Balls. Dryer Balls.

We've been cloth diapering my lil guy since he was about 3 months old. Its going well & I'm always on the hunt for some great natural laundry detergents & natural softeners. I was introduced to dryer balls, and while I'm not sure if they are making our diapers softer....they sure help with making our cloth diapers a bit more fluffier.

Now being a big fan of scented detergents, I've been seriously let down with dryer balls..as they have NO SCENT. Its kind of made me reluctant to keep using them.....but...2 weeks ago, the guy at the local hardware store told me about the scented dryer ball from Nellie's Brand. YAY!!!
So with this knowledge, I went off to the same hardware store in hunt of them.

There I was standing in the aisle looking at the dryer ball selection & couldn't find the scented Nellie's Dryer Balls. Luckily the same guy came up the aisle and asked if he could help me.

Salesman: Do you need a hand with anything?
Me: I really liked your scented balls last week. Do you have any more balls? Specifically scented balls?
Salesman: **silence**
Me: **turning beet red as I realize I've said 'Balls' way to many times & not DRYER balls**

Yup. Thats right. I like scented balls.

OMIGAWD!! I'm still turning red remembering that. It was soooooooo horribly embarassing. I haven't been back since.....and I'm praying I don't run into this salesman anytime soon around town.

The cat came back

Yay!!!! I'm back on line!!!! *dances around*

For those of you who were concerned...I didn't die of heat stroke or moth-bites. I had simply lost...okay, forgotten my password to log in. I emailed it to myself, but I must have deleted it thinking it was so easy I'd never forget. Now that I remembered it..yes it is easy to remember. But is not obvious.....like all my other passwords. Welcome to my world.

So onwards & upwards!!

Baby's Back!!! (or it Baby's GOT Back??)

Obsessed

Remember way back when I said I had a bit of a shopping problem?
Well I don't really see it as a problem....more of a hobby....my favorite one at that....but its the bills that are the problem.
Anyways....I found a few places that make my hobby very hard to keep under control.
First off.....I found out about buyers co-ops. So I joined 1 in the US....and through there...found another in Alberta. So....I buy from both. They group buy items at major discounts. I love it.
Next up is HyenaCart. This feeds my cloth diaper addiction. Who knew there were so many freakin cute diapers out there!!!
Lastly.....Etsy.com. Omigawd. I browse on there for hours. I have 26 pages of items saved into my favorites......Which I all hope to buy...some day.
My recent obsession has become natural laundry detergent. I had a few bags from Crunchy Clean....and am in dire need of more. The woman who makes this has such YUMMY scents to choose from. I might venture out and buy some from another seller called Jennys Simply Clean....but we will see. I need to use up what I have before I order anything else.
Anyways....I HIGHLY recommend you try it. You only need a tablespoon for a whole load. Amazing. The clothes smell sooooooo yummy coming out of the dryer. So far Iève tried:
-Buttercream Cupcake (one of my favs)
-Pink Sugar (a tad too pink or sweet smelling for me)
-pink grapefruit (my fav for towels)
-monkey farts (my kids fav)
-Clothespins (my other fav, smells like...traditional fresh laundry dried outdoors)
-oatmeal & honey (homey smell.....my DD loved it)
It made my basement smell so good too. sigh....I must be getting old if I am this excited over laundry detergent.

Spring Floods

Gah. Our basement flooded last week...or was it two weeks ago? Anyways, it flooded. It was gross. It was sewage & over-flow. *barf*
My sweet hubs had the awesome job of cleaning up what could be saved. It took him about 6 hours. The plumber Jason came over & had it under control in about 15 minutes. My hubs SCRUBBED our whole basement with bleach-water afterwards. What an angel. I mean....he did swear pretty much the whole time & we avoided him liek the plague while he was cleaning....but he did it...which meant, I didn't. God-bless-him.

It was a great way to de-clutter. Saved us some serious spring cleaning. Well....me anyways. But there was no real reason for this post other then to share the news of our awesome basement flood.

Thinking out of the box

We're not Christians, and we don't really celebrate Easter. What we do celebrate (along with the majority of the western world) is the Easter Chocolates & the Easter excuse to pig out.
So we went on this horrendous 6 hour drive to visit family for Easter. All I'm going to say is that thank gawd we only make that trip once a year.

Okay, so.....we went to my mom's for Dinner. My sister made Carrot Cake. By Carrot Cake, I mean she opened a box of white cake mix, grated half a carrot in it & tossed in it the oven. After I stared at her cake for about 5 minutes, my manners came back to me & I asked "WTF kind of cake is this??" This is when she cheerfully informed me it was Carrot Cake. This is the same sister who once asked me for my chocolate cake recipe & substituted soya sauce for vanilla extract, because she didn't have any on hand...and they looked the same. Thats right. I said Soya sauce.

I will take this moment to beg all of you to not do this. Please. Don't make this kind of carrot cake. I'll do us all a favor and share my recipe for REAL Carrot Cake so no one out there has to choke down my sister's kind of cake. Ever. Again.

So here it is.....my uber secret recipe:
Char's Carrot Cake
6 cups grated carrots
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 cup golden raisins (soak in 1/2 cup hot water for 20 mins first/drain)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained & patted dry
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 1 hour, then stir in drained raisins.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 10 inch round cake pans.
In a large bowl, beat eggs for 5 mins on high. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Beat again for 5 mins on medium. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture. Fold in the carrot mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, frost with a cream cheese frosting.

