:)

For the whole 3 people that read my blog, you are probably wondering why I even do it. I know its boring, I'm not in denial :) I am doing it so I can remember what on earth I did during the wait, my mommy brain has set in early!

I wanted to share the goodies I bought at the beach. I've spent a lot of money this month I guess because my savings for the trip later this year (look at me being optimistic) is in really good shape. I am usually pretty frugal and don't spend a lot on "pretties". so let me just share what this shop-o-holic has been spending these past 2 weeks! :)

My first bad of the trip was to break down and buy the new towels I wanted. Huge pink fluffy towels, almost the size of a beach towel (and twice as thick!). Ralph Lauren...light pink...I won't share how much I spent :0

I got a second hot pink Asian diaper bag while in SC because I had 4 people tell me they wished they had one and out TJ Maxx didn't get them. I figure out of the 4, 3 were just being polite and one looked at it, then at me, then at it again... like she was trying to figure out if she could run faster than me. I got the bag for her, you know who you are ;)

Right before I left for the beach, I got a pastel pink diaper bag in a different brocade pattern. It is not a messenger bag like the cool hot pink one, more of a traditional lumpy fluffy one. Its really pretty but not cool like the other one. My dad needs a diaper bag but he won't carry this one lol I guess its going back after I look at it for another week :)

My new baby bedding arrived while I was gone too! Its a really cute set I am glad I bought it. It is white on one side and has embroidered/patchwork hearts and paisley swirls in pink, yellow & green. On the back is a pink color that defiantly in the pepto family. I am going to take it to Home Depot and match the paint then get them to lighten it so it won't be so loud. I am stalking matching curtains on ebay right now, I hope to get two windows worth for $30. I also got a small throw rug that is the same color as the darker pink color in the set (like a raspberry color) for a whole $4 :)

I also found diaper wipes for her cloth diaper collection. I had already bought a chenille bath robe to cut up for wipes (yardsale 50 cents!) but I found pink striped washclothes for $1 for TWELVE. They were really big and thin until I washed them, then they shrunk & plumped up to look like a regular washcloth. I got 48 total and I really wish I had gotten more, they would of been an excellent cleaning rag.

I also bought a 512 Ram chip for my PC and I am a happy camper. It was $30 after the rebate and my PC runs like a dream now. I was considering buying a new PC but no more, I'm good :)

I also bought clothes, something I rarely do! I got a pair of crops that actually make my rear end look good, they have orange flames on the pockets and have a turquoise butterfly embroidered inbetween. They also have those little ragged spots on them, look how cool I am ;) I got a plain turquoise t to wear with them and turquoise leather sandals with sparkly butterflies on the toes. I also got orange sandals, dark brown sandals and light brown sandals. I also got a great brown peasant type skirt that is very light and floaty and looks great with t's. I spent $115, that is a major clothing spree for me!

I was also excited that I found a bar of the mysterious laundry soap at Food Lion near our hotel. Detergent was starting to make me itch and I found a recipe online for homemade laundry detergent. Basically, regular detergent from the store has lots of bad stuff in it. Perfume that makes you itch, phosphates that rob our water supply of oxygen and toxins that seep in through our skin and clogs up our livers (yup, I'm blaming 10 pounds of fluff on my laundry detergent ;) All those bubbles you see? Bad stuff for us and the world and they are just there for show, bubbles don't clean anything. So anyway, homemade "detergent" is actually a mix of three products. One is a laundry bar of soap. I found a calagon (sp?) bar..most people use Fels Nap but I couldn't find that brand locally. You crumble up the soap and it makes about 1.5 cups of crumble. You then add 1.5 cups of borax & 1.5 cups of washing soda (not baking soda, that will tear up your clothes). You mix this all together and it makes 55 tablespoons of product and you use one spoon a load for a front loading machine (prob two for a regular machine). I was wary on how well it would work but it took makeup off my bath towels and a t-shirt like regular detergent. I really like how it smelled and that I didn't have to use a dryer sheet. This mix will strip the old detergent out of your clothes and rinse clean and you just don't need it. I have read of people using 1/3 of a dryer sheet to reduce static but I'm not having that issue. Have you ever taken your towels out of the washer and they were crunchy feeling? You used way too much detergent (I used to do that all the time) and you need extra dyer sheets to soften it back up. When you use a soap product your towels come out of the washer soft, I was really surprised. What else surprised me is that my clothes always came out of my washer wet. This load of towels and sheet came out 80% dry, its like the soap mixture released the water too. It took 20 minutes at low heat to dry a full load of towels and sheets. If you are curious, here is the cost break down if you use up all your ingredients- 6 bars of the laundry soap ($5.90), one box of borax ($2.29) & 1 box of washing soda ($1.69). So its 9.88 to make 6 batches of 55 scoops or just 3 cents a load. Interesting huh?

Okie I think that's it for now. I am off to my dad's house for a Father's Day meal. I bought him and Patti a front load washer earlier this year just like mine. Where I paid $600 for mine, his was $350 including tax because it was the floor model. He was wishy washy (haha) about buying it so I got it and said Happy Mother's day, Happy Father's day, Happy Birthyday, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. I figured that I spend $350 on them a year for these events and they never use what I give them. My dad has his Christmas presents from me (new Pjs, shirts, robes, things he needs because he won't buy them) and he doesn't want to open them up until what he has it worn out. What he doesn't get is most of his stuff wore out in 2002! lol