Semi-Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

So a LOT has changed since my last entry here on this blog but that's another entry.
Here is a great way to save money, and with this economy you can use all the help you can get.
Super Simple Recipe.
Works in regular and HE washers.

Semi-Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent -  I know I need a Better Name  ﴾͡๏̯͡๏)

This is a recipe for 1 gallon and we have found it works very well with the hard water we get here in Alabama.

1/3 cup borax (wal mart has it - about $3.00 - $3.50)
1/3 cup Washing soda [( NOT baking soda)] again find it at wal mart  for about $3.50 for a big box
2 TBSP of Dawn dishwashing soap.

That's it for the main ingredients.
Now if you want fragrance and/or fresh scents you can add essential oils or in our case we use Gain.

We add about 1/2 cup per gallon of Liquid Gain to the detergent mix.

Now you have some powder and liquid in the bottom of a jug.
ADD HOT, HOT, HOT water about half the jug- not boiling but close.
And SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE.      ¯\(°_o)/¯
When you're done mixing finish filling with water.

This will mix and most if not all the powder will be absorbed in the mixture.
If the mixture separates over time just shake it again before using.

We use about 1/2 a cup per load and it gets everything clean and fresh.
We make up 5 gallons at a time at about $1.35 / gallon.
If we were to buy a gallon of Gain it would be about $18.00, so we save $16.65 per gallon we make.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Change is good

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), The Razor's Edge,

Getting back in the swing of things

Getting back in the swing of things is not always easy.
After having my first and hopefully only kidney stone in my life, and surgery for it, I have been wearing my big comfortable pajama pants.
Trouble is I gotta go back to work today and hence wear underwear.
4-5 days without restrictions makes you rethink your priorities - LOL
Which way does it go on again??????

"The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." — Albert Einstein

You cannot make the brick wall move no matter how many times you ask it to move. That doesn't mean you quit just because it won't move.
Crawl over it, or go around it. If you stop running the race you lose.

Energy

We only have a limited amount of it to use each day.
I'm talking about Physical, and Mental energy.
Both are connected.
Did you know that draining one can drain the other and vice versa?
Did you know that boosting one can fuel the other as well?
True stuff - at least in my life.

Negativity can tear you down emotionally faster than working 12 hours.
one negative encounter can sap your strength physically.
And what happens when that energy is gone?
The rest of your day is spent recuperating or trying to finish the other zillion things that need doing.

Positiveness ( if that is a word) does the exact opposite.
You could be dead tired but positive encouragement can help you dig into the physical reserves and push yourself even farther.
More on this subject later.

Words of wisdom from Mabel Simmons aka Madea.

I love Tyler Perry's Madea.

*(Note: Madea is ghetto. Read it that way.)

Some of her words of wisdom.

• You can't change people son. I don't know what makes folks think they can change somebody. You can't change nobody, that is a waste of time…sittin around tryin to change somebody. Maya Angelou said it best. She said, "If someone shows you who they are, believe them."

• ~When you lie to people it makes people doubt everything you ever say from that point on or everything you ever said. All you gotta do is tell the truth.

• ~Get up and go on with your life. It's alright to sit around and be depressed for a minute. Cry about it, do whatever you have to, but don't stay there too long. Get up and go on with your life. This is what I learned in all my years on this earth: If somebody wants to walk out of your life, let them go. Especially if you know you done done everything you can do, you done sat around and been the best man or best woman you can be and they still wanna go, let em go. Whatever they runnin after they'll see what they had in a minute but then it's gonna be too late. Cause half these people you sittin around cryin about, in two or three years, you ain't even gonna remember they're last name. Let folks go.

• ~Some people come into your life for a lifetime, some come for a season. You got to know which is which. You're gonna always mess up when you mix them seasonal people up with lifetime expectations. We got people that got married with people they only supposed to be with for a season, and they wonder why they have so much hell in their life. That was a person that was supposed to come and teach you one thing. You didn't know it so you just fell in love, and now you wonder why don't got no peace anywhere you go.

• ~No, no…listen. I put everybody that come in my life in the category of a tree. Some people are like leaves on a tree. The wind blows, they over there. They unstable. Blows the other way, they over here. Seasons change, they wither and die, they gone. That's alright. Most people in the world are like that. They just there to take from the tree. They there to take and give shade every now and then. That's all they can do. But don't get mad at em, that's who they are. Some people are like a branch on that tree. You gotta be careful with them branches too cause they'll fool you. They'll get there and make you think they a good friend and real strong, but the minute you step out there on em, they'll break and leave you high and dry. But if you find you two or three people in your life that's like the roots at the bottom of the tree, you are blessed. They're the kind of people that ain't goin nowhere. They ain't worried about bein seen, don't nobody have to know that they know you, they ain't got to know what they doin for you. But if them roots wasn't there that tree couldn't live. You understand? When you get you some roots hold on to em. But the rest of it you let it go. Just let folks go.