Happy Mother's Day...

...to my mom.
...to my grandma.
...to my mother-in-law.
...to my Godmother.
...to my sisters-in-law, cousins, and aunties.
...to my friends.
...to me.

Random...

Reading: how to raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin
Listening to: Hideaway by the Weepies
Craft Project: Making a wooden doll family (been working on this for a month now, lack motivation). Though I got my idea here. I bought the wood supplies here.
Latest Recipe: Looking for the perfect homemade chewy granola bar that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup and sort of healthy. Not this one (a bit too healthy for my taste and Eli won't touch it.) We're trying this one next.
Project with the kids: Planting seeds. Eli picked Sweet Peas and Sadie picked Sunflowers.
On my to do list: cleaning the windows
Latest garage sale find: a pair of red Converse for 50 cents. Score!
Next Daring Feat: pulling the kids in the bike trailer (I'm so scared to do this...)
Want: this swimsuit, these shorts and this camera (but, will probably get none. I'm frugal like that)
Need: None! Ok, maybe a little of this and this.

Author of the Week: Pat Hutchins

I love when I've found an author that no matter what book I grab of hers the kids are going to love it. Pat Hutchins is one of those authors. Every week, I grab one of her books (she has a lot of books; we've barely scratched the surface) and it's an instant hit, a nightly read for the whole week until we make it back to the library to exchange it for another Pat Hutchin's book. In each of her stories, the illustrations tell the story, without them the story wouldn't be the same. One of her popular books is Rosie's Walk, where a little red hen is unknowingly out-foxing a fox. I personally love Good-Night Owl, because the illustrations are so cheerful and so perfectly retro. But apparently, Titch is her all-star. I'd never heard of Titch until this week when we checked out Titch and Daisy. Then, when searching the internets, I discovered this: a whole web-site dedicated to him, a tv series and books based on the series (which I'm sure I'd dislike a whole lot--much like the new Curious George and Clifford books... whole 'nother topic.). I'm not here to promote tv watching, I'm all about the books and I like her books A LOT. I think you would too. So, go to the library and check her out. Then, tell me what you think.

Homemade Laundry Soap

One of the ways that I've been trying to be a little more environmentally friendly is by making my own household cleaners. Truthfully, this has only made it as far as getting the books from the library, taking notes, and buying the ingredients. Mostly because I'm cheap and I refuse to throw away the stuff I already have. So, I've been slowly going through floor cleaner and bathroom cleaner and toiletbowl cleaner... Then, a friend sent me a link for directions to make your own laundry soap. At first, I wasn't thrilled because I don't really have the storage space for liquid laundry soap, I do live in a 700 sq. foot apartment, afterall. But, after a little more research I found a ton of links to making powdered laundry soap. I don't know why this intrigued me so much, but I had to go right out and buy the ingredients and make the stuff.


Powdered Laundry Soap
I ended up using the recipe that is on the Fels-Naptha Wikipedia page, go figure

• 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap, grated (or any other PURE soap)
• 1 cup washing soda (Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda)
• 1 cup borax (20 Mule Team)

Combine grated soap with washing soda & borax. Use 1 tablespoon for light load, 2 tablespoons for heavy or heavily soiled load. Use half that for front-loading washers.

Note: I used the the grater attachment on my food processor to grate the soap. Because I have a front loader washing machine, I was concerned that the big grated chunks of soap wouldn't dissolve so I changed to the chopping blade and chopped it up as fine as I could. Then, I added the washing soda and borax and pulsed a couple of times to combine.

From what I've read some of these ingredients can be hard to find, but I didn't have a problem. Borax can be found anywhere. I got Fels-Naptha at Kroger and the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda at Meijer.

By the way, I tried to find out the environmental concerns if any for using Fels-Naptha soap and I couldn't find anything. I used it, but according to what I've read, any pure soap will work, like Dr. Bronner's soap, which would smell better anyways as I find the smell of Fels Naptha to be a bit much for my taste. Plus, it's probably easier to find as they now sell Dr. Bronner's at Target!

I've only used this on four loads of laundry and so far everything has come out clean and super soft. My husband was concerned because there was no sudsing action, but apparently that is the case. No suds! Anyone else out there making homemade laundry soap? Any tips? Comments?

Scavenger Hunts

Several days ago, I sent Eli on a scavenger hunt. I made it pretty easy, so he could find most of the objects without getting frustrated, but then realized that it was just too easy. I quickly wrote the words and drew a matching picture so he new what to look for (though he was a little confused by my rock as it looked a lot like a poop), so it wasn't fancy by any means. The clipboard and pen are very important for this task as it made the scavenger hunt official. I went over each of the objects with him, I had him repeat all of the objects he needed to find, then he was off and running. He put all of his objects in his back-pack and would cross off the items as he went along. He found all of the objects except the feather and he's still looking! In fact, if he sees water or a goose/duck, he'll say, "I bet there's a feather over there. We should stop and look."
I think we'll try a photo scavenger hunt next. Eli's trying to improve his photography skills (you know, to actually get the object to be photographed into the frame) and I think he would have loads of fun. Plus, this would be great in parks where you're not allowed to remove anything.

Some other ideas:

• A color hunt: find one thing for every color of the rainbow
• A leaf/flower hunt: specific leaves from trees (maple, birch, ash, etc) or flowers with different number of petals
• A shape hunt: find something that is a circle, square, etc.
• An alphabet hunt (this would be fun photo scavenger hunt): find each letter that's in your name
• A texture hunt: smooth, rough, fuzzy, pokey, slimy
• A person hunt (another photo scavenger hunt): find someone with blue eyes, someone with brown hair, someone who is taller that you, someone who is the same age as you
• Transportation hunt (another photo scavenger hunt): a red car, a van, something with 3 wheels, an airplane
• A measurement hunt (for older kids): something 1 inch, 2 inches, etc...
• A comparison hunt (for older kids): something bigger than your shoe, longer than your finger, lighter than a penny, etc.
  

Steve Earle, The Business of Being Born, New Friends and Design Mom

My husband, Dennis, and I have a date tonight. I'm really excited because we rarely have moments of just the two of us doing couple things. We are going to see one of our favorite musicians, Steve Earle. Great music with my best friend, what more could a girl ask for? The only thing that's a little disappointing is that one of our new favorites, Todd Snider, is going to be in Columbus this Thursday. We have to miss is it because our living-off-of-student-loans budget just doesn't allow for going out twice in one week. Bummer!

A friend just sent me a link to watch the documentary The Business of Being Born for free!! I watched it last night and it made me want to have another baby just so I could give birth at home. Check it out, it's very interesting and informative. As a side note: why is it that I cry everytime I see a baby being born yet I did not cry at the birth of my own children? Where were my "love horomones" that they speak of in the movie, considering I had relatively quick and easy non-medicated hospital deliveries?

I have added a new list of blogs on the side-bar. These are new-to-me blogs that I discovered because they left comments for me here. It's fun to check out what other Stay At Home Moms are up to. It's amazing how much these women can accomplish on any given day. PuddinPop is a mom to 7!! That's 7 cups of coffee...

If you're not already an avid DesignMom reader, you should be. At least for this week. In honor of Mother's Day she is having give-aways all week and these aren't just any give-aways. They're beautiful things that any woman would covet. All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog to register. It's too easy.

As Promised...

Taco Seasoning
from allrecipes.com

1/4 cup chile powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I use less. My kids would die otherwise!)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons paprika
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon sea salt (I use less)
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, mix together chile powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.

Add 2 tablespoons of mix to 1 pound of hamburger. You might need to add a little water if it seems too dry.