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Sunday, April 1, 2012

I'm Back and I'll Try Harder This Time

March really disappeared, but to be fair to myself, my computer got a virus.  A really bad one.  A $200 one, and then I went and bought some software to protect it for another $50.  Sigh......for a really long time.  It took Staples 11 long days.  That's a really long time to live without your computer, especially when you homeschool.  Not that we use it all day, but we definitely use it everyday.  My tip for the decade is PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER.  If you don't want to buy software to protect it, at least install a free one and update it regularly.  It is a very violating experience to hand your computer over to a complete stranger to fix.  I felt like I handed over my insides.  Especially since I know so little about it, and my husband knows even less, so I was totally at their mercy to not rip me off, make my computer worse, ect. ect.  Again, PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!!!!

Onto brighter subjects.  Gracie is 7 years old now.  I am very confused at where the seven years went, how she hasn't died of starvation (since she doesn't generally eat, but on rare occasions) and very terrified at how fast the next 7 years will go!  We celebrated at Disneyland. 
This is one of the mice from Cinderella, we met two of them!  We have never met them in all of the many trips we've taken.

The birthday girl.  She was delightful all day.  Of course, she got to pick everything we did, so it was pretty easy to be delightful, but nevertheless, it was a great day.  She wanted the earliest reservation we could get at Minnie's breakfast so we were there at 7:10 AM, and then she wanted to stay for Fantasmic, so we didn't leave until 10:00 PM.  It was a long day, even for me the Disney die hard.  I told Aliese and Anna, I'm not going to renew our passes in August.  I haven't told Gracie yet.  I'm ready try out some of the other wonderful things in LA.  Aliese and Anna were surprisingly fine about it.  I never thought the magic would wear off, but it has.  So a break will be good, and then when we can't live without it another day, I'll get passes again :)

We had a little party so to speak.  We hosted mutual for all the YW.  The YW president told me a few days before that they would be decorating cakes.  I asked her who was teaching them, and she said she didn't have much of a plan.  So I volunteered to teach them at my apartment.  It was super fun.  Our YW is small, but it was still very cozy.  This was Aliese's cake.
Pretty impressive hugh?

I'm trying some new things to save money that I'm hoping will continue to work and maybe even work better.

The first is homemade laundry soap.  It coast me about $7 to get started.  The first batch will last me several months.  Each time I make it I will need to buy another bar of soap which is a dollar.  I have enough of the other ingredients to make many more batches.  So maybe 50 cents a batch, less than 25 cents a month.  Not bad.  Basically free.  I'm really excited about it.  Been using it for a few weeks, and so far so good.  I'm still using Shout for pre-treating stains.  However, as my children get older, we are using less and less of it.  And since we're on the subject of laundry I made a big change in our household this week.  An announcement in the same line as deciding to be a vegetarian, or getting rid of your TV.  Drastic.  I divided up all of my laundry dividers among my family members, and everyone, including Steve and Gracie is in charge of their own laundry.  Everytime I think about it I sigh, feel peace and grin.  Few things have made me this happy in my life.  The next time someone doesn't have clean underwear, it won't be my fault.  My response will be, "Bummer, I hate it when I don't have clean underwear."  I can hardly wait for the first conversation when I get to say that.

So do you want my recipe for homemade laundry soap.  Here is the link-laundry soap recipe. The only change I made is that I used Zote soap from the 99cent store, because I couldn't find Fels-Naptha.  Zote soap is also used for laundry.  I bought the other two ingredients at Wal-Mart in the laundry aisle. The whole project took me about 15 minutes.

The next weirdo thing I'm doing is going "poo free".  Meaning shampoo free.  Now before you get totally grossed out, keep reading.  There is a whole movement out there of "poo free" people that aren't hippies, and don't live in Eugene.  Aliese prefers to say "homemade shampoo", I think "poo free" is far more fun.  We laughed over the term for so long I can't possibly stop using it.  Anyway...the recipe is...

Homemade Shampoo
1 c water
1 T baking soda

Put in a squeeze bottle or whatever you want.  Shake before each use.  Wet hair, add a little at a time all over scalp.  Massage scalp for 2 minutes rinse.

Homemade Conditioner
1 c water
1 T apple cider vinegar

Pour a little onto the ends of your hair, rinse.

I haven't used shampoo since Wednesday.  It's Sunday now.  I normall have very greasy hair.  If I skip a day everyone knows it.  I have used my new stuff twice now.  Aliese has used it once.  My hair looks great, very non greasy and actually a little fluffier.  When I brushed it after my shower, I started at the bottom and worked my way up, and surprisingly it was easy and not tangled.  Supposedly after a few months of this my hair will have more body, be shinier, I'll have no dandruff, the list goes on.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I haven't figured out the cost yet, because I didn't need to buy anything, but they sell baking soda at costco.  Hopefully they sell apple cider vinegar too.  Seriously though, we spend so much money on shampoo.  Everyone but Steve has very long hair, probably 6-8 feet worth.