Honestly....it doesn't take long at all & is really good. I promise you it is better then a boxed cake mix with a bot of carrot tossed in.

Ohmigawd

Okay, I have this fear of moths.

They totally scare the crap out of me. Everything about them creeps me out. If I was on fear-factor & they shoved me in a room full of moths...I'd die. I wouldn't be able to scream...the fear would grab me & I'd freeze & die within seconds.

And here in SASK, we have these freaky giant moths....I'm not talking about a moth that is big...I'm talking a wing-span that looks like a robin's. I saw 2. Once above our apartment patio windows....and once on the side of our house. They are huge. They hug the wall like.....creepy....moths. And the little moths....they are crazy mo-fo's!! They lunge/dive at you and flap around trying to kill you in your hair. Oh gawd...i feel sick.

So anywhooo....this crazy lady told me a story about how she was once BITTEN by a moth & it laid eggs under skin behind her knee & she needed to be aspirated (sp?) and was given meds. BITTEN!!!!!!!! EGGS!!!!!!!!! Under the SKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH-MY-FaCKEN-GAWD

These devil-beasts now bite & lay egss!!!!!!!!!!!*faints*

Holy shit. You have no idea how this story scared the crap out of me. Every lil thing that touches me has me spazzing out thinking its a moth. My hair on my neck...(yes, I have a hairy neck) is standing up every so often & the sensation creeeps me out & has me almost in tears begging my husband to check me over for moths. Ohmygawd....and its spring. The wee devil will be out in no time hunting me down.

I just know I'll get bit by one & have its eggs under my skin.....ohmygawd.

Oh man...I'm so scared to go to bed. What if they are out already??? What if one is in our house & gets lured to our bedroom because of our baby's nite-light? What if I get up to feed our baby & a moth attacks me??????????????

I think I have to go lay down before I faint at the computer. My husband said if he finds me on the floor again after fainting, he's going to leave me there(yes, I fainted on the computer before). If I faint & he leaves me on the floor....who's going to watch out for me that no moths get me??????????????

Oh my gawd. I'm so freaked out. Its like my own little horror show right now. Should I turn off the computer & open the door?? *creepy moth-man music*

Good thing I'm not a skank....the skank always gets killed right away in the movies.

*gasp* or am I a skank??????

Oh gawd...why did I say mothman????

Sour day

Today is not a good day.
I had a crap sleep. I'm cranky. I'm bitter. I'm a real lemon today & in no mood for lemonaide. I think if anyone even tried to be funny and said in a cheerful voice: Well, when life hands you lemons, make lemonaide.
I'd probably start hurling said lemons at thier head. Complete with total psycho ranting & raving...just to make myself feel better by sharing my bad mood.
I hate the world today.
I hate my messy house.
I hate my floors for never staying clean & having the nerve to be messy already.
I hate my dark cupboards.
I hate my lino on the floor. I hate how its peeling where Bugzy's water dish was.
I hate how we can't even keep a pet alive here.
I hate our hard water.
I hate not having enough money to let me shop all day & every day.
I hate bills.
I hate student loans.
I hate the smell of Orange Mr Clean. I hate mopping.
I hate my fugly mop. I want a new one.
I hate how disorganized I've become.
I'm mad at myself for skarfing down 3 mini bags of chips last night & now I find myself bloated & feeling gross.
I can't stand the thought of making supper plans tonite & want to eat chinese food....even though I'm stiff suffering my last salt binge.
I'm bitter at my piles of clean laundry sitting on the couch....looking at me accusingly as if to say: we can't put ourselves away!!
I'm bitter at my hubs who is in the city today doing some shopping.
I want to do the shopping by myself.
I'm not enjoying breastfeeding today. It's making me feel tied to the house today.
I hate the dishes sitting in the sink. I hate the fact that we don't have a dishwasher.
I'm disgusted with my recipe box as I try to find something for dinner.
Why do I have all these crazy recipes that I've NEVER made or tried yet??
My house is going to clutter me to death today. I just know it. No one will even find me underneath it all for weeks.
I hate facebook & its new design.
I hate the word sausage. Why the hell do i have 14 recipes with the word sausage in the title??
I'm so disgusted by the fact that I sucked up a marble with my Dyson & now its stuck somewhere in the land of oz....aka the inside of my Dyson.
I hate Yoda's silly quotes: Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.
I'm going to choke Yoda.
I can't stand the way I can NEVER find Cherry Coke anywhere. ANYWHERE!!!!!!!
I hate the way none of my clothes fit.
I hate how I can't find any nursing bras that fit.
I hate how miserable I am today.
I wish I had a fairy godmother who could come wave her magic wand & clean my house for me & watch & play with my kids for me so i can sit here on the computer all day & veg out in my PJs.
Why is there such thing as buyers remorse? It drives me crazy. Or I guess....I drive myself crazy. Did I mention ever I have a shopping compulsion? The only time I don't like to shop is when I'm in a bad mood. Like now.
What kind of person has so much clutter on top the fridge?
Gah. Playdough in the carpet makes me want to poke my eyes out.
I should probably get dressed, leave the house & go for a walk with my kids.
But I'm too lazy.