Movies in the park

I absolutely love North Carolina. You know why? Because what we did last night would have been crowded, expensive, and a total hassle if we had done it in California.

Our local parks and recreation department is hosting a summer "Movies in the Park Series." How cool is that? Last night, the movie pick was Pink Panther 2, admittedly not something that I was dying to see, but Alex loved the first Pink Panter movie so I packed up Sarah, invited Grandma and Grandpa, and off to the park we went.

What was even neater, more cool, cooler? (Sorry, I'm not very grammatically correct late at night...) was that you could boat-in to the movie too. The park that is on the edge of the lake, and you just moor up in the cove in front of this gigantic inflatable movie screen.

Cool huh? I thought so too.

I was all excited about this part, thinking we could go with my parents in their boat... until my mom judiciously pointed out that containing Sarah (a very restless 2-year-old), on a boat, for several hours, in the dark, would probably not be the best idea. Good thinking mom!


Usually Sometimes, I forget myself and my romantic, idealistic side shouts down my logical side...

So anyways, we parked on the grass with our blankets, snacks, drinks, and ten-gallon tubs of bug repellant and proceeded to have an absolutely wonderful evening. I think that last night is going to be one of my favorite memories of this summer. Cheesy movie notwithstanding. Maybe.

Typical

Alex's idea of hanging up the towels...

Ya gotta love it.

Neat Mac & Cheese Recipe

So I was reveling in my new found internet freedom and decided to check out my neighbors in bloggityville. I had read about this blog in Family Circle or Good Housekeeping and it sounded right up my alley. It's a really neat blog called Simple Mom. Go ahead, check it out, I'll wait...

Okay, you back? Isn't it cool? I loved it too. Aaaanyways Tsh has several great posts about menu planning and in those posts she talks about using delicious, a social bookmarking site (which is really, really cool. I immediately signed up.) to organize all of the great recipes that you find on the internet. She included a link to her bookmarks, and it had this recipe listed. You cook the pasta in milk which reduces down to a sauce and then add cheese. How cool and easy is that? Well I've been looking for a good, easy, mac & cheese recipe forever and this one looked absolutely scrumptious. So of course I had to make it right away.

We had it for dinner last night.

It was very simple to make, and the flavor was terrific. The only giddyup that I had was the texture, it came out a bit grainy. I think that next time I need to use a bit more milk, and I'm going to try a different kind of cheese, maybe Colby Jack. Mmmmm.

Anyway two thumbs up, and I'll let you know how it turns out once I've tweaked it a bit.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Guess what? I just made homemade laundry detergent!
And here it is at home between the toolbox and the toilet paper:

Now this could either work out really well, or it could be a total fiasco, dunno, haven't washed any clothes with it yet, but I will let you know what happens when I do. It's a very simple recipe that uses Borax, Arm & Hammer washing soda, and one bar of soap.

I first came across the basic recipe/idea when I was researching cloth diapers for Sarah and was trying to decide what detergent to wash them in. I've always wanted to try making it, but I couldn't find washing soda anywhere in California, and I wasn't about to buy it online figuring that that would kind of put the kabosh on the money saving aspect of it. Luckily, we're able to get it here in North Carolina, woo hoo!

So anywho, I ran out of detergent today and remembered that old recipe. I actually found another recipe here that I went ahead and tried. I liked this one because it used up the whole box of the ingredients instead of mixing up a bit at a time. For my soap I used lavendar scented Dr. Bronner's castille soap and my detergent smells scrumptious, I can't wait to use it!

*Update* Well, I threw our kitchen towels in the wash to try out the new detergent (they were dirty, c'mon, I'm not that bad) and nothing's blown up yet. They're in the dryer right now and I'll update the update when they're done.

*Update on the Update* The towels came out beautiful! Well, as beautiful as beat-up kitchen towels can be anyways. The detergent worked great, the towels we so soft and clean smelling. I love it!

Oops

... and I just set off the fire alarm making lunch for the kids.

Yes folks, we are back in business.

Woohoo!

I am now officially online y'all!

I finally bit the bullet, broke down and got internet. It's scary that it has become such a necessity, geez. I mean I felt so isolated without it, isn't that sad?

So anyways, I'm back. Yay.

Loss

My sweet, sweet grandmother passed away suddenly towards the end of June. It was a terrible loss for our family, and one that I think I am still processing.

It happened the day after the kids and I had gone to visit her, and I think that it was such a shock because she seemed so full of life when we saw her. I just thank God that we got to see her one last time and that our last words were I love yous.

I miss her terribly, and I know that my mother, aunt, and uncle feel that loss even more. What hurts the most is that we weren't able to attend the memorial service, it kills me to not have been there. It was held in California because most of my family is there, and the place that my grandfather was buried and where my grandmother wanted to be buried is there also. I just didn't have the money to fly the kids and I out there, and it makes me ill to think about it, but I  remind myself that the times that we spent together and the last visit that we were able to have with her are what was important.

I was blessed to have four generations of my family alive and together at the same time. It was a precious thing that my children got to know and love their great-grandmother, their Nana, and to know that she adored them in return.

I love you Nana, and I miss you.