Pick up the soap Now don't try to to bluff Work up a lather An' when ya got enough Get your hands full of water Ya snort an ya snuff An' go blud-dle-ud-dle-ud-dle Ud-dle-um-dum

A few month ago I started to notice I was getting this awful rash on my hand. It was it itchy, ugly, and painful but I could live. We then ran out of hand soap and so we used some dove bar soap until I could get to the store. Almost instantly my rash went away. But but but the other stuff smelled so good...so I bought it again and yeah you guess it.

As it got closer and closer to my birthday I knew that I still needed to change one cleaning item over to a greener option. I was on pinterest and found a recipe to change a bar of soap into liquid hand soap. I hate bar soap, it grosses me out so this was a great option for me. To put this play into action I needed two things: glycerin, and a natural bar of soap. Remy and I went shopping and we were able to find the glycerin (actually kind of a pain but we found it at Wal Mart in the pharmacy section for like $3) and then I needed my soap. Remy then asked if I could please just use the dove we already had at home. I figured oh what the hay but I think what I really said was "I hear what you are saying and I value you as an equal member of this marriage so I will use your suggestion." We are goofs like that.

Yesterday was THE day that I tried this out. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to but I realized when reading through all the comments that dove caused a lot people a lot of problems, so if you were to try this with any other soap in the universe you would be fine.

You will need:

1 cup grated soap
1 Tbsp Glycerin
10 cups water
1 pot to combine everything
1 large container to put it all in (I used an old 4 liter vinager container)

While your grating your soap  put your 10 cups of water in a large pot and put on mid-low. Once you've grated your soap put it in the pot with your 1 Tbsp of glycerin.

Keep it on the heat and stir until the soap flakes disappear. Now if you're lucky you should have your liquid hand soap! IF you aren't so lucky here are some suggestions:
1. Wait. Sometimes it just needs some time. I let mine sit for a few hours and I saw no change so...
2. Bring it to a boil and then let it sit overnight.
3. If you still aren't getting what you want try adding this salt solution: 1 cup of HOT water and 3 tbsps salt. Slowly whisk in and let sit overnight.

 

I tried all three and left on the counter overnight. It was much better this morning. I wasn't as happy with it as I wanted to be but it will certainly work and I will try this again. Let me know if you try this and it works for you!

Money, Money, Money

I thought it might be fun to do a series on here. It's called:

We Were So Poor Wednesdays

When Remy and I first got married Remy was working and going to school and I was working with plans of going back to school. We had a plan and we were going along our merry way when the unthinkable (at least to us) happened.  At a month into our marriage Remy lost his very secure job along with three other employees (they shut down the department he worked in). Remy came home, sat me on the couch and told me the news. I cried and cried and cried, it felt like my world had just turned upside down. We had just gotten married and were getting into a rhythm of married life. I had no idea what we were going to do, my job was part-time and minimum wage. We had to make some changes and life certainly would be different. Luckily for us Remy and I were both savers so we had a comfortable savings (we actually lived on it for a year!) but we still had to scrim and save to make that money go as far as possible.

This series I want to laugh about the crazy things we had to go through and do to save some money.

 To you this may look like an ice cream bucket but to us this was a mixing bowl for months and months and months. We mixed dinners, desserts, breakfast...you name it. BUT wait it also had another purpose, a Tupperware container! So basically we spent about $4 to get: ice cream, a mixing bowl, and a Tupperware container.  Not too bad of a deal if I do say so myself.

Blinded by the light

I just spent about a half an hour typing up a long and witty post that you all would love about our night and blogger ate it. Here goes round two but I've got to be honest I may have used up all my wit on the other one.

A couple of years ago Remy and I hosted a "Night of Darkness" with the YSA (young single adult) for 17 people. We started the night off with a buffet dinner, then a walk, recreated a closet and had them pick outfits depending on the occasion, played some blindfolded basketball, talked about some of the everyday problems that come up in our life, and ended with a described video. It was a blast and people talked about it for months after. We had such good feedback about it we thought it might be great to do it with the Young Men and Young Women of the church. We talked about it with the leaders at the time but didn't really hear anything. When Remy was called to Young Mens he brought the idea up again and plan were put in motion for it to happen.

When we first heard that we were going to be doing it again we started brainstorming ideas and making plans but with it so far in the future we didn't need to have anything set in stone.  A couple of days ago Remy reminded me that it was THIS Tuesday. Cue panic planning. Isn't that the way it goes though.

