keepin' busy

I can't believe it's only been one day since TJ left.... I'm not complaining. Just sayin'..... I have made a goal to stay busy and be productive. Hopefully this will make the time pass more quickly and keep the house and everything from becoming a disaster. Yesterday, my sister Michelle came over and hung out with Barrett and me. We went and bought an air popper to make yummy popcorn and then watched "Dispicable Me" and vegged out. I made sure to pick up the house before I went to bed. That is so hard for me! Today I even picked up during every nap! [Honestly, that will probably only last about a week ha!] I also made chicken tortilla soup yesterday! Oh man it is the best soup ever! No lie. I'll post the recipe soon.

Today, Barrett and I woke up early and hung out for a while. He's been pretty grumpy lately because he's got a runny nose and a baby cough. I can't complain about it this is really the first time he's even been "sick" and he's not even that sick. I really think all the fresh fruit and veggies that I make for him have built up his immune system! Anyway, after his nap we ran to wally world because I needed to get some calgon water softener. Barrett's cloth diapers have been more stinky lately and from what I've read online, that is normal with hard water. Unfortunately, the hard water cloth diaper detergent I had been using wasn't working hard enough to keep the funk away. So, with this wash, I did extra rinses using the calgon and they seem to smell much much much better! Thank goodness! I don't want to give that up!

Also, today I made Golden Yam Brownies! Talk about delish! :) MMMM :) And really they're super easy! I like them because they have lots of sweet potatoes in them so surely they're healthier than regular baked goods ya?!

They're not beautiful but seriously, they are amazing!

Golden Yam Brownies

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups peeled and finely shredded yams

First, you combine the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Then you add the dry ingredients. Then gently fold in the yams. See? Easy peasy. :) You bake it in a 9x13" pan for about 30 minutes at 350. To make the glaze, you just combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tbsp of melted butter, and 2 tbsp of milk. It isn't the prettiest but it is very yummy. :)

The other thing I did today was juice about 40 oranges. When we went to Cali for my birthday, we brought home a big box full of oranges and I still had a ton that I wouldn't be able to finish on my own. So I decided to make fresh squeezed OJ. Talk about a great decision! Anyway, after I was done with that, I had a bunch of orange peels and remembered that I had seen a great way to make a natural cleanser. You take the peels and put them in a jar and then cover them with vinegar and let it sit for a while and TA-DA! you have a great smelling, hardworking cleaner. Wherever I saw that suggested using gallon jars (I think.... whatever the really big ones are) but I only had a couple quart jars so I just used those.

Don't mind the aluminum foil, I only had rings and no lids... So this will have to do....



Best Saturday EVER!

Oh man oh man! Today was an amazing day! :) TJ volunteered his time to fix the planes that were damaged in the windstorm at the HAFB Museum which left Barrett and I all alone today. I decided today was the day to get some projects done I've been eyeing online for a week or so! Here goes:

 The first project I decided to tackle was making my own household cleaner {in place of 409} that was easy to make, didn't have any harsh chemicals, and smelled great! Well my friends, mission accomplished! So far I love this combination. To make it, I added 2 teaspoons of Borax, 4 tablespoons of vinegar, and not quite 4 cups of water. I also added a bit of eucalyptus oil and about 15 drops of 100% pure orange oil. Eucalyptus oil is supposed to be a great disinfectant and orange oil is great at cutting grease and smells great! :)

The next thing I wanted to get done was make my own laundry detergent. Barrett has a couple skin issues and I'm wondering if all the icky chemicals in the wash are the culprit. So to make this, I first grated the Fels-Naptha then adding 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda. Then all you have to do is mix it really well. Then you can put it in your container. I found that glass one with the silver screw on lid at Hobby Lobby for less than $5. I thought that was a pretty good find! Unfortunately, I used a grater that made kind of big pieces of the soap so I used the blender to make it all uniform size. I was really really really wishing I had a food processor because I think that would have been about a gagillion times easier. Hm, future present perhaps??? ;)

Anyway, this is the after product. I love that it's all swirly and imperfect!

Ok, here's the part that I'm most excited about now. [Originally I was most excited about my homemade soap stuff] If you are on pinterest, you have probably seen tons of super cute craft ideas. Well, I decided I wanted to actually make one of those crafts! So today I made a super duper amazingly cute Valentine's Day wreath. If you decide to make one of these, just know you need an insane amount of ribbon. I had enough but I sort of wish I had a little more. Anyway.... I had nine rolls of ribbon and most of them were 9 feet long but a couple were 12 feet and one was even 15 feet. So yeah, you need LOTS.

 The first step is to wrap ribbon all the way around the wreath form. Yes, I didn't wrap it all the way around. If I do this again, I think I'll skip wrapping the whole thing and just do the bottom half.

 {Pretend I put this picture underneath the one right below this....}

 You cut the ribbon into 4 1/2" strips and then fold them in half and hot glue them. If you know how to thread the bobbin on your sewing machine you can use that to sew them all. I'm pretty sure that would save you a lot of time.... Otherwise, do like me and hot glue those puppies down! Then you open the little bottom part and hot glue that onto the wreath form. You'll do the same thing even if you sew the strips.

 This is the wreath maybe halfway done.... Keep on truckin' my friends.... Lots of time and hot glue gun burns!

 Ta-Da! All done! Isn't it so cute?! I LOOOOOOVE it! I think it's so fun and cutesy! And then there's a close up pic so you can see all my fun ribbon patterns! :)

So! What do you think of my day? What things have you made lately?