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It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas?

Girls Day Out

Grandma made the three hour trip down yesterday to babysit, so that daddy and mama could have a night out. We had a blast! My friend and band director invited a few people out for his birthday bash (I'm honored to have been on the "A" list:) We started with cocktail hour, then moved on to hors d'oeuvres and pizza in an Italian restaurant. He brought a birthday cake in, it said "Happy Thanksgiving." Since he's a big turkey, we thought it was appropriate:) We then went back into the lounge for a few more cocktails and to listen to some questionable karaoke--it seemed like a bunch of regulars--they weren't bad, but they didn't let any "newcomers" give it a shot--a few of us were going to go up to sing Summer Lovin' from GREASE (the gals would have been Olivia and the guys John)--but the same people kept getting the stage--so the band people never got their shot at vocal fame:( (I must assume they found out there were a bunch of rowdy band people there, and they knew there was a reason why we play real instruments:) But, as soon as some one went up to sing SWEET CAROLINE by Neal Diamond, a couple from our party literally got up and RAN out of the room, I mean RAN--apparantly Neil Diamond makes her physically ill, and she meant this literally (so sorry Mom:) From there we hit a sports bar that had the band director's wife's guitar teacher as part of a great local band called Mt. Olive--and they were really good, and the music was GREAT--we enjoyed singing, dancing, and more "cocktails"! So we had a ton of fun! Happy Birthday Jay! Thanks for a great night! I think my ears have stopped ringing, so hopefully I'll be able to hear for rehearsal tomorrow:)

So today, as a thank you to grandma for making the drive down, we had a girls day out. We went out for a yummy breakfast. And after I've always wanted to show her The Gingerbread House--it's a very quaint and adorable coffee and pastry and craft shop just a couple of miles from us. I remember not too long ago when it was a beautiful old farm house, and watched the renovation for over a year (waiting and wondering what was to become of this old farm house!). I LOVE quaint shops like this--it seems like everytime I go into a really cute and quaint country type shop, I want to turn my house into that--but then if I start to do that with my home (making it country), I get sick of all the clutter and start bagging stuff for Goodwill and changing it back to more clean and simple (as much as you can with small children--I'm thinking in my next home, I should have one country room, but only where I can close it off if I get sick of the clutter:)--but it was a bit crowded for the girls, so we bought a couple of cookies, took a quick tour, enjoyed the beautiful original wooden flooring and all the decor, and left. Now the girls are enjoying their turkey cutout cookies. (And Thank you to Grandma for bringing the movie August Rush to me, I can't wait to see it!)

HOOT HOOT---Owl Class at the Nature Center

We had owl class at our nature center today--the little owl in the first and third pictures is named Tuft. She's an eastern screech owl and a resident of the nature center. She was blinded in one eye when she was hit by a car (unfortunately a very common occurrence with owls, also the fate of the large taxidermy owl in the second picture). The driver of that car brought her right to a vet who was able to save her life; but she could not survive in the wild now. She also has glaucoma forming in her other eye. She's fed one mouse a day, and by morning, it's pretty much gone. The naturalist took Tuft outside on a leash with our class. Tuft is a sweetheart!

http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/router.asp?docid=10115

A Beautiful Day!

My Father-in-law married a wonderful women this past weekend---we're so grateful he found love and happiness again!

The wedding celebration was a perfect blend of elegance and togetherness!

The Original Party Animals!