Tonight we went to the store to grab the snack. We hit the ice cream isle (I mean I'm sure they sell other things in that isle but let's be real) and the ice cream topping isle and were on our way to the check out. As we got closer to the check out I realized that I couldn't hold it anymore. I needed to find a bathroom ASAP! I asked a cashier where their bathroom was and she replied with "over there" well once I checked "over there" only to not find the bathroom I found another person and begged them for the secret location of their bathroom. He replied with detailed instructions and I ran across the store clenching my knees. I arrived only to find the women's bathroom door locked. Standing in front of the men's room with my back teeth floating about to burst into tears I had a light bulb moment. Yup I went into the men's bathroom and it was gross and glorious all at the same time.  I've heard of other women doing this during desperate time and now I can join the ranks.

We then rushed to the church and realized we were a bit late. I ran into the kitchen to do some prep work for the snack while Remy went into the other room to get the activity underway. We did a quick lesson about trust and then sent them on their way.

 

Our friend Kirsten lead them on a walk of zig zags and twists around the church while one person was blindfolded and the other person lead. They walked around the church once and then switched who did what. They seemed like they were having lots of fun and were talking and laughing.

Once everyone got back inside we talked to them a bit more and showed them braille, Remy's cane, and speech reading software.  We asked them if they had any questions and I was really happy that some people did ask. After our chat we had them line up blindfolded and serve themselves a sundae bar.

 

They had to serve their own ice cream and toppings. After they got their ice cream they went back into the room and listened to a described video (well that was the idea anyway we kind of had lost them by this point). We closed and then had as an option blindfolded basketball that some people came in and did. One young man actually made two out of the three baskets! I will so impressed.

It was a lot of work and a great night. I am glad we did it and hopefully someone got something out of it.

Don't wanna be the jack-O -lantern scaring away every candy loving kid that's trick-or-treating today

Today was FHE (family home evening). We had an amazing lesson that Paul did on The Family: A Proclamation to the World ( Read it here). It was wonderful to be able to discuss ideas and thoughts with people of similar values.

For our activity we decided to carve pumpkins. I really enjoy carving pumpkin but I also get a little stressed out, I know this will put me in the cray cray train but I feel like it's a lot of pressure. I mean it's your HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN that is kind of a big deal. You don't even get it (they don't get it *that's for Ash*) EVERYONE who comes to your house friends and strangers are going to look at and mentally judge. So yeah it's kind of a big deal.

Before everyone came over I started looking at pictures of pumpkins to get an idea of what I wanted to do. I searched and searched and finally saw one I really liked. "I am totes going to do this one" and it was all figured out, well then I got to thinking that it looked awfully familiar so I started looking through old pumpkin carving pictures, sure enough I had already done it. (It was the one that I did with You *Andrea* and Chris) I guess my tastes haven't changed much.

I kept searching and found choice number 2 but it unfortunately didn't have a pattern you could print off. I decided that I would try to free-hand it and it actually didn't turn out too bad. It wasn't even or perfect by any means but I felt pretty good that I did it. Remy did all the gutting for me and then let me go at. They all turned out great!

 

While we were craving our pumpkin we snacked on the cake I made for mine and Tanya's birthday. It was my very first two layer cake. Pretty exciting stuff that. (No pictures, it was kind of ugly) We had a great night and are so thankful for good friends that we get to hang out with.

UPDATE: Today was laundry/cleaning day and I tried out the laundry detergent for the first time and it was resounding success! I love it!

P.S. When I was trying to figure out which song to use for this blog post I ran across this gem. Enjoy!

You can't always get what you want But if you try sometimes you might find You get what you needat you need

It is your birthday. - 1,000 points to whomever gets that reference.

It's my birthday today and well...it was exactly like every other Sunday at our house except Gary and Remy made me homemade Chinese food. Yum! It was so extremely yummy.They did such a great job!  They made a veggie stir fry, sweet and sour chicken, and rice noodles.

 Today was also Stake Conference. We got there right when it was to begin and had to sit in the very last row. One of the little girls from my class came and sat with Remy and I. We had such a nice time talking and drawing. I started to feel guilty about not paying attention to the speakers and then I came to the realization that sometimes this is just as  important. While the talks were extremely important, for right then it was more important for me to talk with this little girl, to let her feel my love for her as her primary teacher. I felt she needed to know that I was her friend and that she was important and I would take the time to talk with her. I will probably get to hear the messages again at one point in my life but the time with this little girl I probably won't get that chance again. This is such an important lesson for me to remember and learn, so although it wasn't anything the speakers said I did learn a lot today.

