Green Guide Eco-Cleaners

DIY Household Cleaners
by P.W. McRandle
Filed under: Cleaning supplies, Cleaning products, Indoor air quality, Green living

With spring upon us, those extra hours of daylight have a way of revealing every bit of schmutz and stubborn stain that hid from sight throughout the winter. But as you open your windows to let in fresh air, don't pollute it with lung irritants like ammonia and chlorine bleach or hormone-disrupting phthalates used in fragrances. Instead, make your own cleaners from healthier, least-toxic ingredients.

EIGHT ESSENTIALS

Circumvent the armada of commercial cleaners by keeping an ample supply of these eight items, which make up the basic ingredients for nearly every do-it-yourself cleaning recipe.

Baking soda: provides grit for scrubbing and reacts with water, vinegar or lemon by fizzing, which speeds up cleaning times
Borax: disinfects, bleaches and deodorizes; very handy in laundry mixes
Distilled white vinegar: disinfects and breaks up dirt; choose white vinegar over apple cider or red vinegars, as these might stain surfaces
Hydrogen Peroxide: disinfects and bleaches
Lemons: cut grease; bottled lemon juice also works well, although you might need to use bit more to get the same results
Olive oil: picks up dirt and polishes wood; cheaper grades work well
Vegetable based (liquid castile) soap: non-petroleum all-purpose cleaners
Washing soda: stain remover, general cleaner, helps unblock pipes; should be handled with gloves due to its caustic nature. Washing soda is usually found in the laundry aisle of grocery and drug stores.

Don't forget to pick up an empty spray bottle at the hardware store, and keep those old rags and used toothbrushes for wiping up and scrubbing.





WHOLE HOUSE

All-Purpose Cleaner
1/2 cup borax
1 gallon hot water

Mix in pail (or use smaller amounts in a spray bottle: 1/8 cup borax to 1 quart of hot water) dissolving the borax completely; wipe clean with rag.

Floors

Wood
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water

Linoleum
1 cup white vinegar
2 gallons warm water

Mix in mop bucket, rinse afterwards.

Furniture Polish
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Mix and apply with a clean rag to dust and polish. Reduce the olive oil if wood looks too oily.

Metal Polish

Copper and Brass
2 Tbsps salt
White vinegar

Add vinegar to salt until you've created a paste. Adding flour will reduce abrasiveness. Apply with a rag and rub clean.

Stainless Steel
Baking soda
White vinegar

Apply baking soda with a damp cloth, using the vinegar to eliminate spots.










BATHROOM

Toilet Bowl
Baking soda
White vinegar

To clean and deodorize, sprinkle toilet bowl with baking soda, add white vinegar and scrub with a toilet brush.

Tub and Tile
1/2 lemon
Borax

Dip the face of the lemon half in borax to create a hand-held scrubber for dirty areas. Rinse and dry the surface afterwards.








KITCHEN

Countertops
Marble: Mix one Tbsp castile soap with a quart of warm water, rinse well, then dry with a warm cloth.

Other surfaces: halved lemon dipped in baking soda to scrub off residues. Follow up, by spraying with glass cleaner mix (below).

Dishwashing
castile soap
White vinegar

Wash your dishes in one dishpan filled with a mix of water and castile soap, then rinse in a separate pan containing a mix of water and vinegar (a 3-to-1 water-to-vinegar ratio works well).

Drains
1 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar

Add baking soda and vinegar to a pot of boiled water and pour down the drain, then flush with tap water.
For more stubborn clogs, use a "snake" plumbing tool to manually remove blockage, or try suction removal with a plunger.

To prevent clogs, install inexpensive mesh screen, available at home improvement and hardware stores.

Glass
1/4 cup vinegar or 1 Tbsp lemon juice
2+ cups water

Fill a clean spray bottle with water and either white vinegar or lemon juice; wipe with a rag or old newspaper.

Oven
Baking soda
Water

Sprinkle baking soda on surfaces, spray water, then let soak several hours or overnight. Rinse with water.

Stovetop and Oven Grease Remover
1/2 tsp washing soda
1/4 tsp liquid soap
2 cups hot water

Add washing soda and soap to hot water in spray bottle. Since washing soda is caustic, wear gloves.







LAUNDRY ROOM

Laundry Detergent
1 oz. liquid castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
1/4 cup baking soda or 1/4 cup white vinegar

Using the liquid castile soap as a base, combine with washing soda, borax (for stains and bleaching), and either baking soda (reduces static and softens fabrics) or white vinegar (softens fabrics, reduces static and bleaches clothes). If you feel like your clothes aren't clean enough, play around with the amount of liquid castile soap, using from 1 oz. to 1 cup.

Bleach alternative
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide









RESOURCES
Household Cleaning Supplies Report

Green Clean, by Linda Mason Hunter and Mikki Halpin (Melcher Media, 2005, $16.95)

The Little Book of Quick Fixes for Eco Conscious Cleaning, by Bridget Bodoano (Quadrille Publishing, 2006, $12.95)

Singing in the Rain

Don't think musical gaiety on the stage, think Enya in the mists. Today s the exact kind of beautiful, steady rainfall that nourishes gardens and stimulates my mind. What a beautiful day. It reminds me a bit of home, because it is both raining and warm. I want to paint, to bead, to read with my children.

When we were in SC that's what we would do every rainy day: curl up in the master bedroom and read book after book. It was a daily summer activity. We truly did follow the rhythm of the natural world in some ways, even then.

