thankful for my feet

after 2 air splints, 3 casts, 1 walking boot, 1 ankle brace, multiple x-rays, doctor's appointments, physical therapy and medical bills...my ankles are now back to normal. and my 3 months of unemployment are finally coming to an end! next stop: Temple, TX for travel assignment #3.

the color of coffee

what to do when you have 2 white sundresses? make one a different color!

i've always wanted to try tea staining, so i decided to experiment with a hand-me-down dress my cousin gave me. after staining it twice with tea it was a pretty, light-cream-with-a-hint-of-reddish-brown color. i forgot to take pictures of the tea staining process, but this is what i did:

1. wash and dry the dress as normal
2. boil enough water to submerge dress, add teabags, about 1 per cup of water
3. wet the dress with hot water, wring out
4. after steeping the tea for about 5 minutes, add the dampened dress. i left the teabags in the water when i soaked the dress, just to experiment. it ended up making one darker spot on the fabric, so i recommend taking the bags out before soaking the dress.
5. check the color every 5-10 minutes. i think i let it soak about 30 minutes total.
6. after soaking, rinse out dress with warm water and mild soap
7. hang dress to dry
8. soak in a fresh pot of tea if desired. the second time i took the teabags out of the water first.
9. after drying the dress again, soak in mixture of water and vinegar. i didn't measure it, but i just put enough water into a container to submerge the dress, then added a couple generous splashes of vinegar.
10. hang dress to dry
11. wash and dry as normal

after tea-staining the dress, i thought i'd experiment with coffee next. i set the sash aside so i'd be able to compare colors afterward. i did the same process as before, just with really strong coffee this time. and i remembered to take pictures:

big pot of coffee

soaking the dress

checking the color

rinsing with soapy water

drying on the porch

after the vinegar soak, final wash and dry. this shows the dress and the lighter-colored sash.

the ruffles around the hem look a little darker than the rest because of the double layers.

all done!

flora and fauna around the house

my sister got hitched!

once upon a time, there was this beautiful girl

and a boy with an awesome mustache.

they fell in love,

and decided to get married.

so they rounded up their friends and family,

got all dolled up,

and had a party.

there were a few tears,

lots of smiles,

and smooching, of course!

some grandmas were there

and some pretty adorable babies.

everyone ate yummy food

and danced the night away.

now they're busy living happily ever after.

the end.

homemade laundry soap

i keep losing my recipe for laundry soap, so i'm going to put it in my blog. a lady i met on a women's retreat last year told me all about making her own laundry detergent. she has 3 little boys and a husband to wash clothes for, which can get pretty expensive. i started making it, and then got my mom into making her own too. the ingredients are so cheap, i think it ends up costing just a few cents per load of laundry. there are several recipes out there, but i like this one.

ingredients:

* 1 bar of ivory soap, or 1/2 bar of zote

* 1/2 cup arm & hammer washing soda (not to be confused with arm & hammer laundry detergent or baking soda - the washing soda comes in a yellow box)

* 1/2 cup borax

* a few drops of essential oils (optional)

i think i found the washing soda and borax in the laundry detergent isle of the grocery store. to be extra thrifty, you can buy it in bulk at sam's club or costco.

1. grate the bar of soap and place it in a large pot (or use a small pot and then transfer everything to a large bucket for step 5)

2. add about 6 cups of water to the pot and heat, stirring, on the stove until the soap melts/dissolves

3. add the washing soda and borax, stir until dissolved

4. remove from heat

5. add about 26 cups (1 gallon + 10 cups) of hot water to the mixture, stir. the total volume will end up being about 2 gallons.

6. add a few drops of essential oils if you want a specific scent. this is optional - it just smells nice and clean without any oils.

7. let the mixture sit for at least 8 hours to gel. it will look and feel kind of gross and snotty after it gels, but that's normal. you might need to get your hands in it and squish up any big clumps to be able to transfer it to bottles.

8. transfer the detergent to empty bottles (leftover store-bought detergent bottles work great!)

9. use 1/2 cup detergent per load of laundry. shake the bottle before pouring it out, as the soap separates a little when it's just sitting there. the soap will not make suds when you run a load, but that's ok - it washes laundry just as well as the store-bought stuff.

hooray for saving money! also, it's good for the environment, so you can be politically correct. :-P