Well, hi!

Man, it`s been almost 2 months since I last blogged! Pitiful!
Some huge changes in mine and the kids' lives the last few months, hence my online absence. Needless to say, I'm back and will do my best to stay regular! (That's soooo important;-P)

I'll catch you up with the books I've been reading!

When I last posted, I was reading "Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale. I banged up my dear friend's copy, which is always a good sign that a book was enjoyed! And it was! But I know this particular friend takes extreme care of her books, so I ordered her a shiny new one. I'm keeping her copy, which I have lovingly broken the spine of, and roughed up with affection. I look forward to reading other books by Hale. (I was recommended her YA novel titled "The Book of a Thousand Days" and was able to pick it up at the local Library Book Sale for $1.00!) Looking forward to it!

I finally tackled "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer and it was fantastic! Loved it! Such a great spin on the classic tale, and I ordered the next installment, "Scarlet," the day I finished it! It is sitting in my TBR pile, haunting me...




In keeping with the unconscious theme I was apparently on, I quickly picked up a
book recommended by the delightful 'Once Upon a Blog'. The premise fascinated me: A version of Snow White where the evil stepmother is Rapunzel. I'm about halfway through it, ad so far it is fantastic! I'm really enjoying Turgeon's style and this new twist on 2 classic tales!



On a personal note, the kids are both back in school, with Evan in second grade and Ella beginning kindergarten this year! Crazy, right?! I'm working several part-time jobs, and planning to resume my next semester of school in January. Which leaves me November for the first time in a couple years to actually be able to participate in NaNoWriMo!! Hooray!

Chat soon!
<3Kel

What is this infamous "Sleep?"

So my house has turned into a death trap as we are in full-on packing mode, therefore disarray is abundant, to say the least. On the + side, moving day is in 9 days! Now I just need to get a day off to pack...

In my spare time, (HA!) I'm really enjoying the YA novel loaned to me by one of my BFF's, Christal, called "The Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale. It's very well-written with many undertones, and a good homage to the
Grimm faerytale. Only about halfway through, but a good read, so far!

Prior to this, I zipped through another title by Jodi Picoult - always a favorite. This one was "Second Glance" and it was one of her better ones, I feel. Several solid plot lines, her trademark twist at the end, and an overall fine book!




In addition to packing, I'm also working on two book trailers right now. One is for an American author, Jesse Giles Christiansen. His book, Pelican Bay, is a mystery thriller, and was super fun to create for. Sounds intriguing and spooky! The second I am just beginning, and it is for Canadian paranormal suspense author, Pauline Holyoak. Her book, Ultimate Sacrifice, is the third in her Merryweather Lodge series, and it sounds fabulous! In fact, it sounds intriguing and spooky too... odd...

Anyhoo, I suppose I better back to packing - something my children find immensely exciting, oddly enough. Crazy must run in the family!

Cheers!

Homemade Laundry Detergent!

That's right! I thought I'd give the recipe I pinned on my Pinterest a try! It led me to the blog "Why Not Sew? Quilts." I ended up looking around at different recipes, but this one was the most concise, had pictures, and included a link to where her recipe was tested against a store-brand version. So I went for it.

In the end, I'm happy with the result, but there are a few notes I'd add. SO I'm posting Why Not Sew's recipe below, with my notes added in - in pink, naturally:-)
~~~

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

In the spirit of Laura Ingalls, with wash day being Monday, here's a little recipe for homemade laundry detergent you can use tomorrow, Monday!

wash on Monday
iron on Tuesday
mend on Wednesday 
churn on Thursday 
clean on Friday 
bake on Saturday 
rest on Sunday 

from Little House in the Big Woods

* I use these utensils for detergent making only. They all stay in the pot until I make a new batch.
Estimated cost is $6.00 for 576 loads (depending on soap used and amount used per load, ONE BOX of Borax and ONE BOX of Washing soda)
The savings is incredible. (This is not entirely accurate, as up here in Canada, prices vary and what-not, but I would estimate that I spent about $6 or $7 dollars on these 2 loads and I filled 3 bottles totaling 12.7 litres. We'll see how many loads it gives me.)

You will need:

1 bar of soap (any kind you want)(Whatever colour your bar is, that 

will be the colour of your detergent-if that matters to you. Also, it's scent will be

the most prominent in your batch. Lastly, she made a note that some people found their batch too thick and to cut down to 1/2 bar of soap. Mine does seem very thick as it's cooling, so I would recommend that.)1 cup of Borax,
1 cup of washing soda (This was difficult for me to find,so I found a recipe here that showed me how to easily make some.)

a big pot ( that holds more than 2 gallons)(I would go with

at least 2.5 gallons, or 5 litres.)a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers



Grate your bar of soap into your pot.


Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap. Cook until the grated soap dissolves.(This does not take long.)


Add the Borax and washing soda.


Bring to a boil. It will coagulate. (Okay, so this should be brought to 

a SLOW boil. A fast boil will result in a wicked-fast reaction and an

overflow all over your stove. Yep. That happened.)

 Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.


Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container.


A funnel helps tremendously.

Now you have 2 gallons of (OUTRAGEOUSLY HOT, BURNING) homemade laundry detergent. (I left mine on the counter with the lids off. It's been 5 hours, and the containers are still quite warm to touch.) I use 1/2 cup per load. With the prices of detergent being outrageous, I feel really happy every time I make a batch of this.

This won't make many, if any, suds. Suds don't equal clean. It took a while to get that into my head. This detergent cleans wonderfully!
The detergent should thicken / coagulate when it cools. Usually within 24 hours!
(Also, with clean-up at the end, this all took only about 45 minutes.)
Let me know if you make any or if you have any questions.

Happy washing!