Yesterday I went digging through the archives on a parenting board I used to frequent, and found some cute vignettes I put on my own blog. So even though they're not at the top here, I blogged a lot yesterday. They are here:

Complete Drama
First Time Mama
N's Johnny Song
Dirty Boy
When Your Baby Was Born
Confetti Diaper
Sparkling Pee Fountains

Specialty Nurseries in Washington

I have been to Rosedale Gardens, and it is worth the trip. It's truly lovely most of the year. They have a bronze statuary all over their multi-level property that is phenomenal and heart-touching. These are the people who gave me my garden book.

I am also fully in love with Molbak's, and the plants we have sourced there have outperformed any I have ever purchased anywhere else. But I am interested right now in the odd. The focused. The specialty nursery.

Here are specialty nurseries I plan to visit this year, before the rains come.

Fairie Perennial Gardens, in Tumwater.
from their site: The name "Fairie Gardens" was chosen to reflect Dave's and Steve's commitment to gay conscience raising. We believe it, like the gardens, reflects the magic of diversity and human community. The Gardens have evolved into a series of distinct garden rooms surrounding the old bulb farm, and a plant lovers dream destination where you can step from the cool shade of secret and tranquil gardens and into the bright sun of Alpine and Dry Gardens. Fragrance is everywhere, almost 12 months of the year. We see the Gardens as a small part of Gaia, or Mother Earth, and human beings as just one part of this Living Earth, intimately related to the plants and other beings that dwell here.

Jungle Fever Exotics, in Ruston
This place is a lot close to me and I pass it often. It reminds me of home from the outside but I am sure that sense of familiarity will be removed when I actually go in.

Big Dipper Farm, in Black Diamond
I just discovered their website and I am in love. I now have a local online reference for everything.

I got nuffin'

The kids are working and playing.

The garden is growing.

I am fatter than I was last month.

I am watching a lot of the Stargate franchise, and I viewed all of Big Love on demand in two days.

I don't have anyone on the schedules for lunch on Wednesdays.

Yet I don't want to blog.

Letters on Unschooling

This is a transcript from an email exchange I had recently with a dear friend of mine from Charleston. I was happily surprised by how it came out, as it provided a nice cap to the "academic" year. I was very flattered-- overwhelmed, really-- by how she finally responded.

A business owner whose sons work with her, with grandchildren of her own, she asked me the following in response to my recent post on thank-you notes:

Good job. Now, isnt an unschooler different from a home schooled? Isn’t that people that don’t hold any classes at all, even at home?

You are correct about unschooling. We don't teach AT our kids, and I certainly have never held classes at home. Montessori at home (which centers around a prepared environment and children doing the activities they will) merged very well into the older aged unschooling which is also about a prepared environment and children learning whatever is on topic. The kids continue to take classes outside the home, depending on their interests, and I do work with them at home when they're learning new things.

All it means is flying without a curriculum. I am happy with that, because I still keep my anal little notebooks which house three different sets of scope and sequences for her age group. As long as she (now, they) meets and exceeds, I am fine! (We are not radical unschoolers, who object even to that much parental interference.)

“learning whatever is on topic” Whose topic and where do they come from. Are you doing trips to museums and places of interest, or are you leaving letters around and just hoping they learn to read and write? ( that was sarcastic as I know you are far more into them learning those things than that implies) but it is confusing. Cause most kids, left to their own devices, will run and jump and play and don’t really know wht they don’t know so have no idea what to hone in on. ???? help me understand.

I think that the running and playing serves a purpose-- think about your granddaughter, before she went to preschool. Remember how sponge like she was? Always interested, always keen to learn something? It's no different when they get older. There are reasons school-age children appear to not be interested in learning when you see them. They've been schooled to only "learn" when they are at as school. Home educated children do not approach life that way.

They think they *are* playing. Their love of learning is never stamped out by the rank and file of raising their hands or waiting in line to go to the lunchroom or having to ask to go relieve themselves. Further, they're not held back while waiting for the rest of the grade to catch up to them. Remember what happened with your own son?* And then again with your granddaughter, as she entered [extremely expensive private school]? It was the same with me in elementary school, and I would love to see what my kids can accomplish left to their own pace.

We do a lot of unit studies to cover multi-disciplinary areas including art, science, culture, math and literature.

This past year they've studied (this is so very abbreviated):

The Pacific Northwest Native Americans, which included books, crafts and field trips to Chief Seattle's grave and the Old Man House, and to the current Snohomish tribal center and its museum.

Frontier History. This in part stemmed from our power outage in December. Amazed that without electricity we could continue to do much of what we normally did, ~G~ launched into a huge excavation of what it was like to live in "olden times." We rented and studied the Frontier house series by PBS, spent much time at history museums and read books geared towards her age group. Those books included crafts and things.

Those two unit studies led into a unit study on Lewis and Clark (see how this works?) and she studied how the Frontier pioneers collided with Native Americans, etc etc etc. She studied the Louisiana purchase, and how the land looked before Western civilization, and which animals became known to the white man. We have not completed this one, as we plan a trip down to the mouth of the Columbia River to cap it.

We regularly attend the PDZA zoo, the Washington State History Museum, the Glass Museum of Tacoma and we try to get up to the Seattle museums at least once a quarter. ~G~ has taken music and PE classes outside the home, and they both took art for a while. Next session, he wants to take Soccer and she wants to take martial arts.

As it pertains to the nuts and bolts of math and reading, we still use the Montessori approach to that. We've also read big books this year (me to them) like Harry Potter and Gulliver's Travels. Everything else we do also plays into reading and math so neither is held out as a "thing to do." Art and music are an intrinsic part of daily life.

