Environmental and Holiday Musings

Laundry detergent success! Here is my very own bucket of homemade laundry detergent. The texture that you see in the picture is actually the fats from the soap. It was fairly simple to make and cleaned the children's clothes very efficiently! I was surprised to see that the mixture was mostly water, which explains why it is so much less expensive to make it yourself. You can try the recipe I used here. I was able to find all the necessary ingredients at my local Fred Meyer, but I don't know what that translates to for those of you in other parts of the country.

I also saw a Nightline special this weekend on 2 moms from Portland who have found ways to limit their garbage to 1 can per month and I found the idea very intriguing. Their blog site is EnviroMom. Most of their ideas involved having recycle cans in all the rooms of your house, composting, and avoiding purchasing individually wrapped items. We are now thinking about how we can incorporate some of these ideas into our routine. I wish we had sustainable living classes near us!!

I also found this site this morning and thought it amusing:

Movie Reviews

I have no idea how they determine this type of thing. My guess is that they check spelling and grammar, vocabulary and/or words per sentence. It must be similar to the reading level checker on Microsoft Word when you are trying to check your papers in school :). I still thought it was verrry interesting. I checked most of the blogs I read and some of you are geniuses!!

I have a pumpkin in the kitchen waiting very patiently to become a pie, so I probably should sign off. We will be traveling to visit family for the holiday so I will be leaving you all for awhile. On the cusp of the Thanksgiving holiday, I am grateful for so many things including an incredible family and friends, employment, and health among others. I hope you enjoy the best of this Season of Gratitude!