Dedication
First, I would like to thank my washing machine for without it, this story would not be possible. Most importantly though, I am thankful for the children and hubby that create the living breathing monster that is made of up their clothes and to which they add to, by changing multiple times a day. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I am truly grateful. Really, I am.
Introduction by Jamie Williamson
For those of you who don't know Jenny, she is multi-faceted person with a many gifts and talents, and a lot on her plate. She is a wife, a mother, a home-maker, a teacher, a youth leader in her church, a friend, and much more. She has four beautiful children and a husband whom she cooks and cleans for everyday among the other responsibilities, including homeschooling, she is committed to. With all that said, her busy lifestyle begs the question, "Why on earth would you use cloth diapers and make your own laundry soap?!" No, she is not a hippy. No, she is not a conservationist or 'granola'. Ok, she may be a little bit of each of those things, but still...cloth diapers and homemade laundry soap?! Really?! Although I do understand the cost-efficiency of living this way, and the all-natural approach, I just know how time-consuming it can be. And after reading this story, you may be thinking, "If only she used chemical laundry soap and non-biodegradable diapers like the rest of us, she may not have had to go through all that trouble..." But, I have to commend her. I don't think I could do everything she does as well as she does. So way-to-go, my friend! Saving the world one cloth diaper and soapy dinner at time!
This account takes place in a time, a week, not too distant past.... It all began on a particularly busy and weird week. I had to prepare for the beginning of a new homeschool year, plan a not so small event for our new ministry at church, we had to finish painting and decorating a room at church for this new tween ministry group and not to mention, my husband's car had died so he was using our van (which translates into me being stuck at home). Plus, all of my other "wifely duties." (In case, you don't know me well, please note that last phrase was said in a Nacho Libre voice.)
Amidst my busy day, I began to fold a load of laundry that had been sitting by the couch for a little too long. "Hmm, this laundry does not smell too pleasant. I thought I had switched this load over quick enough." So back into the washing machine it went.
After washing and rewashing several loads over the course of the next two days, I had decided I had had enough. Something must be done. I recalled a recent "pin" that I pinned onto my board of "things I'll rarely ever get to but hope to someday" board, oh wait, that's all my boards. The pin was on how to wash your washing machine. Sounds silly, you say? I thought that too. Before I went so far to wash my washing machine, I ran through some other "potential culprits" to my dilemma.
(I suppose I should include in this account that I use and therefore, wash, cloth diapers and make my own laundry soap.)
My soap. I had recently changed up my "base soap" in my recipe. I usually use Fels Naptha, washing soda, and borax. I had read that Zote, a soft pink soap, was good to use and good on sensitive skin. So the week before, I had made a batch with Zote, washing soda, and borax. I did not like it from the beginning. It was too hard to grate because it was super soft. It also didn't smell as clean. It was too large of grated pieces that also didn't mix well with my other ingredients. But heaven forbid I waste $.96 cents, so on I went with the Zote. (Looking back, I may have blamed too much on the Zote...but what can I say? I'm passionate about weird things.) So off to the store to buy Fels Naptha and make a new batch. Oh wait, I don't have a car. So I added to the other five texts of random "to dos" to my husband. Pick up milk. Get our library books on hold. Don't forget to call your mother. Buy Fels Naptha.
And my stinky laundry pile grew larger.
Once I had my soap, I tried to grate the soap and make dinner at the same time. Our tacos may have had a slight soapy taste instead of cheese but I'll never tell. Okay, new soap made, a load of laundry done. It still smells.
Then the other "potential culprit" toddled by...cute as can be but with a faint "ammonia" smell. If you don't use cloth diapers, this next part will sound wildly inappropriate, but I knew it was time to strip. Desperate times call for desperate measures, stripping is a hard job but somebody has to do it. And I knew my husband would never strip. No matter how much I begged.
I knew stripping all of the diapers would help her and needed to be done, but it wasn't my fix for the rest of the laundry. The laundry pile was growing into a living breathing creature at this point in the week. I guess it was time to try to wash the washing machine. I wasn't sure when to fit that in...between cleaning the school closet? Settling on which curriculum to use this next year- I mean, next week?! Painting the fourth coat of primer in the room at the church? Cutting and staining wood? Preparing something to share with the parents of our new group? Trying to figure out what's wrong with Gregg's car?
So I squeezed in washing the washing machine. And we had some amazing people help Gregg paint.
I got on Pinterest and looked up the pin. I realized I didn't have the required ingredient of bleach and no car to get it. And this time, I couldn't wait for Gregg to pick it up on his way home.
My laundry was bad. My daughter smelled like ammonia. This had to be fixed.
So in I dumped vinegar.
And sprayed KaBoom.
And an all natural all purpose cleaner.
I'm sure it wasn't great to mix those things but I was desperate. After three cycles of that combo and some scrubbing, then a cycle or two of just rinsing, it looked and smelled better. I decided to do a test load. I was weary but hopeful. Ahh, it smelled like my normally clean laundry.
Now, on to arduous job of stripping. ALL the cloth diapers (which is an abnormal amount for the one child I have in diapers but that's due to my cloth diaper obsession, which could be another volume). Sometimes cloth diapers get soap build up and you can usually tell because of the ammonia odor. You have to add dish soap the first time with hot water, then rinse like crazy until the water has no more suds in it. Blue Dawn and six cycles later, ahh, clean and fresh diapers. Now to sneak to the back yard to "watch" them dry and claim a few minutes of peace with my cup of coffee. As I enjoy my coffee and peace, I realize...
My saga is over.
My laundry smells better.
My washing machine is clean.
Then, my 8 year old comes to me and says proudly, "Mom, I started my laundry." Then her expression changes, "There's something wrong with the washer though. There's small, weird little things like smooshy snow on the top of my clothes. Should I just put it in the dryer or do you want to see it?" I walk to the laundry room and lift the lid. "What IS that stuff?!" I start sifting through her clothes and discover a disposable diaper that I had given her to use for her baby dolls has made it into her load. Defeated, I walk slowly way.
I believe this saga will unfortunately have a sequel.
Oh well.
It was quite the adventure picking apples (hot, bugs, poison ivy, did I mention hot??) but we got to take home a bushel of apples. We learned about several different varieties and picked Arkansas Blacks and McIntosh apples. Then I got home and thought, "Now I gotta figure out what to do with all these?!" My little baker daughter made the most delish apple muffins. And that barely made a dent in the bushel. So the idea of finally getting around to learning how to can and make applesauce came into play! (I had bought canning supplies about 3 years ago from a friend when she moved, hadn't even looked in the box yet...remember, I'm a procrastinator...) Luckily, between the booklet in the box and Pinterest we found a few recipes to reference. It wasn't as hard as I thought but a little time consuming waiting for the apples to cook down... We cored and quartered 8 pounds of apples, then cooked them down. We used an immersion blender then added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and a little demerara sugar (Arkansas Blacks are quite tart so we added sugar to balance). Then it was just filling the prepped jars and putting them in the boiling water. Voila! Beta testing, alpha testing, whatever you'd call it- I would say the experience of canning turned out great!
