Raven's All Natural!

I made a page on FaceBook...yup, you guessed it, I'm actually trying to sell my stuff...even if I'm a bit skittish about it.

Raven's Naturals


Have a look, buy something, and live healthy!


<  /RANT >

SAHM summer

When someone asks how you spent your summer...what will you tell then?  I know what I'd say.  I spent the summer having fun with my daughter, going places with her, doing crafts with her, swimming with her, laughing with her and teaching her neat little science facts while doing silly experiments.  I work out as much as I can (depending on my pain lever that day) when she's asleep so it doesn't take away from the time we can spend together doing things.  So...what did you do this summer?

Yes, I'm a SAHM and proud of it. I'm so tired of the "Oh, you're a just a mom, you don't work like I do" comments...really?  I don't work hard?  Maybe those kinds of people should take a lesson in being a SAHM, seriously, we work our asses of.

Among the usual house cleaning, laundry and dishes, here's what I am in this house hold: nurse, teacher, counselor, ATM, cook, chauffeur, hair dresser, event planner, alarm clock, maid, waitress, handyman, security, photographer, referee and I also scare away the bad dreams, the boogie-man, the monsters in the closets and under the bed. I get no days off, no sick days, no personal days, I'm on call 24/7 356...so tell me again that I'm "just a mom", please.

I enjoy being a SAHM, I truly do, it gives me the opportunity to help Bug learn and keep things running smoothly. Would I like to work? Sure, I wouldn't mind being a WAHM. It would give me the opportunity to work and take care of everything here at the house and spend time with Bug.

Take today for instance, we went to Michael's for their Passport to Imagination, today it was Spain.  Bug had a blast making the crafts.  After dinner with my mom we came home and made silly putty, well, technically it was a polymer, but still basically silly putty only more cool and oh so easy to make!

Tomorrow, which is my birthday, will be spend doing crafts with Bug and making some more homemade supplies.  We're out of toilet/bathroom cleaner, disinfecting cloths and all purpose cleaner, so it's time to make some.


< /RANT >

Penny Pinching...

So I got to thinking the other day...what the hell is with all these insane costs for everything? Seriously, we were paying $5.99 for 20 tablets of dishwasher detergent...that's like 26 cents a load! Holy cow that's a lot! Then there's the laundry detergent...another $14.95 or so for 50 loads! Not to mention the hand sanitizers that are chock full of alcohol and who knows what else!

I surfed the web for a day or two. No, not all at once, just a little here and there.  Until I found what I was looking for, and when I did it was like a light went on! I was like "Eureka! I could do this!"

And I did! I made enough laundry detergent to make 128 loads of laundry detergent for only $9, costing about 6 cents a load! Holy cow what a difference!  With the rest of the ingredients I had left over I made enough dishwasher detergent to make 192 loads of dishes for only $7.81, about 4 cents a load!  After that I made hand sanitizer, total cost was about $11, but I made about 60 ounces of alcohol free, all natural, hand sanitizer! In total I spent about $26 dollars and made enough stuff to last us a good long while! I love saving money!

Okay, okay! Sorry, I had to brag a little! Anyway, on to the recipes!

Laundry detergent 

4 cups Borax
4 cups baking soda or washing soda
4 bars of Fels Naphtha

Grate the fels naphtha as fine as you can get it, mix all the ingredients together.  To make this into a fine powder you can put it through the food processor.

Use 1 Tbsp per load of laundry.  This works for both HE and regular washers!


Dishwasher Detergent

4 cups Borax
4 cups baking soda or washing soda
2 cups citric acid
2 cups salt

Mix all the ingredients together and mix well. This ends up clumping a bit like any powder detergent. You can add rice to stop this.

Use 1Tbsp per load of dishes.


Are ants giving you trouble? Do they get in through your doors?  There's an easy way to fix that! Chalk! Yes, a simple line of marking chalk powder will keep them out!


And there you have it!


< /RANT >

Another series in our crazy life

Today I went out and picked up the rest of the stuff I needed to make our own laundry detergent.  After calculating everything it comes to only 6 cents per load! You seriously can't go wrong with that.

Bug helped me make it, she was so excited to smell it and see how it all mixed together.

We also make homemade bug repellent, it smells great, is all natural and so easy to make! The big thing is that it works!

It's been about a month or so since Strider left, it's been rough, but I've been keeping Bug and I very busy.  Every other day we go to Michael's, they have a craft thing for kids called Passport to Imagination, they do crafts for countries around the word, they run it during the summer.  We also go to Loews for their Build And Grow, Bug loves it! We also go to the Planetarium every month!

Between all of that, mowing the lawn and edging it, plus working out I think I'm getting some good tone going on in my arms and my legs.  I swear, from boobs up I'm toned, from hips down I'm toned, but in the middle I'm like the Stay Puft Marshmallow girl.

So many things have been going on lately. We've redone a few of the window screens, made lots of homemade stuff to save money, got the yard looking good, minus the weeds, and got the garden mostly done.  Other then that it's been pretty quiet.  Bug upsets me at times with her not listening thing, but I guess that's just a part of parenting, maybe it's a stage.  Or at least I hope it is and that she'll out grow it.

I miss Strider so much, this deployment has been kinda rough emotionally. He told me that this is how it will be for the next three to four years...six months here with us and six months in Bahrain on the boat.  I guess I better get used to being a single mom for six months out of every year.

So, with him gone this time I'm paying down the bills and trying to save up some money.  Tax returns will pay off a lot of stuff, then next deployment we'll pay off more and save more.  Plus we might be able to get the carpeting done when he gets home, as well as tearing up and replacing the tiling in the kitchen.  I also want to get the eco-friendly patio blocks, we'd be able to take it with us when we move!

Well, I guess that's it...

< /RANT >