Keeping up with laundry on a long trip

I just flashed back to the days of having only 5 kids and one on the way.  We were moving across the country from Delaware to Washington and opted to drive.  Lots of clothes to keep up with and our oldest was only 8, so most of the laundry duty was up to me.

The way I kept up during the trip was to pack a clean outfit for each of us in a trashbag with a twist tie.  Each night, we would carry one bag plus the toiletries kit in to the hotel.  Everyone would shower/bathe and the dirty clothes went back into the bag and we would tie them shut to keep clean and dirty from getting confused.  When I had the chance to do laundry, we'd repack the clean clothes and put the twist tie back on. 

This kept us from having to carry a suitcase/backpack for each family member in every night and really helped to maintain my sanity.  Plus, it helped me to stay on top of the laundry situation knowing how many clean outfits we had left and when we'd need to do the washing again.


Oh, in case you're wondering, we never minded letting our kids sleep in their clothes!  ;)

How to Stop a Cough

My aunt, JoAnn told me a while back about putting Vick's VapoRub on the soles of your feet to stop a cough. Of course, you put on socks to keep from making a mess. I don't know how, but it really works. The active ingredient is eucalyptus oil. So, we experimented with essential oil and found it to be as effective without the goo. Hali currently has a nighttime cough and last night I tried eucalyptus lemon essential oil, which smells way better. She gave one last, awful cough and then sweet, sweet silence for the rest of the night!

Fancy Dinner Rolls

Chloe and I will be making 200 whole wheat rolls for the Kent/Goforth wedding this weekend.  The mother of the bride simply requested rolls that are about 3" in diameter.  I wanted to try and find a way to make them pretty.  So, we made a few last week and slashed the tops in different ways to see how they would turn out.  I wasn't satisfied with the results.  So, I went to the internet to find a "fancy" roll method and came up with Kaiser or Rosette rolls.

So that I would remember what we did, I decided to make a few videos to show the process, rising, and finished product.  I posted them on FaceBook directly from my iPod.  If I can figure out how to do it, I'm going to share them here. Unfortunately, the videos require a flash player, so those using iPods are out of luck. You'll just have to come back and visit from your PC when you get the chance.
 

A New Blog

So, I've created a new blog where I intend to record trials (things I try as well as things I go thru), tips (some original, some gathered from other resources but all neat things I want my kids to know), and tricks (unique ways to do things), hence the name of the blog.  I hope you'll learn something useful and have fun visiting me here!