~~~

SO in the end, I made 2 batches because I kind of effed up the first one, but I'm happy with it all. I have yet to use it as it seems like it will be cooling until fall with this weather, but hopefully I can try a load tomorrow. The one change I did make was to add some essential oils to the finished batch, as I chose Sunlight bar soap for the cleaning power, but the shit smells like Pledge wood polish! I don't really want my clothes smelling like that, so I added some lavender/mandarin essential oils and it smells much better. I'll be sure to post after I've washed with it too, so we'll see how it works!

Reading and Stuff

Reading Update! ('Cause I know you were just dying to know what I'm reading:)

I last posted that I was muddling through The Hickory Staff by Robert Scott and Jay Gordon, but I gave up. It's not something I do very often, but I've just decided I don't have the time for certain books, and unfortunately, that's one of them. It's just freakin' gigantic, and moving way too slow for me.

I basically reached my hand into my TBR pile and randomly pulled one out. Turned out to be Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - one I've been meaning to tackle for awhile, but kept getting turned off by the lack-lustre review of friends. I'm halfway through and I can say this about it: it's a slow read, not a page-turner. She's created characters that are strangely compelling through their total ordinariness. It's quite bizarre that I'm still interested in finishing this, as I don't usually stick with the uber-slow ones (As exhibited by the above title...) so go Niffenegger! I can't explain why I'm enjoying this one. I suppose it just works out that certain books work at certain times.

Also, this week brought the end of school for my kids!! Hooray!! My son is officially finished grade 1, and my daughter is a preschool graduate! I'm not ashamed to say my son totally kicked ass on his report card too. That kid totally rules. Their school finished off the year with a talent show (of course Evan practically raced to sign up for that;) and an indoor hamburger lunch for everyone. Once the bell rang at the end of the day, I was deafened by the cheers of students ringing in summer break. I thought that only happened in movies. Nope.

Unfortunately, our summer of fun is no longer in the realm of possibility, but hopefully we can still fit in a few of the plans we made despite the sudden changes. So far it's not looking good, as our first plans (to go to the Calgary Zoo this weekend) were kiboshed by Mother Nature and her "rain" of fury on Calgary this past week. But, stay positive, right?

Help?

I had an interesting talk today with some other women - who happen to be Moms. We were discussing most women's difficulty in asking for help, even when you desperately need it. Why is it that when we are at our most vulnerable, our very weakest, that we still feel the need to put others before ourselves?

"I don't want to put her out.."
"I don't want to be an inconvenience..."
"She had other plans..."

It seems ludicrous when I think about it: if a friend of mine were in my position, I would give her the shirt off my back, yet I have SO much trouble accepting even the smallest of aid with things. Is it pride? A lack of confidence? WTF?!

So that will be my goal over the coming months...to ensure I take the best care of my children (and myself) I'm going to accept help - even ask for it! (If needed.) But in baby steps:)

Focus!

Nothing like a completely devastating life event to change your focus, right?

While I was looking forward to several months off school to spend time with my kids, write my pants off, and generally take it easy for the first time in my life, apparently my lack of anything ever going the way I want it decided to kick in. I am now forced to change my focus and prepare to job hunt and create a new life plan for my children and I. My stress levels are at an all-time high, yet in true Kelly-form, just when I don't have the time to think about writing, my creativity nags at me.

I wanted to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo next month with some friends, but as usual, my word count will likely suck, as it appears I'll be now working full-time along with taking care of my kids. Booooo!

BUT! I still intend to write as much as I can. Another typical Kelly behavior is to cram as much into my life as possible, without killing myself:) And nothing like staying inhumanly busy to take your mind off your own misery. On that note, I'm working on outlining my new book to begin writing it! It's a paranormal piece - a first for me, so we'll see how that goes! I'm also editing my completed YA fantasy, Aryx. And I'm slowly working on an illustrated children's picture book with my friend and talented artist, Jessica Casson.

So I can do all that, right? Totally.

Sometimes things happen that forever alter your life. I'm having one one of those this month.

While I don't know how this is going to end, I am doing my best to stay positive:
- I am trying to only spend minimal time feeling sorry for myself / sobbing incessantly. This is hard.
- Bake like 13 Dwarves are coming over. Seriously. Bakin' like a damn fool.
- Count my blessings. I have 2. One is six and one is four, and I am soaking in their awesomeness as much as I can these days.
- Plan ahead. While I am uncertain as to what my future will hold at this point, I love to organize and am covering my ass and planning ahead for things as much as possible.
- Clean. This is the best tool to fight emotional outbursts, I find! Gonna cry? Scrub that toilet! Angry as shit? Stomp around the house dumping garbages!

Honestly, staying positive is so hard, but I find so important in what I am dealing with. How else will I get through this except to continually remind myself of my own awesomeness? Right? Right!