Just call me Susie Homemaker...or just Whitney.

 Thursday I was feeling a lot better than I have been in awhile.

So I decided to get busy with some projects that have been sitting around 

the house longer than I have. *ahem*

I started out by sanding the dresser tower I found sitting out by the

dumpster one day. They didn't want it! And there was nothing

wrong with it, other than the coloring on the drawers. 

(It was obviously a children's dresser. It still had little

girl pajamas and undies in the bottom drawer.)

It also had a piece of weave in it...gross.

After sanding the top and one side, the battery to the 

sander died. So I swapped the batteries and sanded the front and

the other side. I started sanding the third drawer and that battery died.

So, I had to wait several hours for the batteries to charge before I 

could finish. I cleaned out the plastic storage drawers

in the bedroom and unpacked two more boxes of 

picture frames and J's pajama shorts.

After reorganizing the bottom of the closet some,

so I could fit the plastic drawers storage thing in there,

I ran to the Dollar General to buy a cheese grater.

Why, you ask? To make my own homemade laundry

detergent, of course!

I got the idea from my friend, and fellow blogger, Holly.

(I think we're friends. We are friends aren't we Holly?...)

Anywho. She has 5 beautiful kiddos and she made 

her own laundry detergent. I figure if it's good enough for Holly's 

sweet babies, it's gotta be good enough for the Hubby and I.

I had already bought the supplies at Wally World (Holly bought hers at 

Pub-lick's for around $8.) on the Laundry detergent aisle, but when I got

home to make it, I didn't have a cheese grater! I don't know how that

happened. We've been married almost 3 years and we both love

 cheese. I know I've even bought block cheese before. Apparently,

we just ate the block whole...

SO...I keep getting side-tracked... When I got back from the DG,

the batteries were charged, so I finished sanding and then wiped

off the dust so I could paint. I laid out my drop-cloth and 

set out my paint. Conveniently enough, the brush was just a smidgen 

too big for the paint-can mouth, so I had to have a tray.

Instead of running out to buy one, I improvised and used the plastic,

albeit reusable tray from Hormel's Refrigerated Entrees.

Heck yeah, these are awesome.

And Jeremy scoffed at me when I emptied and then washed the tray

to reuse it. I knew it would come in handy for something. lol. It was perfect!

I painted the dresser and then the drawers. Then I put a second coat on.

Surprisingly, the paint we bought at Lowe's dries really quickly!

Valspar's with primer included. It's really awesome

and totally worth the extra bucks. A quart cost us about $14.

Luckily, that's all we needed for the dresser. 

                                                            *Note: The knobs we bought didn't fit...so we have to get new ones.

After I finished painting...and stepping in the paint,

I started grating my block of Fels Naptha soap.

I grated all the way down to this tiny piece:

I may or may not have grated some of my nail...

so one of us quite possibly, may have a piece of nail

scratch us when we put on our clothes...

And a few Special K flakes may or may not have

been raked into the container when I was cleaning up 

spilled soap crumbles. Oh well. I forgot to clean the counter

this morning after making a bowl of cereal.

Anywho, so y'all can make your own homemade laundry detergent,

here are the ingredients and instructions:

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shaved (97¢/bar)

2 C of Borax($2.98 for 4lb. 12 oz. box)

2 C of Arm and Hammer Soda Wash (not to be confused with baking soda) 

($2.77 for 3lb. 7 oz. box)

(That's $6.72 for all the supplies!)

I really like the way the soap smells. I think there is another

recipe out there that calls for Ivory, but Ivory makes my skin itchy

and dry, so I'm using Fels Naptha instead. If you want to use the Ivory bar

of soap, you may have to use more, since the bar is smaller.

When you wash laundry, you only use 1-3 Tbsp. depending on how

large your load is and how dirty they are. Regular detergents bubble up,

but this does NOT, so don't just keep adding the stuff. Bubbles

don't necessarily mean your clothes will be clean!!

I'm storing mine in a plastic container I bought at The Dollar Tree.

A buck for storage? Sure!!!

I'll letcha know how the detergent works out! And I'll post pics of 

the finished dresser when I have the knobs. :) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Happy Mil-Spouse Appreciation Day!