Gorgeous DIY Handwash!

   So I'm that person, cruising the internet all morning until my back can't take it anymore.  I'm surrounded by these fantastic people posting recipes for body scrubs (blech,) all kinds of things.  I found onegoodthingbyjillee and have been using her recipe for laundry soap for months, with a couple of tweaks, of course.  My husband is an aircraft mechanic so he gets pretty greasy, the original recipe wasn't cutting it so I increased all ingredients to 4 Tbsp. each and it's awesome!  Saves us tons of money.  I'll share my recipe then tell you why I'm all excited:

4 Tablespoons each Blue Dawn, (must be the blue, don't sweat it, it's a terrific investment,) Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT Baking soda, srsly.  It's in the same aisle as the laundry products) and Borax.  Funnel all of those things into some container, I use milk jugs since I had already thrown my laundry soap jugs out.  Pour in 4 cups boiling water, carefully please.  Last time I made it I just used super hot tap water, stuff still dissolved so whatever floats your boat.  Swish GENTLY so you don't end up with a jug full of bubbles.  When everything is dissolved, help it along with the end of a wooden or plastic spoon if you want, fill the container to the top with cold water, again, slowly.  Use between 1 and 1/2 cup in each load of laundry.  Seriously, check out her site, she has tons and tons of helpful household recipes and tricks, it's one of my favorite websites and I'm by far NOT a Domestic Goddess :)

   Now on to why I'm so excited.  I found that after I rinsed my hands off after adding the washing soda they were super soft and lovely.  So today I put my recipe skills to work.  This can be altered a thousand ways so do yo thang, baby.

   2 Tbsp. each Blue Dawn, Baking Soda and Washing soda.  I added a butt load of rose essential oil that I found at the dollar store in a gift packet (!!!!) but it didn't improve the smell like I wanted it to, I'm obsessed with roses at the mo.  I think when I make a new batch I won't use the Dawn, it's kind of harsh against the washing soda.  I did add a couple of teaspoons of a rose water and glycerin combo I got at the dollar store a while back and that did the trick!  Now I have fantastic hand washing soap that I came up with all by myself and makes my hands smell like roses!  If you are one of those people that carry hand sanitizer everywhere you go add a smidge of regular dish soap, the antibacterial on skin kind.  I've seen the Pink Dawn with Olay used for that purpose.  Nice on the hands I hear.  I just had to go put on a little lotion, definitely a little harsh. But a terrific start!  I'm going to go wash my hands again and pat myself on the back, LOL.  Stay frosty!

FaveCrafts Giveaway

   I just stumbled upon this giveaway on FaveCrafts and HAD to blog about it to get an extra entry, lol.  I adore Mod Podge's products, today I'm going to attempt a pendant with Dimensional Mod Podge and give my coasters and wall tiles their second coat.  Good luck, head over and enter.
http://www.favecraftsblog.com/mod-podge-giveaway/

Things I have to share!

   All this time I should have been blogging this stuff, but I've been trying everything pinned at pinterest.com for months!  I wanted to come here to share some things I've found.

1)  Homemade Laundry Soap, NO GRATING INVOLVED!  I tried the recipe at onegoodthingbyjillee.com first, but it wasn't getting the grease out of the clothes so I increased the amount of all of the ingredients and it works like a charm.  For pennies a load!  I use 4 Tablespoons each of Borax, Washing soda (NOT baking soda,) and Blue Dawn.  I pour those in a clean, empty milk jug, pour in 4 cups of very hot water to get them to dissolve but don't shake it too much or you'll just have a bubbly mess.  Lastly, fill the jug with cold water very slowly, like above, you don't want to lose all of your soap by bubbling up.  I use about 2/3 cup per load.  Then I throw them in the drier using my own version of fabric softener:  6 cups water, 3 cups White Vinegar and 2 cups of hair conditioner, I used some that was from the dollar store but it was good stuff!  I used half that so it would fit in my spray bottle. I cut up some old kitchen towels that you could see through, and spray twice each side before throwing in with wash.  Genius I tell you.  I use a lot of her recipes and tricks, you should definitely check her out.

