If you have not already noticed seeing I haven’t posted here in more than a year, we moved to our own domain. If you would like to visit us please swing by and say “Hi” at http://proverbs22-6academy.com/.

So sorry about the wild goose chase, but life has been so crazy. Hope you will take the time to come see us. I’d love to hear from you.

I have had several folks ask how we make our laundry soap. While there are tons of recipes out there, I chose to make powdered laundry soap for the ease of preparation. I usually stock up on the supplies for making it because, for whatever reason, I can’t find one grocery store that carries all the supplies. I have to go to a couple of different stores to find these everyday supplies.

Ingredients:
2 – 14oz bars Zote soap (or other laundry soap)
6 cups washing soda
4 cups borax
4 cups baking soda

The first thing that needs to be done is that the Zote soap needs to be made into small pieces. At first we used a cheese shredder and did it by hand, but then a light went on and I dug out an old food processor. This makes short work of the shredding process. I cut the soap into pieces small enough to fit into the chute.

First shred the soap,

Then I switch to the processor blade,

And run the shredded soap through again until I the soap is all crumbly and small.

Next I combine everything. I usually mix up half the ingredients in the container by adding the ingredients to a bucket with a lid and shaking it up. Then I add the rest of the ingredients and mix again.

To use, I start the washer, then add ¼ a cup of the soap, then the clothes (I always do large batches). This recipe batch of soap does 52 batches. I did a cost breakdown, and at the prices I paid for the ingredients, it averages out to .12 a batch.

These ingredients are also good for your septic system because there is no detergent in it.

Even though today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, officially ushering in summer, there still doesn’t seem to be enough time to do everything I want to do. I can’t seem to remember a time when I just sat around, bored, with nothing to do. I wonder if there was ever such a time. It confuses me when I hear kids say they are bored with so many wonderful things to do. I have been blessed that, for the most part, my children have always been ambitious enough to occupy themselves constructively without much encouragement. This summer we are hoping to slow down the endless “to do” list. Not exactly sure how we are going to achieve that, but I feel it is important to take a breath every now and again before life passes by and it has been filled with so much to do. One of my first steps to whittling down the “to do list” is to focus on priority things, then to pick and chose the “want to do” things without feeling guilty that I didn’t get to everything. There is a lot to be said about just sitting around and being “bored”, a time of rest, replenishing, reflection, calm, and I am definitely feeling like now is right time to do that. So, if any of my readers remain, I will only be popping in every now and again to share through the next few months. I will continue to read all my favorite blogs because I find reading what others are sharing to be very encouraging and inspiring. So if you haven’t heard from me in a while, no need to send out a search party. I am just learning how to be “bored”.

I have been very sporadic blogging lately. While I have loads more to share about my son’s wedding and life in general, alas, time just has been constrained to work, school, life, and a bit Facebooking here and there. I decided to wait until HSB has done its change over to begin adding more posts so that if anything goes array (which I’m sure won’t happen because they are doing everything possible to prevent that) I won’t have as much to do to get things back the way I want them. If you have come over from various links out there, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I will begin posting again shortly.

Well, I was only going to pick 3 winners, but changed my mind. I decided since folks were kind enough to show enough interest and enter and then to leave such nice comments, well, they are all winners. I have e-mailed via Payloadz to all of you with a link to download your free copy of my writing prompts book. I hope that you will continue to stop by every now and again even though you won’t need to get the monthly calendars anymore. I would love to hear you thoughts and suggestions on how I might make the product better. I am working on making a larger set of calendars that are not year specific, but that will take quite a while with all the other irons I have in the fire.

Anyways, congratulations to all of you.