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This week I have been working on a few projects.  Alexandra being married leaves us an empty room.  Though I miss her being here, an empty room is like winning the lottery for a big family.  We can always use more space.

For the past two months her room has sat just as she left it.  Poppa started encouraging me a few weeks ago to do something with it but the thought of moving her out (really just her stuff) was too much for me.  One day last week he told me that I was not getting rid of her, just her stuff and he gently reminded me that she has her own home and is not coming back.  That was the affirmation my heart needed to hear.  I was not getting rid of my girl, just her stuff!

Originally all of our girls were in one room and the boys in the other.  Our home has four bedrooms and a biggish loft.  Big because it is the size of my master bedroom.  The loft was my creative space and the fourth bedroom was and is Poppa’s office.  When Alexandra got to a certain age we moved my stuff from my beautiful loft to the garage to give her, her own room and the boys room was moved to the loft.  It all worked out fine except for me being relegated to the garage.

This room is now my favorite part of the house.  All of my favorite things to do are here minus the TV which I have a love hate relationship with (I hate TV but love a few shows like Downton Abbey and Alaska, The last Frontier).  It still needs some pictures up, a table cloth and a card table for the middle with chairs would be great but for now here is what we have.

The shelf was super duper easy to make.  Just 6 craft crates and 6 six foot long 2×12 wood planks. We stained them and screwed everything together in about 15 minutes.

This room has always been called the loft because that is what it is but I have heard the kids calling it “the lounge” which I think is hilarious.  The seem to love having a place to hang out.  Speaking of hanging out, I’m hanging out at Nicole’s today, pop on over to see what everyone is crafting.

I’ll be back here tomorrow to share my crocheted Saint Lucia/Advent/Christmas Wreath pattern.  Its really cool so I hope you will come back to see it.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Laundry, oh how you love to pile up and oh how I love to pretend you don’t exist.

With ten people in our family and little ones who wear something for 10 minutes then throw it down the laundry shoot, our pile grows faster than the weeds in the garden.  I have completely lost my laundry rhythm with this whole muscle pull thing and pretty much my whole schedule is out of whack.

I need to do some laundry, actually days and days of it.  I am getting to where I need to pep talk myself into getting small things done and the laundry monster knows it.  A few days ago I went in ready to attack only to find that I am out of laundry soap.  How did I not notice that?

Problem is I was out of castile soap to grate into my laundry detergent mix.  All I had on hand was Dr Bronners liquid.  So I mixed up the borax and washing soda into my container as usual and then to each load I added a half tablespoon of Dr Bronners to the wash.  It worked, it actually worked wonderfully.

Could I make my laundry soap with grated Dr Bronners instead?   Should I just continue adding the liquid to the powder?  This would cost more but then again, how much am I still saving by making my own detergent and doesn’t my momma nose deserve a nice smelling experience in the laundry room?

Yes!  I do!  Off to Amazon to see if I could get it cheaper than at the store.  Oh my could I ever.  I got a pack of 6 soap bars for $21.97 with free shipping for Prime members and then I remembered I have lots of gift cards I have gotten from searching through Swagbucks.  That means my splurge is now free and I am one happy momma.  Oh the lovely smell, it makes me want to do the laundry and that is a big feat.  Hopefully my tummy muscle will keep getting better so I can get back to hanging the wash on the line instead of using the dryer.  My dream consists of the amazing lavendar smell followed by the warm sunshine smell on a clean pair of bed sheets…that sounds like vacation to me.

Need the recipe?  Here is the one I have used for years.  I just substituted the Fels Naptha for the Dr Bronners soap.

What’s your splurge?

Oh and if you don’t use Swagbucks as your search engine and want to sign up, please use my link.  I earn about 5 gift cards to Amazon every month just for having them as my search engine.  They have hundreds of things you can use your points on from hundreds of gift cards to paypal cash and shopping.  If you sign up through my referral ID either through this link or on my side bar you can find my Swagbucks Widget,  I would get referral points and this is my plan to buy Christmas presents this year.  If you need some easy tips of getting points, email me and I will share.

Oh and speaking of vacation, tomorrow we leave for a much needed week at the beach.  Not sure if we have WIFI but I will do my best to stay in touch.  When next we meet, I hope to be relaxing in the sand.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)