Home Improvement: Workshop.

When we first moved into our new abode, we hoped to making finishing the second floor our first task.  However, that proved too costly for our budget so we opted to hold off on that for fall.  Instead, we made a workshop for Joel outside that also serves as a storage building.  We didn't have anywhere to keep our things outside so it was pretty important to get this project going.  We also figured that it could serve as a laboratory for Joel to experiment in running electric wire since we have to do that upstairs as well.  This was a project that was a few months in the making.  First we had to find a storage building that satisfied our tastes.  We learned our lesson about building one ourselves from a previous nightmarish experience.  This time, we knew we wanted to pay to have it built and we wanted it wooden.

Here is our building, a spacious 12'x16' that was painted to match our house.

Here you can see that the inside was just framing and a subfloor.  After running electric wire from our house, under our driveway, and out to the shop, Joel set to work on wiring the building.  (Note:  running wire under the driveway is VERY labor intensive, but totally doable.)  He did remarkably well for his first time wiring something.  He didn't electrocute himself and everything worked!

After many grueling hours working inside that shop (and several hundred dollars in materials), we got the walls and ceiling up, insulated, and painted, we hung a light, we installed an air conditioner, and we installed flooring.  Joel also built this awesome work table that looked like professional craftsmanship.  He is supremely excited about having a place to fashion together his airplanes.  I'm also happy that he doesn't have to utilize my dining room table to accomplish this task.

Hopefully, once I get a few paychecks under my belt we can start working on our second floor.  It will add roughly 1000 sq. ft. of living space that we desperately need.  I'm thrilled about having it finished, but dreading doing the work!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

As matriarch to a family of five, I often find myself doing about half a dozen loads of laundry in any given week, sometimes more when I wash bed linens.  Since I have been out of [full-time] work for the past three years, I have tried cutting back on unnecessary expenditures.  Laundry detergent is relatively expensive and I never can find good deals on it.  I purchased it in bulk from Amazon a couple of times but that still wound up being pretty costly.  I decided after doing some researching that I would make my own and it winds up only costing pennies per load.  I've been using my homemade detergent for several months now (on an $11 investment) and I'm happy with it.  My clothes stay clean and I still have a lot of detergent left before I have to make another batch (for $1).  Anyway, here's how I did it...

1.  First, gather all the materials.

• Borax
• Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
• Fels-Naptha Soap Bar
• 5 gallon bucket with lid
• Empty containers (enough to fill ten gallons)

I found the first three ingredients at Wal-Mart, all neatly merchandised together by the dryer sheets.  Apparently, I'm not the only person who makes her own laundry detergent.  They came to about $7 total.  The bucket and lid came from Home Depot for about $4.  I had saved up containers for awhile knowing that I would be needing them soon.  I still didn't have enough so I wound up over concentrating my detergent into fewer containers and I still had to leave some in the bucket and refill the containers when I had used the contents.  Everything is reusable except the Fels-Naptha bar.  That is the only thing that has to be repurchased for the next load.  The Borax and Super Washing Soda go a long way, and of course the containers and bucket last indefinitely.

2.  Next, use a cheese grater to grate the entire soap bar.  (I'll be frank here, it was too hard for my delicate fingers to grate so I had my husband do it for me.)

3.  Put the shredded soap into a pot and add four cups of hot water, place it over medium heat, and stir until it has completely melted.

4.   Fill the 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot water.

5.  Add the melted soap mixture. 

6. Then add 1 cup of Super Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.

7.  Stir with something that is long enough to reach the bottom of the bucket, like a wooden paint stirrer or if you have one that attaches to a drill, that is ideal for this application.

8.  Continue stirring while filling the bucket the remainder of the way with hot water.

9.  Place the lid on the bucket and allow the mixture to sit for a full 24 hours.

When it is ready, it will have gelled slightly.  Stir again.

10.  Finally, funnel the detergent into the bottles.  Simply fill the bottles halfway and fill the remainder with water.  Shake well.  Also shake before each use.

