Two projects just aren't enough!

We are on the east coast. We got hit with hurricane Sandy. We didn't think much of the storm until this happened

The Shed and garage got smashed by not one but three trees..yes major suckage (though not as bad as others are dealing with). So now we are dealing with the insurance, contractors, tree people  storage issues, and dumpster peeps....never a dull moment right?

Of course we still had the repairs that we were doing in baby steps with our entryway. It is coming along however! Tongue and groove on the walls and ceilings, still trying to think of idea's for the floor..the funny twist in this project is the free flooring we got (cork) for this floor is one sheet too short so a free project turned into much more...oh well

Now we've added project #3...it really was supposed to be simple.  Put a light fixture up in bedroom #3 so our biggest little could have his own room.

....yeah the sheet rock came down in the process. Which I guess is okay since I'm not a fan of popcorn ceilings, but it makes the project a tad bit bigger! now the room is more of a blank slate. I have big plans for this little room!!

Can't wait to see his room come along! (and all our other projects too!)

The never ending laundry drama!

I'm a sort of crunchy mom. I like organic and and chemical free stuff I like cloth diapers and homemade baby food and I love to wear my babies. I try to avoid putting my kids in contact with as much *junk* as I can but it isn't always financially doable for me. As a family of five and one income sometimes we just can't have *the best*. 

 Throughout our cloth diapering years I used detergents or rather soaps that were safe for cloth diapers, it had always been a struggle finding just the right way to wash since we have hard well water and a HE machine. I found Charlies soap worked well for us (with Borax) but I never really used it on our clothes, yes this is a big no-no when it comes to charlies..but I just felt that it was too expensive to use on all our clothing.... Here I am almost two years past cloth diapering ordering charlies soap again. Why you ask? because my washer stinks, it smells and my clothing is smelly too.

 I do a monthly tub clean cycle with bleach I wash at least once a week a HOT/COLD cycle, always wipe the door and gasket down and leave the door open when not in use...I spend more time caring for my washer than I do actually using it (or so it feels). I'm sick of it! Doing research I found that traditional detergents like Tide (which is what I primarily use) along with fabric softeners (Which I often use but do cut with vinegar) leave a build up in the washer drum and this leads to bacteria and or fungal build up, which can transfer to your clothing! GROSS

I did several BLEACH tub clean cycles and then two cycles with my charlies soap (and a few rags) and the smell is gone and so is a bunch of gunk that I could see. I will say the bleach alone did not remove the gunk it was only after the cycles with Charlies that my gunk was gone!... Going forward I'm going to be using charlies soap with the wash booster. Hopefully this curbs any washer smell and will get my clothing smelling good again! I'll keep you updated!

For more info on Charlies check out their website and Facebook page! they have always been great answering all my questions
http://www.charliesoap.com/