Soaps Gone Buy (Soapsgonebuy.com)

Every day I get an email from Everyday Cheapskate, a site that tells you little ways to save money. One of the latest articles they sent was on making homemade Laundry detergent. I found a kit and recipe at Soapsgonebuy.com and the reviews were outstanding. Not only is this cheaper (.03 cents per load as compared to .30 cents for store bought) but apparently it has much better results than the more expensive store bought brands and makes clothes so soft that some have eliminated fabric softer or use less! It's also safe for HE washers since Fels Naptha is a very pure soap and doesn't sud much at all.

Here is the recipe I found and I am ordering the ingredients. I'll let you know how it turns out!

First Recipe: (Liquid)
3 Pints Water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Gallon bucket to mix it in
1 Quart hot water Hot Water
Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket completely with additional hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. You may add additional HOT water if the mixture becomes too thick. Mix Well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Makes 64 loads. Cost per load .03.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax
Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light or small loads, use 1 tablespoon. For normal loads, use 2 tablespoons. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons. Cost per load .15.
To make a large batch - grate 6 bars of Fels Naptha Soap and then add 3 cups of Washing Soda and 3 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix well and store in covered container.

Tea Dying Table Linens!

Hi!



I haven't posted in a while and I have a bit of time on my hands...wait until you hear why lol.



I am dying white table linens in tea water.



You read correctly. I couldn't find any ivory table linens anywhere (at a reasonable price) and I just couldn't bring myself to buy plastic....well, I take that back, I bought plastic and then returned them today lol!


I found a plethora of white but it just wouldn't have matched the "fallish" color scheme for Camille and Jordan's wedding shower tomorrow so I am trying out this crazy method and hoping that they turn out ivory, or ecru...either one..I'm not picky at this point...well...not THAT picky!



I have never done this or even read anything telling me how to do it so I'm just playing it by ear (Yes, I'm sanguine!).

I filled Lorin's tub with hot water and threw a bunch of tea bags in there and let the linens soak for about 15 mins. I plan on putting them on the spin cycle and then drying them on super high heat in the dryer to set the "stain". Here are some before pics...hopefully the after pics will be decent! lol

Ok, I saved this post and actually googled tea dying....turns out I'm not doing it the way any one tells you to do it ROFL! BUT, I just put my first 2 in the dryer and they actually look really good. One encouraging thing I read is that this method is "romantic"...why, I have no idea..maybe it's from the Victorian era....everything was romantic then!

Going to check the dryer.....

Ok, they are a little darker but not much...maybe just 1 shade. Time for a different method.

After reading the little bit that I read I have come to the conclusion that boiling tea is the key to success. The temp sets the stain more effeciently..duh...should have thought of that. I found a relatively easy method online and that is what I'm trying now.

I brought a large pot of water with 10 tea bags to a rolling boil. While this was boiling I turned my washing machine on for a small load and let it fill. I then poured the boiling tea water in the washing machine and let it agitate for a min. Then I added the linens and am now letting them agitate...they are already darker after 3 mins. I'll skip the rinse and go straight to spin and then to the dryer. I'm confident this method will work. It's 3:00 a.m. so if it doesn't then I will just be finding a different solution in the morning! lol

Ok, so far so good. Actually, I am going to let them rinse due to some tea leaves on them. That should take care of that. Ok, I'm going to bed. I'll set these to dry as soon as the rinse and spin are over and I'll post pics in the morning! G'night!

IT'S NOT ABOUT US

WOW! What an awesome, POWERFUL, presence of God! You who attend CRC know what I'm talking about but I'll expound upon the subject for those who do not or those who missed service this week. It actually started a few weeks ago when our wonderful pastor, Bro. Gregory Wilbanks, asked everyone to sign up to pray for a certain amount of time every day that week (15 min, 30 min or 1 hr). Our church services are always awesome but man, that prayer time (Which has continued past the 1st week and has become a staple in our lives) just busted open the door for a SERIOUS HOLY GHOST BREAKTHROUGH!!!

Sunday morning, Bro. Jeremy got up to preach and being sensitive to the moving of the Holy Ghost, asked everyone to just pray for a few seconds....well....seconds turned to hours! The Holy Ghost swept through that place like a MIGHTY RUSHING WIND! I went over to get Lorin from Sunday School and when I got back there was a serious Ladies prayer meeting going on at the alter. A few of us, like myself, got there late but it didn't stop us from jumping in the waters! Our pastors wife, Sister Wilbanks, along with Sister Joann Miller laid hands on every lady there while the rest of us prayed for them as well. It was unlike ANYTHING I've ever experienced. An hour and a half went by and it seemed like 10 min!! The Holy Ghost was SO THICK you could see it! After everyone had been prayed for it didn't stop, it continued to flow and some were sitting, some were kneeling, some were standing but we were all in one accord. All of a sudden, Sister Holly just started shouting and dancing then she got the mic and told us all what God had told her. She said that she heard a gurgling like a pipe that had been clogged and water was trying to come out of it. God told her that the wells that we had been digging, trying to get water in, the enemy had been throwing dirt back into those wells trying to stop revival but it was about to BURST and the water of the Holy Ghost is going to spring up and fill all those wells and pour out over the city. Right after Sister Holly finished, Sister Koehoorne said that she had also saw the same thing! She saw a volcano that was erupting water! MAN, it's so awesome. AND IT DIDN'T STOP THERE! Sunday night it continued. A spirit of prayer has consumed us! Monday night at ladies prayer it was so powerful! It was like Sunday afternoon part 2! All the ladies that had not been prayed for Sunday afternoon were prayed for Monday night and the power of God swept in that sanctuary. One thing that Sister Wilbanks said that was so awesome and really struck home to me was God showed her that the fiery darts of the enemy that were being thrown at her, they can't penetrate! I know that people are saying things about our pastor and his wife and some of the other saints in the church but guess what....it doesn't matter, those darts can't penetrate because it's not about US, it's about GOD! It doesn't matter what people say about me or my family or my church family...it's actually laughable...because this revival is not about me or my family.... it's about JESUS!!!! AND DEVIL, YOU CAN'T STOP IT....(But feel free to die trying!)

