Fru-gal-ity *updated*

I like that it has "gal" in it. In the 'good ole days' the word "gal" and "guy" was used more often than "chick" or "dude". Speaking of simpler times, I have spent the last couple days researching some do-it-yourself things, and on the top of my list, is laundry detergent, out of sheer determined curiosity (or, the fact that I've run out, and am days away from shopping day) I found a couple recipes. One for powder, and one for liquid (or, gel, as it were). I prefer liquid over powder for the plain old reason that the powder collects in the crevice of the lid of the washing machine and it bugs me. You know that crevice I'm talking about. Yeah, that one. I can't have anything in there.

Turns out I should be able to make my own laundry detergent with Arm&Hammer Washing Soda, Borax, and bar soap (your choice). Oh, and water, - if you want to make the liquid kind. The cost per load will be around $.03. THREE CENTS. C'mon all you farmhousewife wannabe's - that's classic! Three cents per load of laundry?? Now if I could just turn the barnyard gasses into electricity to run the dryer (during the winter only, of course) I'd be the Queen of my farmhouse castle. Wait, I already AM the Queen.

A 'fabric softener' is white vinegar added to the rinse cycle. (I'm thinking there's no reason my Downy ball can't hold vinegar for that purpose, right?)

Crazy right? Make your own laundry detergent. I know what you're thinking; Costco has it in bulk for $xx.xx - but here's the thing - you have to drive to Costco (which, for me is about an hour away) and there's also the issue of the emptied plastic container - which if not recycled will last about a million years in the landfill.

Frugality is good. I would even go so far as to boast that 90% of what is in and around our little farmhouse is second-third and even fourth-hand. Thrift stores, flea-markets, antique shops, are our Saks-Fifth-Avenues of choice. Reduce - Re-use - Recycle. We should all do it.

Besides, it sounds like fun to mix up a five gallon (used paint container of course) bucket of glop.

Again, I can't say it enough. Life is good.

p.s. I must give credit where credit is due - I found a likely laundry detergent recipe here and also here, which incidentally, was my favorite. I bounced around his site for just a little while (hours!) and thoroughly enjoyed it! I highly recommend you do the same!

Dr.'s Appointments

It's true. I have been to see the Doctor. She told me "there is no cure for you. Just keep doing what you're doing".

Imagine my surprise?!

• Lowered my cholesterol (must be those farm-fresh eggs, I heard they were lower in cholesterol than the store bought ones)
• Lost some weight (maybe the gardening, wood-floor-mopping, and toddler chasing)
• The results of the blood tests of which they tested what seemed to me to be a million things all came back negative. That's positive. Affirmative. Whatever.. you know what I mean.

So now I have no excuse! On the other hand - I do have to have surgery to repair my eardrums, and have a small bump removed from my back. But seriously, now that you're as bored as having sat in a waiting room, I'll end the medical stuff.

Being a farmhousewife is apparently good for one's health!

Huh? Wha?

I saw a lot of things, people, and places when I visited SoCal earlier this month that serve as poignant reminders of why I live where I live. Having been born and raised in SoCal - I became blind to the blatant fact that it's a desert. Devoid of much rainfall (incidentally, since the season had begun, there were zero inches of rain - that's July, August, September, and the beginning of October with NO WATER from the sky) and just, ...brown. I mean, brown is a nice color. The comforter on my bed, in fact, has brown in it. How do I love thee (brown) let me count the ways;

• love the look and smell of leather (think horse wear)


• in keeping with the horse theme - think horse - brown is a good color for a horse


• love the golden brown crisped skin of a roasted chicken


• brown shoes (a girl must have several different pairs of brown shoes - it's non-negotiable)


• otherwise a mystery is the brown that one cleans out of a barn. It went IN green. Go figure.

So, back to SoCal. You see, it took me living somewhere else for a year and a half to really realize how much I appreciate living somewhere else (where it is GREEN) (we'll talk about green later).

It does have it's good points - like....uh, ...no rainfall? Which of course is really helpful when you're having a picnic. Or outside at all. (was that a sentence?) Anyway, I once defended SoCal with a passion. And now, I jokingly and seriously say; you couldn't pay me enough to move back there. Oh, back to good points; okay...uh - close to shopping, close to beach close to mountains. But the trade-off is smog, traffic, mean people, brown-ness, and of course, the earthquakes and lovely Santa Ana Winds that set SoCal on fire every single year.(timely enough -those Santa Anas where whooping it up the day we flew back to NC - dust storm and all) Those that live in SoCal passionately defend it because - well, because they live there. I did too.