When she found out it was my birthday she let everyone in our row know. It was cracking me up. She would run down the row stopping at each person point to me and say "it's her birthday today!" She decorated my hands in princess stickers and drew me a picture. While she was drawing me a picture she asked if I could write down my house number. I did, and as soon as I was finished she rushed to her Mom and told her and they needed to go here *pointing at the numbers* today for my birthday party. She then rushed back and asked me to draw a picture of my house. I did and she instantly rushed back over to show her Mom what my house looked like. She told me they needed to know what my house looked like so they knew how to find it when they drove to it later. I told her I wasn't having a birthday party and she looked at me like I had two heads she then said, "When are you going to eat cake?" I told her I would probably make one for FHE on Monday and she replied, "Oh okay, we'll come over then." 

As silly as this sounds she made me feel special and it's nice to feel special on your birthday.

Also I'll let you know how I did on my birthday goals, I'll admit right now that I didn't finish them all but I'm okay with that. 

Chelsea Goals:

Church:

•                     Go to the Temple  (June 14,2011)

•                     Get sealed (June 18, 2011)

•                     Complete Book of Mormon reading (June 7,2011) (actual May 16,2011)

•                     Complete Young Women Personal Progress

•                     Spend an hour on genealogy (3/6) 

•                     Finish temple booklet

•                     Go to the temple (1/3)

•                     Get certificate for institute

Finances

•                     Keep track and stick to budget (0/3) (honestly we had way too many unusual expenses lately to make this possible but now that things are getting back to normal we can actually get back to budget)  

•                     Move money into safety deposit box

•                     Look into disability bond

•                     Research new cell phone carries and choose one

Body

•                     Learn more about running and buy correct shoes

•                     Run 10 continual minutes

•                     Run 15 continual minutes (I'm up to 13 min)

•                     Run 20 continual minutes

•                     Find better skin care regiment

◦                     Lush

•                     Cancel proactiv

Food

•                     Try 10 new recipes         

•                     Try 3 new foods

•                     Don't eat after dinner for one week! (0/7)

•                     Have one couple over for dinner or dessert once a month (7/7)

Mind

•                     Read books I have before buying any new ones

•                     Get my N (July 13,2011)

•                     Take a community class

•                     Get up before 9 (7/7)

•                     Get up Before 9 (30/30)

•                     Find out about graduation

Community

◦                     Call company for HR rep name

◦                     Format resume and cover letter

•                     Complete 3 service projects of my own (2/3)

Hobbies:

•                     Finish the top of my quilt

•                     Make a skirt 

•                     One picture a week (29/29)

•                     At least one blog post a week

•                     Write in my journal once a week (7/29)

•                     Go camping (backyard Sunday May 22,2011) (Andrea and Chris August 20,2011)

•                     Do a photostrip at the mall (Friday October 21,2011)

Home:

•                     Research and switch over one cleaning product to a more natural one. (Laundry detergent! and plans for homemade hand soap) 

So tomorrow I'll have a whole new set of goals and Remy is even getting in on them with me. I can't wait. Do you have any goals your working on? What's been your favorite birthday as an adult?

P.S. Happy Birthday to my almost birthday twin Rachel!

Walking on Sunshine

Tonight began the "Chelsea's birthday weekend EXTRAVAGANZA." We were going to start the night with a nice dinner. I started to get ready to go when I began to realize that tonight was going to be one of those nights that I didn't like how anything looked on. Don't you just hate those nights? I went through practically my whole wardrobe looking for something that looked good and made me feel good. *Don't worry it didn't take too long, I don't have that many clothes* In times like this I usually try to focus on one thing, so my hair it was. I was going to make my hair look nice and let the rest follow.

I wanted to do something with it I don't usually do. I remembered that I read on a blog a while back about making your own headbands. I thought I would give it a try tonight and let me tell you, You've got to try this. You will always have a headband to match your outfit and it takes less than ten minutes. This would be great for yourself, a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece you get the idea...anyone with hair. Oh crap now I've gone and spoiled Remy's birthday present.  

First you'll need:
An Iron
Ribbon
Elastic
Hot glue gun or needle and thread

1. Iron your ribbon. 2. Cut the ribbon so that when it's on your head you have a little behind your ear on each side. 3. glue gun one side of the ribbon and elastic 4. put on head and measure how much elastic you'll need 5. cut and glue the other side

I was so happy with the way it turned out. After I made this one I was like...I am going to make A MILLION of these. In this picture I am in my jammer jams because I actually didn't end up wearing my headband out to dinner.

