Soap Day!

 Good Morning!! Hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did. It was my favorite kind of weekend...the one that's lazy and slow! The weather was beautiful and warm. We got to meet some great new people and share a few drinks, do a bit of gardening, mowing and of course a little laundry. I was running low on detergent so I figured I'd share with you how I make my own from scratch! Besides cleaning the clothes wonderfully it's Super cheap compared to buying a store brand detergent. I've been making my own for about 6 months now and I love it.

                 Only a few ingredients: Borax ($3.25), Washing Soda ($2.25), and Laundry Bar ($1.15)

Measure out 1/2 cup borax and a 1/2 cup washing soda and 1 laundry bar. You can use a grater if you'd like, I tried that once and I could barely finish the whole bar it wore my hand out!! So I use a sharp knife and just cut into chucks so your blender doesn't have to work as hard. I got my little blender for $5 at a local grocery store and it does a great job chopping it pretty fine.

Thats it! just pour the borax, washing soda, and finely chopped laundry bar into what ever kind of container you'd like to use and stir it up good. One full washer load takes 1 spoonful of detergent and I like to put about 4 shakes of peppermint oil into my laundry. Lavender smells nice too!

I usually make two batches at a time and it lasts me a little longer than 6 months and that's for a family of four. And if you use any kind of essential oils they just seem to last forever... I've had mine for over a year and I'm about half way done with the small bottle. And I'm telling ya my husbands work cloths are  D.i.r.t.y so if this stuff can get his cloths clean it's good enough for me. Not to mention how much money I'm saving not buying a new bottle every month for 20 bucks or more.

So if your feelin froggy try it out and see how it works for you and let me know!

** I buy my Laundry bar at a local natural food store, you can check your local stores or always order them online.

Step Outside The Circle

About a year ago I really "Looked" at my life. It's not that I was really unhappy with my situation I mean I was (am) happily married with a beautiful house and two great kids... Everybody else looking in would say your so lucky you've got everything. But what's everything? From the outside I played the part, I did what I thought I was suppose to so I didn't make any waves or stick out. At that point in time I didn't want to be different I wanted to fit in, and be 'the american dream', nice house, nice things, dinner partys to plan, being little susie homemaker. But what I started to realize was that maybe I didn't want what everyone else seems to think is Sooo great.

I was always worried about every move I made and how it would affect someone else in my life. It was all a show... everything I did from how I dressed to how I decorated my house. I began to realize that every decision in my life was based on what others would think or react towards it. I didn't want to deal with any of the stress, but the funny thing about that is I've found the minute you stop worrying about what others think about you is the same minute you realize you've been living your life for everyone but yourself.
     Ok, so let me back up a bit. My husband lost his job due to the economy about 3 months after we had just purchased our first house (figures right?) For 2 years we scraped and borrowed and managed to keep our heads just about that water line...barely. In those hard times I began to realize

#1 I was a shopping addict.. If I had $5 i'd cash in my change jar and spend $8.
#2 I spread myself so thin trying to help others, that wouldn't get off their butts if a refrigerator fell on me
#3 I wanted Dreads for years but bahaha think about what everyone would say!
#4 Do I really need to buy new decorations... for the outside of my house, so when people drove by they could oooo and aaaahh about how nice my house is compared to my neighbors.

Alright, so needless to say I started 'seeing' things that I never noticed before. I was a follower...really??? When I was younger I was a pack leader. I dressed however I wanted, did what I wanted without any regard to what people said. Where did that person go? Ok, so no I didn't want to go back Punk rocker style and be a hard a$$, but the point is, somewhere in the midst of getting married and having children I lost Me. So, the first step that I took catapulted me to where I am today... Stop caring about what everyone else thinks!  I don't mean say anything regardless to how it might make someone feel, just stop and think about the line of questioning I'm going to receive if I do _____.
        Since that epiphany last year
I dreaded my hair,
sold our house to move out to the country,
cut a few people out of our lives,
cut the shopping addiction,
I'm still working on becoming a minimalistic,
we're working on moving off-grid,
became a vegetarian/vegan/raw food addict (lol yes a mixture of all),
Opened up to a Spiritual side I never knew existed
Began practicing Yoga
And, just learning to Live in each moment everyday.

I can't tell you how happy I am. I mean Truly happy. Once you've stepped outside that Circle of "Normal" your eyes will open up to a world that is full of possibility's. I feel like I'm 5 again... do you remember when you had dreams? when you actually believed your parents when they told you You can do anything you want, if you just set your mind to it. Well I DO believe I can do anything, and I will.

What are your Life goals? think about it... really think about what YOU want to happen in your life without concern to what others may think about it, because this is YOUR life right? People may think your crazy or weird but does it really matter? Do you really want to follow others when their just following someone else? Be your own person, I'm not going to lie and say everything will be smooth sailing because it won't, trust me I know! But think about all the great people in history...if they just followed everyone else because of the backlash they would receive where would we all be? I by no means am saying I'm going to be remembered in a history book, but Ill know at the end of my time that I lived my life the way I wanted and hopefully inspired a few people to be themselves and be great at it!

Now get off the computer and start living your life! :)