There goes Mr. Goose Poop's nice relazing weekend

So last night on our way home from Jacob's football practice I hear on the radio that they are issuing a severe thunderstorm warning for some counties just north of us. I think to myself, hmmm that's weird. It was blue skies, sunny, warm, and completely calm outside. Didn't think much of it. We came home, it was hotter than billie blue blazes inside last night, so we had all the windows open. Anyway, get home, get the kids a quick snackie, finish up some last minute homework, and get the kids into bed. Everyone but Jonah. Since he's 10, he gets to stay up until 9:00. So he's in the living room studying memory work, I'm in the kitchen making lunches, and Mr. Goose Poop is laying in bed. (Rare for him I might add. But he worked late last night, and was just tuckered out!) Jonah comes flying in the kitchen, all scared. The wind had picked up a little bit, and I heard and saw a little bit of lighting going on. And when I say little, I do mean little. It wasn't even raining. Jonah was a little scared. I took him outside, showed him there was nothing to be afraid of, just a small thunderstorm coming thru. I mean, it wasn't even raining for heaven's sake. OK, it was a titch windy, but I didn't think it was that bad.

Well, it wasn't raining then, but 30 seconds later it was torrential down-pour. The wind picked up like you wouldn't believe. I sent Jonah to bed, re-assured him he'd be fine, told him Mr. Goose Poop and I wouldn't let him be in danger. So he scoots upstairs, and now it's a windy, blowy, rainy sight outside. I went and closed all the windows because rain is coming down sideways. I look outside, and I admit, it was looking fairly bad. I couldn't see the neighbor's house right across the street. At one point I saw our little froggy sandbox cover take flight. I could hear all out patio chairs skidding across the deck. All the street lights had gone out, lost power I assume. We always always loose power here, so I get the candles out, set them where I'd fine them quickly and get out a lighter.

Next thing I know, it's all done raining. And I mean all done. I walk outside, not a drop. And it's just a light breeze. Whew...looks like it was nothing. I'll find all our belongings in the morning. Go to bed, no biggie.

The kids wake up this morning and look out the window's behind the kitchen table. Guess it wasn't just "nothing". A tree next to our house cracked in half. From where it landed I can only assume that it hit our house. There's no way it couldn't have. I can see no damage, thank goodness. But that nice relaxing weekend Mr. Goose Poop was hoping for? Looks like it's not going to happen. Looks like he'll be doing yard clean up. Thank goodness I got, I mean, the kids got him a nice new chain saw for Father's Day 2 years ago!! Knew he'd need it sometime!!



This was a big, huge, nice full tree yesterday morning!!

Random-ness

Here's some random (and I mean really random) facts for today....

World's largest manufacturer of female apparel?
Mattel (they make Barbie's clothes) Take that Abercrombie!!!

The average American worker receives 201 phone, paper, and email messages per day!

Raindrops fall as fast as 22 mph!

Plants, like humans, run fevers when they're sick! Who knew!!

If there are 10 books on a bookshelf, they can be arranged 3,628,800 different ways! Think I'm wrong?? Prove it!! =)

When the ground temperature is below freezing, it can't hail!

A New Yorker could eat out every night of their life and never eat at the same restaurant twice!

Know why iron isn't added to milk? Iron-fortified milk turns coffee green! (I may have to try this one!)

The world's largest earthworm, found only in a small corner of Australia, can grow as long as 12 feet and as thick as a soda can! (Gross, remind me NOT to go there!)

Lemon Pledge has more lemons that Country Time Lemonade! (No wonder my eyes water every time I use that stuff!)

Porcupines are good swimmers....their quills are full of air.

Disney World is twice the size of Manhattan!

Football has more rules than any other American sport! (No wonder I can't figure that shit out!)

Amen is the same in more languages than any other word. Taxi is the second.


There you have it. Some random-ness added to your day! They always say you learn something new every day!

I'm in danger of being eaten alive by cotton!!

I do laundry twice a week around here. And you wouldn't believe what it looks like when I'm done! This is a half week's worth of clothes around here!! Everything that you see folded was washed on this "round" of laundry and I just went took care of it all!

If I'm not careful going down there, it would eat me alive. That I'm possitive of! It takes me an entire day to do all that, and I have to do that twice a week!!

I can see now why I don't ever have time to sit down and watch tv!!

Since I'm in the firing mood....