These are some of the jars I filled.  I still had just under half of my bucket left when I ran out of containers.  I came up with some more containers and refilled some of these before I finally ran out.  This batch will last me about six months, maybe a little longer, as I do A LOT of laundry and I over concentrated the detergent in the containers.  I use this detergent in a GE front-loading HE machine and have not had any problems.  About 1/4 cup will wash a regular load of clothes.  In a regular machine, probably 1/2 cup.  You can add essential oil drops for fragrance but I found the detergent to have a nice clean smell.  The clothes don't come out with much of a smell, but they are plenty clean.  I use this detergent with a homemade fabric softener and then a regular Bounce sheet in the dryer.

Here's where the magic happens...

** I have also used this detergent on my son's cloth diapers without any ill effects.

Boy Pants.

I've never been one to try and "train" Brayden to do anything.  I have kind of let him do things naturally.  I never pressured him to use the toilet, I just continued to patiently wash his cloth diapers until he was ready to wear underwear.  Well, a couple weeks ago, he finally decided he was ready to shed the diaper and transition to what he calls "boy pants."  I had already set the wheels in motion, buying him a potty and underwear several months ago. 

This is the potty we bought him.  I like it because it looks like a whimsical version of a real toilet and it is easy to dispose of the um, gifts, he leaves behind.  You can also take the seat off and it fits nicely into the adult toilet.  Very convenient.  It is kind of cute because it sings when the child potties, as a reward for using the bathroom.  Then it gets annoying when it randomly sings in the middle of the night even when it isn't in use.  That's my one complaint.

He never seemed interested until just recently.  It didn't require rewards or punishments.  He just decided he didn't want to wear diapers anymore.  My baby is growing up!  I really won't miss washing the diapers.   I can't say it will save me a lot of money because we don't use disposables.  I did go and buy some more "boy pants" with his favorite Cars characters on them.  His favorites have "Queen" and "Chesco Nuli" (Francesco Bernouli).  How cute does he look in these?

I also bought him some boxers, which he refers to as "Bubba pants" since Jacob wears boxers so prominently.  Check this out:

Way too cute.  He refuses to wear diapers, even when its time for bed.  I have to sneak a diaper on him after he falls asleep.  He has had some accidents along the way, especially in the beginning, but those have decreased as he had gotten used to not wearing diapers.  He also likes to pee off my front porch which we are discouraging.  My neighbors probably think we are so redneck, not that they ever step foot outside their house.

Anyway, I said all that to say this - Be Patient!  Kids will potty train when they are ready.

The Hunger Games. YES.

Since I'm spending the summer doing a lot of nothing (when in actuality, I should be planning for the many classes I'm teaching this fall), I have decided to put some hours on my Kindle.  We know from an earlier blog post that 50 Shades of Grey just didn't do it for me, so I opted for something that had caused mass hysteria at the movies - The Hunger Games.  Let me reiterate, I'm usually not one to follow the crowd, but if I ever expect to win Jeopardy I need to delve into pop culture a bit.  Anyway, I borrowed the first one with the monthly lending allowance on Kindle, and figured I'd take my time with it and borrow another one in the next month.  Well, 24 hours later I had knocked that one back and was ready for another.

I did what any good resourceful person does when faced with a challenge like this, took to Facebook to beg for a lender.  I immediately found someone (three people actually) who was willing to digitally lend me the last two books in the series and I went to work on them.  The first book was definitely the best, and they sort of petered out from there, but altogether, they were exciting enough.  The author did excellent descriptive work, I could really picture the Capitol and the 12 (13) districts, the characters, the reaping, and the arena in the Hunger Games.  The character development was thorough and the plot was filled with exciting developments that led to a good story overall. 

Some of it was predictable, but that is okay.  The whole love story was weak.  However, the way Katniss tells the man she chooses that she loves him was kind of cute there at the end.  I guess since these books were for young adults they couldn't get too raunchy.  Stealing kisses and glances here and there was about all we got.  The whole dynamic of the post-apocalyptic United States and a powerful Capitol who makes slaves out of the people of the districts was really quite clever.  It seemed plausible but totally ridiculous all at the same time.  I liked it.  It mixed the days of the Glaldiator fights in the Roman Coliseum with the technology and advancements of the future. 