2)  Last week I had a little booboo on the carpet with hot pink nail polish...I knew my hubby would come unglued so to google I went looking for something that would help and someone mentioned engine degreaser!  I use that stuff in the kitchen to cut through grease all the time.  I got some on a bit of old towel, rubbed furiously and by damn it came out!  We just moved into this house in May and there are several questionable stains on the carpet, rubbery even.  I tried the Super Clean, found in the automotive section, put some in a little coffee cup and grabbed my old cleaning toothbrush and wiped their asses out!  One problem: It makes the rest of the carpet look absolutely filthy by comparison!  So I'm going to try it, just a little, in our steam cleaner.

   That's it for now, the boy is nagging me to go somewhere.  Lots of love!

Crochet Saved My Life

I am writing this post to share with others the benefits of crocheting while ill.  I've been sick since1999, and have recently been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, in my spine I have arthritis, degenerative disc disease and spasms so bad they're causing my spine to twist and curve.  I honestly do not know how I would have survived this long if I didn't crochet.  Words are failing me.  I hope to read this new book on the subject by this author:  www.crochetconcupiscence.com .  There are websites related to the subject as well, one is http://www.crochetsavedmylife.com .  On top of the problems above I have several mental disorders as well.  On those days where I just can't take it anymore, if I'm able to pick up that hook I know everything will be all right :)  I'm hoping to win a copy of this book by writing this post, I know I've been slacking in the post department lately but I have grand plans!  Thanks for reading, I hope you can garner a little help with your pain as well.

Almost Summer

There are a lot of things I'd like to write about, surgery, diagnoses and drugs.  I'm just trying to feel better.  My neck hurts more now than in the first 6 weeks, I'm guessing it's trying to fuse now.  I'm sooooo freaking tired, luckily the family gets it.  I got nails back on!!!  So I'm messing with those now.  I bought my first bottle of OPI, it was a pretty red pink in the bottle but blood red on the nail :(  I've got a nice dark red on my fingers now, CG of course.  I organized my nail stash and I've got 5 photo shoe boxes full of polish and another with the rest of the crap that goes with it...I am on a polish diet, unless they come out with more colors in that Wet n' Wild wide brush stuff.  Easily my favorite polish right now, but the rest of the colors are so LAME.  What shall I do for another hour until my meds start to work?  No clue but I wish they worked faster.

One Good Thing and Catching Up With Life

All taken from:  http://www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html

''Among women over 18 looking at themselves in the mirror, research indicates that at least 80% are unhappy with what they see."

"Standards of beauty have in fact become harder and harder to attain, particularly for women. The current media ideal of thinness for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population."

"All research to date on body image shows that women are much more critical of their appearance than men – much less likely to admire what they see in the mirror. Up to 8 out of 10 women will be dissatisfied with their reflection, and more than half may see a distorted image."


"In 1917, the physically perfect woman was about 5ft 4in tall and weighed nearly 10 stone. Even 25 years ago, top models and beauty queens weighed only 8% less than the average woman, now they weigh 23% less. The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population – and that's just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., it's probably more like 1%."


"By 13, at least 50% of girls are significantly unhappy about their appearance. By 14, focused, specific dissatisfaction have intensified, particularly concerning hips and thighs. By 17, only 3 out of 10 girls have not been on a diet – up to 8 out of 10 will be unhappy with what they see in the mirror.'


"Childhood

Teasing factor: If you were teased about flaws in your appearance (particularly your size or weight) as a child or teenager, your body image may have become permanently disturbed.

Touch-deprivation factor: People suffering from extreme body-image disturbance report a lack of holding and hugging as children."

    I intended to write a bit about what I find disturbing about pinterest, the constant barrage of images of perfectly fit women, exercise guides, MORE images of perfect women, then a buttload of fattening recipes.  I wanted to find out how many women actually have some form of body view disorder but what I found was worse than I thought.  I am 6' tall and am up to 280, mainly because I am not able to exercise, or walk more than 50 feet due to slipped disks and other problems in my back.  I've always been "big" but I really don't give a shit.  I am Amazon, hear me roar.  My daughter gained a bunch of weight when she started taking anti-depressants and it's killing me.  She's so hard on herself but not NEARLY as much as any of my former friends were.  She's ok with it and knows we will change it.

