Best moment of my life

Hanging ornamates with my little man

Mommy Saves Money: Laundry crazy....

Alright, I've gone kind of money saving crazy now that I know how much I LOVE my home made laundry detergent. I used it on all my laundry today (4 loads. Mother fuck. I just did laundry) I don't know how we go through so much laundry. But we do.

So a quick recap on the homemade laundry detergent (which can be found here) I've been using it all day, and my clothes are coming out, fluffier, cleaner, and softer.


But then I was thinking, if I really want to stop buying laundry detergent, and things that keep our clothes clean, especially with a messy 2 year old and if I remember correctly, babies are really good at crapping up their back. I remember soaking a LOT of shit covered baby clothes. So instead of spending 8$ on a small tub of baby oxi wash and 4$ on Zout stain treater.

So today I set out to make oxi clean and stain treater! With just 3 or 4 ingredients each. Instead of paying for pretty much water with some cleaning agents in it.

Home Made Zout:

Ingredients: 

2/3 cup Dawn

2/3 cup Amonia 

6 table spoon Baking soda

2 cup water

Wisk it all together, and pour it into an old zout bottle or into another kind of spray bottle. 

All done! seriously 5 minutes to make and cost pennies

Home made Oxiclean

Ingredients:

2 cup water

1 cup Baking Soda

1 cup Hydrogen Peroxide

All done. Maybe another 5 minutes to make. Also pennies.  I read that this is better for soaking than it is for putting right in the wash. But tonight I'm going to gather all of Mr.Cs and CB's gross brown bottom socks and see if this helps them at all. Nothing has worked so far, I haven't tried bleach yet. I hate to make CB wear stiff socks.

Mommy Saves Money: Laundry and Dish Detergent

Laundry Detergent and Dish Detergent Review and Recipe

This is such an affordable and green way to get clean clothes, and dishes! I spent less than 10$ on all the ingredients, and it only took me 20 minutes to make both Laundry and Dish Detergents.

Laundry Detergent Ingredients: This is Doubled

2 Cups Borax

2 Cups Washing Soda

2 Bars Fels Naptha

Dish Detergent Ingredients:

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Washing Soda

1 Cup Sea Salt

2 Packs LEMON KoolAid

Grate up the 2 bars of Fels Naptha, this part was kind of a pain in the ass. I should have just used my food processor but I didn't want to get it out. 

1(2) cups washing soda

1(2) cups Borax

I mixed it all up in a bowl, but you could easily just put it in the container and mix it up. 

The Dish Detergent was made basically the same way! Just add Salt and koolaid as apposed to fels naptha (I didn't have as fancy of a little container for the dish soap.)

Laundry Review:

The Test: Ketchup rubbed into the shirt. First using our normal detergent

It came out clean on the Arm and Hammer side. Now lets try my home made detergent

BOTH SIDES CLEAN! (The husband was very happy since this was his shirt)

Dish Detergent Review: 

I found that it works better when you add a few drops of Dawn dish soap into the "pre-wash" section. otherwise you get some spots. Everything was clean, and smelled fresh, not like lemon. Just fresh. 

Hope this is helpful! 

Thanksgiving...

I absolutely love Thanksgiving, the smell of turkey wafting throughout the house, the stolen bites of turkey during carving, the pumpkin spice lattes and egg nogg. Even the start of Christmas music. I will not lie, I listen to Christmas music while making ThanksGiving turkey.

Even though I've been enjoy Peppermint Mocha's since the beginning of the month, I will still enjoy one the morning of Thanksgiving, I will enjoy one at 5 am the next day during black friday. I can not wait to wake up early Saturday morning and put my turkey in the oven. I absolutely love the ambiance that Thanksgiving brings. I love putting name cards out on a pre-set table. I love making the center piece. I love everything about this holiday. 

So here is the tentative menu 

The Turkey

I'm going to attempt Alton Browns Brining method. I'm not nervous. Alton always makes things as simple as possible. I am really excited to have a beautiful roasted turkey. Especially one that locks in flavor and juicyness. 

Feta Asparagus Salad

I think my mama is going to make this one and bring it. Even if she doesn't its still totally on "the list" because it just sounds AMAZING! Its so easy, I probably wouldn't bother grilling them. Just tossing them in the frying pan with the oil. Toss it with the feta and lemon zest and serve in a bowl! 