I'm also going to fire the maid. I just swept the kitchen floor in preparation of mopping it. Boy oh boy, was it N-A-S-T-Y!! Gross. Disgusting. Sick. Embarrassing. And everything in between. She hasn't been doing her job, and now she's fired! I had to move the kitchen tables (yes we have two tables) and move the benches because she hasn't done it in so long. Blech....I bet there was a whole spaghetti dinner down there! Yup, she's definitely fired!

And while I'm at it....I'm also firing the cook. She hasn't made me anything to eat today, and I'm starving! She's fired too.

Now that I have no Tooth Fairy, maid or cook I better get my ass off here and go pick up their slack!

I've got to fire that dang Tooth Fairy!

I've made the final decision, I'm firing the Tooth Fairy and that's final!!

My daughter lost her tooth the other night. So she puts it in a little baggie, and sets it on her dresser. She knows not to put it under her pillow, since she has a loft bed, the Tooth Fairy can never find her tooth up there. So we've decided to leave teeth on her dresser. So, she leaves it there, goes to bed, wakes up the next morning....and nothing! The tooth is still there! That damn Tooth Fairy completely forgot about my precious princess last night! Can you believe that? And, it's not the first time this has happened. A few months ago when she lost a tooth, that Tooth Fairy forgot to stop by for 4 nights in a row! 4 nights!!

And not only that, but there is a diary in this month's Scholastic that she reeeeaaaallllllyyyy really wants. It's $10.00. No way, no how am I buying it for her. This girl's got more diaries, notepads, and paper than I've ever seen before in my life. So I tell her absolutely not. She decides when she looses her tooth to write the Tooth Fairy a note. It's something along the lines of "Please, please, please tooth fairy, can I please have $10.00 for my tooth this time. There is a diary I want, and my mom told me she won't buy it for me, please, please, please?? I really really want it. It's so cool. It's got puppies on it. Please can I have $10.00 for my tooth?" And do you know what????!! Not only did the Tooth Fairy forget to come, when she finally decided to show up last night she didn't even leave my precious princess the $10.00 she wanted, she only left her a measly $1.00, and now she can't get that diary she reeeeaaaalllllyyyy really wanted.

What is that? She's late and she doesn't bring what the kids want? I decided when McKenzie woke up this morning to $1.00 and not $10.00 I'm firing that lousy Tooth Fairy.

43!!

43....

That's how many pieces of paper came home from school between all the kids today!! All graded homework, some permission slips, newsletters from the school, ect. Still....it was 43 pieces of mail that I had to go thru! Isn't that something? Who has to go thru that much "school mail" every day? Oh yea, I do, that's right, cuz I have 6 kids in school full-time. How could I have forgot?

Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

So, as I said last night, I'm going to post my homemade laundry soap recipe. Call me old fashion, or call my country...but I'm telling you this recipe has saved my family unimaginable amounts of money. Doing wash for a family of 9, I usually do at the very least 16-18 loads of wash a week. I was spending probably around $60-$75 a month on laundry soap. With this recipe, I spend about $100 A YEAR!!!! Yup, that's not a type-o, a year!


I use it for all my laundry, and I've been completely happy with it. I even use it to wash Mr. Goose Poop's dirty, smelly, and mud-encrusted work clothes, and all the kids' sports clothes.


It originated from, I believe, the Duggars web-site, but I've changed it a little bit. It's the same ingredients, but I use a different process. It's the liquid version, there is a way to do powder also, just don't add any water. My sister uses the powder, and as far as I know, she's been happy with it.


The best part about this, you can find all the ingredients at your grocery store. I found all of it at my Meijer. It's not something where you have to chase all over town, going into specialty stores, or searching online to find what you need. And, it only takes like 20 minutes to make it.


MRS. GOOSEPOOP'S HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap (a bar of Dove will also work in a pinch, but I feel the Fels Naptha works better)
1 Cup Washing Soda
1 Cup Borax

Finely grate the bar of Fels Naptha. Put in a large pan. Add 6 cups of water. Heat until the soap has dissolved. Add the Washing Soda and the Borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 6 cups of HOT water into a bucket (I use a 5 gallon bucket). Add the soap mixture to the bucket and mix. Now add 1 gallon + 6 cups (or 22 cups total) of COLD water to the bucket. The mix will now start to gel. Quickly use a funnel to put into old laundry soap containers. If it gels so much that it's hard to get down the funnel, just give it a quick stir. Let the soap completely gel for about 6 hours before using.