    What scares me are the images going around the above mentioned website.  The constant barrage of pictures of perfect women.  They're all over the popular boards as well, so this is not a singular thing.  I dug up the information above and am appalled.  Can't write much more, arms and back giving out.  

    Take a look at yourself.  Do you want to change something?  Is it reasonable to change that and who are you changing it for?  How would your life change if you changed that?  Just thoughts pouring out of my gob :)

White People Problems

  I'm yet again disgusted, perturbed and saddened by the things considered problems by people with privileges.  Privledges like running water, proper bathrooms, cars, electricity, clothes not handed down from 30 people.  It sickens me sometimes to just be cruising websites and hear people bitch that their cake didn't turn out right, even though they spent $80 on ingredients.  I spend plenty of money on bullshit too.  I have more nail polish that is right by human standards and my yarn stash is still pretty large, even though I have bought very much the latter half of last year.  I get mad at my family for acting like electronics are more important than our relationships are.  If we just took an eighth of the time we spend on websites obsessing over food, clothes, celebrities and gossip and directed it in a positive fashion I would be so proud.  If you can't volunteer somewhere just turn off the tv and spend time with your family, draw pictures and send them to a shelter somewhere.  Send your children's outgrown clothes to battered women's shelters or similar, they alllll need clothes.  Help your neighbor, just in case you need help some time.

Friends lost, family gained

   When I had my little Facebook blowout, I didn't know what to do, who to trust, who liked me and who didn't.  My fatal error, of course, was inviting my bat shit crazy sister into the group.  I know better.  She's so melodramatic, and they believed her!  All those posts about not sleeping, being in pain, then the next day she's writing about having completed a 5 mile bike ride!  Vatta doosh.  I fucked up and replied to the email she sent me a couple of months ago, ripping in to me, telling me what an asshole I am.  Then I found out yesterday that she deleted my daughter from her friend list as well...??  I had to reply to the message.  I kept it short, one paragraph, stated my case.  She wrote back, full of venom, saying that my mother hates me, she deleted my daughter because she was sick of reading her posts about her being ill.  She knows just where to stick that hateful knife.  I knew better.  That's what blows about the whole thing.  I should have NEVER let her into my life again.  She is too crazy, and now she's alienated all of my friends from me.  I have to wonder what she's told them so they aren't contacting me.  It must be a DOOOOOOZY.  I lost all my friends but gained a lot of time with my family, so that's all that's really important here.  If the others want to follow the sister around believing her shit, so be it.  It sure does bother me, why they're not contacting me, but I've got to let it go.  She doesn't see the Bipolar in herself, sad really when it all comes crashing down.
    Lots of good things are happening in my life right now, but I still fight the depression.  The hubby is really fighting hard to beat his demons, but it's so difficult to be around him sometimes.  I found out a lot of things that are causing me to have so much pain, now I just have to get to the Rheumatologist to see what the blood work turned up.  He was extremely shocked at the laxity in my left knee.  It bends in all directions, so I've been doing the strengthening exercises to keep it more stable.  I've started fish oil and vitamin D, turns out I'm deficient, it helps with the pain some.  They finally caught my thyroid low so I've started medication for that too.  I've got stage 3 kidney disease, that came out of nowhere, still shocked.  Since I've been super hydrating my numbers have improved but not enough to get me out of stage 3.  Then there's all the stuff with my back.  It's a dissertation so I won't bore you with that.  Hopefully our insurance authorizes it quickly so I can get the surgery as soon as possible, life just sucks.  I can't do anything.  I have notebooks full of ideas, stuff, I had to make one to go around my neck because I usually forget what I was going to write down before I locate a notebook.  Which is ridiculous, I hoard the damned things.
    I really hope the house thing works out soon.  Since it's an approved short sale it shouldn't take a year like some do,  it's gorgeous and I love it and it doesn't have any STAIRS!!!  I've been sleeping downstairs in my recliner for a few weeks, I can't get up and down the stairs and our mattress is awful.  Hubby doesn't want to buy a new one until we move into the new house.  Blergh.  I have so many ideas, things I want to decorate, I'm so anxious that they'll screw us and make us wait 6 months.
    We adopted a baby kitty last weekend!  She's yellow striped with long hair, the cutest face EVER.  Jason came up with the name Matilda, hubby calls her Maddy, I call her mistress squishy cheeks or whatever pops into my head.  I slept on the couch chaise last night just so I could sleep with her, that's her spot :)
    It's about time to color my hair again, I bleached it a week or so ago but haven't gotten around to putting more purple in.  My arms get tired so fast because of the two pinched nerves in my neck.
    I guess that's about it, unless I can get this picture to work.  I saw a mani on Pinterest the other day, paint the nail a dark color then use 3 or 4 sheer polishes of the same color group and dab them on one at a time with plastic wrap.  I re-did it last night and it's bangin'!

