My Weekend- Part 2

On Sunday I baked 6 braid Challah bread. I was inspired by another blog that I read. Apparently it’s a Jewish bread although I didn’t find it tasted much different than any other bread I’ve made before. I was having some trouble with the step by step instructions though on how to do a 6 braid so I looked up a video on YouTube. What a wonderful thing! I found a video of someone making her braid and she laid it out. So I set my laptop on the kitchen counter and followed the video. My bread came out beautifully! I may do this on a regular basis. It’s not much more work and it looks fantastic! To see the You Tube video I used click here.

I also made another batch of laundry soap. I was running low so I got that “cooking”. I’ve read up on many different recipes and what works for different people and have settled on what I like best. The reason I started doing this was because I started reading up on some of the toxins in regular laundry soap as well as what was in the fabric softener and the dryer sheets. Our skin is very absorbent and we absorb so much junk into our systems. I especially don’t want my daughter wearing these chemicals day in and day out. But I was afraid there was no way that I could make something that could do as good of a job as the regular detergents. But I decided to jump in and was pleasantly surprised.

I started by first just making the laundry soap. But I was still using Downy and Bounce sheets in the dryer. But then I decided to cut out both of those and instead of Downy I started using plain white vinegar as the rinse agent. Now yes vinegar may smell, but as soon as the clothes are dry the smell is gone. So it’s not bad. But I decided to add a few drops of lavender oil into my bottle of vinegar. The vinegar not only softened the clothes, but it also cut out the need for dryer sheets as it also cuts static. Vinegar is also efficient for holding color so you don’t have to worry about colors fading or running. I didn’t tell my husband about the vinegar at first because I knew he’s look at me as though I was crazy. So I ran a few loads and asked him what he thought about their softness and smell. He noticed the clothes were softer and he liked the smell. He thought I had just bought a new rinse agent. I then told him about my vinegar and lavender oil. He gave me a funny look but now tells people how nice it is. The other night I went to sleep in fresh sheets with a fresh-from-the-dryer nightgown and was so excited that they smelled & felt so wonderful and I did it all without harsh chemicals! Okay, you may not get as excited as me, but these things excite me.

I’ve also started using vinegar in the dishwasher in place of Jet Dry. Again, I decided not to mention it to my husband for fear he would think I was crazy. But shortly after I started doing it he asked me if I changed something in the dishwasher. I got worried, thinking that I had wrecked something with my experimental rinse, but he was pointing at his stainless steel water bottle. Neither of us had ever seen it so shiny! Since putting in the vinegar our dishes have become so much shinier!

Well I started this post to discuss my weekend and I’ve wandered off, but I think it’s still full of good stuff. If you’d like the recipe for the laundry soap please click here. I’m also thinking of maybe selling little kits of the ingredients, but I guess we’ll see how that goes.

Have a great day!