Laundry

Laundry seems to be my struggle lately. A year ago, we were put in a house we couldn't use our washer at at all. I spent hours upon hours at laundromats, washing, drying, and folding 12-16 loads at a time. 30-40 bux a trip! With all the kids with me, and my advancing ptregnancy, it got horribly hard. In January, we moved here, and I was thrilled to use my machines once again. Until I realized that my laundry wasn't getting clean. The agitator belt had broken! ugh!!

Even when things were working, I noticed that my laundry was slowly getting dingy, grey, and horribly stained. My kids were quickly looking like forgotten raggamuffins, no matter how hard
I tried!!

Well, some wonderful ladies on my christian message board gave me some ideas for how to wash laundry, with out leaving the house, and without spending tons of money, and I have been doing it and refining it ever since. :)

First of all, it only works if your machine doesn't have a leak. Second, it only works this well if you are still able to use the SPIN cycle. :)

I load the machine up 3/4 sized load. I turn on the water, and leave the lid up (this makes it stop as soon as the machine is full). Once it is full, I add in a double measure of Oxy, a single measure of Gain, and a Color Grapper sheet. Then I plunge (yes, with a clean plunger) the load 100 times, to mix it all in well. I leave it to soak for about an hour, and then plunge it again 100 times. Then I set the machine's setting to spin, and let it drain. Now I start the rinse cycle by letting the machine fill up, leaving the lid open. I plunge the clothing another 100 times, and set the machine to spin. The clothes are clean and ready for the drier!

Each load takes about 1/3 to 1/2 of my day, as I leave it to sit inbetween steps until I am able to do the next step. All at once, a load may take less then 15 minutes!

All this work is making my arm muscles gain definition :-) I usually need to wash 2 loads a day to keep up with my family.

It really makes you wonder...

K today at snack time...

Does this count?

Jacob's been doing this lately, every time he wakes up.... And he's getting really good at it!

Beef Jerky, part 2

After marinading the meat for several hours (and stirring and flipping it a few times during) I laid out a few paper towels and blotted the meat dry. Then I laid it out in the dehydrator trays. Every 2 hours I flip the meat over and blot off any greases. When it cracks when it is bent, it is done. Over done gets flaky.

After I was done getting the meat going, I quickly tossed my bread mix into the bread machine, and got it going....

Cinnamon Raisin Bread.... And it just got done cooling.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Making Jerky, Part 1

I have been learning new skills. One is dehydrating anything I think will store well. The other is baking bread in my machines. I posted on my Facebook page that I was doing both today, and I was asked to blog about it... So here I am!

This recipe was found online, amoungst some PDF files about making jerky and other dehydrated items.

I hope you can read my writing!

So I used Carne Asada meat for this task. Reason being that it's already cut thin (1/8 in thick). So I took each piece, and cut it up into serving sized strips, like so:

Once they were all cut and COMPLETELY trimmed of fat chunks, I mixed up my marinade, and added the meat. After taking the picture below, I covered it with saran wrap, and it's now sitting and melding.

I'll start part 2 when I put it into my dehydrator :D

BUSTED!!

I heard some noises in the kitchen, and went to investigate. This is what I discovered:

Dh says: "Well now, that explains a LOT!!" I guess there was a mystery mess on the stove... :D

A peek into my mornings

Morning starts early these days. Jacob sleeps through until the sun peeps over the horizon. Mommy is still trying to figure out what to do with this time, and this is what we do in the meantime...

Jacob is so happy in the morning.

Baby boy grows!

Noooo... They don't look anything alike.....

An early morning pile up...

Ready to go, right on!!

Growing up...

Woah!!! My oldest turned 10 this week. Instead of baby dolls and barbie dolls, she's into night vision, wolverine, and learning guitar.

We went to Adventure Land on her birthday, for hours of jumping, awesome pizza, and 5 dollars worth of tokens for tickets games. They went on bumper cars, and played laser tag... happy kids!

Then over the weekend, friends of the family threw a BBQ pool party for her. A fun day of friends, food and fun!!

After all is said and done she tells me "I've had the best birthday EVER, thank you!!" What a sweet girl.