marks are completely gone from that kind of fabric. I really thought they whole load was toast, so cheers to whoever it was (I'm not sure now) who figured this formula out!
Our Homeschool daily schedule:
Yay! A beginning to my summer series has, what else? Begun! I've been mulling around a bunch of bloggerish ideas for awhile and have decided it's time to delve in. My motivation for a "Little House" post is coming from a diverse group of events from the past several months. A couple of those are that we, like any book-loving family of elementary aged children, are reading through the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and I went to a funeral. Yup, that's weird (explanation to follow).So come along with me and maybe you can help me figure some of this stuff out! Especially the simplification of homemaking (I think I even made that description more complicated than needed). How about "Simple Living". I think that's one of my sister's catch-phrases.
Ooohh, you want an explanation about the funeral motivation? Okay. Eric's Great-Grandma, Lorraine, passed away last month at the age of 89. She was a dear. I did not know her well, but she was always a quiet presence sitting to the side of the room at the Dunlop family gatherings. Her service was beautiful, the weather fittingly rainy, yet the mood was one of peace as she now is with her Lord Jesus. I learned more about her life from the remarks from her long-time pastor in the short service than I had in the 16 years around the family. But of her time as a mother of young children, I still know little. Her obituary said that her marriage was blessed with three children and then described many of the servant-like occupations she endeavored as a faithful homemaker. I love all that! I love that her children were able to rise up and call her blessed! But I want to know her story! How in the world did she take in extra laundry, sewing and raise puppies AND children??