Whooohooo!  I'm so impressed with myself right now, LOL.  Next, since I've figured out how to get good pics on here, one of the new family member:

    Well, I guess that's it for now.  Once I get my head on straight I can start posting decorating ideas.  Oh, I should probably put a medication count on here since I'm changing so many.  Meh, I don't want to bore you to death and my arms are tired.  Good write Krissy!  You managed to stay sitting up and typing for a long time :)

Changes

   I deactivated my Facebook account this morning.  It said my account had been hacked, again, so that gave me the perfect excuse to leave.  Some "friends" jumped me a month or so ago, I left the secret group and only three people contacted me afterward.  It was obvious from some of the things they said that someone had been making some shit up because I had NEVER used terms like that, but when I tried to lay blame everyone came to my sister's defense.  I invited her to the group several years ago, I thought she could use some internet peeps.  She kind of took over, but I never had the feeling anyone didn't like me.  Some old shit came out from one person, way to hold a grudge.  So, I've only been on to check messages since and I got hacked so I'm out.  I am kind of grateful, I spend a lot more time with the fam now.  What's REALLY important.
   I'm still doing my nails like a maniac.  That's about all I can do now.  My new doc ordered MRIs and CTs and found two bulging discs in my neck and one in my lower back, along with several other pain causing things.  The vertebrae are now sitting on nerves in both places so we're going to do surgery asap, probably within the next three weeks.  Just the neck for now, once I recover from that we'll do the bottom half.  I can only hope it works, I'm so weak and tired and in pain.  I'm seeing a Rheumatologist now as well since my labs came up positive for some type of rheumatoid thing.  Eventually I'll feel like a human, right?
    We're also buying a house, or attempting to.  It's gorgeous, one story, 5 years old.  I love it and hope they get escrow started next week.  I hate to get surgery while so much is going on but I'm afraid of what will happen if I wait.  Arms tired, will write more later or tomorrow.  I have a lot to say :)

Just some bulljunk

    I've been trying to write a post for a week or so, it's just too hard to get near the blog :(  There are so many things I want to talk about, but nothing makes sense for some reason.  It's like I have so many ideas for crafts and nails and things like that, I've been cruising sites and blogs and videos but I can't actually force myself to sit in my chair to do any of them.  I got acrylic nails put on so it's kind of hard to type on the lap top, my pc is dying, I've spent several weeks cleaning it up but it's just croaking.  I can't even get through all of the first page of FB before it bogs down an stops responding.  I know it's running another program in the background but I can't figure out what it is, it doesn't show up on the task manager.  I'd better go for now, my arms are already tired.  I have so many nail polish purchases I want to scream about, I've found another retailer in my area that has a great polish for $1, and good nail art brushes for a dollar as well.  My hair bleach is two dollars less than Sally's but the lady that works there is kind of a twat.  The dude is awesome but I could tell she was talking bad about me because she used two words I used right before she started acting like an ass.  I hate that, I really want to be nice to them, give them good reviews online and promote them on the blog and they're assholes to customers.
    OH!  I will give one little bit of dish:  I colored my hair pink and purple and people are so nice to me!  People stop me all the time to say how much they love it and my nail lady gave me a free bottle of China Glaze 3D that I'd never seen before!  Seriously, every retail person I come into contact with is super nice, but my shrink is a total ass.  It was so bizarre, typically he's awesome but he treated us totally different this time so I'm going to go for it and really piss him off next time.  I'm not putting up with a professional treating my kids poorly because my hair is a different color.  Imma mess that mutha up.  Ok, arms are jello, hope all is well with everyone.  Much love.