On the last Friday we were there we went with family to Disneyland and had a ball. A three-year-old is just prime for a day at Disneyland. He had a blast! And we didn't even have to rent a stroller, but we did have to take out a second on the mortgage to pay for it all (which makes me think of airports, and how they get away with charging $4.69 for 20 oz. of water. And we think gasoline is expensive?).

At the end of the day, after walking to the tram, and then walking to the car after the tram, I saw a VW exiting the parking structure. A Jetta, black, and shiny, and...IT WAS A GLI!!!! (those of you who know me, know that I'm a VW freak) Naturally, I turned to gaze at it longlingly, with fond memories screeching around every corner in my mind and then...

I saw the license plate.

It said;

HUH WHA

I found this extraordinarily amusing and laughed the whole way home. I miss my Jetta. And I have been known to say "Huh? Wha?" quite often as bad as my hearing was. It was the final chapter of SoCal for me, epitomized so well by 1. a car (out here, nobody cares what you drive) and 2. the Huh? Wha? was a reminder for me that living in SoCal was so fast, you scarcely had time to listen to anyone, let alone yourself.

In-Laws

Like a lot of folks nowadays, I have TWO sets of In-Laws. As does my husband. Let's attack his first, because,...well, just because.



His Mom, "M" - whom I call "Mom" is one of the most creative, talented, soft-hearted, strong women I have ever met. And her husband "S" is kind, intelligent and extraordinarily thoughtful and conscientious. She is a hard act to follow. Gives even the virtuous Proverbs woman a run for her money. Seriously.



His Dad, "L" - whom I call "Dad" is very consistent, reliable, easy-going and generous. His wife, "C" - whom I call "C" is loud, tell-it-like-it-is-regardless-of-who-what-when-where-why, and also generous. And funny.



(m.s. please feel free to ask yourself, where is she going with this? p.s. I decided to make up the initials "m.s." to mean "Mid-Script". Just like "Post-Script" but, in the middle. Get it?)



Now that we live where we live, we don't have any family that is within 'dropping by' distance. Visits from In-Laws are planned with estimated stay days divulged in advance. For example, "I'm coming to visit from October 13th to the 20th."



This way I can clean the entire house the morning of the 13th and call it good. Except when I realize I forgot to change the sheets on the guest (read: Eddie's) bed.



I love it when I have company. My MIL (mother-in-law) once told me that company is like fish - it stinks after about three days. I once told her, rubbish and poppycock - it's at about ten days that company is like a rotting potato in the pantry. You don't smell it until it's too late. Nor can you find it. It exists somewhere in that pantry, but you're too lazy to clean the pantry. Just kidding. I never told my MIL that. But she did tell me the fish thing.



All this talk of In-Laws has made me think of the movies "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers". If you haven't seen those movies, I'm sorry. You've missed out on some really good belly laughs. I can't decide who's better; Ben Stiller, Robert Deniro or Dustin Hoffman. I enjoyed all of their characters immensely.



Any-way.



The point is, In-Laws are fun. And occasionally annoying. (c'mon, we all know that we are JUST as annoying to our In-Laws, as they can be to us) For instance, we had the pleasure of FIL visiting last week from Monday to Friday. After the third day (remember the fish?) I was going around the house with my mother-of-all laundry baskets collecting the small piles of laundry from the small-fry baskets. I went to Eddie's room to collect the dirty laundry from that basket. (FIL & Eddie are in Eddie's room, playing with the new firetruck that "Papa" brought) I pick up the dirty laundry from the small basket and put it in the big basket. FIL says to me, "Are those clean clothes you have there?", as he points to the big basket, while I'm putting dirty laundry in it.



Huh? Wha?



'scuse me?



"No Dad, these are dirty" is what I said. But what I was thinking, now that's another post. But I'll give you a hint.



What kind of question IS that? C'mon people. (I know, I'm mean huh.)

Thing is, if that's the worst thing I endure from In-Laws, I've got it made. And I do. I honestly wish they would visit more often.

Life IS good.