OMG! Wonderful, Crazy Trip....

so we had a lovely, lovely time in Chelan, the water was amazing, my family & especially sweet Aunt and Uncle were welcoming and generous as always....this is where we got to stay:

BUT it was a crazy adventure getting there and most definately getting home!  My husbands girlfriend Betty (his motorcycle!) started getting fussy and so my sweet Cousin let us park her in his garage and then we were off to Chelan in the van that I was driving with the kids & luggage to enjoy those amazing waters!  On the way home she was playing nice but then just as we got about 60miles from home these beautiful crazy looking skies....

... started a lighting firestorm that was like driving through the breath of a dragon!  Sounds dramatic I know but it was crazy, the wind came up due to the fire and it was crazy smoky and huge tumbleweeds started coming out and attacking us, my poor husband was getting pushed all over the place and trying to breathe in all that smoke was aweful!  Thank goodness for our dear friend who was shopping in town and brought her ramp just in case!  She rescued Betty and a kind man gave us a strap to lock her in the back of the truck and we made it home surrounded by lighting flashes and just as we walked through the front door the rain came!  Pouring down and drowning out the flames, dust and wind and we were safe inside our home with our dogs, who had been taken care of beautifully by another dear family friend, wanting lots of love...definately not a trip we will forget anytime soon! 

Pretty Things!

As I mentioned in my previous post I was down with a broken leg, near the end of my convelesance I managed to get a few projects done all by myself, aside the ones that my kind family helped me with that is!  I have to take a moment to thank my sweet husband for trying to be my picker!  He found adorable vintage chrome kitchen tables from the 40s & 50s...one of which made it to the Country Store and the other is in my Laundry Room as a folding table!  He and my sweet son also sanded tables and reassembled them for me after I finished them since mobility was an issue- I could sit on my stool and paint & stain though!

I have been helping my friend Susie with a few little items for her daughters wedding.  Susie's daughter had quite the dramatic proposal on the morning show "The Talk"  and it has been a big adventure just watching what Susie has done putting this wedding together, truly inspiring!  I had fun making cute tags, labels and signage for different items at the wedding...Susie says it is practice for when my daughter is grown and getting married -a terrifying thought to my husband!  Anyhooooo....here is a picture of a cute tag I designed for the wedding, with lots of input from Susie!  We punched the tags out for maximum cuteness and they tied them on these adorable bottles of honey as wedding favors....so cute!

Homemade Concentrated Laundry Soap-I Did It!

This is a picture of my Homemade Laundry Gel...now I know I am not the first to make Homemade Laundry Soap but I was very happy with how it all turned out and super glad to have my Laundry & Mud Room clean, finally!  So I wanted to share the recipe with you all as well as the site that inspired my version of the recipe that I got from The Little House in the Suburbs: 

Concentrated Laundry Gel:
(double batch)

1. Grate 2 Fels Naptha Bars-add to 2 quarts hot tap water in a sauce pan, heating over medium low heat until all soap is       melted to cream soup consistency & mustard colored.
 2. In a 2 gallon container add 2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda & 2 cups Borax to 2 quarts hot tap water.
 3. Add half of melted Fels Naptha Soap & water mixture.
 3 Add 2 quarts hot tap water.
 4. Add rest of melted Fels Naptha mix.
 5. Rinse pot with final 2 quarts of hot tap water.
 6. Add 1 cup of 3X All and mix everything together, this stops goopiness and will turn your soap mixture to a lovely green.
 7. Let mixture rest, mixing once at the 2 hour point and then again at 4 hours.
 8. Let set up for 8 hours (final consistency is kind of like cold gravy-sounds weird I know!)

I hope this proves useful for your home as well.  The amazing thing about it is it costs less than 1cent per l/3 cup, which is what I use per large load and works beautifully.  The one thing I noticed is you need to put it directly into your laundry load in your HE washer as it is quite thick and won't completely rinse out of your dispenser area...for me, not having to put this into a giant bucket to make it a thinner consistency and store it was a big benefit and worth it! 

She's been a bad, bad girl!

I have been very, very naughty about posting!  I have an excuse though! Broke my leg!  I am up an at em now though.  I was looking at a couple new favorite bloggers, one of them being Miss Mustard Seed ...Marian is amazing!  I not only love her work but the volume of items she is able to complete is phenominal! Truly! My cohort at the Country Store, Cori of Starview Sonnet has items styled similiarly but thankfully on this coast instead of the East Coast!  Cori and I just did a little swap meet at the Country Store...it was a fun day...since it was the first one hosted by the store we learned a lot...I am hoping that Kyla, owner of the Country Store, will decide to do another one next summer!