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After school functions, we started our marathon of Halloween adventures. First I thought I’d share what Coralie’s idea of heaven is …

…not a pretty sight (unless of course you are a dentist and then that doesn’t make you quit human).

But regardless of her sugar obsession, the girls and I went to Cornbelly’s. It was cold, the Pumpkin Princess never came, but the girls loved it (thank goodness).

While there, Coralie found a rocking chair and I asked her to tell me a story. She was completely excited and continued to relate a story about GHOSTS! That was about it. “Ghosts. Scary ghosts. BOOOOO!!!” And as the mother I am, I loved every minute of it and regretted not having a video camera present to capture my budding storytellers narrative.

And of course, what would any good Halloween place be without a princess section? I ask you. Geeze. Other places are just plain missing out if they don’t have a princess patch with dress ups, castles, bounce houses and carriages. I ask you what kind of rip off institutions don’t have the pen for all budding Disney-ophyte of the future?

In the end the found their ways through corn mazes, climbed to the top of towers, rode on cow trains, watched pig races, went through the belly of a monster, jumped, threw, skidded and played their way to sleep in 0-3 minutes upon entry of the car. They had a great night and so did I. :)

Jog a Thon

So the month of October has been INSANE to say the list. My homework keeps on growing in large increments (of course I am so behind its insane – rather like the mound of laundry that needs to be folded and put away).

I haven’t had any time to blog, almost at all (sorry). I’ve still attempted to keep up with everyone else’s. Phew. I realize there is still one more day in October and 4 more events for my kids to participate in, but I thought I’d try to get a move on. Need to stay on top of things or else I’ll just never do them.

So I will start with the beginning. Lilly had a jog-a-thon this month. She was sponsored by some wonderful family members and my kid ran and ran. Let me first state the conditions. A. Lillian was sick but felt it very important to help the school so we came for the event and left the moment it was over. B. It was raining. Hard. Ridiculously cold and did I mention raining? Well it was.

Regardless of these, she ran more than any other kindergartner. My big girl! And of course Coralie couldn’t be left out of it and so she ran for a lap and a half as well. I love my kids!

   

The benefits of video games on todays youth ...

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Car Woes …

Okay, so let me briefly detail our lovely car fun in the last 8 days.

Okay, my car has been making these strange sounds when it drives. So last Friday I took it in the shop and bravo and badabing, 2 hours later the car was okay, $300 paid, parts broken fixed and we are dealing. Spark plug and valve issues … my mechanic really is great.

Thursday Jason had to come to school to switch kids with me so I could go to class … thrilling. Well he parked the car in a 30 minute lot and when he went to leave the car wouldn’t start. We cleaned heads, changed batteries, jumped the car multiple times – nothing. Couldn’t even get headlights to turn on. So by 11pm at night we towed the car (costs a fortune). And by the next day found that the wires to the battery were shot. $300 later that is fixed (including the towing fee from the other business).

We thoughts. Its okay. Life is okay. This was money we were saving, but we won’t do anything for our anniversary and nothing for Christmas and birthdays and I’ll pick up more hours, but we’ll make it through.

Then today ... I will say the positive first. I made it to the shop BEFORE my engine completely blew up and was completely ruined. Phew. Mechanic said that when this happens a car typically won’t start or the engine will explode and that because of the age of the car they can’t fix it (won’t) and you have to get a used engine from somewhere … I was running errands with my girls. Pulling out of the library I hit something (no idea but we heard something like running over something under the car. On the way home the car was emitting this nasty smell. By the time I got home I was really worried and a fluid was leaking profusely from the car. I drove to the closest mechanic and the mechanic said that nothing I could have possibly hit would have caused these problems. It seems that my water pipe is leaking which killed my timing belt which somehow caused my Freon to break lose which caused … you get the point and it will be fixed in a few days and almost $1000 later.
Well, I suppose now in addition to all other budget cuts I am getting another job. Yup. But, at least there is something possibly inline. Crossing my fingers and hoping.

Pictures of my beautiful Bug

So, it took forever but we finally got the pictures back from Lilly's ballet and we got Lilly's school picture. Lilly was telling us how she took her picture right after recess (which explains her hair that I meticulously groomed before sending her merrily on her way out the car door). I love her so much. She's my Bug.

make your own laundry soap

Making your own laundry soap is economical and earth-friendly (recycle your old laundry soap containers or milk jugs). And it's pretty darn easy!

We tried a couple different recipes and came up with our own version of liquid laundry soap. It works out to be about $2.50 (or less) for 5 gallons of detergent. Pretty sweet, eh?

Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe

What you'll need:

*Box of Borax Natural Laundry Boost (this can be found in the laundry soap aisle)
*Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (baking soda will NOT work as a substitute)
*1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap, a stain removing laundry soap (ANY bar of soap like Ivory, Dove, et. will work, but we like the extra stain-fighting in this one)
*Scented oil of your choice (optional)
*Five gallon bucket
*Empty laundry detergent bottles or milk jugs

Instructions for 5-gallons of liquid detergent:

1. Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. Careful, the Fels-Naptha soap really looks like cheddar cheese--kids will want to eat it!

2. Put the grated soap in a sauce pan with 6 cups water. Heat soap and water until the soap melts.

3. Add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup Borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.

4. Pour 1 gallon hot water into your 5-gallon bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir well. Add about 3 1/2 more gallons of hot water to the bucket and stir again. Add your scented oil now if you choose to. We used about 2 tsp. honeysuckle essential oil. Just add enough until it smells good to you.

5. Pour the liquid mixture into your empty bottles (you might want to try a funnel). Or, leave it in the 5-gallon bucket--it will just be a little more difficult to use. Let the mixture sit for about 24 hours. It will thicken almost to a gel.

6. Shake your bottle well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of detergent for large loads.

The Arm & Hammer Washing Soda was about $3 to $4, and the Borax about the same price. The Fels-Naptha bar ran us about $1.25. You will get about four 5-gallon buckets of laundry detergent from one box of each. With tax, we figure that works out to be about $2.50 for 5 gallons. Sweet! That could cover about 160 loads of wash! You can't get a better deal than that.

How amazing is this!

Okay, I know I add a lot of video clips, but sometimes things are just amazing as well as peoples creative abilities.