Day off? What's that?

So I haven't made soap yet. Those of you who know me well probably aren't too surprised by this. My life tends to be beyond busy, ESPECIALLY in the nice weather. And with last week being Mother's Day/my birthday, there was even more to do.

Also, I've decided that the yard is a higher priority. Seriously, I'll show you... if I can figure out how to post pictures again (it's been awhile since I've tried).






Here's the thing: I keep driving by houses of everyone else in the neighborhood (ok, ok, trailer park... you say tomato, I say to-mah-toe), and I'm having lawn envy. I want flowers. I want pretty green plants. I want cedar chips and some pretty little planter thingy. And I want it now. (Also, I'd really like it if Bill mowed the lawn). Sadly, I'm not one of those people who sits around planning something for weeks before I actually start working on it. No, last night I was sitting on the couch watching (what else) HGTV, and I thought, "Hey! I have the day off tomorrow! I'm gonna fix the yard!" And while I know I'm not going to perform any miracles, I think I might have a few ideas.

Wish me luck!

Crunchy

So I'm going green... or at least TRYING to anyway. And I don't just mean that I'm taking my own bags to the grocery store (although I AM doing that). Nope, I'm also recycling, trying to use less electricity (I've always been an electricity hog. You should see our power bill... yikes!), the boyfriend installed CFL's througout the house, and I've switched our cleaning and personal hygeine products to more environmentally friendly options. Also, they don't have as many of those nasty carcinogens, etc. that are supposed to be so bad for your body.

But the point of this blog is actually to tell you that I've decided to take things one step farther and actually try to MAKE some of this healthy stuff. (This coming from the girl who can barely cook a meal).

I started with lip balm. And, after a few tries, I actually figured out a recipe that works (although I'd love to add more ingredients and make it even better. I'm experimenting with coconut oil at the moment). Now I hardly ever use the store-bought stuff any more (and if I do, it's Burt's Bees all the way, baby).

My next adventure is soap. Now, I don't know if you guys are aware, but in order to make soap, you have to use this highly caustic (which I'm pretty sure means omg-so-dangerous-you-have-to-wear-gloves-and-goggles-and-a-face-mask) stuff called lye. I looked and looked for soap recipes that don't use lye, but unfortunately, I'm out of luck. So I've gone ahead and bought gloves, safety glasses, and one of those Michael Jackson masks, and now I'm just waiting for a weekend when the kiddos won't be here, because there's no WAY I'm letting them get anywhere near something that dangerous (until all the nasty alkilinity is out of it, that is). Until then, I'll be buying my soap at the Sunflower Natural Foods store (which is completely awesome, but the way).

I'll let you know how it goes... if I still have eyeballs and fingers.

P.S. The other night, we had linguini alfredo with meatballs and spinach for dinner. Gavin, being one of my two vegetable haters (Bill is the other), left his spinach sitting on the plate until the end of his meal. "Look, Mommy," he said. "I saved my spinach for last!" "That's great, bud," I told him. Then he said, "I'm gonna eat all of it." Now, this is big news, because Gavin NEVER eats all of his veggies. Never ever ever. So I said, "That would be awesome!" He looked up at me with those huge baby blues of his and said, "So you want to help me out with that?" Ohhh, he's slick. I didn't, of course, mostly because by then his spinach was ice cold, but believe me, I was tempted. That boy is a charmer, let me tell you.