dorothy and the cop

it's dorothy. 'of the wizard of oz.'
(as lilly states.)
(not to be confused with the other dorothy.)

and a cop.

hope you all have a fun weekend!

happy pumpkins

tonight is trick or treat.

the pumpkins are ready.

here is lilly's.
she calls it 'the scary winnie the pooh'.
huh?

 i'm sure you can guess whose is on the left.

 and the littles themselves.

nmta week

did you know?

it's national massage therapy awareness week.

how do i know this?

my sister.

she recently graduated from massage therapy school in NYC.

and even more recently got her LMT license.

(she is a licensed massage therapsit!)

how awesome is that?

i am so proud of her. 

on top of graduating.

and getting her license.

and contining to work at a spa she has been with for a while.

she has opened her own massage therapy business.

here is her site.

and her blog.

and you can follow her on facebook.

twitter too!

even if you aren't in brooklyn to enjoy her services...

her blog and fb posts are great to read. 

lots of great info for your everyday well being.

(but if you are in the brooklyn vacinity... well, go get a massage ;)

hello fiesta.

those of you who really know me...

know that i don't treat myself very much.

(aka: i am extremely frugal.)

(or aka: i have a hard time spending money. period.)

whatever you want to call it.

call it.

well.

i treated myself.

 never has my dishwasher made me smile.

 then.

 now!

the pfaltzgraffs were wedding dishes.

so we've had them almost 10 years.

that's a good life for dishes.

don't you think?

they were good dishes.
and i wish i could say i will miss them.

but i don't think i will.

and just to clear the air ;)

i'm a big girl now and i have a kohl's card.
the sets were marked 40% off.
then buy 5 sets get one free.

and i had an additional 30% off coupon.

which is why i got new dishes.

and because i am allowed to treat myself.
even if i do it frugally :)

books.

remember my 'my life people' series?
i know. it's been a while.

Paula asked me about my top 5 favorite books.

Well. I don’t have a favorite.
or even 5 top favorites.
And if I did. they wouldn’t even be grown up books.
(sorry to cop out of the question… but here is my answer.)

I love picture books.

Love them. A lot.

It’s probably the thing I miss most about teaching.

Being right there in all the newness of great kid books.

the stories.  the characters.  the pictures.

I think it’s safe to say I collect books.

(picture books, that is.)

I don’t buy them new. Surprise.

I garage sale them. Thrift store them.

Accumulate them.

So... here's a list of a few favorites in our home library.

The ones I really really love.

(As in, it will be really hard for me to ever get rid of them.)

I’m sure I missed a ton. And i will feel bad they aren’t on the list.

(and i will add them later. probably.)

Quiet as a Cricket

The Napping House

In My World

No Baths for Tabitha

My Great Aunt Arizona

In the Tall Tall Grass

One Lucky Girl

Marsupial Sue

The Library

We All Sing with the Same Voice

The Old Woman Who Named Things
Annabelle’s Awful Waffle

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Have You Seen Birds?

Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm

Things That Are Most in this World

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon

A House is a House for me

Roberto the Insect Architect

There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon

A Fish out of Water

I was a 2nd grade Werewolf

The Pain and the great one

(Anything by David Shannon….)

Alice the Fairy

No David

Bad Case of the Stripes

(Lots of Kevin Henkes too…)

Lilly and the purple plastic purse
Julius, the baby of the world

The Bad Good Manners Book

(Jamie Lee Curtis has lots of fun ones…)

When I Was Little
Maisie

There’s one I want to add to our collection.

One book I remember loving when I was little…

And Rain Makes Applesauce.

I’m not sure if we had this book growing up or not.

Or if it was just a book that I loved.

I remember being infatuated with the illustrations.

So much that I remember it still today.

I can still see the pictures in my head.

I’ve been reading and hearing things all over the place about picture books going out of style. Literally. That makes me so so sad.

I enjoy technology as much as the average person.

But come on? No more books!?!
Books should never be replaced.
I can’t imagine a world without them.

We will be supporting out local libraries on the November ballot.

Hope you support yours.

And to prove I do read books for grown ups.

Here’s a little stack.

Garage sale, loaned, and gifted books.

I’m lucky if I read 2 a year.
I like to pass them on when I’m done.
Whoever wants The Notebook and Running with Scissors can have them.

i'd love to know what you are reading.
for yourself.

or to you kids.

you are invited!

You are invited!
Hope you can join us :)

Make sure to RSVP for your 1st raffle ticket!

(Have you RSVP'd yet?!?!)

Can't join us, but still want to shop?

Just let me know, and I will be sure that you can!

LBE will be having it's Open House deals online that day as well!

oh cohen

Cohen and I were looking through the USA hockey magazine this morning.

(Because that’s what we do.)

He points to a pic and asks…
C: What’s his name?
Me: Matt Smaby.  (I only knew because of the caption...)
C: giggles.
Me: Someday it will say ‘Cohen David…’ right?
C: more giggles.
Me: Do you want to play hockey someday?
C: I want to play Junior A.
Me: What? (as in… did you just say what I think you said?)
C: I want to play Junior A hockey.
Me: (that’s what I thought you said.)

Now. For him to say he wants to play hockey?
That doesn’t surprise me a bit.

Junior A?
The fact that he knew that as an option?
That’s what caught me by surprise.


And just to make a point that hockey isn't the only thing in the world...
Some sneak peak Halloween costume pics :)
bad boys.
bad boys.
come on, sing it now.

we have screen!

instead of boring you (or grossing you out) with all the fun details of lilly and i's new best friend... (the toliet)
i would like to show you what the men of the house are up to this weekend. 
(besides staying away from us germy girls.)

we have screen! 

home made laundry detergent. yes.

i had always wanted to make home-made laundry detergent.

but something was stopping me.

that's until sandra said she made her own.

and that was all i needed... a little boost.  well, that and her recipe.

(a recipe that she got from a friend.)

we just made our second batch last month.

(as in, our 2nd 5 gallon bucket.)

the first one we made last october. 

(as in... october 2009.)

we refilled our detergent bottle 20 times with that batch.

(it costs less than $5.00 to make that entire 5 gallon bucket.)

we have been happy with how this detergent cleans.

which i suppose is what really matters....

you know, being laundry detergent and all ;)

so here we go...

let's make some homemade laundry detergent!

(find copy-paste-and-printable directions after all these pics with directions ;)

start off with borax, washing soda and a bar of fels-naptha...

grate the whole bar of soap...

stir in 4 cups of hot tap water...

keep stirring over med-high heat until melted...

next measure out 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax...

add borax, washing soda, and melted soap to a 5 gallon bucket that has been filled half way with hot tap water...

mix it up real good...

then add more hot tap water to the top of the bucket and stir again...

cover the bucket and let it sit over night...

the next day... you'll find this fun gelly looking stuff....

bust out your power drill with a stirring attachment and go to town...

(i don't supposed you need to use the drill to stir it, but it's what works best for us. and who doesn't love a power drill?)

next get a clean used detergent bottle and fill it half full with your homemade detergent...  (the bottle we use is a 50 oz. bottle... 4 cups is half for us...)

then fill the rest of the bottle with water.

shake up well before each use.

it gels up ;)

we use about one full detergent bottle cap for each load.

(which is about 5/8 cup as per directed.)

now here are the directions straight from sandra, i'd print these if you want to try it out ;)

LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)