Even More Whiteness

As I have been helping my son whiten his clothes, we have also been working on underarm stains.

Again...don't know why his clothes seem to have this problem and ours don't--same machines and products, yet different outcomes.

Along with the super whitening, I found this recipe for underarm stains that also works great.

REMEDY FOR YELLOWED UNDERARMS

1 part Dawn dish washing liquid

2 parts hydrogen peroxide

some baking soda

mix together

using a brush apply liquid to affected areas

let stand for about an hour

If needed, brush more peroxide to affected areas, wait awhile longer

rinse clothes out before washing as usual.

Some of the shirts we treated cleaned up with the first application, some needed more peroxide, scrubbing and time.

All of the shirts came out clean and white, you could almost see it working before your very eyes.

I love clean laundry.  

PS...I put my liquid fabric softener into a clear glass iced tea jar with a spout, it looks so nice sitting on the shelf in my laundry room.  I like the clean lines.

Bright White

My son's white clothes have been looking a bit dingy lately.

He does his laundry in our machines, with our same products, yet the outcome is quite different.

I've been on a quest to help him return to bright white, and I am winning.

I have been making my own laundry detergent for a number of years now, and it works great.

I just found a recipe for super whitening, and it works great, too.  Say good-bye to dingy, off white undies, and hello to bright whites once again.

EXTRA WHITENING POWER CLEANER

Bring 2 large pots of water to a boil

1/4 to 1/2 cups laundry detergent

1/2 cup powdered dishwasher detergent

 **1/2 cup bleach

1/4 cup borax

Place boiling water and cleaners into a large bucket.

Add clothes, one at a time.

Let soak a few hours, or overnight.

Dump bucket full into washer.

Wash on hottest setting--no extra detergent is necessary.

If possible--dry in the sun.

Works best on cottons.

**If synthetics need whitening--omit the bleach--

Substitute 1/2 cup peroxide and 2 tablespoons lemon juice-- proceed as before.

The results have been wonderful, hope it works as well for you.

White clothes should be white, not dingy grey--right?

Floored

Last spring we looked at our schedule and decided that a few weeks at home would offer the time needed to lay the wood floor in our Dining Room.

So we ordered the floor, it arrived and we put the pieces in the front room to acclimate and wait.

Then our daughter called with the news that she needed to have back surgery AGAIN.

The flooring pieces continued to wait in the front room until a new window of time could open up.

Weeks and months passed, still the flooring pieces sat in the front room, welcoming our guests, waiting.

Then, we looked at the calendar and realized we had a few weeks together scheduled to be at home.

Wake up floor, it is time. 

It took a week to prepare the sub floor, we had to remove the carpet and secure the sub floor to be sure we did not have any squeaks.

Two weeks to cut and lay the floor boards.

A week to top nail, distress, sand and buff.. (a special thank you to my sons and home teachers for hammering those thousand nails and counter sinking them)

Hours and hours on our knees staining the floor, praying the stain would match the kitchen and landing floors that it would connect. (It matches)

Now to oil the floor, a few more hours on our knees.

We have been waiting 13 years to lay this floor and it is beautiful.

Heart pine.  Random width.  Hand sanded.

A sturdy floor to last decades.

As I look at the kitchen floor we laid 11 years ago I see so much history in the groves, scratches and wear.

The dining room floor is already telling it's own story of family and friends.

Our first celebration will be Thanksgiving.

This floor is a work of love.  Hours and hours over several weeks as my husband and I cut, nailed, sanded, stained and oiled.

Each new scratch over the decades to come will add to the beauty of the floor and record the activities of our every day life

The dining room is home to my grandmothers table, my husband's grandmothers chairs, and a pretty rug I bought with an inheritance from my Nana.

For Thanksgiving we will gather our children and grandchildren in the dining room, connecting the generations.

A humble floor.

A foundation to stand on.

A work of love.

The Great Out of Doors

Last week was a lot of hard work, but so much fun as I cooked, chatted and got to know the young women from church and their leaders as we camped and worked together. I had fun baking outside in the most amazing contraptions in order to offer brownies (from a cardboard box), a layered birthday cake (dutch oven), whole wheat bread and cinnamon swirl bread (plastic bin wonder oven). To me it is an adventure to go off the beaten path and try to be self sufficient when the norm is not available.

While I was away lounging in my hammock my sweet husband attacked the side porch. We have been using it for a long while as a workshop, the saw has been set up and the wood stacked for a quick place to prepare the next home improvement project. It has been wonderful, but slowly the sawdust was taking over, and what with the summer settling in, we needed to evict some critters who were becoming too comfortable and needed to be reminded that people live in houses and critters in the woods.

It was nice to come home and see the finished project, not to mention a place to put all of the camping gear while the washer goes through it's regiment to clean it all up again. My sweetheart and a yellow jacket had a stinging run-in while visiting on the porch, and the new refrigerator went kapoot and had to be dealt with (why do things break down just after the warranty runs out?)but all in all a great deal was accomplished outside last week.

The day I cam home from camp I had a house full of little ones waiting for me here at the house. They will be with us for two weeks and we are having fun teaching them the adventures of being outside at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We have been pulling weeds, planting flowers, strolling down the lane, playing slip and slide, swinging and having picnics, to their amazement, all outside. Cries of "it is hot" have been met with a quick shower from the hose and a tall glass of lemonade. We are learning together that there are a lot of fun things to do outside on a warm summer day. Winter is spent inside doing homework, summer sun calls for fun outside by the pool.

