A list...

Early morning thoughts running through my head...  It's 8:00 and yes that's early to me!

1. I've gotta finish the laundry today and clean this awful house!

2. My closet organization is almost done...  I had to break out the maternity clothes... yes I pack them up after each baby.. thinking that is not such a good idea anymore.. :) so I bought more hangers.  I need to buy more.

3. Next I need to start organizing our school room.  I need to buy a dining room table for it.  It will be much easier to work with the girls that way.  Craigslist.. please be good to me!

4. I'm tired. When you have 4 kids chances of sleeping in are slim... very slim.  Everyone is still sleeping EXCEPT 1 cutie pie that decided I needed to be up at 7:30.  She said "mommy I want you to wake up!" So I'm up...

5. Coffee  Oh how I missed you!  (I don't drink coffee during my 1st trimester)

6. I have to many projects that are almost done.  I guess that's how I work... Oh well!

7. I'm excited to see a good friend tomorrow...  She is due in 4 weeks with a baby girl.  I'm going to make her some headbands.  That makes me so happy! 

8. Oh wow another sweet girl just woke up! :)

9. Now I've gotta get breakfast going...

10. I'm tired

11.  I don't think the house is that dirty today... Let's play instead of clean! :) 

Happy Friday!

Laundry Soap

Laundry is a daunting task for any large family... and can get quite expensive too.  I have seen recipes and heard of making your own soap and how easy and inexpensive it was... I have been wanting try this for a long time.  I have put off trying it even longer... b/c I had to make it and wasn't sure what I was in for. Well I finally jumped on the bandwagon!  After seeing a friend post it on facebook and she included pictures (I'm visual) it gave me the UMPH that I needed!

It really was easy peasy!  And CHEAP!  It cost around $6.00 for all the supplies and I have plenty of Borax and Washing Soda to make tons more.  This recipe is to make enough soap for 40 loads.  I will probably triple the batch the next time I make it.  I got the recipe from here http://duggarfamily.com/recipes.html  but I will also show you the steps. They also have a recipe for liquid detergent if you prefer that and for fabric softener (SIDE NOTE : Love the Duggars, I'm an avid watcher of their show!  We love their Tater Tot casserole, its a regular in the Fields house but I add shredded cheese to mine :) - try that too!)

Grab your supplies.  (Ivory bar soap, Borax and Washing Soda. It was hard to find the washing soda, finally found it at Publix!)

                                                 Give the baby a snack so he is happy :)

                                                                Grab a cute helper or two...

                                                       Keep Pooh and Piglet out of the soap.

                                                           Measure all ingredients.

          
                                                                           Add to soap.

                                                                           And stir.

Yes it is that easy!  You grind up one bar of soap on the fine part of the grater. (it was really easy to grind I thought it was going to be hard)  Add 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda.  Mix well and that is it!  Use 1 tablespoon for a regular wash and 2 tablespoons for a heavy soiled wash.  I've done several loads so far and I am impressed!  They smell is very clean and light. All the clothes are clean and colors are great! TRY IT and save some money!!!!! :)

For people with little babies... I think that this detergent is probably safe for babies.  So no more buying expensive baby detergent.  Since I used ivory soap the smell is really light and I don't think it would irritate the baby's skin. 

Another helpful tip... On the back of the Borax box was all sort of cleaning tips you can use Borax for... from stains to toilets... I haven't tried it yet... but Borax is really cheap (like $3) and worth a shot!

A little sprucing...

You know I can't leave well enough alone...  I finally broke out the vinyl on my cricut and LOVE it! :)

We needed some accessories for the master bath and since they are so expensive and we needed two of them (we have 2 sinks) I was waiting for a bargain!  Well I saw these cuties at the Dollar Store, yes plain white toothbrush holders but I liked that they had a bigger holder for the toothpaste too.  I fell in love and saw more! SCORE!

                                                      A litte bit of vinyl, so much cuter!

Nathan really likes them.  He thought that I bought them and they were like $10-$15 a piece.  PAH-LEESE! I would never spend that much on a toothbrush holder! Anywho... I told him where I got them and what I did.  He was impressed! :)

So having the cricut out and vinyl I couldn't stop... I always wanted to add something to this red plate that we have.  So it got a little sprucing too.

                                                                         So pretty...

Say Goodbye to the Gray...

I've mentioned before that we are blessed to now be living in my in-laws house, the house that Nathan grew up in.  It is a big house and very nice.  We love it :)!!!!  We are excited to put our "stamp" on it.  Everyone has different taste and with that said... my in-laws had all the trim work and doors in the house gray... just a look that they liked when they built the house.  We want to have color on the walls and want white trim.  I have been so anxious to paint.  Nathan HATES painting with a passion!  I have been bugging him about buying paint and he kept putting it off and didn't want to.  Well today he surprised me with a gallon of white paint!!! :) I was so excited... seriously the best present! So of course I started painting today, who could wait, not me! I was squealing while painting... I was so excited!  I started in the foyer... and man this is going to be some serious work! (LOL)  I cleaned the trim and then started painting... the gray was a pretty dark gray and it is going to take about 3 coats of white paint to cover good.  I'm thinking we might go get some primer... and then paint for other rooms.  (Yes the whole house has gray trim and doors)  My plan (don't you just love how I plan!) is to paint the trim in a room and then do the walls in that room.  So one room is finished and there is a sense of accomplishment.  Gotta keep the motivation up!

I did not get finished with the foyer today but I coat 2 coats done and 1 coat on the closet door.  Like I said I had a peek into the realization of this project today... going to be some serious work.  Good think I don't sit still for long ;) 

So here are some pics of the progress....

Foyer Before

(already moved furniture to the middle of the room)

Foyer Before

                                                             During... gray going away.

                                  
                                                           after... 2 coats needs 1 more

                                                                   after 2 coats... 1 to go!



Our new house

I've been promising some pictures... so here they are.  We are so blessed to be able to live in the house that Nathan grew up in.  My in-laws built this house and raised Nathan and Ben here.  I think it is so awesome to now be able to raise our children here.  It is a large house with lots of room and STORAGE!  It's 4 bedroom/2 baths and has a huge bonus room. Here is a mini tour of the house.... the rooms that are ready that is!  Which is the kitchen.  We have lots of plans and ideas for the house.  We are going to paint just about every room in the house over time.


                                                        Here is the front of the house

 The kitchen and part of the dining room. That is the breakfast table and the open door is a room off of the kitchen/dining room and that is my craft room and Nathan's music room.  The hallway off the kitchen leads to the pantry, laundry and cleaning closet. I told you there was alot of storage!

 The kitchen and breakfast table.  Tons of cabinet and did I mention STORAGE!  Can you tell what I'm excited about! :p

Standing in the kitchen looking at the dining room and breakfast table and the craft room/ music room is the door on the left.  You can see the entrance to living room to the right of the picture.  No pics of the living room yet...

This is the hallway off the kitchen.  The first door on the left is the pantry that is HUGE, the second door is the laundry room and the door straight ahead is the cleaning closet.  I told you STORAGE!  There is a place for everything!

The pantry!!!  I just had to show this!  It is a HUGE walk in pantry with tons of shelves and space.  It is sooo NOT ORGANIZED yet... I'll get there one day.  But despite the mess I still had to show you :)  I am sooo excited about this pantry that yes I have plans to decorate the pantry (hee hee).  In the house that we moved from I had a 1/2 closet for a pantry and had to use shelves in the garage for can goods and other things... so after that... you'd be excited too!



Hope you enjoyed the mini tour.  I will update it as I finish more rooms.  Right now the pics would be of stuff everywhere.