I was sad to see this series end.  My cousin graciously send me almost 700 books for my Kindle so I have enough free books to keep me entertained all summer and then some.  I'm currently reading a murder mystery by James Patterson.  The story is good enough but the typos on the digital version are driving me insane.

Unrelated:  only a month left until I start work.  I'm getting antsy because I feel like I should be doing something, yet I'm so overwhelmed that I don't even know where to start.  Sometimes between now and then, probably around my birthday, we are taking a family trip to the beach with my in-laws.  I'm really excited to be spending a few days with my kids on the beach.  The big ones love it and hopefully Brayden will enjoy it as well.  I'm actually supposed to be looking for a place to stay now, so I better get back on that.  Until next time.

June: A month for Joel

June is pretty hectic for us, in the way of celebrations.  First, we have our anniversary, then comes Father's Day, and finally Joel's birthday.  He gets very excited during the month of June for his presents, as most men in their thirties do.  On June 7, we celebrated our fourth year of marriage. 

Here we are on our wedding day - 06.07.08.  I love this image because my little cousin is in the background shielding his eyes from our public display of affection.  These have been a great four years of marriage.  I've managed to get a Master's degree, we had ourselves a baby, we bought a new house, we became landlords, and we both got full-time jobs.  I don't know how I got so lucky to land such a supportive and loving husband, but I'm hanging on to him!

For Father's Day and Joel's birthday (which is actually tomorrow), we had a little party at our house.  Joel's parents came over and brought his two little cousins and my dad came.  I made fajitas and a cake (which Bailey devoured in its entirety later that night, so Joel never even got a piece) and we gave all the Dad's their presents.  To say Joel got spoiled would be an understatement.  Here are some pictures captured that day.

(Above)  Jacob and Joel.  You would never know they aren't biologically related.  They work out famously as father and son.  None of that typical strained step stuff.  I love it.

(Above.) My spoiled husband.  This is one of the planes he got for his birthday.  You can see his sheer excitement.  I think it is cute, but somewhat annoying.  All this man wants is airplane stuff.  Could be worse, I guess.

(Above.)  Joel has contained his excitement upon the realization that I am snapping photos of him.  This is the plane that I bought him after he mentioned it 278 times over the past couple months.  He was supremely overjoyed, even if his expression doesn't show it.

And finally, a picture of me and the birthday/Father's Day boy.  We rarely take pictures together, which is unfortunate because I love to look at them as the years go by. 

Joel's 32nd birthday is tomorrow.  It is hard to believe when I met him he had just turned 24, and I thought that was old!  I know we already had a party for him, but I can't let the day go by without trying to make him feel special.  Food is my forte so I plan to cook him something nice and bake him a cake from scratch.  I'm new to this whole homemade pastry set so we'll see how that goes.  So far, my homemade chocolate chip cookies are a hit with everyone.

Brayden beckons.  This blogging thing takes awhile but I'm going to try and do it more until I go back to work next month.  I don't have much else to do (other than planning for four different classes).  Until next time...

Fifty Shades of Lame

Normally, I don't follow the crowd.  I don't have to see the latest blockbuster in theaters when it comes out at midnight on a school night.  I don't wait in line for hours to pick up the latest gadget.  I don't read books like Twilight or Lord of the Rings.  I don't watch primetime TV (although, I will watch reruns on Netflix if I get hooked  - ex. Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice).  I'm not sure why this is the case, I guess I just like blaze my own trail.  Anyway, when Facebook became inundated with posts about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, I was indifferent.  That was until I read reasons why people weren't reading it, then I became intrigued.  I also read that hardware stores were having trouble keeping rope on the shelf, which I really don't understand because the characters never even used it.  I picked up my handy Kindle Fire and went to the book store.  Then I found they wanted $9.99 for one book.  Um.  No.  Fortunately, I have a friend who is even more resourceful than I am and she sent me the whole series.  I set to work to see what all the hype was about.