Roasted Red Potatoes

A nice throw back to the potato (don't worry, we'll have regular mashed potatoes too.) I think these just add so much, they are pretty, and look absolutely delish! 

Green Bean and Leek Casserole

This one was a HUGE hit during the summer party time. Its a great fall food as well though, plus I saved a HUGE bag of fresh green beans Mr.C grew in his garden this year, JUST for Thanksgiving. 

Mashed Potato and Stuffing Casserole

This one doesn't have a hyperlink. Mainly because I haven't found a good recipe for it yet, and also, because I thought of it myself. My plan is to make Stuffing (from the box, going old school) Put a thin layer of stuffing on the bottom, layer of mashed potatoes, and another thin layer of stuffing. It just sounds like to good of an idea to go wrong. If I find a recipe I will update with a good sounding recipe. Otherwise I'll make my own and share. I'll have this done tuesday before the holiday so I can just stick it in the fridge and bake it on saturday. 

Most of this I will make ahead, before our trip to Seattle just so I don't have so much to do friday afternoon after black friday shopping. Pumpkin pie will of course be present, as will dinner rolls and wine. 

Did I mention this is my favorite holiday?

25 weeks down, 15 to go.....

::hyperventilates::

If I am going to be completely honest and say, I am so scared I wound up crying friday night over how nervous it makes me having another baby. Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited. But SO nervous. I am scared of how CB will do, I'm scared of going to the hospital and leaving him home, even though I know he'll be in great hands and in his own bed. But I worry, what if he wakes up and needs me? and I'm not here. What will he think how will he be calmed down. I've never left him. Never overnight.

Its scary. Having a second child, is not just a huge change for us. But I have CB to worry about. What will he think of the new baby? Will he do okay? Will he resent me for taking away half his attention? Will he hate the baby when he cries? Will he feel lost in the shuffle? I know I should just stop worrying, people have more than one child all the time, the kids do great and don't turn out to be parent hating sociopaths. I know part of me will miss it just being him and I. That probably sounds terrible, but its true. I am so afraid that I will resent Bean when he's here, for taking away those special moments CB and I have when we are out doing things, "just the two of us" I like to take him to lunch, will we still do that when Bean is here? or will he make it to hard? What if he's colicky and CB can't handle the crying and hides away in his room to get away from the screaming.

My biggest worry, What if I don't instantly fall in love with Bean? I was one of those people that was just so in love with CB from the moment I found out about him, when he was born I could have burst I was so full of love for such a little being. But I know thats not always the case, some people don't bond instantly. What if that happens to Bean and I.
I haven't been as "into" this pregnancy. I'm excited, I'm living healthy and exercising. I don't have time to eat, breathe and sleep being pregnant like I did with CB.

I'm almost in tears writing this. I feel so terrible about not feeling as bonded. I love Bean, I can't wait to meet him. But the feelings are so different than when I was pregnant with CB.

A new grown up apartment

We've been working really hard on getting our apartment to feel more, well like a home. I posted a while ago that we'd decided to stick around longer because its so affordable and its in the perfect area for us. Since we aren't ready to buy for a while, and we don't want to live in the city/metro in the long run we've decided to stick around. Probably for the next 2-3 years. Since we gave Luna to my parents and Abby and Scout are older they don't need to be walked as frequently (read that as once a day) So we decided to just take the plunge and paint! The apartment looks amazing, I can't even believe how much of a change it is having it painted. It seriously feels like we moved. 

After we had painted, I took this amazing idea off Pinterest and decided to use an old antique door as a head board. Since ours wasn't really cutting it. 

This was the inspiration

We've since moved the headboard down about 6 inches and it looks a lot nicer

In denial

I wish I was in The Nile, not Denial but I am. I can't believe next monday I'll be 25 weeks. I can't believe that its just flying by. I have a tentative induction date already set in place for February 24th. So basically I have till, well, then. I don't have a ton left to do. Mostly everything has been purchased from when I was pregnant with CB.

I'm toying with the idea of buying a twin bed for him because he's using the crib mattress right now on his toddler bed, and he really would fit in his toddler bed for a while. Its rated to like 80 lbs (must be tons of fat kids in the world because by 80 lbs I was like 5'5)

I didn't really think it through that a twin would probably just be easier and less transitions but we switched him at like 14 months because he was climbing out of his crib and could have gotten seriously hurt.