A Fun Time was had by all at Buddy and Grandpa's Birthday Bash!
(ok, we'll admit, the dogs were severely bribed, and maybe not quite so pleased:)

Homemade Laundry Soap

This is a different kind of recipe--but so worth your while! We've been very environmentally conscientious LONG before the "green" movement became a fad. I've been buying as much organic food as possible since the late 1990's using canvas bags for almost as long (I always have about 10 in my car, and keep a collapsible one in my purse for when I forget to bring one in for quick purchases). From there I made the switch to organic/ natural personal care products and make up. And the easiest switch of all came around 2001---cleaning supplies! For the most part I clean with vinegar and baking soda, for almost everything. I've been buying earth friendly dish soap for about eight years--I never used the dishwasher (not wanting to waste the water)---but about two years ago, finally gave in as doing the dishes was not only taking up too much counter space, but I found a lot of the day was taken up in keeping up with the dishes that could have been spent with my little girls---the few plastic things we have were handwashed, but I gave up on that too (plastics are not the healthiest choice for food storage, but there isn't a lot of choice with spill proof cups, etc. We did order a couple of "spill proof" cups that are in more of a thermos material for the girls a couple of years ago, but they didn't work too well:). Ok, so anyway, I tried making my own dishwasher soap, but the dishes were left very spotty--as they were with Seventh Generation dishwasher soap--(my dishwasher is old:)--so, I do admit to using Cascade for that.

Now, the real reason for my post (yes I tend to be long-winded at times:), Laundry Detergent--since I started buying earth-friendly laundry detergent back in 2000, we had been spending about $20 a month on it!! Yes, I thing that's steep, but we felt a responsibility to do that. Well about a year and a half ago my mom found a recipe that I've been using since, that is super simple to make, only has to be made once every 1.5 months or so--and costs less than $1.50 to make for about two gallons! I think everything comes out very very clean, and I love this (and it's fun to make:):

• 1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap (I found this at Ace Hardware)
• 1 cup washing soda (NOTE: must be washing soda, not baking soda)
• 1 cup Borax powder

You will also need a small bucket, about a 2 gallon size.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap melts. Add the baking soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon (16 cups) plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You can use 1/2 cup per load.

A few things to note:

• The finished soap will not be a solid gel. It will be more of a watery gel (looks like egg drop soup).
• The soap is a low sudsing soap. So if you don't see suds, that's ok. Suds don't do the cleaning--it's the ingredients in there that cleans.
• I sometimes will add a few drops of my favorite essential oil to the soap as I'm doing a load of laundry--e.g. lemongrass or orange are nice--if I'm doing sheets and bedding, I use Eucalyptus essential oil (a little goes a long way)--as that kills dust mites.
• If you find the soap has separated, just keep a large spoon in you laundry room and mix it together--it probably means when you prepared the soap, you didn't let the fels naptha melt all the way before adding in the borax and washing soda.
• This does work very well in my relatively new efficient front loader washer

Try it, it's fun, takes very little time to make, it's so much cheaper than ANY commercial soap, earth-friendly or traditional--and you can feel really good about doing something better for your family and our beautiful earth!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy Birthday to our Beautiful Boy (poor guy will get an identity complex with his "princess" crown, it's bad enough his own grandpa keeps referring to him as a "she":) Happy belated birthday to his grandpa and cousin Cimba, and happy birthday tomorrow to his aunt:) We'll have a birthday party tomorrow for the dogs and grandpa when the grandparents arrive:) (and happy election day everyone!)

Veggie Open Face Sandwiches

This concoction came about from a group effort. My mom was at a trendy little cafe' and had a dish that she decided to try to repeat--I then improved upon her interpretation by adding a sauce, and walla, yumo!

It's very simple but really good. You can do this with any homemade or store-bought meatless "meat" type of product (or real meat if preferred).

Saute' any desired veggies: e.g.: zucchini, broccoli, peppers, onion, garlic, etc. Toast up desired bread, we liked pumpernickle for this. And make a sauce comprised of desired amount of ranch dressing with some mustard (your choice we used Dijon or garlic mustard) added in. Assemble by starting with toasted bread on bottom, next put on cooked "meat" choice, followed by sauteed veggies, sauce, and finally top with a slice of cheese (e.g. provolone, Swiss, gruyere, or fontina). Put assembled sandwiches onto a cookie sheet and broil in oven til cheese is starting to brown and bubble. Serve with a side salad, soup, baked potatoes, beans, chips, or veggies, and wow is this a quick and great meal!

Angel Hieroglyphics and Artwork