I have hung up the hammock and stocked the freezer with popsicles, it is time for summer relaxing.

What do you do when the days are long and warm?

Treasures

I have had visiting grandchildren almost every weekend this last month. Sometimes it is fun to stay at home and watch a movie and go with grandma and grandpa's everyday style. But, sometimes it is fun to mix it up and do something different.

We decided to do the something different lately. We ventured to the flea market with a few grandchildren to see what we could see.

The children were amazed with the treasures that were to be discovered there.

We told each child that the goal of the day was to find the best deal for $1.

We looked and looked at do-dads and thing-a-ma-bobs. We pointed out items that were popular when grandma and grandpa were children, things their parents used to like to play with and items that my grandparents might have used on a daily basis.

We found good things to eat and plenty of sights to see. Some of the granddaughters found necklaces, a grandson found a special book, some fast miniature cars and cast iron figures were among the choices. Grandma found some vintage hats and white day gloves and Grandpa found some comfortable socks.

When we lived in Delaware we were tight on money and chose to go to the flea market for weekend entertainment quite often. We would each have a dollar and look for the best deal of the day. My husband once got a whole box of combs, we came home with a box of juice glasses, we combined our dollars one day and got a floor lamp. My best dollar buy was a pewter teapot.

I have plenty of furniture such as dressers and end tables that came to us from the flea market. Most needed some cleanup and a fresh coat of paint or paint remover to make it into the house, but the labor of love added to the few dollars to purchase made them ours. The best luck for furniture was when I was looking for a dresser. We were late getting to the market and I was sure all of the best deals were gone for the day, but, I found a nice dresser that would do well and it was just $35--oh, and by the way, the bed goes with it!! I like the way it looks in my guest room.

One time I needed a table with some drawers for our bathroom. It was a cozy space in our tiny bathroom and our money was limited. I said a prayer and was off to see what I could find. It was $5, painted orange and at one time had a twin and a mirror, but the dressing table console with two drawers would be the perfect fit after a bit of paint was removed. Later it served as a night table in the bedroom, now it sports a white coat of paint and stands proud in my sewing room holding specialty threads and do-dads.

I enjoyed going to the Rodium with my parents and grandparents when I was young. It was a drive-in theater at night that served as a swap meet during daylight hours on the weekend. It is still in operation as a swap meet almost everyday in Southern California. When I get out west to visit, my Aunt Zella and I still enjoy a walk around the Rodium looking for the best deal of the day. With her I have picked up dinner napkins. table cloths, sterling silver, glass jars that have turned blue, dishes like grandma used to have, fabric, lace and buttons.

You have heard the saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Well I have found quite a few treasures over the years lurking under dirt, grime and some ugly paint. Now I am enjoying showing my grandchildren the joy of the search for the perfect item at the perfect price, a treasure in the rough.

Maybe in all of the searching, the best treasure to be found, is a memory that will last a lifetime.

Two Schools of Thought

I like how there is always two ways of looking at things--the half full/half empty way of thinking.

I came across this thought and found it worthy of some ponder time:

Vision without work is daydreaming;
and work without vision is drudgery.

Thomas S. Monson

As in all things there is a balance--it is understanding that balance that helps us live a productive life.

Class of 2010

Yesterday was the beginning of Celebration Week in September.

Last night we had a party to recognize the accomplishments of my daughter in law, Brooke.

Brooke graduated from Brigham Young University, and she did it the hard way.

While at home visiting, just as her first semester of college was ending, Kevan and Brooke were introduced. They had a whirlwind few days and then Brooke was off again to pursue her dream of college life at BYU. Kevan was quite smitten and over the course of the next few months made a trip out west to visit-- his brother?? His cell bill and texting limits had to be adjusted. April could not arrive too soon that year. With the warmth of summer breezes they spent plenty of time together and decided that they would like to spend all of their time together. Brooke returned to school that fall with a diamond on her finger and visions of a Christmas wedding in her head.

Now I must explain that BYU is in the west and Kevan was living and working in the east. Brooke was determined to graduate from BYU and Kevan could not relocate--DILEMMA. What to do??

Brooke researched and found out that she could continue her studies online and take a few classes from local schools on the east coast, and so she did. Sounds easy?? Not so. Brooke jumped through hoops, drove miles and miles, talked a blue streak via the telephone and the answer always seemed to be--"Just come to campus and talk to your adviser". Campus was 3000 miles away, not a quick visit. But, Brooke persevered. Whatever hurdle was put in her way, she figured a way over. Whatever hoop was placed in front of her, she learned how to jump through. She was amazing. Occasionally it was overwhelming, occasionally it was frustrating. Being a self starter with online classes is a trick that Brooke figured out. It was a tough goal but she accomplished it.

I am so proud of Brooke and the hard work she did to graduate from college. She finished in the time she had allotted herself--4 years. She graduated from the school of her choice--Brigham Young University.

Benjamin Franklin had this to say:

If a man empties his purse into his head,
no man can take it away from him.
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Last night we celebrated.

Today Brooke is job hunting.

Go Cougars--Class of 2010

FOOD

It is time to run FAST. I am on the food committee for Youth Conference--
200 youth
aged 14-18
3 days
9 meals or snacks
Home made cookies
Home made bread
watermelon
chicken stew
Water--LOTS of water
aprons
dish towels
and so on and so on....

Today's Thought:

There are three kinds of people:
those who make things happen;
those who watch things happen;
and those who have no idea what has happened.

I hope I have an idea. Wish me luck.