Shhh....we accidentally did home-school today.

Thanks to rainy-day Oregon, the girls were forced to get creative in their play time. They got their counting money jar out and started sorting, counting, and (dare-I-say?) learning.

• Isabelle started counting coins as she put them in the counter. She counted to 38! Last I knew, she could only count to 12 (which I was impressed with)
• Madeline counted her nickles by 5's and her dimes by 10's!
• Rebekah multiplied by 4's to figure out how many dollars she had in quarters.

And this brings me to the first ever Bringing Up the Princess give-away! As many of you know, I

have quite the little Mary Kay inventory. And what does every woman need, but a miniature brush set?! Who ever guesses how much money we have in our money counter, will get an eye brush set (4 brushes and a pretty carrying case)! Let the guessing begin!

Money saved equals pedicures gained?

Today I was given the opportunity to share my love for homemade cleaning and beauty supplies at church with some really fun ladies. My husband laughed when I said that I was going to teach a homemaking class because, as my close friends know, cleaning/organizing are not my strong-suit. They're barely on my list. I am good, however, at being a super cheap tightwad.

This class was a ton of fun! It fills me to the brim to be around groups of ladies (particularly being the center of attention for a while *wink wink*). As you know, I have been loving making laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, and all purpose cleaner. Today, I used the teaching opportunity to try some new recipes out that I have been putting off. It energized my passion for this stuff!

We made homemade deodorant, toothpaste, bug spray, shampoo, all purpose cleaner, laundry

soap. I loved the toothpaste (even came home to use it with my toothbrush, as opposed to my finger in class)! I keep running my tongue over my teeth to feel how smooth they are! It's sorta like I just went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. The deodorant is a little goopier than I anticipated, but I'm sure I can add more baking soda and cornstarch. As for now, I'm storing it in my fridge. The verdict is still out on the all purpose cleaner. It did remove a pen mark off the table during the class, though.

And I even learned new things!

• You can use old soap stubs to add to the laundry detergent and save on FelsNaptha.
• For yummy smelling laundry (something I've missed with the homemade detergent and the recent allergic reaction to fabric softening sheets): put a few drops of essential oil on a wash cloth or paper towel and throw it in the dryer (too much can be dangerous though).
• For static cling: add a ball of aluminum foil to the dryer! Reuse over and over and over!
• Store homemade deodorant and toothpaste in baby food jars.
• Don't confuse the deodorant with the toothpaste. The deodorant may be edible but it kinda tastes like vaseline!
• Citric acid is optional in the dishwasher detergent (in fact I heard it counteracts the washing soda, not sure how true that is). I'm still toying with that recipe to find what I like.

I'm excited to do this again! Next time, imagine the things I will learn as the student!

Enjoy your homemade cleaning/body care supplies making! Feel free to add any links or recipes that you have, and if you've used em or not! Oh that would be fun to read! Who knows, if you save enough money (which you will), you can use that extra moolah for a pedicure!

Cupcakes and Proverbs

When Chuck told me that he was assigned dessert to take to a work pot-luck, I knew this would be prime time to show off his wife's cupcake skills! His wife makes YUMMY cupcakes. Plus, he bought her a cake decorating kit for her birthday, so it's a win-win situation. (okay, I'll stop talking about myself in the third person).

All the time I was making cupcakes (mini ones and regular sized ones), I couldn't help but think that everyone will love these cupcakes so much and "her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land (Proverbs 31:23)." I even made little Symantec symbols on all of them.

Now that I'm done patting my own back...

I'm sure they'll get eaten, but I like to dream of higher things for my cupcakes. My cupcakes are a ministry to my husband! So silly I'm sure, but I'm sticking to it.

Movie Review :: Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil

In true Oregon style, it rained on our campfire/bike riding plans today. Because the girls got all smiley faces at bedtime (AGAIN!) this week, we treated the family to the cheap theater and some (not-so-cheap) popcorn. We didn't let it rain on OUR parade!

I had already checked the movie reviews , and knew that although rated PG, Hoodwinked Too was more appropriate for my girls than the G-rated Rio.

Hoodwinked Too is full of some big voices like Glenn Close, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Andy Dick, Brad Garrett, and Martin Short. But its the content I was most impressed with.