For Science, they both maintain a year-round garden and they do models of earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. They study physics (without calling it that) through games and specially purchased toys. They build forts in the woods and help with things around the house. We visit farms on a regular basis so they learn about animals and their life cycles that way. The beehive, for instance, sparks a week long frenzy into every aspect of the bee's life and home, and how it helps our food chain. The same with the butterfly. I will shortly send you some entires on neat little units we have done.

Socially they're amazing. They can talk respectfully to anyone, young or old, and they are inquisitive in a (largely) non-annoying way. They have a large circle of also-homeschooled friends who are being brought up in much the same way, so it's been very pleasant with regards to peer pressure.

For my part, I continue to read on educational theory and stay abreast of current trends in education, some of which are awesome and some of which are disturbing. I admit to comparing my kids to grade level, but I have no reason to be concerned to date. I network with other homeschooling mothers who also keep their kids home for non-religious reasons, and I make sure I always have a hobby or three of my own.

This has been pretty cool, answering your question. I don't know if you read it all, but it was fun to write. I haven't yet written an end-of year wrap up so this was nice for me to see as well. I KNOW I have left off unit studies, so I am going to go look them up now.

Thanks for being interested!

I wish I were a child again and could go through your non school. It sounds wonderful and you are right. Both my son and my granddaughter were far more challenged before they got to school. You are right on girl…and I support what you are doing. Your children will not get jaded about what they “should ‘ know and do…. You go girl.

*Her son and granddaughter both entered school ahead of the other children academically. While they matriculated in different states and at different ages, both mothers were told that their child would not be taught anything new, but would have a great time helping to teach the other children.

Happy Birthday to Me

I am staying at 35 this year, I think. I forget how old I am all the time anyway, so 35 it is.

~G~ made me a cheese omelet while P-Daddy brought me morning coffee in a birthday-gift wolf mug. The kids made me home-made cards and gifts. Insert throbbing heart here.

Today we all wore our all matching tie-dye shirts and wandered around the farmer's markets. I think we looked cool. We went to a bakery in search of a 1. safe 2. black forest cake and upon finding neither, came home and made a ghetto version. (But ~G~ told P-daddy it looked like we bought it from a bakery.)

We hung out a la familia today until ~G~ and I went to Home Depot where I bought more plants for the garden. And a new hoe.

I must be stopped.

Tie-Dye party

We had a party here for MackAttack's 7 yo Dominator. I did the food and Niki did the tie-dye and a double chocolate brownie cake-- with no dairy!
Fun! Educational! Did I mention Loud?

Niki and the kidlets

Went camping again, at Nikirj's ,while she was in a particularly onerous week of breastfeeding classes.

The C-family have a huge set-up of their own!

Took the kids to Pine Lark Park in Sammamish. The kids are terribly camera-shy.

Camping

We had a good time. The kids are naturals at this, and we met up with some friends too.

Penrose State Park, Site 33

The purple tent is for the doggies.

We need to pass the stupid immigration bill already

One way or another. This inanity has to end.


http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=152238&shu=1


My friend writes:

My son speaks (on the radio)
Listen to it please.
Ok, so the day that I interviewed with the news channel, we also interviewed with an alternative radio station in Portland Oregon. They gave my children the opportunity to speak.

The spot is about 4 minutes, myself and my son are in the second two minutes.

My son is about 2 weeks short of 7 years old here.


If you support undocumented immigrants being deported without question. If you can still support such violation of families after hearing ~D~, I worry for your sense of justice.



http://www.kboo.fm/node/3319

Cool Mom

Cookies and pretzels and kool-aid go a long way toward neighborhood status within the 5-9 age group. Heard today while I walked away from dousing the neighborkids with snackage outside:

"Your Mom is so cool."

Thank you notes

Every year I intend to send thank you notes. Pre-children I was scrupulous about them. After children, we never received them from other families so after a while, I got into the lazy habit of ignoring that nicety. Some parents even complained that our thank you notes made them feel bad. Ugh.

This year, I don't care. I have to go back to the thank you note situation, at least with G. She can write now and she's old enough that I need to teach her how to be a gracious adult (eventually). My idea this year is to take shots of G using each of her gifts and print them out, having her write Thank you beneath the picture. The presents she received were each so very appropriate to her, both in her personal interests and to our lives as unschoolers.

Right now, she is painting pottery pieces into which she will plant wheatgrass for a windowsill garden in her room. Even blog readers who never met us know how perfect that is for her. Painting Pottery? Gardening?

neither rain nor sleet nor head of bed will keep us from our appointed painting

This shot is from yesterday: a music box for her jewelry. Instead of a ballerina, it's a dragon. Yeah, just see the title to the blog.there's a little dragon nose peering back at her

Nikirj sewed her a hooded cloak that glows in the friggin dark. COME ON! I thought I had shots of that but I don't yet. Mwahahaha. Maybe we'll be the freaks of the campground this weekend.

Homeschool Scouts

Typical of our birthday parties, we spend an afterglow period down at the beach.

G had two girlies for a birthday sleepover, so after a hashbrowns breakfast we all traipsed on down. It was a gloriously sunny day, a sharp contrast to the grey haze of the day before.

We set up a day camp, complete with a windbreak and a fire. The kids, all of whom are homeschoolers, did most of the work setting up the fire ring and gathering appropriate fuel, so we quipped we were the home school scouts. We must be. All the kids had technicolor hair by the end of the day point.

The morning-after glaze. Toddlerness decided that Mackattack's daughter was her best friend and behaved accordingly. The feeling was definitely mutual.

