Me and My Simple Life

(An updated version of an old-lost post)

If you look just over to the right of this post you'll see the very basic answer to who I am in the column "About Me." If we were to meet and start a conversation, that's about all you'd get out of me, maybe a bit more even. I'm not a big sharer. (Weird that I'm blogging right?) I moved a lot growing up and found that it was easier to have a lot of good acquaintances than a few good friends. Now when I say we moved a lot, I mean that by the time I was in 7th grade I had been to seven different schools. Granted some of the school changes were in the same city/town due to graduating to middle school, or quitting private school, but still.

I find it hard to be intimate with people. I don't like to get too close b/c in the back of my mind "I'm moving in a few months so don't bother and don't get hurt." As weird as this sounds I love conversing with people. I'll ask you all about your life and adventures and I'll really listen b/c I'm actually interested- why ask if you don't care right? However, I won't share anything of myself in our conversation. I remember one of my Psych professors discussing how conversations need to be a two-way street. People like to talk about themselves, so when you talk with someone don't just talk about yourself, ask them some questions and really listen. I was like "done! I got that!" My version probably isn't really what he was looking for. Oh well.

So here I am... sharing. This is a lot easier b/c it's like a journal. I'm just writing this out, not talking to anyone, and you're just reading it after I've put it out there.

Me. I am 29 years old. I am the first born of three girls; my family likes to say my dad is blessed. I am stubborn as a mule. My favorite season is spring.I married my high school sweetheart; how he stuck around is beyond me. I am the only daughter-in-law. I have a brown speckle in my right eye; my father-in-law, an optometrist, once told me what it's called but I forgot so I still call it a speckle. My favorite color is green. I graduated from Purdue University in four years, which is a rare feat these days. I have a 4 year old little girl (I'll call her Babycake in the blog) and 14 month baby boy (who we call Buddyboy), they are the light of my life. Finally, I am continually learning how to be a better person in all my relationships be it with a friend, child, spouse, parent, or sibling.

My Simple Life is just that, simple. We're a small lower-middle class family in the Midwest. Not many sentences could describe a more simple setting. My days typically consist of waking up to my own personal alarm clock "Momma!.. Momma!.. Mom!.. Mom! Mom!" This is followed by a day set by the kids' moods and naps. At the moment we'll usually get out of the house at some point in the day; either to run errands (exciting right?), hang at the library at story time, or we go to the child watch of our local YMCA for me to work. I'm looking forward to when our family schedule will sync up with the workout classes so we can go to the Y other than to work.

Yep. I think that about sums it up. We don't usually have anything exciting happening in our lives, but when we do, it's pretty exciting.

So, why would I bother blogging about this simple life? Well for the last 10 years (uhlg I feel old!) I've been on Facebook and I've found that when I have an opinion about something, and I'm willing to share that opinion, I write a nice long post that takes up all of my friend's homepages. With this blog I'll be able to share my rantings, ravings, and ramblings without intruding on anyone's space. I simply assume that if you're reading this you want to hear what I've got to say. So thanks for reading and I'd love to hear about you and your life!

The Best DIY Dishwasher Detergant

Like many families, we are on a tight budget. When we first came to this life style, we had to look at what we could keep doing, and what had to go. In attempts to save as much money as possible, I began looking up DYIs. I tried many different DIY laundry detergents, some worked, some didn't. To be honest brand name laundry detergents have worked the best for us. We live in a VERY hard water area and don't have a water softener, so unless I used a ton of the homemade detergent, it didn't really clean our kids clothes.

Laundry detergent wasn't the only thing I tried doing myself. I tried making a couple dishwasher detergents too. The one that I found and liked the best can be found on the Eco-Friendly Family blog. I used this recipe for years. However, it wasn't quit perfect. Being the hard water area we live in, I had to do a vinegar rinse after every wash to rid the calcium clouds left behind. A vinegar rinse takes a while to dry. So, I had a clean and safe wash, but not perfect.

About two years ago I was in the grocery buying more Lemi Shine for my dishwasher detergent; I saw that Oxi Clean made a dish detergent too. I liked what Oxi Clean had done for my laundry, so I wanted to see what it could do for my dishes. Wow! What a difference! I no longer need to do a rinse after every load. I might need to do a rinse once a week, or every other week. The Oxi Clean detergent is made to be a detergent on its own, but with my recipe the number of washes you get TRIPLES and cleans just as well. (hooray for tight budgets!)

I like to keep my Super Washing Soda in an air tight zip lock
to keep it from clumping and hardening.

Dishwasher Detergent Recipe

1 12.7 oz container Oxi Clean Dishwasher Detergent

1 1/2  Cups Super Washing Soda

1/2  Cup Pure Baking Soda (cleaning, not baking kind)

1/2  Cup Sea Salt (any brand should do)