Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy November!

Saturday we went trick or treating in my old neighborhood. Zach wore his Gilly suit,camo make up,and wore Rick's old British airborne beret (when Rick was in the 82nd Airborne back in the 80's,he was stationed in Europe and they would train and do joint missions with various units). Now that Zach is 12,I wondered how many more nights of trick or treating we will be doing. There won't be many. I felt a bit sad as we were walking the streets of my old neighborhood. Time keeps moving along,and I wanted to stop it for a little while.

Yesterday I made another batch of laundry soap. This is my first one using new supplies-I bought another Fels Naptha bar for .99 cents.I still have plenty of Borax and Washing Soda. With my initial purchase of 2 Fels Naptha bars,Borax,and Washing Soda, I was able to make 12 gallons,which cost me approx $10.00. My first batch was on Sept 5,2009,and my last batch was July 26,2010. Since I didn't have to make anymore until yesterday,my initial purchase lasted me over a year. You can't do that with store bought detergent!!

I also put away my canning supplies.Up into the attic they went. What I would love is a nice storage cabinet so I could put all my jars and canners into it.

We have started buying paraffin oil for our lamps ( I love oil lamps lit on winter nights). Red paraffin oil! The color looks great in the lamps.

Today I must cover my strawberries. The nights are getting quite cold,and though strawberries can withstand cold down to 20 degrees,I am not taking any chances. We had a touch of Indian Summer here last week,and now the temps are down into the 50's and 40's during the day. Leaves are falling off the trees,and, in fact,many of the trees are bare now.

Yep,it's November. :)

5 comments:

  1. What is fels Naptha? and how do you make your laundry soap.I would love to make some. Can you use it in the washing machine? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tiggywinkle-The Dugger's have a great recipe on their site that I use.

    Donna- I love your site! I make my laundry soap and found that green 7oz. Octagon soap doesn't work near as well as the large pink Zote bar. The Zote also has citronella in it so that works great in the summer.(I have a post called Pink and Bubbly under "cleaning") if you want to read my experience. BTW, Where in NH are you?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tiggywinkle,Fels Naptha is a bar of soap,simalar to Zote.It has a nice,light,lemony scent to it. I use it with Washing Soda and Borax to make my laundry detergent,and yes,you can use it in the washing machine,but you will not get alot of bubbles.It works great,though. I have the receipe in my Sept 5,2009 post called "Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap." I hope you come back and visit again!
    Hi Countrymama,glad you like my blog! We live in Middleton,not too many people have heard of it. We are next to New Durham,Union,and Milton,about 10 minutes north of Farmington.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Donna...I'm from Lyndeborough NH..just outside Milford on the other side of Wilton. A very small hole-in-the-wall town. My husband served two tours in Iraq in his 9 yrs Army and came home with PTSD so it looks like we have plenty in common already.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A fellow New Hampshire-ite! :) I am sorry to hear your husband has PTSD...it takes a while to adjust to the personality changes,doesn't it? Some days it can be quite a challenge.Please thank your husband for his service,and thank you for what you have sacrificed,spouses go through plenty without being in combat. Looks like we were meant to "follow" each other!

    ReplyDelete