Its Friday!

I would like to say thanks to a dear friend in Chicago for giving me this award, now get your bum to California so we can go have coffee.

Where has this week gone?

Nikki came back from her mission's trip and she just fell in love with the people in Vegas. I get so much joy out of watching Nikki grow and when she learns things her face just lights up. I tell everyone that knows her to keep an eye on her because one of these days she is going to change the world.

Nikki and Ryan started school on Wednesday. Nikki is very happy to be back in regular high school, and as long as she is happy I am happy. Ryan is also loving life right now because he is back with his friends.

Next week Ryan will start to get homework, and that is when I have to put on my boxing gloves. I don't know why his teacher can't follow an IEP, but she can't. I am going to fight her all the way on this and I am even considering filing a complaint against her.

Amber starts college next week, and I am glad that she has decided to take some core classes. Amber is still looking for a job, but I am sure something will open up soon. This is Ambers last weekend before school starts so she went to the river with some friends. I guess it is one final good bye to summer.

You know that is sad. I feel like our summer is over now that the kids are back in school. I was thinking "man the children have not done anything this summer." I know I am wrong there. They have all been on some kind of trip, we have gone to the beach several times, all of the children have gone to concerts, bonfires, and the list goes on. At least I have reach a goal. I so wanted to spend more time with the children and I did just that.

So I got my hands on a camcorder and now that I have learned how to post videos I think I am going to go do more video blogging. I wanted to do a video blog today but no one is here to help me, so it will have to wait until next week.

My dear friend over at smaller footprint put up another challenge this week, and the challenge was to use or make your own cleaners. I wanted to make a video of all my cleaners and my kitchen, but it will have to wait. So, the easiest cleaner that I make is a multi purpose cleaner. I use 1 part vinegar and one part water. I just put it in a spray bottle and it works wonders! This is also good to keep in mind in case you run out of a cleaner you can make this up real quick.

Another cleaner that I make is my own dish washer soap. There are times when I run my dishwasher three or four times in one day, and buying that soap was getting very expensive. So here is how I make dishwasher soap:

1 1/2 cups of borax

1 1/2 cups of baking soda

1 cup salt

use 1/4 cup per load.

I make up two or three bathes at a time. I keep it in an old ice cream bucket. I have discovered that a scoop that you get from lemonade or Gatorade is about 1/4 cup, so I use that to measure out the soap. It works great.

Well I am done with all the marines quilts, so now I am working on making some little quilts. I am going to use them in gift baskets and to wrap around wine bottles. This is an opportunity to really show off my handi work. So I better go get a few things done around here, so I can get back to my sewing.