It's A Learning Experience

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Cloth Diapers

 One of my charges in our home is the laundry. We use cloth diapers for the youngest 4 children. Therefore I have to wash diapers twice a day, because if I don't they will smell pretty bad.
 I actually already posted about how and what I do for the laundry.  I thought I would share how I wash them and what I use.
 For laundry detergent we use Seventh Generation. It is an organic product. We usually buy the Free and Clear, but they have scented. We buy powder because it lasts longer than the liquid. I use about 2tablespoons of the detergent for washing.
 We also use the Seventh Generation chlorine-free bleach. I use about 1 tablespoon of this. It works on colors too, so it won't fade them. It has really helped the diapers with the smell and dingy-ness.
 I also use about 1/4 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle and some baking soda. That really helps with softness and smell too.
 I usually rinse the diapers first, so as to get the urine and everything out of them. Then I put in the detergent with warm water so it will dissolve, then I put the bleach in the bleach drain, and I pour the vinegar into the middle spinner, so it will spin out into the diapers during the rinse cycle.
 I usually extra rinse the diapers after the wash so they are extra clean.
 During the last rinse, I will usually stick the rubber pants in with them and also a little more vinegar. If we wash the rubber pants in the wash cycle they don't last as long.
 We do not put our diapers in the dryer. They don't hold as much if we do. We will occasionally though. We hang our diapers out on the diaper rack. In the summer, I hang them outside in the sun and they dry quickly and the sun kills the bacteria. But during the winter, I hang them inside on the rack.
 We made all of our diapers and they have lasted us for 4 years. We actually need to make some more because we have had these for so long and they are starting to look pretty ratty.
 Anyway... do you use cloth diapers? How do you care for them? What do you do? I would love to know. Maybe I can pick up a few ideas from you!
Be Blessed!!
As Always,
      
http://homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/Amber_Amanda.gif
Find me here: The Daily Planet
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Sunday, January 6, 2008

Thankfulness, Mexican, Cookies, and Scripture

I am so very thankful for:
A God who sent his Son to die in my place and take sin I have ever done, will do or continue to do, so that I can live with Him forever and not die and burn in an eternal fire.

A Mom who cares so much for me and takes so much time to teach, correct, and love me. Who gave up having her own life to have children to raise for the Lord and set an amazing example for them.

A Dad who works very hard to provide all our needs to make sure that we have everything that is necessary to live. A warm house, food, a vehicle, clothes, love, and much more.

I love a Mexican dinner. Especially when it consists of Beans, Spanish Rice, Taquitos, Salsa, Con Queso, Tortillas. It is so good. Being from New Mexico, we were taught our to make ‘real’ Mexican food.
Not only was it delicious, but it was an easy meal, and it was a quick clean up. We didn’t spend too much time in the kitchen at all.

Here are some scriptures on thankfulness:

Philippians 4:6
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”


Revelation 7:12
“Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”

My favorite cookies are Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. Chocolate and Peanut Butter belong together. What a better way to be together than in a cookie!!

1/2 sup of evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter
1/2 package of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 organic shortening
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
Mix sugars, peanut, shortening, butter, and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Shape dough into balls. Place 3in. apart on cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross with fork. Bake until light brown, 9-10min. Cool 2min. ENJOY!!


I don’t really bake that much, but the only memory I can think of is of baking with my family is when we were reading
“The Hobbit” as a family and we were so into the book that we needed some cookies to go with our reading. So Mom read the book to us while we baked cookies. It was a special occasion because it was really late at nite.


I don’t know why, but this verse stuck out to me…

Joel 2:12-18 KJV
12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and th altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.”

Love, Prayers, and Blessings as always,
      http://homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/Amber_Amanda.gif
http://superangelsblog.com

©AmandaDixon2007

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Friday, December 7, 2007

“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

    This was originally published on August 26, 2006 at 9:53 AM in Reflections of a 16 year old girl on her way to becoming a Woman of God at The Daily Planet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  -Shakespeare.

But by any other name would it feel as soft?

