Stuff and Nonsense

Well, I tried the homemade laundry soap and I LOVE it. I can make it for pennies a load and it seems to work well. The clothes are getting clean, and they are fresh-smelling. I have read that when using this laundry soap over time your clothes can get dingy. So I'll watch for that and maybe add some Oxy-Clean to the mix, as one person suggested. I do bleach my whites, towels, and some bedding though, so hopefully with the bleach I can avoid the dingies. I also add vinegar to the rinse, to help deodorize and to rinse away any of the soap residue, since it is a powdered formula.

Things 1&2 are at Civil Air Patrol camp this week. It's strange to have them gone. I gotta admit though that I am saving a LOT on groceries this week! And the house has stayed cleaner - so when they come home I'm not going to let them blame all the messes on the little ones any more!! I'm sure after this week they are going to think Mom is a softy compared to their drill sargeants! Actually Alicia is not participating as a cadet - she is assisting a 22-year old Senior member of CAP who is blind. The young woman is quite determined to do all she can in CAP in spite of her disability. She is quite inspiring. I'm really glad our family is getting the opportunity to know her.

I'm still working on organizing and cleaning. Does it never end? One thing I do know, is that we have WAY too many clothes. I really need to go through the kid's wardrobes and get rid of what they don't use, or have outgrown. And that favorite T-shirt that should have been thrown away two months ago - Jessica and Justin are notorious for this. It's funny how we can get attached to things!

I'm hoping today is a productive day and that I'll see significant headway in the basement dungeon, I mean storage area. Most of it can probably be thrown away - considering we have not used it since we moved in here a year ago!! Maybe I should just take it to the landfill since I don't remember what is in most of the boxes anyway!