Finished Projects and What's Happening

Here's a little bit of what's been on the hook lately and what's been new :)

I discovered on a cold night I was a walking advertisement for handmade...

We did a little park time...yes...they are wearing shorts and t-shirts in winter. Thus is Louisiana.

 I did a little crochet while the boys played.

Played a little ball at Grandma and Grandpa's. He can smack the ball pretty hard...I see a baseball team in his future..

I worked on some hats and cozies for the shop. These baby hats were so fun and bright on the dreary winter days.

His and her mug cozies :) 

I've been free from work since January 11th and I have yet to get back in the swing of home life. It's either been appointments and meetings..then I got sick, then my oldest got sick and has been for six straight days (I may very well lose my mind.) I'm looking forward to everyone getting healthy and mama getting her groove back!

Hope your January is going well!

~~Amy

The Big 0-5

I can't believe my baby is turning 5. I know soon I'll be adding a 1, or 2, or 3 in front of that and saying the same thing...but still..my baby...growing up! Here's a little journey of my baby boy :)

Happy Birthday E!! I love you, even when you drive me batty and test my limits!
~~mommy

Resting Up

So today was my first week being "free" from the temp job....Well I suppose I'll be rebooting my routine next week because I spent the week at meetings, running errands with my dad and a doctor trip to find out I had strep again. So it's Friday, here I am recuperating...doctor's orders!! So what shall I do? Blog, edit pics and crochet while catching up on Netflix!

But come next week I want to attack my schedule. I have tried to work out times to clean, blog, work, exercise. I will be limiting my Facebook and online work to certain times. I'm sure I'll get sucked in (damn you Pinterest...) but I'll do my best not to!

I like routines, schedules, lists. I also like knowing I'm not BOUND to them....I'm not a fan of deadlines, but do well with structure and a routine.

And since we will be again listing our home for sale, I'm going to need those routines to keep the house clean and up to par for showings...as best one can with two kids, a messy husband, a dog and two guinea pigs....I need more wine.

So, I shall sit on my behind today, crochet and netflix the day away and rest up for my busy week next week, which still includes a day off of school for the boys, a field trip and doctor's appointment for E, and bringing H's guinea pig to school for show and tell! PHEW. I'm tired already. For now, yarn and coffee.

Later taters!
~amy

Growing it out for Merry Update!

Okay, so I ended up NOT taking pics of my hair growth...sorry...but it's ALMOST time to cut it! You can find the original post here: http://blog.mamaslittlemonkeys.com/2011/04/growing-it-outfor-merry.html and if you wish to donate still, you can, once I cut I will be contacting anyone who said they'd wish to donate. It's totally okay if you can't! Maybe you can crochet a chemo cap or a scarf and send it to a local cancer center? Make a gift basket for someone fighting cancer? Offer to watch their kids? There are tons of things you can do!

My hair is alllllllllllllmost long enough to cut, but I want to give it a little wiggle room so the stylist can have some room to work with. I'm so ready!!!! I'll be donating to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program in Merry's name. I'll definitely post pics when it's time!!

~~Amy

Homemade Laundry Soap How To

Hey all! It's been awhile since we had a tutorial, eh? I finally had a chance to make some laundry soap over winter break! I had made it quite frequently before but once I returned to work I didn't have time for it. .

The recipe comes originally from Arkansas Soaper. I don't make as much at one setting as she did, so my measurements are
3 Cups Borax
2 Cups Baking Soda
2 Cups Washing Soda
2 Cups Grated Soap

The washing soda is sodium carbonate and is found in the pool cleaning department of any major retailer. For the grated soap, I use handmade soap I buy from some fabulous sellers. I usually buy mine from CosmicCleanBody  If you have a favorite handmade soaper, see if they will sell you their "uglies"...the soaps that aren't quite up to par but still smell lovely.

I followed her directions for the powdered soap, and she is very correct that it's way easier if you grate the soap with a salad shooter. I too found mine on Ebay and it works great.

 Isn't the grated soap pretty?

Once the soap is grated, and your powdered items are measured out (wear a mask to keep from inhaling the borax and washing soda.) I add a bit of soap and a bit of powdered materials into a blender to blend it super fine, so it washes correctly.

Follow her directions and pulse the blender to grind up the ingredients. This keeps it all soft and powdery!

Once it's all grated up and in your storage container, give it a few shakes (see the layers in mine, that means it needs to be shook up) and you're good to go! She suggests using 1/8 cup per load.

Depending on where you buy your soap from, this laundry detergent is far far cheaper than store bought and much greener. I have heard some people add oxi-clean, which I would probably suggest if you had any athletes in your house or garden, or anything particularly messy. I find this one works well for us, I even used in back in my cloth diapering days.

Hope this saves you some pennies in the new year for laundry!

~~Amy