Baby's Room

With less than 10 weeks to go each weekend is being spent getting ready.

This weekend we hung pictures and put together a book case.  The pictures are simply copied from a treasury of Beatrix Potter stories.  The quilt was given to me by my mother years ago.  She calls it the three sisters quilt.  I think it's perfect in a little girl's room.
The pillow on the left was embroidered by my great-grandmother Hackett and the lamp is from my grandmother McNary.  There is another quilt on the bed made by great-grandma McNary.
Lots more to do but weekend time has run out.

Manic

Due to my failing the first glucose test, I had a four day weekend.  Of course I had to take the 3 hour test, but that still left me with 3 1/2 days away from work.  I'm waiting for my grad school text books to arrive so I can't get started on homework.  So what happens?  I get way crafty.
I feel like I have to have everything ready for this baby right now.  I have 11 weeks to go, I don't know what the panic is.

Today I made a travel changing pad.  After many hours researching I used chenille on one side and PUL on the other.  I used this tutorial.  In half an hour the changing pad was done.  The pocket holds wipes and diapers.  Husband was perplexed when I bought a travel size baby wipe and told him it was for a pattern.
Baby girl also has 3 cloth diaper covers done.  Hopefully I'll get at least one more done today.

cloth diaper covers

I get cloth diapers with rubber pants.  Rubber pants don't seem to be cool right now.  Instead I'm making diaper covers.  On-line they cost anywhere from $14.00 to $25.00.  So of course I thought I could make them cheaper.
So far for 4 diaper covers I have spent:
$6.50 for PUL fabric
$ 3.67 for outer fabric
$1.29 for elastic
$3.49 for velcro
Total--$14.95
Price per cover: $3.74

Woot woot  Let's just hope they work.

Gourmet Frankie

Last night DH made the best meal, complete with steak, homemade french fries and pecan cranberry salad.  He can cook like this every night if he'd like.  Yummy, thanks babe!

The Never Ending Dog

 I cannot take credit for the adorable baby quilt.  While at home I was showered with 2 quilts and a baby blanket.  (I'll post those later)  This one is from is from an elementary school friend.  She and I attended the same am kindergarten.  Anyways, when I opened this quilt I was a little perplexed.  I didn't open the quilt all the way.  All I saw was a head at one end and feet at the other.  I'm a little slow.  It's a slinky dog!

The quilt looks so great in the baby's room.  Both sides look great.  I don't think it will spend much time there though, as I plan to take it and show it off every chance I get.
Thanks Julie!

Soap Making Day

Soap making was lots of fun.  I only made a half recipe.  I used half my bar of Zote.
1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Washing Soda
I haven't done all the math but I'm pretty sure it cost me less than a dollar to make this batch.  That means I'll get 32 loads for a buck.  What's $1.00 divided by 32?  Way less than $0.30 a load.

While I was at it I made dishwasher detergent.  We ran a load last night with it.  Hubby was concerned and made the sign of the cross.  He was skeptical about Borax going through the dishwasher.  No need to worry though.  the dishes came out sparkling clean.  I also put white vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser and there wasn't any spotting.
The recipe for dish detergent is:
1 cup salt
2 cups Borax
2 cups Baking Soda
whisk and put into regular dispenser
add white vinegar to rinse cycle
Amazing!

The D word

Twelve and a half hours gives you a lot of time to think.  Maybe too much.  While visiting family in Michigan, my mother said something that fueled my thinking on the car ride home.  She said, "I wish they'd just call this what it is, a depression."  My response was something about that creating a panic in the U.S.
Maybe we should panic a bit more and be conscious of how we spend our money.  Another comment that's been rolling around in my head came from the hubby who was wondering how much money we'd save by not buying organics.  Valid point hubby, but I hate knowingly eating pesticides when a better alternatives is available.
Mom had an answer to one problem.  That of the laundry soap.  Seventh Generation laundry detergent is $.30 a load.  She shared with me a recipe to make my own soap.  For $9 I'm going to be able to make enough detergent for countless loads.  Later I'll share the recipe and how the soap making goes.

Another beef I have with grocery shopping is how much I spend on the non-concentrate orange juice.  A news report came out that the fancy stuff is still dehydrated and reconstituted for ease of transport.  So why am I spending $3.69 instead of $1.39 for the frozen stuff that creates less waste?

Also, see the coffee canister in the background?  It's about to be my new storage bin for compost before it goes outside.