Yes, I had her mother's permission to do this to her hair!

Homeschooler Corp d'esprit

Day Camp. I promise I am not flipping Nikirj off.

Yes. Even the toddlers.


One learns something new every day. *I* learned that no matter how good the quality, corn dogs are still nasty to me.

Dancin' Queens

G's birthday party was a huge success, despite getting rained out. We had this elaborate carnival party planned out, with different "booths" for food and beverages, at which the kids could purchase goods and services with tickets we provided at the door.

Then came the 80 chance of rain--that delivered.

Whoops-- move it inside, drop half the activities and call it a dance party. Yeah, that will work!

Thanks to MackAttack for taking the pictures for me, to the Brazilian Goddess, hubby and TFM for manning the dressing room, and to Nikirj for helping me with the sleepover portion! Fun times!

See my cake. See my Big Cake.

G received gifts that were perfect for her personality!

We must be properly decorated for Disco Dancing.

Attack of the balloon-eating shark daddy. You think there were a lot of balloons there? Shah...

One of the Daddy guests didn't believe me when I said we'd be dropping the balloons on the kids to ABBA's "Dancing Queen." Silly man. We never joke about Dancing Queens.

Today is Happy G-day

My eldest turns 7.

7 years old.

Seven.

Lunch with friends Wednesday?

She chose Daddy.





then she made my son cross dress. again.

Our art project for the day

Graham is officially reading now (6)

Graham is officially reading now (6)

---

We've been doing very, very basic books, but I could tell she was making the connections in her head. I handed her a silly Dick and Jane book she hadn't read before and she sounded it all through. I love watching it, because she doesn't half-ass it. She doesn't just sound it out, she rereads the sentence to get the meaning.

There's a story in there about a boy who needs to go into the house but his hands are full. He calls out for Mom, but the dog ends up opening the screen for him. Graham discussed it and said "I wonder where the Mom was that she couldn't hear him? Maybe she was on the computer, (insert Mommy wince) or changing a diaper. Or mayyyyyyyyyyyybeeeeeeeee," she ducked her head conspiratorially and grinned at me, "she was teaching someone to READ!"

Then we giggled like maniacs and she went back to her book.

Dear Readers:

Update your blogs.

Thank you.

Newborns

heavy little
soft hot sandbags

schnurfling
cooing

using their voices

looking for nipple

listening for love

Homeschooling into college

Tonight Mackattack babysat for us while we had dinner at Elliot's in Seattle. It was very nice of her, and very overdue for us.

P-Daddy's former college friend and current President of his alma mater (one in the same) was in town to schmooze a Microsoft donor to the annual fund and show his teen aged son some colleges in the area. He gathered some of P-daddy's alums for dinner. The meal was fabulous, as to be expected, and the conversation was easy. Aside from the President's son, we were the youngest at the table. No one had lived here longer than 7 years.

I was kind of teasing P-daddy when I asked him to inquire about Alma Mater's stance on homeschooling and admissions. Most large universities, including some Ivy League schools, have reserved spots for homeschoolers now, but I wasn't expecting much from an 1100-student private college in Michigan.

His friend couldn't hear him very well over the other diners and replied "Homeschooling?" and jabbed a thumb at his teenaged son. "He's homeschooled. Well he was, until boarding school." Turns out the guy (and his sister) go to Interlochen, a fabulous arts school in MI. Normally I am not a fan of boarding school, but Interlochen is wonderful. I had been accepted into Interlochen and had a scholarship, but my Mom hadn't let me go. At this point I was freaking out with the coincidence and affirmation of it all.

As we were leaving the restaurant, the boy took me aside and said "I think it's cool you're homeschooling. I really, really loved it. It's great."

I had to give that boy a hug.

Babies and Rainwater

From MamaMidwifeMadness' blog:

I'm so impressed with mamas who homebirth their first babies. they make me wish that I had enough knowledge and sense to find a midwife and do the same almost 5 years ago instead of stepping into the shitstorm which was my first pregnancy and birth with OB's and hospitals.

Best question today was from a primip (expecting her first baby) who is figuring out how to have a waterbirth when she has no mains water supply and depends on small rain water tanks...

"Is it safe to wash babies in rain water?"

If that doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.

What a beautiful life you have to be living to even ask that question. Marvelous!

And I agree so much with the sentiment of first-time homebirths. I truly wonder sometimes how much different our lives would be had we just had the babies at home, especially with Nick, when we did know better. I am so proud of Danny. So proud.

Sunshine

So ok, sunburns don't feel good at all.

But I put on SPF 30 before I even left for the park. Niki reapplied SPF 30 for me the second we got out of the car.

And still, I burned, in what, ten minutes?

The kids reacted well to the high SPF- sun combo and look like little brown things. Iy. Maybe I won't peel.


I don't care. I have NEEDED the sun and I am happy to see it!


I loves some Niki family. I needed yesterday so much. These are some pictures Niki snapped!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY

"No, honey we don't pee on the floor, we pee on the potty!"

I said for about the 4ooth time, as I wiped up the spill on the linoleum. Sighing, I sat back down and heard the thunk of the toilet seat.

Wait.... the big kids are in here....

I hear a hard stream coming from the bathroom and get there just in time to catch the D-meister finishing up his tap-taps.


"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" I erupt into a heartfelt cheer, filled with hope that the backsliding may be coming to an end.

D-meister, filled with glee, runs to me and leaps into my arms, giving me huge smooches on the cheek.

My goodness. This is what passes for joy on a Thursday morning in the 2007 house. And it is, true joy!