This soap isn't going to gel like you're used to. It more "clump gels". Before each use, give the bottle a good shake. When using, use about 1/2 cup per load, add the soap and let the washer fill up a little before adding clothes.

If you'd like to make scented laundry soap, you can buy soap fragrance at any craft store. I get mine from Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I believe they come 1/2 oz bottles. After you pour the laundry soap into containers, and before it completely gels, add all the scent to the soap, and give her a good shake. Then let completely gels for the 6 hours. My favorites lately are orange, lavender, apple, and honey almond.

Does anyone else's kitchen floor look like this after grocery shopping?!?

That's not including the 2 gallons of milk, 5 dozen eggs, and 3 loafs of bread that I had already taken care of!! Oh yea, and of course all my Diet Pepsi isn't in the picture either! That'd be a whole 'nother picture in itself! =D

Isn't that out of control??? And those bags, let me tell ya, are bursting at the seams! You couldn't fit another grain of rice in most of those bags! And please don't yell at me about the plastic bags! I hardly ever use plastic bags. I've got about a million and one re-usable bags, but we use plastic bags around here for garbage liners, and we were running low. So I didn't use my re-usable ones today, so that I could restock our plastic bag supply. It seriously took me at least an hour to take care of all of it!! Usually the first question people ask me when they find out I have 7 kids is "Oh my gosh, how much do you spend at the grocery store?" Let me tell you, it's not as much as you'd expect, because I shop sales and such, but it's still more than I care to think about! This is a week and a half's worth of groceries. And...and...I won't be feeding the kids on Friday night or at all on Saturday and Sunday, since they won't be here! So this is more like about 8 days of groceries!! Plus next Monday I'll have to make a quick run for milk, bread, and more fresh fruit!

But, I'd like you to notice one thing that's missing....can you tell what it is?? Give up? It's probably what we use more than anything in this house! Can't guess? I'll tell you! There is no laundry soap in this picture!! And that's because I make our own. It saves us an unimaginable amount of money. I'd say about $50 a month at the very least. I'd love to share my recipe, and I will. But it'll have to be tomorrow. The Duggars come on in 7 minutes, and I can't miss the Duggars! We big families have to stick together. So tomorrow my goal will be to post my recipe for home made laundry soap. Off to watch the Duggars!!

Am I still a Soccer Mom?

Can I still consider myself a "soccer mom" even though none of my kids play soccer??!

Ever since I decided I wanted to have a billion kids, I could never wait to be a "soccer mom". I wanted to be busy busy busy with my kids. I wanted them to play all the sports under the sun. Which is weird, because unless you consider skipping school a sport, I never played any sports in school. No basketball, no volleyball, not even cheerleading. Now that I'm grown, I look back and wish that I had. I mean, at least had done something. I didn't do any camps in the summer, I wasn't a Girl Scout, nothing. Nodda. Not that I was a bag of lazy bones. My cousin Jenifer and I spent our free time with our Grandparents. They'd take us traveling, in thier motorhome, all over the country. I've probably been to more states than most adults. Ok, I'm getting off track here. Back to the original question....Can you still consider yourself a "soccer mom" if none of your kids play soccer?

You see, with 7 kids it's bound to be at bit crazy, right? I was so excited when the "olders" were able to start getting into sports. Then they did. And now I'm thinking of changing my mind about this whole soccer mom thing. The past two weeks have been so busy around here, I don't know who's coming and who's going.

Monday's from 5:30 to 7:00 Mckenzie has basketball practice. And every other Monday, we have to leave a 1/2 hour early, because from 6:45 to 8:00 we have Girl Scouts. I am one of the leaders, so I have to be there.

Tuesday's Jake has football practice from 5:30 to 7:30.

There are a few sporatic Wednesday's that McKenzie has basketball games.

Thursday's McKenzie has basketball practice from 5:30 to 7:00. And Jacob has football practice from 5:00 to 7:00. (That's right, they both have to be picked up at 7:00 in seperate locations.)

Friday Jacob has football practice from 5:30 to 6:30.

And Saturday's are Jacob's football games.

And that's only 2 kids' schedule! In November, Jonah will be starting basketball also.

I've also signed up to be at the kids' school every Monday from 11:00 to 12:30 to help with lunch and recess.

