Its a Critique kinda day...

First of let me give my disclaimer:  The ideas, words, thoughts, etc in this entry are mine and mine alone.  There will be no names mentioned, so if you think this is about you, then maybe you are guilty and have some thinking to do.

    I don't understand how "parents" (people are suppose to be raising children) can put ANYTHING or ANYONE in front of their children.  No matter the age, excuse, or situation.  I can tell you for one that my husband, mother, father, brother, friend, or pastor will not come in front of my child.  The hardest thing for me to get through my head is how you can choose a new spouse or new children (step parent and step siblings) over your own.  How can you abandon what you made?  Do you understand that the child who calls you "mommy" and "daddy" was a gift from God himself?  Why do people who push there children off to the back burner for whatever reason allowed to have children to begin with, not to mention have MORE.  There are so many people in this world who cannot have children and are BEGGING in adoption ad's to take unwanted children to call their own yet you have 16year olds etc who have babies and the parents or grandparents raise them.  Forget the 16 year olds, what about the 20 year olds and up who let a family member or babysitter raise their child?  Sure, my son goes to his aunts house while I work, and he's there more than he's at home most of the time, but its not because I WANT him to be there or NEED time away from him.  Its so that I can go to work and earn money to keep us happy and well taken care of.  How do you pawn your kid off EVERY weekend to go to the bar, or go to deercamp, or WHATEVER it is?  EVERY WEEKEND???  Sure, once a month or so, everyone needs a break.  Also when it gets to the point that you are posting on FACEBOOK to find a babysitter and basically begging???  I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't leave my son with 97% of the people on my facebook.  Also how do tell someone what they need to do with their child, when you couldn't take care of your own?  How do you tell someone what doctor to use when the one you used said there was no need to potty train, they do it when they get ready on their own??  Not to force children to eat something they dont want to eat?  HELLO????  No one FORCES a child to eat something but it is heavily encouraged.  If you don't encourage them to try things they end up being a picky eater and they lose out of vitamins and minerals that they need to be healthy.  How can you sleep at night and live with a free conscience knowing you didn't do EVERYTHING you could to do the best for your child?   How do you not bathe your child and then take them to town etc?  I understand kids get dirty playing and eating, I have a boy, I know it well.  How do you not teach them everything you can?  Why do I see children who are NOT mentally handicapped in ANY way not know how to speak?  I see children in the 2nd grade who talk worse than my 3 year old!  How do you take a child somewhere and not inform the parents where you are going?  What if you had a wreck?  Would anyone know where to find you?  How would YOU feel if someone took YOUR child and went somewhere and didnt tell you?  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  There's a reason this is the GOLDEN RULE people, a reason we teach it to children as soon as they start school along with " Keep hands, feet, and all objects to yourself".  If people would use what they learn thoughout their life they'd be much better off. 

I've lost my train of thought, which you will all figure out is NOT hard to ....oh look something shiney!!!

I might post more later... just too much going on in the melon right now

Christmas Rag Wreath

    Today in my spare time at work, instead of staring intensely (and often confused) at the computer surfing the Internet, I'm going to keep my hands busy by making a Christmas Rag Wreath.  

    I'm not a big "stitcher" or seamstress so I had no idea what the price of fabric was, and I'm sure, just as everything else, the price has gone up.  I was in shock when I went to Hobby Lobby intending on buying some fabric to make several "rag" crafts with.  I originally wanted Halloween prints but at $6.99 a yard I changed my mind quickly. I thought surely I can search online and find some cheaper, but I was sadly mistaken.  I needed 6-8 yards of fabric to RIP UP, I'm not going to pay $7 a yard for that.    After all was said and done I ended up with solid color broad cloth for $2.99 a yard which worked out fine.  I bought my Halloween colors and made rag garland with lights which I will type up a "how-to" maybe tomorrow.  My mind took over, and I remembered Walmart carried fabric.  Sadly, again I was mistaken.  We have 2 Walmarts, one on Arkansas side, and 1 on Texas side.  I guess when they overhauled the Arkansas Walmart, they did away with fabric.  They have one little aisle that has different colors and patterns pre-cut into 2 yard packs.  The brand is Creative Cuts and actually it come out to be a tad bit cheaper.  I bought red and green broadcloth, and some silver glitter organza. 

