Laundry Detergent Tutorial

For awhile now I've been really interested in making things from scratch. I have made a few batches of liquid detergent, but recently found the powder stuff. I love it and you only have to use a tablespoon of the stuff per load. (Talk about a money saver!)

So today I thought I would share the wealth. ;)

Here's the The Duggar Family - Duggar Recipes - Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

Powder Detergent Recipe


What you will need:

1 bar of shaved bar soap (The bar soap of your choice. I used Fels-Naptha, can be found in the laundry detergent section of your local grocery store.)

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda (I used Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda)

1 medium sized bowl

1 wooden spoon/utensil to mix

1 grater

***Be sure to have a container to put the mixture in. (I used an old container of laundry detergent)

Step one: Take a bar of soap and grate it into a medium sized bowl.

Step two: Add a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda.

Step three: Mix all of these ingredients together thoroughly. (You can also add a dash of essential oils to add fragrance, although it has a wonderful clean smell as it is! ;)

Step four: Put the mixture in the container, mentioned above.

Step five: Pat yourself on the back, you just made your own detergent and saved money. :)

<3 Anna

Good Stuff!

Hello to all my bloggy friends out there!

I'm feeling especially happy today! So I thought I would put that perkiness to good use and update you on a few happenings. I recently wrote a blog discussing some personal truths that I wanted to live by and work on. If you haven't, check out that blog here:
http://annaleviner13.blogspot.com/2011/07/realizations.html

First off, don't you wish you were here, chilling with these penguins?!

This week I was able to catch up with a friend who was very encouraging. She knows my desire to get started in the medical field and was able to give me a few helpful pointers. I am now looking into a job shadowing program at my local hospital and have already started talking with a lady who works at a nearby hospice. My friend volunteered at a hospice and is now working for them. So I'm hoping this could turn into a potential job opportunity or if nothing else give me more experience. My friend also told me that the hospices are in great need of administrative and clerical help. These are areas that I really enjoy and would love to get more hands on experience in. I'm also interested in the patient care stuff, but am leaning more towards the clerical work. I think that would be more beneficial to me, since I'm studying Medical Transcription. Just curious, but do any of my reader's know anything about this field or some helpful tips?

Speaking of Medical Transcription, I am half way through the Anatomy part of my program...exciting stuff! I'm currently studying The Urinary and Endocrine systems...not so exciting...so far my least favorite chapters... :/

The cleaning and organization has slowed down this week. I'm currently looking at an evil pile of clothes that need to be folded and other chores that have been neglected...gotta hop to it. Caroline (She was the flower girl in my wedding) is coming to visit this weekend. I'm very excited about her visit. I bought us some face masks and we are going to have a girly night tomorrow and more fun to follow. I'll try to remember to take pictures. (Another thing I need to be more intentional with) and will update you all on that on Monday. :)

So life is good. I'm doing my very best to cherish every day and each moment. I know I'm not the best at that, but I'm learning. Hope you all are having a wonderful day and be sure to take some time to enjoy the good things around you. :)

<3 Anna

St. Patty's Day 2011

Hey everyone!

I'm still feeling under the weather and my original post got deleted. :/ *frustrated scream* And moving on...

Every year I try to learn something new with each holiday. I don't like not knowing the origins of whatever I'm celebrating. (Thanks History.com) So here are just a few facts:

Shamrocks symbolize the rebirth of spring.

There are 36.9 million U.S. residents with Irish roots. This number is more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (4.5 million).

The original Irish name for a leprechaun was "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow."

Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patty's Day, until Disney released a film called "Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Though cabbage has long been an Irish food, corned beef only began to be associated with St. Patrick's Day at the turn of the century.

Now don't you feel smarter. ;)

Tonight I'm cooking corned beef hash and a special Irish themed dessert. We are also watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People, for the first time. What are your St. Patty's Day plans?

In closing:

Question 2: Which is worse, failing or never trying?

I'm very much a perfectionist, but I would have to say never trying. I would much rather be able to say I gave it my all. I think some of the most valued lessons we learn come with failure.

<3 Anna

Internship Lessons

So I have a grand total of 3 days left on my internship. It's been crazy at times but very rewarding and I've learned a great deal:

I've learned that some people are not as accepting of change---even if it's good, as others are.

I've learned that sometimes no matter how nice you are some people are just mean or are just having a bad day.

Men should donate their clothes, we never have enough men's clothes.

A willingness and excitement for education will take you far.

Helping others is good not only for the people involved, but you as well.

Paint goes every where there is little avoiding that, even if you have the painter's tape.

Smiling really does help a situation.

Along with that, coming in with a good attitude really helps also.

Some may think that the homeless are not people, this not true, they are just like us having the same dreams, hopes, and needs we do. In fact I met a man during my internship, who was a graphic artist---he lost his job and had been unemployed for a year. He shared with me his artwork and it was beautiful and very inspiring. I also met a couple about to have their first child.

Real Stories, Real Lives...it's been an amazing experience.

"So You're Thinking About Being a Teacher"

So I was just looking through my blogs and realized that I hadn't updated about something very important in my life. Here recently, I have really been considering going to school for education. I'm very passionate about learning and I've been tutoring a lady in vocabulary for a few weeks now. I look forward to my time with her each week. She is a very special lady.

I've also decided to take the teaching thing slow, I have a tendency to jump head first into something I'm excited about and then when it's not what I wanted...I become very disappointed. So I finish school in June, I'm planning to take a year off after that to work and hopefully get in with the local school system to substitute teach to see if this is really the path I want to go down. As far as schools go, I'm really considering Piedmont College. I know that it is a great school in education and if I went there John and I would probably move to Demorest, so it would be a new place with new experiences...being near the mountains doesn't hurt either;)If you pray, please pray for me on this, it's a very important decision and I want to do what God wants me to do. Thanks!

Thoughts on learning

This past weekend was wonderful. John's dad and step mother came down and we enjoyed a weekend full of talking, eating, and just enjoying time together. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was going to Jackson Street Books. I love this book store and sadly, as much as I love it...we don't get over there too often. I'm hoping this will change once I graduate in June.

The thing is I have sooo many things I want to learn about...so many things that I feel like I would love to get a better grasp on. This is one of my goals in life, to be a life-long learner. Yeah, I know I'm a nerd and a book worm, but I'm proud of it;)

It was amazing for me to be in this book store and go through the rows and rows of books and realize how deeply I wanted to learn about them all. I guess that's been a sort of mixed blessing in my life, I've always had a wide range of interests and often have trouble choosing just one. The good thing about this---if you ignore how that interferes with what you may want to do with your life, is that once I'm finished with school I can grab whatever book I want on whatever topic I want and learn. I hope that once this happens, I'll feel more like I'm learning something useful and interesting to me and less like I'm wasting my time or learning very little. So anyway, I could probably write more on this, but my allergies are being a major pain today...so I'll end here.

Feel free to comment and if you have any particular interest you would like to share, please do so:)