This is a movie all about hope! When it seems there's no way out, no way for good to overcome evil; that is when victory is the sweetest. Most impressively, it displayed forgiveness, redemption, justice, teamwork, and admitting when you're wrong. I can use the theme of this movie to teach my kids! When's the last time you could say THAT about a movie?!

It did have a lot of potty humor (which the 12 year-old boy in me totally enjoyed), and some innuendo. If I'm not mistaken though, none of that innuendo was sexual. There is a part where Twitch the squirrel comes out of his trailer with a couple of hot-babe-squirrel-girls, however (not a plus). Rather than using curse words or almost-curse-words, the movie resorts to "muffins." This is something I'm fine with my kids doing, so I wasn't disappointed by it. The reviews on line don't really agree with me on this movie, but as we all know...

I'm right, they're wrong!

Frugal and Homemade :: Dishwasher Detergent

I promised some posts about my homemade cleaning supplies. And I'm ready to deliver on one!

This is the easiest homemade thing I tried yet (besides diluted tea tree oil for sanitizer/cleaner)! And it worked marvelously!

1 tsp. Borax

1 tsp. Washing Soda

1 tsp. white vinegar

I mixed equal parts Borax and Washing Soda into a sealable container. Eyeballed a tablespoon-ish into the dishwasher and added a lid-full of vinegar (fun to watch the fizzle).

I was very pleased to find clean and sparkley dishes! A friend of mine read that if you add citric acid to the rinse aid compartment, it acts a rinse aid. I'm too lazy or cheap (or a combo of both) to go to that extra mile, but I don't honestly see the need for it!

Happy dish-washing blogging friends!

Making Memories with My Mom

The girls and I trekked out of the house for a few days. There was a 2-fold purpose for this visit. 1. Visit my mom. 2. Give Chuck a quiet house to focus on his end-of-quarter dealings.

This was Hamilton's first trip out and about.

We went camping for the day with our cousins and their friends. We spent the night at their house.

Grandma took us out for lunch. Then introduced us to a Chinese Buffet for dinner (the girls had never been--am I really sheltering them that much?!). We watched the sunset on the beach.

We grocery shopped and had picnic lunches near the beach.

We spent HOURS on the beach. Burrying each other, making mermaids, building castles, chasing waves, planting a sea weed garden in the sand.

Grandma bought us a kite.

Then let it go...oops! It flew all night long, tangled in the tree branches. I'm thinking it's a good character for a children's book...

Grandma made us dinner, sharing her home canned tuna in a yummy tuna noodle casserole. Then we read a few more chapters of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (we've already read Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie).

The kissy monsters attacked grandma in bed the next morning.

We went on a guided tour of the tide pools (so amazing). I don't have any pictures though because I left my camera's battery charger at home and the previous fun used up all of our battery life. We played at the beach again (mom and I chose to close our eyes and lay on perfectly contoured rocks for our play time).

After dinner, the girls and I trekked the 2 1/2 hours home. Maddy and Izzy slept while Bekah and I listened to Roald Dahl books on CD, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantatic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, and The Magic Finger.

It's good to have some Daddy time again. Thanks for some GREAT memories, mom!

Drapery Drama

Our curtains have been through a lot today. And we've only been home a few hours today!

So, I like to let the children write on the sliding glass door with dry-erase markers. It scares most people, but if you know me, I naturally don't see any problem with it. There are boundaries: don't draw on the walls/floor. Apparently, Isabelle needed to have it clarified that we don't draw on the curtains. She drew pretty little puppies all over the white curtains (the ones that belong to the apartment, not me).

After 30 minutes of stain removal scrubbing, with Isabelle repeatedly telling me how sorry she is, I filled the bathtub with some bleach water. It was a desperate moment, I dislike bleach, which is why I like homemade cleaners. Left it to soak while we galavanted along the Pacific Coast. Upon our arrival, I drained the grayish tub water, rinsed the curtains, and tossed them in the dryer.

As dark fell, I began to miss my curtains. Began to hope no one was spying on me. Hoping no one would walk by and notice my large pile of Mt. Laundry. Or my unvacumed floor. Or cop a peek at my Netflix rental. So I checked to see if my battle scarred curtains were dry.

Yay, they're dry!

But they're stuck :(

Don't worry, my strong and handsome, hero of a husband, saved the day! He managed to get them unsnarled and then hung them up! Ummmm, they were really dirty, but they're clean now!