My new laundry point of view...

As usual, I am trying something new.  Nothing new to a lot of people, but to me it signifies my official emergence into greener living. 

I have been wanting to try hanging my clothes out to dry for a  long time.  But I never had a good clothesline, weather was bad when I was really motivated, and on went the excuses for me.  Well, the dog-child of ours finally stopped chasing our neighbors' cars down the mountain.  And the line for his tether makes a great place to hang clothes!  It's not the prettiest set up, but it works for now. 
I have been doing this for a couple weeks (minus some loads reccently when it was raining for days!). 
It does take more time and effort to hang clothes out.  I can get about 2 loads hanging at a time.  So, no more 5 loads a day marathons. 

• I think more about what goes in the dirty clothes.  Is it stained or stinky?  Toss it in the basket.  Otherwise, it may be able to get hung back up in the closet or on a hook.
• Pajamas are great for wearing over and over. 
• Towels can be re-hung for a couple of days.  Note: I have noticed the line-dried towels keep thier freshness a little longer!
• Yard clothes can be shaken out and hung on a hook.  Same with church and play clothes.
• Since I am not tossing as much into the dirty clothes, the piles don't become mountains quite as soon.  This does mean more little piles hanging around, but I am OK with that.  

My next goal is to make laundry soap.  I have seen lots of recipes.  As great timing would have it, a sweet friend sent me a super easy recipe.  I recently bought one of those cheap brands of laundry powder that come in a big plastic bucket.  My plan was to use that up while finding ingredients for a home-made batch.  Then when it was all gone, I could use the plastic bucket to store my home brew in.  Well, I have since bought another bottle of liquid detergent, BUT I am going to be ready this time when it runs out.

And just because I am a sucker for a good "before" picture... this is the out-of-control patio (right next to my beautiful clothesline). 

Most of the toys were hand-me-downs or gifts and they play with it all!  Don't mind the grumpy dog... his feet were too muddy to come in.  We are working on a no/low-cost reno to clean up the cracked cement and a nasty water-gathering spot that leaks into the basement.  Until then, that's my excuse for the mess!


Happy Thursday!

Funny Boys

I finally cleaned out my cell phone pictures.  Here are some funny ones of the boys.

Yes... parts to a breast pump.

Maybe this was his face when he heard what his brother did with the breast pump...

Too cool  (got that trike for $1 at a yard sale)!

Our dog serves a variety of purposes.

And this one just melts my heart.  :-)

Color of the Day

Sean gets excited about having theme days.  This idea might be a little young for him (since he knows all of his colors!), but we focused on the spelling of the word and the project which included glueing, cutting and designing.

I used some foam paper and found as many items of the like color that could be glued or stuck on (pom poms, foam letters, stickers, etc.).

Then I bagged up each set so it is ready to go when we have that color day.

Here is a finished one from "Orange Day."

Here I collected items for "Red Day."

When he woke up on "Red Day" I had a display set out for him to find. He loves discovering new things in the morning. I like that it helps him get excited about what we are doing.

Some other themes he said he wanted to do: snakes and slugs.  He is such a boy!

Spring Around the House

I have been so ready to see flowers blooming and trees growing full (even though some of that is nasty pollen!).  Some flowers have already lost their blooms so I figured I'd better be quick to capture the spring.  I'm sure summer will be here before I know it.

Our beautiful view from the porch.

The apple tree- looking forward to some pies!

Not a whole lot going on here, but I wanted to include it!

A look up the street- lots of pretty, flowering trees.

And one of my favorite parts... having a cup of hot tea with this handsome guy on the porch after the kids go to bed.

I am enjoying this long-awaited spring. :-)

Lovely randomness

Been a while since I have visited my little blog and written some of my heart.  My heart = God, family, home, ministry... :-) 
I have been de-cluttering like a person gone mad.  I think spring fever has hit with full force because I know I am not the only one.  We are hoping to have a yard sale in 2 weeks and I am desperate to clear out every possible thing that serves no purpose or precious memory. I joke that my basement looks like a thrift store.  I am not even kidding.

That's not even all of it; just the best angle I could manage without falling into an abyss of baby clothes, toys and a bathroom sink (oh yes- we have fixtures for sale).  Ahhh... I love a challenge.

When we get it back to "normal" we have grand plans.  Well, as grand as not spending any money can be.  We are hoping to turn it into a "D" Cave.  That is the clever name given by my husband to stand for discipleship cave.  We are planning to have more student meetings in our home next school year and the basement is the perfect spot for that kind of meeting.  I will be glad to get some good use out of the space.  We've been talking about it for a couple months, but nothing much will get done until after school is out and Jeff has some free time (yay!).  We usually clean it when family comes, but any other time it is a dumping ground for junk.  Anyway, that's the exciting news from the basement. 

I have been working on some household organization, homeschool planning and my general to-do list.  I hung my laundry out to dry (on a rigged clothesline) and made chickpea burgers for lunch- yum.  I think I will try to do some more posts.  I forgot how fun it is to write about everyday stuff... which is, ironically, the reason why I started my own blog in the first place!