Having FUn!

So, I'm up here having lots of fun....boating, card playing, having fun with family. It's very relaxing. I'll be heading back to Youngstown with my parents tomorrow and staying there until Saturday, so I'll have more time to update about my time here, and the main purpose of the visit. I have lots of thoughts in my head about it. So....later!

Up in NY

WOo HOo! I'm up in NY and having a great time. The flight up was quite an adventure with two little boys, but for the most part it went smoothly. Thursday we drove up to my parents camp in the Adirondacks with my Dad and the boys, and my Mom came after work. It is so relaxing up here with the lake and the silence which is such a huge difference from the insane traffic and noise that goes by my house every day. This is the place I'd like to make my home. Someday when we're done with the Army life and moving around and such, I want to settle up here and make it our home.....someday.

it's my birthday

Bleh, 6am and I'm up and add 'em getting some work done before the boys wake up. (and as you can see I am working hard). I'm getting the last few loads of laundry done before we leave so I can put the rest of the stuff together that we'll need. It's hard to tell what to take because it gets much cooler up north in the evenings. So, I'm packing the shorts and t-shirts but I have to include the pants and long sleeves and sweats. So many layers make for a lot of stuff to shove into one suitcase. Fortunately we can do a few washes while we're there. I've really been looking forward to this trip, but this early in the morning it's hard to feel excited....maybe after my coffee. But mainly I think I'm dreading the travel part of the trip. It's going to be a looooong day, with 2 1/2 hour layover and two small children I just hope I don't go out of my mind. I know Seth is going to test my patience and discipline in a small airplane surrounded by tons of strangers is not easy at all. I'm bringing the portable dvd player, which should help tremendously on the airplane in keeping him calm while I deal with a potential screaming baby situation, and of course the kiddie leash which I only plan on using if things go terribly wrong. We will get there nonetheless, good or bad and soon I will be on vacation. Woo Hoo! We'll be in New York for a week and a half, with some time visiting friends in my hometown, and some time visiting with my sister and her kids, and grandparents upstate. All in all, a chance to show off my beautiful children, and to be spoiled for a few days. Oh yeah, and I turned thirty today. yippie :-(

A Milestone

John is turning now from his tummy to his back now! Yay! I took some good pictures of his accomplishment, and I'd have posted them on here if Seth hadn't stuffed Play-doh in every crevase of my camera yesterday. I'll have to run to the store and have a cd made of the latest pics and repost later.

Here they are!!!

Laundry Soap Recipe

I found this recipe for laundry soap last night after posting Earth. They claim that 2 gallons of laundry soap (1 recipe) only costs her about 71 cents! That's incredible. I thought I would share.

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

Earth

I've been thinking a lot about our environment lately. Last month on Earth day I watched the special on ABC that Diane Sawyer did and was very impressed by the sheer amount of information they gave on consumption in the world and it's effect on global warming. It really convicted me of the over consumption that we do in our own home, particularly on our paper towel usage (we go through tons of paper towels) that can be completely eliminated if we just use cloth towels and wash them. I think of the acres of trees that can be saved if I do that. But this is not a recent concern of mine, as it was some of the motivation for me to use cloth diapers when John arrived a few months ago. Not only does it help the environment, but it has saved us hundreds of dollars already.
I am starting to think of using cloth for other basic necessities as well, besides just towels to replace the paper towels, but cloth napkins as well, using hankies instead of kleenexes, switching to cloth maxi-pads, and investing in some canvas grocery sacks. I realize this will increase my laundry considerably, but someday when it comes time to replace our washer and dryer, hopefully we'll be able to afford a more energy-efficient, larger capacity washing machine. Oh, and as our light bulbs burn out, we're also investing in the florescent bulbs. If we do it a few bulbs at a time, the extra cost of the bulbs won't be so much at once. I realize these are simple changes, but habits ARE hard to break, and it will take a while to adjust to doing things differently. So, these are changes I really hope to make, but it make take awhile to wean my family off of.

On a related but slightly different note:

I was also pretty astonished and kinda mad when I discovered that my laundry soap was tricking me into using more soap than is necessary. Ok, perhaps you all would think, duh of course we knew that, but I didn't. Did you know that in the measuring cup cap there are 3, sometimes 4 different lines you can use for different size loads? My soap said, for regular sized loads use line 1, for large loads use line 2, and for extra soiled loads use 3. But additionally there was a line 4 on there.....what for? To get you to use more, and therefore buy more, and the plastic used to make that laundry soap container gets thrown out and more waste goes into the ground. I figured that a capful was what one needed for a load of laundry, but in reality I only needed about one-third of the amount. I need to call the laundry soap companies and suggest making refills for the containers in more environmentally sound bags or something. Or, perhaps I'll just make my own laundry soap from now on.

Happy Anniversary

7 years today Dave and I have been married. It's crazy how time flies by and the numbers keep creaping up. And in a few days I'll be turning 30 too. "Thirtylicious" is what my friend calls it. I'm just still kinda freaked out about it. In my brain I still feel like I should be 20, and I think most thirty-somethings probably feel the same way. When you're 20, 30 seems so distant and so old, and now that I'm 30, 20 seems like just yesterday. But now, married for 7 years we have 2 amazingly beautiful little boys, we've lived in Ohio, California, Texas and Georgia, Dave's graduated from college, and I've completed a tour in the Army. It's a no wonder it feels like time has flown by, we've been so busy and have been having fun doing it all together.

Brand New

Woo Hoo! My new journey with a new journal. I just recently got into blogging this year, after getting into reading so many other of my friends' blogs. I began my own blog on myspace but realizing that most of my family and friends aren't on myspace I decided to start a blog elsewhere. So, if I can figure this system out, I should be getting some pictures and stuff up about me soon.