The original plan was to go out to dinner then go to the mall to window shop and walk around. Well we got in the game a little later than planned so we had to go shopping first and then dinner (the mall closed sooner than the restaurant). When we got to the mall this was my idea of how the mall portion of our night would go: a leisurely stroll around the mall while window shopping and talking. Remy's idea was a bit different: walking quickly around the mall to a destination.(Typical man) So we were holding hands and race walking around the mall. (You know those mall walkers, well picture that except holding hands and without the jump suits). Half way through the mall I said "Honey slow down I can't even tell what I'm looking at." I then explained what I had in mind and the rest of trip around the mall went a little slower and less blurry. Who knew you still had to communicate after three years of marriage.

After our power walk we went into the photo booth. This was the first time I have ever done one of these and it was fun. We then went to dinner and had a really nice meal at 9:30 pm. The manager, and two waitresses sang happy birthday to me which was really nice. What a great way to kick off the birthday EXTRAVAGANZA! I hope you all are having a great weekend. Send me a picture if you make one these headbands.

Singing as we fetch the detergent box for the smelly shirts and the stinky socks

My birthday is coming up in a few days (like actually a few as in three) and I am hurriedly finishing up my birthday goals. One of the things on my list was to change one of my cleaning products to a more natural one. I hemmed and hawed over which one to change for a while. I really love the stuff I use to clean my bathroom because I really feel like it's clean when I am done, same with my kitchen. I looked at a few different options for other things. I kept seeing people trying homemade laundry detergent. I wasn't sold on the idea not that I didn't think it worked I just didn't know if I wanted that one to be THE one.

I was still in the process of deciding, well actually I decided to make homemade liquid hand soap when...we ran out of laundry detergent. (I still am planning on doing the hand soap don't worry.) We were due for our big grocery shop so I decided that if superstore had what we needed we would do it.

We got to the laundry isle and found EVERYTHING we needed, which was a good thing because by the time we got to this isle I really wanted to do it. I was so excited! Actually my level of excitement wasn't really appropriate to laundry detergent, maybe a new car or even a perfect pair of jeans but not laundry detergent. I wish I was joking, it was like it was a surprise birthday party in the cleaning isle. Remy was looking at me like I was off my rocker. I feel like I might be too young to get this excited about a cleaning product.


When we got home I got started with my project while watching an extremely educational and uplifting TV show the real housewives of new york *ahem* IT WAS SO EASY! If you can grate cheese you can make your own laundry detergent NO JOKE. ANDPLUSALSO it's sooo cheap think of your cheapest cleaning product, this was cheaper. So this is what I did:

1 cup Borax
1 cup washing soda (not baking soda)
2 Sunlight bars (you can use other laundry bar soap I like sunlight a lot)
Grate 2 bars of soap (this took me about 15 minutes). Add 1cup of borax. Add 1 cup washing soda. Mix together and store in air tight container. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load.

 I ended up putting it in an old large peanut butter container that I cleaned out (my most hated chore EVER!) this makes a lot about 6-7 cups.

You only need 1 Tbsp per load. Isn't that crazy! You really need to shake it every time you use it. I can't wait to make our hand soap.

What are your favorite green cleaning products? Bonus points if they are cheap. Let me know if you make your own laundry detergent.

Come What May

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've last written.  I have unfortunately been dealing with some health issues and haven't felt up to doing much. I just wanted to let anyone who reads this know I haven't forgotten about my blog nor do I plan to stop writing. I hope everyone is having an amazing start to fall!




 For those that  might be curious about what's going on:  **Warning: this may be TMI and a bit graphic**


The last four months I haven't had a period. I've had a day of spotting a day of light and another day of spotting. I became concerned because I have also been in quite a bit of pain as well. At three months I went to the doctor and had a pap and blood tests ordered. She tested my thyroid, blood sugars, liver, kidneys, pregnancy, full blood panel, iron, and a couple of others I can't remember. Everything came back great, which is great news. The next step to finding out what's wrong is getting an ultrasound.

While I've been waiting for the ultrasound the pain has been getting worse. It sorts of feels like someone has my ovaries in a vice grip and is trying to rip them out of me all the while scraping my insides the whole way out. Yeah...that pretty much sums it up. The good thing is this has only happened two or three times and only lasts about 3ish hours (thankfully I have been at home during these times). The constant pain I'm feeling just feelings like I am being punched and kicked repeatedly in the pelvis. Luckily I have been able to suck it up enough to still go out and go to social events.

Since we have no idea what's going on with me the doctor said she didn't feel comfortable telling me to take anything or prescribing anything. A good friend of mine mentioned that flax seed might help with pain management.  I have taken a few T3s since the pain has gotten worse and although it doesn't take it away completely I am able to walk around.


I should be getting this sorted out soon and back to feeling better but in the mean time I have some great books to read.