The principal caught me in the hallway last week, reminding me that I should start thinking about this year's Christmas Shop. I'm the coordinater of our school's Christmas Shop every year.

I've also heard thru the grapevine, that they are looking for a President for our PTL. I've actually been thinking about it. Am I crazy?? I'm scared to look the principal in the eye, knowing if I do, I'll crumble, and blurt out that I'll do it before the sain side of my brain tells me not to.

Oh yea, and I signed up to be a room mom for one of the kids' classrooms! And to be honest, I can't for the life of me remember what class!! I really think it's Jabob's class, but trust me on this, I could be wrong. I'll just wait for one of the teachers to approach me. Maybe they forgot anyway!!

I don't even want to think about what next year will be like when it'll be Jonah, McKenzie, Jacob, and probably Dylan and Carter in sports.

My house is a wreck, I feel like we haven't eaten a normal dinner as a family in ages, I don't know if I'm coming or going, I think I sleep standing up, and I can't even remember the last time I got a shower!! No joke....

So you tell me....can I consider myself a "soccer mom" even though none of my kids play soccer??

New school year organization...

If you've ever been in my house, you know it looks like a classroom.

~Each kid has their own chore chart.

~I make a big home made calender each month for the back hallway, so when the kids ask "Mom, when are we ______?" I tell them, go look at the calendar.

~I have a big poster board right next to it, called the "Square Chart". Every time the kids go above and beyond normal duty or are extra nice to a sibling, the earn a "square" of their color. Once the chart is filled with 60 squares, we get to go do a fun family activity. And the child who has the most squares filled with their color gets a week off from chores.

~We have "I can play" and "I can not play" sticks/cups. Each morning the sticks are put in the "I can not play" cup. Each child has 3 sticks. They must earn those sticks before they can play. They do so by doing their chores without being asked, helping a sibling do a chore, getting dresses and brushing their teeth without being asked, anything along those lines. Each time they earn a stick, it goes in the "I can play" cup, once they have all 3 they are allowed to play for the day. But watch out....if mom or dad catches them doing something they aren't supposed to, being mean, having an attitude, not doing what you're told, a stick gets taken away and you must earn it back.

~We have reading marbles. For every 30 minutes that the kids read, they earn a marble in their jar. One marble equals 15 minutes of video game time.

~I get the kids' clothes out before bed each night. I went and bought one of those shoe organizers that is supposed to hang in a closet. It's perfect, it has 6 slots, and I have 6 boys in one room. So I hung it in their bedroom from a shelf, and each morning the kids just get their clothes out of their box, and put their jammies back in it for bedtime. Wall-ah, no more clothes thrown all over the place.

~We have a chore jar. Did something extra bad? Did your chore half way? Pull a chore from the chore jar.

~We have a swear jar. Called your brother/sister a name? Did you say "stupid" or "idiot" or some other not nice word? You owe a dollar to the swear jar. That money will go to sponsor a family at Christmas time. I'm ashamed to say, I've put alot of money in that jar....

~Every school year, I buy a 3-ring binder for each kid to keep in my room. All paperwork goes in it. Newsletters, art work, report cards, and the like. Once the school year is done, I just put the binder in their plastic tub in the basement.

~My kitchen is plastered with hanging folders, color coded calendars for the kids, ect.

Anyway....with the new school year, it's time to get new folders in the kitchen. I did that tonight! I think they turned out nice, what do you think?

You like that? Don't you just have "crap" (by the way "crap" is a swear word for the kids in our house, but not for mom and dad) laying around that you just don't know what to do with it? I have lots of it. At least now all my crap is organized and in one place! The kids thought it was hilarious!! Mr. Goose Poop got a kick out of it too.

One more thing, Christian has taken to helping me make dinner every night lately. He hops himself up on the counter and helps out. Tonight's dinner called for onions. So I ask him to go get me an onion, I get the cutting board out and start chopping the onion. Christian hops off the counter, goes and does something, and hops back up on the counter. I pay him no attention. But then I turn, and I see this.....

He said he can't stand the smell of the onions being cut. That they always make his nose snot and his eyes water!! That kid is so hilarious sometimes!

I know I still have to get to the kids' first day of school still. I'm trying, I really am. It's been a busy week. I'm actually really not sure how I got through it. Oh yea, the grace of God, that's right.

(Insert some appropriate bible verse, that I'm too tired to look up right now, here! Thanks!)