2 Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Well DUH!

The Healing Power of Music

I was reading the news the other day and came across an article in which a renown neurologist was studying the healing power of music, more specifically, religious music. In this article, the Doctor also stated that he has found that there is an actual physiological change in people when they pray. WELL DUH! lol We've known this for years! As I recall, it was well documented in a book....what was the name of that book I read once....oh yeah, THE BIBLE! As I read the article I was reminded of the verse of Scripture that talks about using the foolish things to confound the wise. The neurologist is doing the study in conjunction with Harlem gospel choir...I'm thinking we need to invite him to Cornerstone Revival Center!!!!!! Or ARC!!!!! TALK ABOUT A PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGE!

Anyway, here is the article for your reading pleasure.

Neurologist, Harlem gospel choir explore music's healing power during science festival
By KAREN MATTHEWS,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-30 15:33:50
NEW YORK (AP) - Noted neurologist Oliver Sacks has found common ground with the pastor of Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church: Both men believe in the healing power of music.Sacks, the best-selling author of "Awakenings" and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," will share the church stage Saturday with the famed gospel choir as part of the inaugural World Science Festival, a five-day celebration of science taking place in New York this week."It should be an exciting and unusual event," Sacks said in an interview this week. "I will talk about the therapeutic and beneficent power of music as a physician, and then their wonderful choir will perform. ... And the audience will make what they can of it."Sacks' most recent book is "Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain," which examines the relationship between music and the brain, including its healing effect on people suffering from such diseases as Tourette's syndrome, Parkinson's, autism and Alzheimer's."Even with advanced dementia, when powers of memory and language are lost, people will respond to music," he said.A Baptist church is an unusual venue for Sacks, a professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center who was brought up Jewish but is not a religious believer.But the central role of music in church makes Abyssinian a good place to discuss the myriad ways that music affects the human brain, said Sacks, who was played by Robin Williams in the movie version of "Awakenings."Abyssinian's pastor, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, said the choir is looking forward to performing with Sacks. He noted that music plays a central role in the healing power of prayer."What we have been studying ... is that when you pray, there's actually a physiological change in the body," he said. "Music is very much a part of this. There are certain notes that generate in the human body a kind of peacefulness."Abyssinian was founded by Ethiopian sea traders in 1808 and is celebrating its bicentennial. It is a popular destination for European tourists who line up around the block in Harlem for Sunday services.The event there is one of two Sacks is participating in during the World Science Festival. The other focuses on vision and the brain.The festival was conceived by Columbia University physicist Brian Greene and his wife Tracy Day, a broadcast journalist."Our intent is to help shift the public perception of science, so that people realize that science is as important as art, literature, film, theater," Greene said.Panelists include Nobel laureates as well as actors, dancers, philosophers and science journalists.Greene said he hopes the festival, which received funding from several nonprofit foundations, will spread to other cities."There's a real capacity to have a national and even global celebration of science," he said.On the Net:http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/http://www.abyssinian.org
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

New Blog

Ok, I have decided to start a new blog for my wii fit journal. This will keep this blog from getting too long since I do want to log every day of my progress. You can access the blog on my profile or
http://wiifitjourney.blogspot.com/

Wii Fit Day 2!!

Two in a Row! Hurray for me ;) I wasn't sore this morning but as the day gradually progressed I started really feeling it in my core and sides! And even though I got home really late tonight I was determined to get my 30 min. in! My BMI has gone down a few notches and I've lost 3lbs!! HAHA I know it's only because I weighed at a different time of day but hey, it's still encouraging!
Tonight I completed 12 mins of Yoga and it was really fun...some poses were easy and some were hard (HALF MOON!!) BUT, all in all it said I had good posture and ok balance. Not bad for a first time! I also did 18 mins of Aerobics which are always fun. I couldn't do the Hula Hoop for long because I am quiet sore from yesterday! Now, I'm going to shower, drink some water and read a good book. G'night everyone!

Wii Fit!

As many of you have probably heard or read, the Nintendo Wii Fit came out this week. Like all good Wii fans, my husband and I pre-ordered it so we would be guarantied one when they came out. There is already a wait for them. I've been needing to really buckle down and get back into my former sports buff shape...yeah, it's been like 1o years lol. I could blame childbirth but it's really just my own laziness! So, today I started my "Life Style Change". Most of the time I make the mistake of jumping in full force and burning out after a month so I'm taking baby steps. I started exercising today and, with the help of my new Wii Fit, I've set some goals; hopefully they are reachable.

So why am I writing about this on my blog? One reason, ACCOUNTABILITY! I figure if I let everyone out there know that I'm starting something, I'll be more committed to finishing. We will see haha! I'll spare myself the embarrassment of telling you all my Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight and just stick to telling you all my goal which is to lose 22 lbs in 3 months....that's my starting goal...I have to lose way more than that!

Today I completed 20 Min. of Aerobic exercise and 15 min. of Strength and Balance training. (remember, baby steps!) Tomorrow I'm going to do some Yoga. The time really flew since it felt more like playing a game than actually just exercising. I can't get over how "smart" the Balance Board is, the technology is really amazing, Hula Hooping has never been so beneficial to your health!! It really is so much fun, my husband and I just kept rolling on the floor laughing at each other while we were trying to learn all the moves! Pray for me!! I'll definitely need encouragement and prayers....but don't tell me I look like I've lost weight until I really do lol!