Laundry Detergent

Well I tried the laundry detergent again and it went really well! We have used all of the first batch and we were very satisfied with it! So when we finished the first 2 gallons, I was really excited to make more! I made a double batch the second time and I am VERY happy to report that I now have 4 gallons of laundry detergent that cost me MAYBE $4-5!! YAY! I highly recommend this to EVERYONE! It is SO easy!

Another Change

This didn't really fit with the previous post, but it is a new change none the less. I made our own laundry detergent! It was SUPER easy to do and I have now washed two loads of clothes in the "new detergent" and so far, I am very well pleased! It was VERY cheap to make. And it makes a TON! I am super excited about this since it is something I can do that is quick and easy, and cuts down on the budget just a bit! Interested? I used this link which I found very easy to follow and when it talks about grating soap, I used a whole bar of ivory soap. It was what I had on hand! Feel free to ask any questions! Not sure I can answer since I have only done it once, but I will be happy to try!

New Crayons

I am so excited. This blog is not solely for my frugal finds. It is also supposed to be about all the cool things I am doing! SO, lets get off topic for a moment and talk about the rest of life! We made some really cool new crayons earlier this month. It was a project I had been dying to do and it proved to be well worth the mess and time!

I decided to do this because I remember coloring with these as a kid (at Ms Molly's I think) Then I ran across the instructions as I was working on stuff for my kids Sunday School class. I decided that since we had more broken crayons than whole, it would be a good project. SO, I sat at the table and pealed all the broken crayons and divided them by color. Which was great fun and learning for the kids as we talked all about colors, matching, trying SO hard to get some of that paper off!

Then I baked them in the oven at 250 for just about 10 maybe 15 minutes. They melted, but still seemed to have chunks.

My husband wanted so bad to stir them, but we resisted the temptation and when I shook them a little as they came out the remaining lumps disappeared.

They cooled very well and pretty quick, within 20 min I am thinking. Once they felt hard on top and pretty cool on the bottom, we popped them out.

It wasn't long and the kids were coloring and having a blast! It was fun! AND the kids still LOVE playing with their "new" crayons. YAY! I am thinking about talking to our Preschool Director at Church about doing this with some of those broken crayons...not sure if I am really up to that just yet though.
-There were a few lessons I learned. The muffin pan does not really want to let go of the left over wax, so I will just use this pan for craft stuff from now on. (which is okay, since I still have my stone pans I always use)
-The cheap crayons, seemed to have LOTS more wax and left a yucky clear residue on the tops of some. If/when I do this again, I may try to shave that part off sometime during the cooling process.
Again, overall it was a LOT of fun!

Fun Night Out

Well, we had great plans to go to a Harvest Festival tonight. However, they got rained out. So my sweet husband decided to make a night of it anyway! We went to Triangle Town mall and ate Chick-Fil-A (with coupons of course). We let the kids play on the indoor playground. We went to Barnes N Noble and got FREE coffee! Go here to get your coupons! They were free, we gave them the coupon, they gave us the coffee, nothing more or less! We also went to Bath and Body works and I got a free Wall Flower with any purchase by using a free with any purchase coupon! YAY! Dinner out, happy babies, and a little shopping. What more could a girl ask for ;)
So, in the end I got to come home with this:

for $1.60, I think that will make a great gift for someone!

What about that pumpkin?

Okay so I know you are wondering what ever happened to all that baking I was planning to do. Well I finally got to it yesterday, well some of it. Baking all day with three kids is not always as fun as it originally sounds, just in case you were wondering. I am convinced that in three years, this would have been a really fun day...but not now! It was so exhausting that I didn't even have the energy to tell you about it yesterday.

ANYWAY! So to cook the pumpkin I just cut it in half, took out all the seeds and such, and then placed it on baking pans cut side down in the oven at 350 for an hour...fyi it is good to use a pan with sides! This is what it looked like in the oven:


This is what it looked like when it was done:


While it was cooking I rinsed the seeds and laid them on a stone to dry for 48 hours.

I used a sugared pumpkin seed recipe to cook them. They are pretty good. We had never eaten pumpkin seeds before so this is new to us. I took other recipes and made my own... I used:
1 c pumpkin seeds
1/2 egg white
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

I then baked them at 275 for about an hour and 15 min. I stirred them every 15 min or so. They were goody until I let them sit and then they were really yummy.

Oh, and by the way, you should try halving the white of an egg...it is fun...really...



I made two trays of baby food. That was really exciting.

Then I made pumpkin bread. Two loaves. The recipe was for one loaf, so I made it twice and baked them at the same time. YUMMY! The recipe I used for that was:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 c pumpkin
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbs butter softened

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon & nutmeg. Then add pumpkin, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and butter until well blended. Pour in loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.


Then I made a double batch of pumpkin muffins. I used this recipe for those. Now those were some nice big muffins. However that recipe called for pumpkin pie spice? I don't have that and really don't have a use for it. So I used a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ginger. I didn't do this but I think it might be nice to add in some raisins, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 cup. Also, that streusel topping, I think it is enough for 24 muffins...just my thoughts on that!

Finally I made a batch of chocolate chip (well sorta) pumpkin cookies. They were fantastic. (if I do say so myself!) I used this recipe:

1 c pumpkin
1 c white sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 c semisweet chocolate chips, umm, we will talk about that later...
1/2 c walnuts...not at my house!

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. You are supposed to dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir it in...I forgot that part, so I just sorta went with it and added to baking soda, then the milk. Then you mix the flour mixture with the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Finally you add vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts (if you so choose). Drop by spoonfuls (i used the small scoop) onto a greased cookie sheet (or well seasoned stone) and bake at 350 for about 10 min.

These are awesome cookies! However when I went to add the 2 cups chocolate chips, well I didn't even have a whole cup. OOPS! SO, I used what I had and substituted for what I needed...so I added about 1/4 c white chocolate chips, and about 1/4 cup of those white chocolate/semi sweet swirl. They are awesome. AND are not lacking in chocolate chips at all!


I finished the night by baking a couple of loaves of banana bread (I will share about that later), just because I wanted to at least try it. I still have lots of bananas to bake with I hope to do that tomorrow maybe? Oh who knows. But one thing I do know is, we want another pumpkin! That was fun! (well at least looking back it is fun to have all that stuff from just one pumpkin, I can not believe we threw it away last year...what a waste!)

Exciting Afternoon!

Well, I am trying hard to stay within a REALLY strict budget this month. We are trying to save as much as possible to pay for a few things coming up. Matt and I had agreed to a very SMALL budget and I am trying to stay within an even smaller budget, so that I can contribute more to the savings.

That said, Nanna sent Joshua some money to pick out a pumpkin. (it was sent to Joshua b/c Nanna is proud of Joshua for learning scripture in Cubbies) However with the money she sent the boys BOTH picked out a pumpkin AND mommy picked one for cooking! I am so excited! I have about 2 quarts of cooked pumpkin in my fridge waiting for me to bake it into something yummy! Goal ONE for the afternoon.

Goal TWO...While at the grocery store a few moments ago, I found that they had bananas (the over ripe ones) on sale .29 per pound! YAY! So I will bake those into some yummy things when I am done with the pumpkin. I will wait to do them second b/c if I run out of time (don't know why that would happen since daddy is at school and I am home alone for the evening with the kids) they are much easier to freeze (at least I think they are!)

Stay tuned...I think there will be another post or two telling you what happened this afternoon! My goal is to do as much as possible with what I have. I am thinking breakfast foods for a REALLY long time. Pancakes (in both flavors), muffins (in both flavors), bread (in both flavors) chocolate chip cookies (in both flavors)...YUMMY