Things to Try Thursday-Home Made Spray 'n Wash and Carpet Cleaner

Okay, so I have been a little busy this week and I am going simple with the stuff to try.

I saw this Spray 'n Wash recipe on My Frugal Lifestyle.  I tried it today while doing 1 of the 10 loads I have washed over the past two days.  I have rewashed almost all of my kids clothes they have out grown since they got wet in our basement.

This recipe calls for:

1/3 part Liquid Ivory soap
1/3 part White Ammonia
1/3 part Water
Empty spray bottle
I measured how much liquid my spray bottle would hold and divided that number by 3.  That way I knew how many ounces of each liquid to use.  You could eyeball it if you want, but I prefer to be a little more exact. 

Add all of the liquids to your bottle.

Your done!!
I found this to be good on stains.  I had a couple set in stains from previous washings that it didn't get out.  I also tried it on finger nail polish stains, and they didn't come out either.  For the normal stains my kids clothes endure this Spray 'n Wash worked well.  Make sure you check out My Frugal Lifestyle and check her notes on using this cleaner.  One very important tip....DO NOT use BLEACH with this cleaner.  The bleach will interact with the ammonia and bad stuff happens...just don't do it!!

Do you have stains on your carpet?  I do, with two little ones running around we get several stains on our carpet.  Here is a recipe for an easy GREEN carpet cleaner.

1/2 part Distilled white Vinegar
1/2 part water
Empty Spray Bottle

Once again I measured how much liquid my spray bottle would hold and divided that by 2.  I mixed my vinegar and water together.

Then I poured it in my spray bottle.

Your Done!!
I tried this on ALL of my carpet stains, even the ones that I have cleaned before with a chemical cleaner and have come back.  This did a GREAT job!!!  It was so easy to use with very little scrubbing. 
My husband and I borrowed my in-laws carpet cleaner and instead of using the chemical cleaner we used 1/3  vinegear (32 ounces) and the rest water.  This did a wonderful job on my carpets.  We left the windows open overnight to help the carpet dry.  The next morning the carpets were dry and you couldn't even smell the vinegar.

Don't forget to label your spray bottles so you know what is inside!

Happy Cleaning!!

What's for Dinner Wednesday-Chicken Divine

Okay, this is what we were gonna have for supper on Sunday.  This was before I found out we were at the same level as the Biltmore Mansion...we both have indoor swimming pools in our basement.

Here are the ingredients:
2 bags of frozen broccoli (about 20 oz.)
2 cups of cooked, cubed chicken
2cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup of mayo (miracle whip gives it too much of a whang...go with the mayo)
1/2 cup of shredded cheese
1/2 cup of bread or cracker crumbs

Cook the broccoli and drain. Then put it in the bottom of a 2 qt. dish.

Then layer on the cubed chicken.

Mix the mayo and soups together in a bowl.

Spoon on top of the chicken and broccoli.

Sprinkle the top with the cheese.

Top with the crumbs and dot with butter.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

You are done!!

Happy Baking!!

Not Makin' It Monday

Well.....We made it hope from pickin' up the hubby.  I have never seen so much water in our area before.  We received 11 inches of rain in less than 36 hours.  Not to mention it rained earlier in the week and the ground was already wet. 

You may be saying...my that is a lot of water.  I agree.  Let me show you pictures of my basement....

Yep that is me and the hubby sitting in the basement posin' for a picture....see all that water.  It was only 2-3 inches.  We were really blessed, the house across the street had water in the basement almost chest high!!!!

After spending the last couple of days getting water out of the basement...vacuuming water out of the basement...pulling soaking wet things out of the basement...I decided to take a break and blog about it.

When we got home from pickin' up the hubby I decided to make dinner.  I needed two bags of broccoli from our freezer in the basement.  The kiddos wanted to go with me to the basement, and when we got to the last step I saw lots of water!!! 

I immediately called my Dad to see if he had a sump pump that we could use.  Let me start by saying...there are tons of houses in our area that have water in them...one of them being my Grandfather's house in town.  He had water under his house and was trying to pump it out...but it was flowing back in just as fast b/c there was no where for the water to go since the land around his house was so saturated.  I was hoping that my family had an extra pump not already delegated to someone else.  Fortunately my Dad found one and brought it over.  I starting calling friends to see who could come watch the kiddos while the hubby and I worked in the basement. My college roommate (who is 6 mo. pregnant with her first baby girl) and her husband (a childhood friend of the hubby's) came to our rescue!!! 
We were able to commandeer a couple more pumps, and 5 hours later we had most of the standing water out of the basement. 

When I got up Monday morning there was still some water standing in the lower areas of the floor, but fortunately within 30 minutes that was being pumped out.  Today, Wednesday morning there is still water in the bottom cinder block, and the block below the floor that still needs to drain before we are water free.  But we are in much better shape.  I think we are at the point of going through all the stuff stored in the basement and repacking some things and just going through the other stuff and reassessing if we really need it.  So yard sale at my house soon!!
I have to thank GOD for small favors.  I can't imagine what would have happened if I hadn't decided to make dinner...we may not have gone to our basement until the next day.  The flooding resulted from our existing sump pump's failing.  This may not seem like a blessing, but it is.  If that pump had continued to work all the water that was in our basement would have been pumped into our septic tank, which couldn't handle that much water.  That would have resulted in our septic tank backing up.  I can handle water of sewage any day!!
I decided since the water was clear in our basement to let the kiddos have some fun out of all of this.  Here are a couple of shots of them playing in our basement swimming pool. 

Pookie wanted the water to stay in the basement so he could continue to play in it.  I don't think he understands that this is a bad thing :) 
With all the stuff that got wet I think our computer in the basement is the only loss.  My new Cricut (which I was storing in its box) was full of water and it poured out when I picked it up.  My sewing machine was on a table, but the foot was on the floor and got wet.  Both of these machines are FINE and still work!  I just can't thank GOD enough for watching over us and the damage not being any worse.
I hope you all have had a better weekend and start to the week than we have!

Happy Hump Day!!

Rain Rain Go Away...

Well... today is so completely different than Friday.  We have gotten almost a foot of rain in 2 days!!  Roads all the way around us are flooded. 

Our road is closed right outside of our house going into town.  After we got home from church (we go to church in the county...we drove on back roads to get there) my husband and son decided to go check out how much the road was covered by water.  This is what they found.

The road at the time this picture was taken is covered in about 5-6 inches of water.  After making a quick pitstop at home my hubby went back out in the rain on our 4-wheeler back to the local park...that is on the left side of the above picture.  The 100 electronic voting machines for our county are stored at this park, and the building was beginning to flood.  My hubby went to help move said machines and eventually load them on Uhal trucks to be moved to another location.  The water in the building rose from 2 inches to about 2 1/2 feet during the tree hours he was helping move these machines. 
My hubby is now driving a Uhal full of voting machines to another part of the county...I am loading up the kiddos and heading to fetch him.  Wish me Luck!!
Happy Swimming!!