And even though I am extremely non liberal politically, contrary to popular belief among liberals towards conservatives, I do care about the planet.  I love the fact that I will be throwing away a little less than before. Between shampoo, conditioner, and laundry bottles, my family has contributed more than our fair share of waste.  And even though I eat sugar and buy food with pesticides, in a small way, we are now using less chemicals in our home.  Bottom line, I just think I'm really cool.

Conference was awesome wasn't it?  We're such lucky ducks.  I watched the whole thing, and for the first time in my life, didn't fall asleep, or even fight sleep.  My Aliese and Anna watched all 4 sessions.  I was so impressed with them.  Gracie tried very hard, but failed miserably.  She's only 7 after all.  My favorite was probably Elder Holland, closely followed by many others. They were all awesome. I'm so grateful we have a living prophet to guide us and teach us.  I've always known Pres. Monson is a true prophet but I know it more now than I did 2 days ago. 



6 comments:

  1. Great post! Everyone always says I write like I speak and that's just how this was! It was like you were talking to me and that's great. I can't believe your girls are so old. SO OLD!!!! Too old. But I suppose it's the way it should be. Aliese is a grown woman. I want to lock her away, a little bit. That is so funny you are all desensitized to Disneyland. I am missing it a lot. The computer thing sounds stressful. The whole, "I don't know anything" is how I feel about my car. Completely at the mercy of others and I hate it. Glad it's all fixed. That's why we like our Mac. They're expensive, but the likelihood of a virus is WAY LOW. I am SO INTRIGUED about the hair. I want to try it, but am afraid. I shouldn't be. I've got everything here, too. Hmm . . . I should try it. But vinegar. I hate that smell. I'm curious about the laundry too. That would be cheaper for sure. THanks for blogging. Your life is WAY BUSIER than mine. Don't feel bad about not calling. We will talk when we can! Love you!

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  2. my favorite was also elder holland! OK- so Mike said "I sincerely hope you do not try that recipe for shampoo, you would stink so bad". So my question is- does your hair stink like easter egg die? I have LOTS of dandruff, and if this would truly get rid of it, I would LOVE it. We honestly don't go through that much shampoo because of my lack of showering- ha. So that's not really an issue for me :) BUT- the non dandruff sounds GREAT! Let me know on the smell, and dandruff. Now- laundry... I've heard about this whole laundry soap thing. I'm afraid of it because my armpits in my shirts truly stink after I wear them. Is this home made soap strong enough to take care of that? If so- then BRAVO! Rebecca, you are always introducing these new ideas to our family. The rest of us are so boring and non-exploring. You are so brave and independent. I'm a follower in every part of my life except politics and creativity. I wish I were more like you. D-land. The magic has left for you? I never thouht I would hear that! WOW! Well, if I were you- I'd explore down town LA. It's full of fabric that's dirt cheap. and clothes and jewelry and purses and everything dirt cheap. It's so magical. I can't wait to go there again. Last time I was there was a teenager. But I've heard it's still the same. love you!!!- oh and good for you on the laundry!

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  3. That all sounds awesome. All of your "green" solutions for cleaning your clothes and self :) You do sound awful eugene-ish! ha ha...but sounds cool. I should try that poo free thing cause my hair is the same. If I miss a day i'm a greaseball. That's cool you helped the young women with cakes! I bet they loved it. And that is so surprising you are not renewing your disneyland passes! But i'm just so excited to hear of your other adventures in LA. Love you soooooooooo much! Miss you.

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  4. Hey Bec! Yay, you're back! :) homemade laundry soap: I've been wanting to try this for so long but I can't find an answer whether it works with h.e. washers or how much you would need to use with one. The poo free thing: HA! I bet it works great. Baking soda is wonder stuff. (Amy- you could just use the baking soda solution to wash with and then regular conditioner if Mike is scared of vinegar-wife.) I am curious what Steve thinks about your laundry decision- LIFE CHANGING, BTW- and the poo free lifestyle. :D Love you!

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  5. That all sounded really cool! The cake is beautiful! Good for you for doing that. This hair thing sounds very interesting. We obviously don't go through very much at all, but the more body thing sounds interesting. The clothes, I love my oxi clean. and I still make messes-so probably won't go there. Disneyland, :-( I will miss it. But I understand. Amy's right the shopping district is pretty dang cool. But there are also other things I'm sure that would be neat to explore. Thank you for posting pics!!! I loved conference too. It centers me and I agree, we are so lucky and blessed. Life is good when we follow our leaders and keep the commandments. We escape so much pain. love and miss you!!!!! Can't wait for June and July!

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  6. I want to try the 'poo free' hair stuff. My experience with apple cider vinegar is that it doesn't have that strong vinegar smell. I may have to try this. I'm afraid of the homemade laundry soap stuff. Having an eight year old dirt magnet in our home, I just worry that the soap won't be strong enough to handle his kind of messes. I love reading your blog... welcome back! Have fun exploring LA. (I was so shocked to read that you, the QUEEN of all things Disney, will be taking a hiatis.)

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