Whoops-- no, really.......

A RT friend called me to fuss that I needed to not be so obscure in my blog entries. After some discussion, where this good friend told me I needed to talk to my friends about my concerns instead of the ether, it occurred to me that the preceding (now hidden for a while) entry could be taken very, very wrong.

If you're reading this, then I was not talking about you. I have very good, close friends IRT as well as online and I am no way dissatisfied with those loyal and true friends. In fact, I wrote recently on a message board about my real-time friends that they are all nurturing and positive, for both my children and me.

The previous blog entry covered everything in my life from my marriage, my relationship to God and former friends, to my frustration at not being able to hold Carmen, to my automotive troubles and my new side effects to my happy pills. I am sitting here curious about the current state of our affairs, and that's where I am. Curious, contemplative.

I am no longer depressed (I think). I am not writing from a seat of anger. (Just for general reference, I usually don't do that either.)

So thank you. Thank you to the friend concerned enough to call me, and to those ladies who commented here. But I am ok, really I am. I am just musing right now, and nothing much more than that.

After all, I have a van again.

Letting Go

I don't expect any of my readers to get this. Not one. This is gonna be a move-on post for the lot of you, and it's only on the blog so I can refer to the dateline.

Release is never easy for me. I am processing something now that has been a huge challenge for me. I am almost there, but facing pain, especially in the absence of external resolutions, is hard for anyone. For me, with my Achilles' heel flaw of being hypersensitive to being abandoned or ignored, it's an exquisite, nagging pain. Coupled with the hugely pressing anxiety attacks from the last month, I finally gave it up.

I am stubborn. I am a Christian, just a very, very liberal one. We're ELCA Lutherans, which is about as true-to-what-I-naturally-believe as we could find, and the doctrine leaves a lot up to the individual. It does not however, ignore God and its presence and power in our lives.

We got the van back last night. The phones seem to be working again. My house arrest appears to be over. It's all very timely, and now I have to figure out the lesson. I do listen to God, it just takes more than nudging, sometimes. The lesson may be that I don't get to know the why. My place has been set, and that's all there is to it.

I am grateful, as always, for what I do have.

Questions linger:

• why has the concerta changed? am I healed?
• will this marital cameraderie continue? are we finally through the baby years?
  
• why can't I help with any of the new ones when, for the first time ever, I am qualified and capable?
• what about me makes me best suited to helping people when they are in need? why I am otherwise disposable?
• two months' grounding. Two MONTHS?
• can we do it this time? make the life the way we said it should be? can that even happen here?
  
• am I healing?

Tuesday Morning

Just typing that made me want to shop for homeschool supplies.

Yesterday the Mack-family came over and we beached it. We built a campfire on the beach and roasted hot dogs for lunch, and after the beach we came back here to regroup. Why regroup? Because our insane children think it's perfectly fine to swim in the Puget Sound in MAY. Not so much, guys. Yoiks.

Dinner was -- well it doesn't matter. The kids only ate the grilled corn. (which come now, we all expected to be the case.) We had fun! Lots of tired babies!

At the beach, G shredded her arm on some barnacles. This is 24 hours later, with constant green goo and bandaging. Those scrapes were deep, open gashes yesterday. It's healing nicely, so I am pleased with that!


D-meister is a styling fashion er, king.......

Heaven's Awake, Again!

or

my family grew by one this morning

or

now I know why I couldn't get to sleep last night at all-- I stayed awake until Danelle went to sleep, cuddling with her newborn baby girl.

Mom, Dad and baby are doing well. Carmen Marie was born at home, 2.48 am May 28th. She weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long.

This morning, my family got to listen to their family. It's so wonderful, hearing those baby coos. Congratulations, my new inductees into the world of blissful baby parenting. We love you so much!

Slow Start, Vibrant Day

The parents of more than one child (and a few of singletons) will understand this next statement:

I got up at 8.13AM today.

Wow. That was unusual.


Today we put in the sunflower house, and found a few hefty Jerusalem artichokes while we did. I left two that we didn't accidentally decimate, and see if these grow into full-out sunflowers. Tonight, I get a tasty sage butter dish. We planted Dwarf Sunray varietal between the Mammoth Grey last year so that the kids would get some flowers at their head-height. So that's how it works!

I also put in the rest of our Brussels sprouts and the globe artichokes


~G~ and I started our earthquake unit today. I shouldn't call it an earthquake unit, since we'll include the requisite clay-baking soda-lemon juice volcanoes as well, but this is the kit we're using to start it out. I love love love multi-discipline units, and the one we're starting has it all: reading, writing, art, science, history, culture. Yum.

I will include ~N~ as much as he wants, but he's been definitely diverging his interests from his sister's, so our brief sojourn into "class" as they wanted it, is over for now. It works for me, because ~G~ has been getting held back a lot from where she wants to go intellectually, while the boys clamor over us during her more indepth studies. I am taking this natural space and running with it. She really deserves it, and the boys deserve to PLAY. We all win.

I am here

Just back from a delicious, busy week. We went camping and had a fabulous time. The kids are just as into it as we have ever been, and ~N~ is a fishing addict. Wow. While we were gone, Tamera had her baby, and when we got back I helped host a mother blessing for yet another Momma.

While I worked really hard before we left to make sure the house was clean when we got back, today you'd have a hard time telling that. Now, at the 5 o'clock hour I am back to no dirty clothes and no dirty dishes, but oh dear the kids have strewn all over. I don't care. It's been a lovely day; their laughter was worth it and hey, Stargate Atlantis was on all day.

