What Am I Up To Now???

What does this:

And this:

Have in common? You'll have to wait and see!! :)

Until next time. . .

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hello everyone! I've been seeing several bloggers blogging about making homemade laundry detergent. It piqued my curiosity, but I must admit, I was very skeptical. So I did what any responsible blogger would do. . .research, research, research!! I read every blog post I could find on it and it seemed like the overwhelming census was that it got the laundry clean and cost only pennies to make. So I decided to jump in and give it a try!

Most of the "recipes" for this concoction are basically the same, but I decided to go with one I found over at the blog StoneGable.

Here's a look at my ingredients:

Click on the StoneGable link above to get the exact measurements and recipe. I would list them all here for you, but I've already thrown away all the boxes! The total cost to make a batch of this detergent is around $30. And it makes a huge tub of the stuff, let me tell ya! All you do is grate your Fels-Naptha soap (it looks like cheese!) and then pour all the other ingredients in and mix, mix, mix!

Here's what mine looked like after I mixed it all together:

Since you only use about 2 tablespoons per load, this batch should last me about a year! Thirty dollars for a year's worth of laundry detergent ain't too shabby, if you ask me! I used it for the first time today, and I really like it. My clothes came out fresh and clean without smelling perfumey. I don't have a HE front load washer, but all the info I read on this product states that it is safe to use in these types of machines. Also, it doesn't make hardly any suds so if you try it, don't think you aren't using enough. I used 2 tablespoons in the load I did today and it didn't suds up hardly any at all. But my clothes came out wonderfully clean! I did use my regular fabric softener but think I may now be on the hunt for a homemade version of that, too!

Have any of you tried anything like this? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Until next time. . .

A Simple Project

Hi everyone! I have been seeing rope wrapped vase projects all over blogland and on Pinterest. Since simple is what I do best, I decided to give it a try. I gathered my supplies, which consist of a dollar store glass vase, rope I purchased from Lowes, some faux hydrangeas, and my trusty well used glue gun and got to work.

All you do is wrap your rope or twine around the jar, gluing as you go.

And this is what it looks like when you are finished:

So Pottery Barnish looking, don't you think? I plopped my faux hydrangeas in it and, viola, a cute, summer look for just pennies! The most expensive part of this project was the rope. I think I paid around five dollars for it and the best part is, I have plenty left over for future projects. So for less than ten dollars, I have a stylish piece that is going to go into my "new" master bedroom. I'll share more on that with y'all in a later post.

I apologize for the quality of these photos. I did this project at night, while watching some mindless television. I think the whole project took me about an hour from start to finish.

I'm linking up with these parties this week:

Sizzle Into Summer over at DIY by Design

Wow Us Wednesday over at Savvy Southern Style

Share Your Creations Party over at Kristen's Creations

Until next time. . .

Having Fun at a Wax Museum

A couple of weeks ago, my sweetie and I took an overnight trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. Which is really not news in and of itself, as we tend to go there a lot for overnight weekend getaways. It's only about a three hour drive from where we live so it makes for a nice little weekend drive.

The last time we ventured down that way, we noticed they were building a new attraction but we couldn't really tell what it was going to be. Well, this time they had it finished and we decided to check it out. It's called The Hollywood Wax Museum. The hubs and I both decided that it was probably meant more for families with children, but it was very hot when we were down there and we figured we'd check it out since it was probably air conditioned! Much to our surprise, it was an awesome attraction where visitors are encouraged to interact with the wax displays. A couple of shots of the outside of the building:

Once inside, we had our photo taken with King Kong and then we were ushered into the museum for a self guided tour.

Lucy made me try some Vitameatavegamin.

Meet Agent J, Agent K, and my favorite man, Agent S.

Jeannie took me on a tour of her bottle.

Then I received a crash course on how to become one of Charlie's Angels.

Meanwhile, hubby tried to block Michael Jordan's shot and shared in a victory with race car driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Leonardo made my heart go on and Forrest was kind enough to share his box of chocolates with me.

By this point, we were getting pretty tired, so hubby tried to get Spock's crew to "beam us up".

What a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a hot afternoon! There was lots more that we saw, but I won't bore y'all with pictures of everything. And there was also a couple of other additional attractions, like a haunted castle thing, and a King Kong experience, neither of which we did.

Sometimes it's fun to just let everything go and be a kid again! If you ever get a chance to visit the Pigeon Forge area, this is an attraction that I highly recommend.

Until next time. . .

Happy Birthday America!

Thank you to all the service men and women around the globe who sacrifice so much to keep us all safe. Happy birthday, America!!

Until next time. . .