As I was weeding Mr. Schenck’s flower bed a couple weeks ago, and pricking my fingers on his roses. I thought, “Why do roses have thorns?”

Why does a beautiful flower have a painful and ugly thing on it? Then I realized: A rose is like a Believer.

It is a beautiful thing to become a Believer of Christ. You have a hope in life, a goal, a chance to grow to be a better person. And then after awhile, just like a rose, you grow thorns. They aren’t there in the beginning. As you mature the thorns come.

Some of the thorns in a Believer’s life could be:

Forgetting to put God first.

Praying frequently.

Seeing and hearing unwholesome things.

Not using the resources God has privileged you with wisely.

Gossiping.

Not being the same person in front of people that you are in front of Him.

Doing things that put you in the spotlight and Him in the shadows.

Now these thorns are painful to you and Jesus. How can He tend to you and help you grow if He has to keep getting the thorns out of His fingers?

Now sometimes the thorns are used for a different reason.

They could be:

Putting God first.

Praying.

Keeping from seeing and hearing unwholesome things.

Being constructive with what resources God has given to you.

Praying for friends and their problems.

Encouraging friends and family.

Having the full armor on.

Putting Jesus in the spotlight of your life.

These thorns can be used to ward off the attacks of the enemy, just like the roses thorns ward of insects trying to attack its health.

Jesus is a gardener. He first tills up the hardness of our hearts, then very carefully He cultivates it so that seeds can be planted and sprout. Not all seeds that you plant are going to be fruitful, but some will. And the ones that do, He will water and tend til they become a flourishing plant. But gardens and rosebushes need tending to.

The weeds need to be pulled so that the roots can grow deep in the soil, just like us, we need to be deep in the Word of God. When He pulls the weeds some of the dirt that is protecting the roots will be uncovered. The roots will be revealed. It will show how much the plant is growing. Having the covering of you pulled off is very painful. It shows that you need work done.

And the pruning is painful too. He has to cut away everything that is dead or is making you die. The dead, decaying parts that you keeping you from growing to be a mature plant.

So to become the man or woman of God, you have to be tended by: Weeding and pruning.

These are painful procedures, but they have to be done.

The weeding reveals what needs to change and the pruning cuts it off to let you grow.

Jesus is more than willing to do these things, but you have to be able to give Him control. He will not take it away from you and tell you what He is doing.

I know personally I hate correction. You can ask my MOM   about that.

I hate being told what to do. When I do something that needs correction I get soo angry with the person who is giving the correction. I hate having to be told what I need to do to change it.

And when my MOM  is showing me what needs to be done in my life, I get soo mad at her for correcting me. But in hindsight I am thankful that she will take the time to correct a 16, almost 17 year old who should know what to do and not give her a sucky attitude about her correction, but does anyway.

She see past the attitude I have and sees what she knows I truly want to be or do in that situation.

Jesus wants to help you grow in Him. Let Him do what needs to be done in your life. It may be painful, but He did not promise us a life without pain when we became a Believer. Remember: He had a crown of thorns on His head to bear for your sins.

We are like roses. You have thorns. You can either have Jesus, your Savior, prick His fingers, or you can have the enemy prick his.

It’s your decision.

Remember John 13:15

“I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

As Always,

       !!http://homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/Amber_Amanda.gif!!

©AmandaDixon2007

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Monday, November 26, 2007

With 10 People, Laundry is a Mountianous Stack

    I thought I would share a little about our laundry for a family of 10. This assignment was part of the Blogger Friend School I am in.
    I love doing laundry. Well not putting it away, but washing, drying, and folding. I love having clean clothes to be able to wear. This was just a fun assignment!! It is actually pretty funny that this was the assignment because I just posted a bit about it in my Desiring A Mind To Work