I never watch that much TV but it helped me get through the laundry! :)

Knitting Meme

Tagged from Emily

If you read this and you knit -- consider yourself tagged! Be sure to leave a comment so I can see your list.

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do eventually
and normal for stuff you don't intend to do

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with Bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/Doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with Alpaca
Fair Isle Knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured Knitting
Kitchener Bind Off
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and Purling Backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Knitting with Cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with Linen

Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug.
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/Bolero/Poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Mind Reader?

From Melissa's Blog

The Brain Profiler

Lory, you possess an interesting balance of hemispheric and sensory characteristics, with a slight right-brain dominance and a slight preference for visual processing.

Since neither of these is completely centered, you lack the indecision and second-guessing associated with other patterns. You have a distinct preference for creativity and intuition with seemingly sufficient verbal skills to be able to translate in any meaningful way to yourself and others.

You tend to see things in "wholes" without surrendering the ability to attend to details. You can give them sufficient notice to be able to utitlize and incorporate them as part of an overall pattern.

In the same way, while you are active and process information simultaneously, you demonstrate a capacity for sequencing as well as reflection which allows for some "inner dialogue."

All in all, you are likely to be quite content with yourself and your style although at times it will not necessarily be appreciated by others. You have sufficient confidence to not second-guess yourself, but rather to use your critical faculties in a way that enhances, rather than limits, your creativity.

You can learn in either mode although far more efficiently within the visual mode. It is likely that in listening to conversations or lecture materials you simultaneously translate into pictures which enhance and elaborate on the meaning.

It is most likely that you will gravitate towards those endeavors which are predominantly visual but include some logic or structuring. (Beadwork much?)You may either work particularly hard at cultivating your auditory skills or risk "missing out" on being able to efficiently process what you learn. Your own intuitive skills will at times interfere with your capacity to listen to others, which is something else you may need to take into account.

---------------
The coloration is mine, because they are points I clearly see in myself.

Busy as a Bee

Today I had to cancel our lunch-on-wednesday date so as to make up for my poor planning of this weel. I crammed an awful lot in, most of which is getting cancelled because I also scheduled our family camping trip this weekend. That trumps everything but the Mother Blessing this weekend, which is pretty important, hey! The sad irony, and what really bothers me, is that the Wednesday family was the preggo for Sunday, so that bums me out.

So today-tomorrow it is this:

• finish the laundry
• return library books
• clean the bathrooms
• put in the potatoes, romano bush beans and sunflower house
• bake ahead for camping treats
• store runs for camping supplies
• prep camping meals and
• load up the stuff for camping

I am beyond excited. P-daddy wanted this to be a just-us thing this time, which I am fine with actually. At first I really wanted to bring people along. The memories of the disaster from last year (disaster only because of the location, which none of us expected or could have anticipated), have faded and I think about the fun we had with our friends instead of the yuckiness. That's a nice happenstance.

I think we need to spend some time connecting as a family though, in a very low-ley manner. I like this plan all around, because I believe it will be a nice break for all of us. The work involved in camping is something P-Daddy and I both like to do, and the park, while awesome, is close enough to home for us to book it if need be. I hope the weather holds out. It's been beautiful lately.

Six heads of hair in one day

One momma, four children. Why, yes that is a bruise on my thumb! :)

Four loads of laundry.

One run in friend's van to pick up our van from mechanic.

One run in van to help friend who helped us, who now has a flat tire.

Sung "Happy Birthday" to my elderly Grandmomma in SC.

Desperation dinner. Straight-up desperation dinner of noodles and jarred sauce.


We had a busy day.

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Finally!

I remember the first year we were here, how spring stuttered into being. Our good friends Cuckoohead and Danny had come for the week of N's birthday, and they never saw Mt. Rainier. The very next week, I recall, the clouds parted and it stayed heavenly the rest of the summer. Each year since has proven that out so maybe I will start some in-house mythology about ~N~ bringing the sun with him. For his toddler years, he always did say "Mommy, I made the sun for you!" It drove his sister NUTS, but of course, Mommy loved it.

Yesterday was so sunny and beautiful that the kids ran around in the sprinklers and ate ice cream cones outside. I potted a bunch of flowers and realized all our beautiful seedlings are ready for transplant. It feels good to be ahead of the game this year.

Strawberry Bed is installed and mulched. I also planted some lettuce (good companion plants), a canna lily, and some Brussels sprouts right by the deck. The lily and the sprouts should grow pretty tall, which will give them an ornamental quality for the deck.

Back Bed is dug and the soaker hoses are laid. The purchased tomatoes and onion sets went in a week or two ago, and I added squash and some bush beans last week. The remaining seedlings will go in sometime before we go camping this week.

Side bed-- which was our primary bed last year-- is not ready yet. I am currently double digging it, and the soaker hose is not covered yet. This is where the shadier things will go, although the work P-daddy did on the overhanging plants has opened up that garden more significantly than I expected.

The children have their own garden bed this year, which is right outside there window. G has already planted a long row of corn and watermelons. Today I will give her some bush Romanos to plant in a row. The child ate our entire crop last year, and no I am not kidding. She (and her homies) really did.

This year, I will be entering the kids into photo contests (see the link above). It's combining two of my favorite things, so it will be fun just to submit something.

On Mother's Day, we went to Rosedale gardens and I talked to a guy who helped us a lot when we moved in to this house. He'd sworn by a certain garden book and said "This is your Gardening Bible." The next year, my CSA farmer Terry showed me the same book and said "This is your Bible if you want have a good garden." The problem is, it's 50.00. So I checked it out once, but I have never been able to justify the purchase. He asked me again on Sunday if I'd bought it and I abashedly said no.