    Just a reminder, I'm just a country girl who decided "Hey that's pretty! I wanna do that!!".  I don't know anything about organza, broadcloth, tulle, knit etc.   I had been told that you could buy the wire wreath frames for a little of nothing (I paid $2.99 at Michael's Arts and Crafts for an 18inch) which makes the wreath more full, or you can take apart a wire hanger and fashion it into a circle. 

    Now that I have all of my supplies I'm going to start the tedious and time consuming task of measuring out the fabric into strips that are 1" wide and about 6-8" long.  Feel free to do this however you want.  On the garland lights I made, I think my strips were 1" wide and 10" long or so and it turned out fine, but probably could have been a little shorter.  Once strips are cut, take your time to tie them in a double knot and scrunch them up together as tight as possible.  The closer they are together the more you can fit, therefore the fuller the wreath will be.  

Re-Cap
- 6-8 yards of fabric (broadcloth works fine and is the cheapest)
- Wire Wreath Form or Wire Coat Hanger
-  Ribbon for Bow to hang by if desired.

Cut strips of fabric 1" wide and 6-8" long.  Tie around wreath frame in a double knot so that they don't loosen up and take up as little room possible.  Scrunch them together the best you can, more is better. 
Easy breezy.  If this cowgirl can do it, you surely can too!

Time to get started I suppose.... Pictures to come!!

Homemade laundry detergent.

Ok folks... here it is.  This recipe makes 5 gallons of laundry detergent at once.  I haven't sat down an added up the exact price per 5 gallon bucket, but I'm going to guess barely over $1.00.  Isn't that amazing?  And if I'm not mistaken, this is the same recipe the Duggar family from the TLC show 19 kids and counting.  These are the products you will need to buy, all of which I found at our local walmart on the laundry detergent aisle.

-Fels-Naptha soap bar or Zote bar.
- Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.
- Borax

Instructions:

Grate the bar of soap and add to a saucepan with 4 cups of hot water.  Stir continuously over medium/low heat until soap dissolves and is completely melted.

Fill 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water.  Add melted soap from sauce pan along with 1 cup of the Arm&Hammer powder and 1/2 cup Borax. 

Stir until all powder is dissolved then fill the bucket with more hot water.  Stir again, cover, and let sit for 12-24 hours.

Stir again(I use my hands) to break up the mixture so that its pourable.  Fill soap dispenser.

Shake before each use.  I use 1/2 cup for my washer.  Top loads can use 1/4 cup.

Remember, suds does not equal clean!! This mixture won't bubble.  I use fabric softener also, mainly because this detergent doesn't have a fragrant smell.

Homemade softener will come soon!!!

The First of Many

Well Folks, whether it was intentional or not you landed here, on my blog.  Let's start with introductions... 

    My name is Nikki and I'm 22 years young.  My husband, Landon, and I got married in May 2008.  We have a 3 1/2 (going on 30) year old son, Caden, who is the center of our worlds.  We work at a gravel plant together and live in the sticks and are members of our local volunteer fire department.  We have 2 horses, Sugar & Lucky, and 12 dogs.  For the sake of time, I won't introduce them just yet. 

     I started this blog for several reasons, one of which was to save myself some time.  I make alot of crafts, recipes, and homemade products.  One thing that you will find in common with all of those things is that I use what I have or what I can find the least expensive.  I'm determined to stretch our dollar until I can see through it.  Alot of people ask me how I do certain things such as make my own detergent, fabric softener,  faux-breeze,  and MANY MANY other things.  I can't take credit for all of my ideas and I will be sure to give credit where it is due.  Also, there are things that get on my mind and in order for me to be able to take a big sigh of relief, I have to get them off my chest.  Rather than do that in a way that's disrespectful or unfavorable in person, or on Facebook which seems to cause riot as well, I will post it here.  At least here on my blog I can say what I please and if you don't agree or care to leave, its easy enough to just click the [x] at the top and never  have to come here again. 

    I hope to be somewhat of an addiction to many people and help them out with whatever it is that may be going on.   To save the feelings of some of my readers, I created separate pages(Crafts, Cook, Clean,Critique) and will post my entry under whichever category it falls under.   This is a new experience for me and I hope it turns out to be a stress reliever to myself as well as my readers. 

    I also sell alot of the items I make and also make some upon request.  Please take note:  This is only a hobby of mine for now (unless something happens to my job and I become a stay at home mom again) and the number of projects I take on etc will be based upon that.   I want to apologize in advance if I begin to ramble and get off subject. 

Enough for now... On to the fun stuff!!