A little about our laundry:
Where is it kept?  It's in the bathroom/laundry room.  Yep our laundry room is in the bathroom. The dirty clothes are kept on the floor next to the washer, and the dirty towels are kept in the bin next to the washer.
Who does it?  I DO!! I am in charge of all the laundry. I wash, dry, and fold. Until this week, I was only folding parents, littles, and mine. Jocelyn, Rachel, Eric, and Hannie folded their own. Now I fold everyone's and put them away. Isaac and Caleb do an excellent job of folding towels with me. And Isaac usually puts his own clothes away. Such a big boy!!
How does your family sort it?  I sort into colors. darks, reds, colors(greens, grays, yellows), whites, towels, diapers, Lucy's and then of course my clothes. I do not like to wash my clothes with everyone else's because they are sooo dirty and mine aren't. Very narcissistic, I know.
Do you wash by hand?   NO!! I don't think I could do that. I love my washer too  much.
Hang clothes on the clothesline?   Yes. In the summer I hang clothes out. But we need to put up a clothes line for next year. We have one, but its not really a clothes line. It is strung from the porch to the windmill. It works ok... but its not tight enough and it sags.
Make your own laundry soap?
  Nope. We use either Shaklee (which I can now order by myself) or Seventh Generation Organic laundry detergent. It's powdered too. I think It cleans better and lasts longer.
How often do you do laundry?  EVERYDAY!! EVERYDAY!!
How many loads each day/week?
  I do diapers and towels separately everyday. I also try to do a load of each of the groups I divide them into. So that is.... 8-10 a day. It depends on if we have been working outside or what we have been doing.
Indoor laundry room, in the garage, or laundry mat?  Indoor laundry room!! Thank GOD!! WOOT!!

Even more fun…share a picture! Ready for this??
Here is our washer and dryer:
WasherDryer.jpg picture by Super_Angel
Here is all the cleaners and detergents we use for the whole house. If you look at the shelf beneath the top you can see where we keep the cloth diapers.
DetergentShelf.jpg picture by Super_Angel
And here is the whole laundry area. Not very big for a family of 10, huh??
LaundryArea.jpg picture by Super_Angel

A little about my laundry as in dirty laundry in my life:
    I feel there is so much dirty laundry in my life right now. I am really ashamed of it all. One specifically is, (and Mom has been telling me this for the last couple of weeks, and I didn't want to believe her,)... since I turned 18, I have had a superiority complex. I feel that I am an adult and should be able to do whatever I want. Go where I want, say what I want, get what I want. Without any consideration from Mom. Yes, I ask for permission because that is what I suppose to do, but if she doesn't let me do what I want, then I have an attitude problem. According to the world's standards, I am an adult. I can assume full responsibility for all my actions. So why shouldn't I be able to decide for myself what I need or want to do?? I can't do that because I am still my parent's responsibility. I am still under their protection and household.
    One of the things that this assignment said to do was share a past struggle for other homeschool moms, but not being a homeschool mom that is kinda hard. lol. No really, instead here is a word of encouragement for all of you teens out there. No matter what you are struggling with always remember that there is a plan for you and if you take yourself out of God's perfect will, you will not only mess up your life, but also that of your husband, children, grandchildren, etc. Now it may only be for a season, but still once you mess something up, you will have to backtrack to fix it. We need to stop wasting time backtracking and just stay on the right track.
    There are many more areas I need to work, but this is one that has really been a struggle to me this past couple of weeks. I am asking for prayer about this. Please pray for me.

    I thought a good verse for this is what I was talking about above: God' perfect will.
Romans 12:2
"And be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. that ye may prove that which is the good, and acceptable, and PERFECT will of God."

    Being conformed is not only talking about the way you act or dress or do. It about talking about your attitudes and the way you are. Your demeanor, your heart, your thought process. I don't want to be conformed the way most of the people nowadays are. I want to be set apart as God's. And I want to be in His perfect will. I want it to be His way, not mine. Oh what a hard road is the one that is less traveled.  
Be Blessed!!
As Always,
      
http://homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/Amber_Amanda.gif!!

©AmandaDixon2007

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Learn About Me

My name is Amanda Dixon, but am better known as SuperAngel. I am an 18yo homeschool senior. I am the oldest of 8 children and I love my family very much. To find out more about me, check out my site: http://superangelsblog.com. There you will find what I believe, what I like and who I am and where else I blog. Please come by and see me!

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