"Then I have a surprise for you!" He went into the shed and pulled out his battered copy and handed it to me. "I bought a new one, but I couldn't bear to throw this one away."

Happy, happy, happy ~L~!

Baby #1 is out!

Congratulations to our niece LaLa. Mazel Tov!

LaLa HAD HER BABY BOY AT 1:30 A.M.
MONDAY THE 14TH.
8 LB. 1 OZ AND 22 INCHES LONG.


Personally, I am thinking my great-nephew had better be one rockin' awesome toddler to compensate his Mom for laboring all day and still missing a mother's day birth by an hour and a half!

(LaLa and my dd ~G~ look just alike)

Mother's Day Indeed

We don't make a large spectacle of Mother's Day here, largely because my own matriarchs are far away, my kids are too small to DO the big stuff and I would never want to participate in the take-Mom-out for overcrowded, over-priced brunch and give her an over processed, over-priced bouquet. I love flowers as much as anyone, but as Nikay noted in her rant on the subject, I personally don't "love watching flowers slowly wither and die in a vase on the kitchen counter." While I don't share her consternation for the day, I do prefer the celebration it brings in our house: little faces glowing with the anticipation of doing something for Mommy on "Happy Muvver's Day!" I love the hand-drawn cards and tightly knotted bead necklaces; the clumsy cuddles and kisses, and the happiness I see when I tell them the same true story every year, that I wouldn't be a mother if it weren't for them.

Furthermore, I fully enjoy the free pass from changing poopy diapers.

I have two distinct Mother's Days that stand out for me so far: 2002 and 2006. In 2002, I woke up very early to birth a baby by 7.21 am. It's quite impossible ever to top that.

In 2006, P-Daddy colluded with the children to purchase three rose bushes. I love roses, and to have one for each child just thrilled me. He gave me a card that would look kitschy to anyone else, but was beautiful to me. So last year was nice. Traditionally I garden on mother's day, but this year we ended up just going to Rosedale gardens and tooling around there, me sporting my newest necklace, of course.


Mother's Day indeed. Today, our niece labors in a hospital in Michigan with her waters broken. Another friend has pink-tinged CM. I don't really hear from another friend due this month, so I don't know how she's doing, but my Danny in Charleston, due tomorrow, is showing no signs of impending labor.

I wished her a Happy Mother's Day anyway.

Boot and Rally, or, When Birthday Boys Get Sick

"Boot and rally" is a term I learned in my college party-hardy days. It means overindulging to the point of getting physically ill, then rallying to rejoin the party. My newly-minted five year old son certainly wasn't imbibing, but he did have a good time the day before his party helping Daddy mow the grass. Given his earlier pollen-related issues, you'd think Mom and Dad would clue in when he said his throat was bumpy and he looked like he wanted to keel over. But noooooooo we just fed him yogurt and tings to boost his morale. We assumed he'd just gotten suddenly overwhelmed from all the party planning.

With the party due to start at 11 AM, we put him down for a quick nap at 11.08. One family had just arrived and ~N~ just didn't seem to care. That's sooooo unlike our little social boy. One of the realities of living this far out is that people are usually late; that's just a lot of pavement to traverse, so we had a little leeway. By 11.40 though, when the party was in full swing, ~N~ had woken up just enough to get sick on our bed. We cleaned him up, gave him a benadryl and turned on the bedroom TV. The adults mulled it over in the kitchen while the kids had a full-on play date in the backyard. While I had experienced it once as a child, I'd never expected to decide what to in the event of a child-too-sick-to-attend his-own-birthday.

Luckily, after some time to digest a benadryl when we finally figured it out (HE told us he was having a reaction, we're a little slow), and some homey-TLC by a loyal Coraggio boy who watched TV inside with him, he rallied. It was slow-going at first, but by 1 PM he was raring about with everyone else.

The kiddie count was 13 at the height of the party, and it was hilarious watching the two Daddies chase them around. The milk-free cake turned out ok, and we definitely had some extremely dirty, extremely tired little kids by the end of the party. The last guests left at 8 PM.

Thank you to the folks who came; N really appreciated it and is very aware of each of his guests. He's sensitive like that, and values each of you.

Pictures to come when the Mommies who took em send them on to me. :)

Thinking about tomorrow...

and wondering if we can make a giant cake out of these recipes. We have at least 20 people in attendance tomorrow and at least two of the boys who are coming are allergic to milk; I just don't feel like saying "oh, except for you" one more time.


M, Milk-free; E, Egg-free; W, Wheat-free; P, Peanut-free; S, Soy-free; N, Nut-free

Double Layer Birthday Cake
M, E, P, S, N
3 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup shortening
3 T. water, 3 T. oil, 2 tsp. baking powder; mixed together
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two cake pans. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Using an electric mixer, beat until well mixed, approximately 4 minutes. Pour batter into cake pans. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks. Frost when completely cooled.

Note: Baking powder is intentionally listed twice in this recipe. The combination of 3 T. water, 3 T. oil, 2 tsp. baking powder; mixed together is the substitution for 2 eggs.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Cocoa Frosting
M, E, W, P, S, N
1/2 cup milk-free, soy-free margarine, softened
1/2 cup Hershey's® unsweetened cocoa powder
2 2/3 cups unsifted confectioners sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Beat margarine on medium speed in large mixer bowl until softened, about 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients. Beat on low speed until ingredients are moistened. Beat on medium speed until creamy.


• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Hershey’s Special Dark Bark
M, E, W, P, S, N

1 (8-oz.) package of Hershey’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, broken into pieces
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp. shortening
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners sugar

Grease 9x9-inch pan. Set aside. In medium bowl, microwave chocolate and shortening on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until mixture is melted and smooth when stirred. Add vanilla extract. Gradually stir in sugar. If mixture becomes too thick, knead with clean hands. Spread out in prepared pan. Cover tightly. Refrigerate until firm. Break into pieces. Store, well covered, in refrigerator.

Note: After changing the formulation on its Special Dark chocolate bar to include milk, Hershey’s developed this recipe for milk-allergic consumers.

Breakfast

Damn van

I am so not kidding. Damn. Van.

It sounds like a tractor again, despite Paul taking it BACK in and having the guy redo some something on it.

This morning, P-Daddy called me on his way to work to say there is a large puddle of transmission fluid (?) underneath it. "I didn't want you to freak out when you went out there, so I am warning you about it."

At least we hold the title.

ETA: our friend sent us instructions to " send your van off the nearest cliff, burning as it goes and then buy a hyundai"

Testing the van today

Wish me luck!

Can you guess where we are going?

I am trying to remain positive

But I am really hating my van right now. So I shall go on about the positive, and ignore my pounding sinus headache, in itself the just desserts for well, desserts.

On an upswing, we had a lovely weekend. We did. We got the van back Friday night* and on Saturday, drove to a friend's birthday party at Odyssey. The kids love what Chiknman refers to as "the human habitrail," and they did the party very efficiently. My kids havenever been to an arcade before, so when they took the children to that half of the play complex, their little heads started spinning. By the time we were ready (omg please let me out!) to leave, the children were, too. They each got puzzle boxes as party favors and the big kids actually put them together that night. (Their mom is not a fan of jigsaw puzzles, so I was pleasantly surprised by how well that went over here. )

Saturday afternoon, P-daddy got a gardening jig on and dug a new bed for our strawberries. He went NUTS, and built a rock wall around it and everything. I was really impressed with that, [pictures to come], and he was soooore the next day. :)

On Sunday, P-daddy went golfing and then we went to Penrose to scope out the perfect camping spot. You can reserve online, and WA State parks tries to make it as convenient as possible by including pictures , but ...if you can drive to see for yourself, it's so much easier. The tide was lower than any tide I have ever seen anywhere in my life. We walked into the inlet, out past the archipelago, for those of you who have been there. (Not the one on the left, the one on the right--- the two mile nature trail. ) People were clamming everywhere, bringing in geoducks and horse clams. We asked one man how he eats his geoduck and he said "raw." Um. yuck.

I finished two new beading projects! One for The GreenMama's birthday and one for a mother's day gift. GreenMama says the birds remind her of a happy childhood memory.


Valerie is so entirely suited to these happy marine colors. The jewelry is much brighter in person than is coming across in these pics.

Today we're off to the zoo for a birthday party in P-Daddy's car. Out! During the day! With people! And I get to give two of the bead recipients their stash! Yay!

*It is making clickety valve noises and on Sunday, when we drove back home fromPenrose, the gauges stopped working. The van would still run, start and go, but I couldn't see how fast we were going or whether we had any gas. Not acceptable after a 5 week sacrifice and 1650.00 expenditure.

I shudder to think where I'd be without my friends

They've been particularly kind to me this week in my transportation-less and resulting mentally fragile condition.

Mack came for Lunch with Friends Wednesday again, and bolstered my spirits there while we listened to the toddler mariachi band. Again. Her little boy is so eloquent he makes my kids look like slow talkers, and they're definitely not.

Nikay brought me down (so not fair, so not fair, so my travellin' turn) some visitation and tomato starts (enough to share with the rest of you South Sounders btw). We played with beads yesterday while the children enjoyed the company of like-aged homeys. Nikay is dipping a toe into the crazy-ass real estate market here and she's probably, for the first time, as frazzled as I am because of her exposure to the morass they call "the market" in Puget Sound. I have much compassion for her new found affection for their cabin in the woods.

Today, The Green Mama came to visit in her own new found freedom as her dd's schedule has suddenly been freed into "Yay! Friends! We can DO things!" We traded kitchen gadgets, war stories and bean recipes. And yes, played with Beads. We also chatted about homeschooling, which is always a favorite past time of mine.

I have been obsessed with my beads lately. It's been a long standing love of mine, and I do mean LOVE, but I haven't been producing anything for years. Suddenly, BAM! I am back in the swing of things, stringing beads and feeling the inspiration. It's been a joy. I think planning Snaygirl's mother blessing and searching for just the perfect beads for her labor necklace must have turned a switch back ON.

I finally finished the Brazilian Goddess' earrings and felt like I owed her a little interest, so I strung a matching bracelet. The beads are freshwater pearls, garnets and fused cobalt glass works.

Unable to be with her, I made Dalicious a labor gift of her own, also of freshwater pearls and charms, with a goddess anchor.

Well Tuesday didn't happen

Wednesday is winding down and I still don't have my van back. We have some very odd vehicular issues. The same thing happens again and again-- LONG stretches without a vehicle for Lory-- no matter how new or well maintained the vehicle is. I guess there could be worse things with which to be saddled, but it does make like ...inefficient.

today we had hailstorms-- two of them-- in which the sky grew swiftly dark and belched out large, pea-sized hailstones. It was so white on our porch that ~D~ thought it was snowing. Then it would revert back to sunny, blue skies. April showers bring May.....hailstorms?