We've also been super busy, hence the lack of posting. Soon there will be one huge "look at all my projects post!" I'll say this since I've been twitter bombing about our house project, we decided to pain. In two days I (by myself with a 2 year old and a 4 inch brush) painted the kitchen, living room, and hallway.) all thats left is one wall in the living room that needs to be rolled, and our bed room. The boys rooms are next!

Today I tossed that yummy crock pot pre-made stew in, and have a loaf of bread rising on the counter along with peanut butter cookie dough in the fridge.  My dad is coming up tomorrow to help us move furniture to paint, which will be nice because I can't move stuff on my own and almost all our bookcases are wall mounted and I don't know how to take them off. lol.

Busy busy, I'll try to post more soon. Probably tomorrow night I'll get some pictures and get a post in the works for next week.

Another fun thing to do, is to watch the percentage go up every day past 24 weeks your pregnant. Its nice to know Bean has a chance. Takes a lot of worry off my shoulders

Easy Money Saving Tips For Busy People

I think it would be safe to say, I really love saving money. Greens a good color you know? It looks amazing IN the wallet not in the till. I've figured out some fun and savvy ways of saving more cash, and stress free. I am not going to fib and say I've always been good at it, hell, I'm still not always good at it. But I  try, and I've found some REALLY easy things to change that saved a ton of money so far.

1. Cold water washing, makes little to no difference in how clean your clothing gets. Plus you don't have to sort lights and darks (I'm lazy laundry do-er) If you use dry detergent add it BEFORE you add the clothes, other wise it does seem to clump up a bit more. 
2. Cutting Cable. Seriously probably the biggest savings. It DOES take some getting used to, and has its sucky moments when their is a big game on that we want to watch. But overall the 120$ a month we're no longer shelling out on trashy tv and commercials is worth it. We have 35$ High speed internet, Hulu+ ($8) and Netflix instant ($8) So for about 50$ we get most of what we enjoy. We have the cable to watch from our computers too on our TV, it allows us to watch football on the normal TV when games are cast over ESPN3 its free!
3. Coupons. Seriously I used to hate people that would coupon. I would see someone with a wad of them, I would actually repack all my crap into my cart and back out of the line. I've figured out a pretty decent system that works for me though and doesn't leave me feeling like that asshole digging through my purse for that "I know I have one more" coupon person. As I walk through the store, I figure out what I have as far as coupons goes. I usually make a list and give my couponed food items a * that way I KNOW what I have a coupon for. As I grab the food I take the coupons our of my baggy and put them in my wallet (so I don't forget, I'm pregnant remember?) Most of the time the checker is really fast with the coupons. But if it takes time, its not because I don't have a stream lined system. 
4. Freezer meals, probably the weirdest and easiest. I've made so many awesome meals and frozen them. I also enjoy making a ton of food and freezing it in discs and tossing them in freezer bags. Its nice to have something fast and easy to toss in the crock pot (or thaw and microwave) Breakfast burritos are my favorite so far, I made about 40 of them for less than 15$ and we still have tons of them left. Way cheaper than going out to eat and getting a breakfast burrito. Huge savings is to make your favorite out to eat or random grabs at home. In the morning I just toss a burrito in the microwave and go. 
5. Hanging clothes to dry, this kind of goes with washing in cold. But its seriously so easy and laundry dries over night. Plus, its already hung up, which feels like less of a step. Not sure why. But it cuts dry time to about 15-20 minutes a regular load, as apposed to 45-60 minutes normally. I'd like to figure out a better system besides just hanging as much up in my bathroom as I can. I'd like to put in 2 or 3 tension rods by the linen cabinet that are removable. Maybe a retractable clothes line.
6. Change Collection, Not really a money saving tip. But come on, how many people have change rattling around the bottom of their purse? and never use it. I have one of those change saver/counter things and when ever its full I take it to coinstar and get it turned into cash/giftcards. So simple

This is really just a short easy list of things to do to save yourself some cash, I'm not a hoarder, I don't feel the need to have 9 thousand bottles of relish. These ideas are so easy, and so simple that anyone can do it. It also makes life easier, saves money, and doesn't take any extra effort. 

After my bottles of detergent are gone, I'm going to attempt to make my own laundry soap. I've wanted to, but have been getting such good deals on detergent recently. Granted I have 1 bottle left and a little bit left in the bottle I'm using right now. I'm excited to try it!