First, the good (sort of).  It kept me interested at first but it seemed to follow the law of diminishing returns.  The more I read, the less interested I became.  The author tried to come off as a sesquipedalian (aka user of big words) and I think my vocabulary expanded slightly.  It was almost as though she overused her thesaurus and underused it at the same time.  Anyway, this is supposed to be the good.  The book was about BDSM, which is very obviously why so many understimulated housewives are enjoying it.  They have an inner freak similar to Ana's inner goddess. Some of the sex scenes she described were entertaining, but they lost their spunk a few hundred pages into the book.  The romance was thick.  I can see how people would like to read about handsome billionaires lavishing an ordinary mortal with houses in Aspen, condos in New York, Audis, diamonds, expensive vacations, and Christian Louboutins.  I get it.

The bad.   There was absolutely no plot.  It kind of felt like I was just reading Ana's blog.  The author has got to be laughing about this all the way to the bank.  James does throw in a few good sub-plots that kept me turning the pages like the time the ex-submissive Leila held a gun to Ana and the time Ana's ex-boss Hyde demanded ransom for Christian's sister.  The problem?  It only lasted a couple of pages and the solution was entirely predictable.  As for a climax (insofar as stories go), there was no major climax in any book.  It was just a flat storyline.  Not only that, the story wasn't even believable.  Their romance blossomed at a freakishly quick pace.  She needed her ass whooped, and not by him, for moving so quickly with a man.

More bad.  The redunancy was so annoying.  Ana and Christian were constantly fighting and having makeup sex.  GAG ME (metaphorically speaking).  Not only was the story repetitive, but James used the same five sentences to rehash the same story lines OVER AND OVER.  The book was on repeat.  I never had trouble turning off my Kindle to go to bed at night.  To me, that is the measure of a good read...whether you can't put the thing down at night.  I could.  Her prose was terrible.  I've seen autistic monkeys with better communication skills.  I was more distracted by that than anything else.  She also had a hard time with writing in the first person.  We never knew Christian quite like we knew Ana.  The ways she told us about him was through emails (FOR REAL).  She also made us read the dominant/submissive contract TWO agonizing times to give us a glimpse into his world.  At the end, when she realized she had written something totally unbelievable into the story (Ana withdrawing five million bucks for ransom) she just wrote a separate chapter that described a phone conversation Christian had with the banker.  Really?  Lame.  Then at the end she tells the story of Ana and Christian meeting (again), but this time from Christian's POV.  After spending hundreds of pages making the reader want to like Christian, she finishes by making him look like a complete douchebag.

Anyway, I'm done bagging on that book.  I guess this is why I don't follow trends.  I am far too cynical to enjoy them.

I. Got. A. Job. (the full time variety!)

After searching unsuccessfully for the past three years, I have FINALLY been offered a full time job as a high school history teacher.  Ever since I left Mitchell County, I have been staying busy one way or another, by teaching at Moultrie Tech and VSU, working as a GA at VSU, getting my M.A., and trying to do other graduate degrees.  What I've really wanted to do all along was contribute to my family in a fulfilling way. I have felt so useless for the past three years. Fortunately, caring for Brayden alleviated some of that feeling.  I really think I would have had a hard time working and missing out on most of his first two years.

Anyway, the first thing many people ask me when they learn I got a full time job is, what about the Ph.D.? Well, I still WANT to get one. However, this economy is tough. Many college graduates are unemployed.  A recent report says that employment for Ph.D.s is falling and that the number of Ph.D. grads on food stamps has TRIPLED in the last few years, to the tune of over 33,000 recipients.  I'm pretty sure it isn't those with a Ph.D. in Engineering who are among them.  I just read that article recently after a couple of my unemployed fellow History M.A.s posted a link to it.  That was the moment that I decided to get serious about looking for a job.  I have skills, I have experience, I need a JOB. I have been filing applications for years, probably in the three digit range.  I have had a handful of interviews, none of which worked out.  The one thing I really know how to do is teach history.  Many of the jobs for which I applied were not history teacher positions, and I was applying for jobs making money that I earned at Bud K when I was 20.  I didn't care.  I'm ready to work.

Finally, just last week, I got called for two interviews.  One was at a high school and another was at an engineering firm for a human resources position. Anyway, now I have to make a long story short because Brayden found a very large toy in his closet from Christmas that requires adult assembly, which means I will be busy for the next hour.  Well both places offered me a job - a good problem - but the teaching position paid a lot better and has more opportunities.  I will have to start another blog later! =D