~Karaoke~

Tonight was karaoke night with the residents.  They sure do know how to have a good time!  Their laughter is contagious! 

musical interlude

~Bathroom~

 Did a little crafting today.  I've been looking for some cute pictures to go in my bathroom for over a year now.  Today I just decided to make my own thing.  I like how they turned out pretty well.  I bought most of the materials at Craft Warehouse here in Salem and I had modge podge already (a necessity in this house).

My friend Shanon came to crochet night and brought me an early, early birthday gift!  She couldn't wait, and who am I to stop her :)  hehehe!  She made me a soap dispenser out of a mason jar!  I love it!  She's so sweet- she even bought me soap to put in it!  

~Annabelle Grace~

Today will forever be my niece's birthday!  January 12th, 2012.  She is a precious little angel!  She was born at 6:17 am East Coast time (South Carolina).  7lbs 5 oz; 19.5 in.  I'm nearly speechless, and that rarely happens! My eyes were tearing up pretty good when I heard she was in the hospital.  And at the sight of this little one, I think my heart grew!  I cannot wait to see her in person and to hold her!  I'm so proud of her momma and love to see how much her mom and dad love her already!  

~Today~

Not a lot happened today...picked out paint for the dorm halls...met with my girls for Bible study....watched Psych with Donny....oh yeah, JUST FOUND OUT AMY IS GETTING READY TO BRING MY NIECE INTO THE WORLD!

Annabelle Grace Flynn

~Goodies~

Donny asked me to bring up some stuff from the car.  I asked if I'd like it.  His answer, "I don't know, maybe." He hands me a box of Starbucks goodies.  Pshhh...of course I like it :)

 the goodies 

canisters

Canister filled with my apple tea

~Mediterranean Pasta~

Long day.  First day of classes for the spring semester and we decided to throw a free lunch for everyone in the mix!  ...A free lunch that I cook...  Anyway, it went quite smooth actually.  My sister Traci helped in the kitchen and Pat stopped by and was a help as usual.  :)

For dinner I tried a new recipe from Food and Wine. It's a Mediterranean Pasta.  Here is the link to the recipe.  It was divine!  Of course I had to increase the recipe by 4x's or so, but I didn't stray too far from the original recipe.  Half of the spaghetti I used was whole wheat, and I cut cherry tomatoes in half, but that might be all I changed.  You need to try it!

This picture doesn't do the taste justice

And last but not least, Volleyball started up again tonight!  We didn't really play for a whole semester, so it's nice to bring it back.  We are awful, but it is a lot of fun...and great for the students who have been in classes all day and need a little exercise/stress relief!

~Laundry detergent~

Took 8 of the residents to our church this morning.  I LOVE our church!  They seemed to as well.  It's a great way to start out a new semester...worshiping God together.  I had a bit of a break this afternoon and since tomorrow will be a busy day, I thought I should do something crafty.  I settled on making laundry detergent.  Not so crafty, but I like making my own cleaning supplies.  Plus, I just ran out of detergent, so the timing was right.  

Here is my recipe: 

55 oz Washing Soda

4 lb Baking Soda

76 oz Borax

3 bars Fels-naptha soap*

*could use Zote (pink bar) 

 Grate the bar soap.

Grated Fels-naptha bars

 Mix all the ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket.

finished product

Store in a container of your choice and use 1 or 2 Tablespoons in the wash.

I'm washing my first load of laundry right now, so if I find I need to change the recipe up, I'll let you know.