Laundry Detergent from Scratch

I have been making my own laundry detergent for a while now and am really pleased with the results. You can customize the scent by adding essential oils. It is much cheaper than detergents in the store and I like the fact that I know exactly what is going in to my detergent.

Here is the recipe I use, if you care to try...

Ingredients

2 cups soap, finely grated

1 cup borax (sodium borate)

1 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate)

or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

Preparation and Use

Mix all ingredients together until well combined.

Use 1-­‐2 Tbsp. per load.

High Efficiency (HE) washing machine safe.

The borax and washing soda can be found in the laundry soap aisle at any store. They also have bar soaps in that section you can purchase. But I have known of people using Ivory or any soap in there.

What We Have Been Up To...

I have been in a serious baking mood lately. Or at least a serious sweets-eating mood, which means I have to bake. And I have recently hired this little sous chef.

Little Sugar LOVES animals, cows in particular. He has several cows, which he usually plays with every morning.

He discovered that they will fit in our window so they usually make a trip there every day. He also calls all boxes Choo-Choos and wants to push them around or to be pushed around in them...Some are a tight squeeze.
Good times here at the Sugar Shack. Loving life, loving good food and drink, loving playing with our precious son and looking forward to our new addition, loving time with friends and evenings outside on the patio. Hope you are enjoying your sweet life, too!

Happy Spring!

I have been loving this spring weather...warm days, cool mornings and beautiful blooms everywhere. We had several trees in our back yard that were gorgeous last week.
Here's to new life everywhere this spring.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Made these scrumptious goodies the other day.
I particularly enjoyed the cake part of this cupcake. I find it difficult to make a chocolate cupcake that will stay moist, but this one was super moist and stayed that way for several days after baking. Or maybe they only lasted until the next day, I couldn't say. If you enjoy Reese's peanut butter cups, then get yourself over to Joy the Baker and make these cupcakes.

Fun with Little Sugar

Little Sugar is growing by leaps and bounds. Right now, he is especially interested in "helping" with everything we are working on. Helping in this instance meant relaxing on the roll of burlap I was trying to work with.

Having room time the other day, when I rounded the corner to check on him, he was snuggled up next to his dog, Humphrey, reading to him. LOVE this boy!
Using his paint pens on his face rather than the paper.

chair update

A few pics of the chairs I am recovering, mid-way through.
Still trying to decide what color to paint the legs...

Apple Cake

Decided to try this Apple Cake for Valentine's Day dinner.

This cake was chock full of apple and pecan deliciousness.

Getting ready to throw together the frosting, which was the only disappointing part of the cake. The sugar never really dissolved. I think next time I make this, I will try some sort of glaze on it rather than this frosting.


For dinner that night, we had grilled steaks, roasted carrots, mashed garlic potatoes, and a tossed salad. Mmmmm.....so delectable.