It's mine, all mine!!

Last week I mailed my last car payment check and it has now been deposited and cleared the bank. Now I feel like the car is officially mine. Go figure the check engine light would come on Monday. Luckily it wasn't anything major, just a loose gas cap. Now on to paying off Matt's truck!!

Playing Hookey

I took the day off work so Matt and I could hang out before he goes back to work. If you are wondering, we couldn't really do it this weekend because we are heading up to North Carolina for Matt's niece's baptism. We slept in, then hit the road to St. Augustine. We toured the Lightner museum and then went up the lighthouse (219 steps). Matt was brave enough to walk up the lighthouse, but not go out to the viewing deck. It was really windy and there were a bunch of kids there too. After that we headed up to Jacksonville Beach to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Yum! We were going to walk on the beach, but it was cold and windy. I guess the water temperature is still low keeping the sea breeze cool. On our way home we drove around UNF. They have added a bunch of buildings! We walked around the Town Center mall, then headed to the library so I could get a book for the trip. I've been relaxing this afternoon and Matt has been getting the house ready for his mom and grandparents tonight. It's been a nice day!

Easter

Matt and I had a nice long Easter weekend due to my Good Friday and "Lucky Monday" days off and Matt's unemployment. We headed down to St. Pete Friday morning and drove straight to the nursing home where my grandma is. My mom was already there. Poor grandma was so tired because she had just finished her rehab and pretty much went straight to sleep, so the 3 of us headed to Burger King because mom hadn't eaten and then we sat outside at the nursing home and visited while grandma slept. We stayed while grandma had dinner, then mom headed to meet the rest of the family for a Good Friday service and Matt and I headed to his mom's house. Poor Barbara had a long week at school, so we enjoyed Papa John's pizza and HGTV.

Saturday morning we headed to my parent's house to see my parents and Jonathan's family. I was not happy that Mia kept calling me Lisa, though. It's understandable, though. After lunch (gyros from Athenian Gardens) we headed to Matt's dad's house. They had flown Brittany down for the weekend. It was nice to see her again. Jim and Jean gave us a nice Easter basket, which was great, especially because it was our only one. Jean had a great dinner planned and we had fun sitting and talking (though I'm still not sure if Matt and Jim finished their conversation).

Sunday morning I went to church with my parents while Matt spent time with his mom. After church, mom and I went to see my grandma again. This time we caught her before her rehab, so she was more awake. Grandma asked us to stay while she did her therapy, and we got to see her taking a few steps. Grandma still needs a lot of support from her therapist while out of her chair, but he had her walk about 5 feet. The goal is for grandma to be able to go back to assisted living. She still has a way to go, though.

Mom and I headed to the Woodson's house for Easter lunch. A highlight was the new kids table! I think there was a debate as to which table Jill belonged to. :) The afternoon flew by and soon we were back at Matt's mom's house for sloppy joe's with the family. It was a busy day, but we just love getting to see everyone and visiting, even for just a short time.

We decided to take the scenic route home, though we did cheat a little. We took I4 across the state and then up A1A. It was fun driving along the coast and there are a lot of homes to admire. We drove by Matt's new office building. It's brand new and looks nice from the outside.

On a totally different note, I just wrote my last car payment for a long time!!

Before and After

I know I have been saying for a while that I would post before and after pictures from all of the painting that Matt and his mom did last week. The before pictures are from 2 years ago when we first bought the house. It's easy to see the darker green accent walls we painted in the dining and living rooms. The lighter green is harder to see.

Home-made laundry detergent

I first read about making laundry detergent on my friend Kelli's blog. One of the subs at school said she makes her own and it works well, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It does work and I bought some scented oil so it smells good too. (It really doesn't have a smell without it.)

Here is the "recipe":
4 cups hot tap water
1 bar soap
1 cup washing soda (not baking soda!!)
1/2 cup Borax

1. Cut up the soap and put it in the hot water over medium heat. Stir until the soap is completely dissolved.

2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 with hot tap water. Add the melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir until the powder is dissolved and let sit overnight. The mixture will be gel-like and runny. (I was afraid I did something wrong until I read online that is how it's supposed to look.)

3. After the mixture has set overnight, fill up an empty detergent container 1/2 way, add water to fill it up the rest of the way and shake well before using.


*Optional* You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons once soap has cooled.

Top Load Washer: Use 5/8 cup per load (180 loads)
Front Load Washer: Use 1/4 cup per load (640 loads)