update...

[Dixies_fire]

Small update...

Hubs got retained in the army.
I honestly don't know how but he did.
He is off medications right now and most of the time is okay. I wish he would find medications because him being off medications is scary to me.

Tk is doing okay at dad's house. She will be home next week for thanksgiving. She is having problems with students at school, grades wise she is okay and she's doing good at home mostly because they don't have a lot of space and an adult eyes are on her at all times.

I am really getting along very well with my ex husbands girlfriend/wife.

Boyo is okay

Mr Lewis is walking! As of today. He also says mama daddy and bubba, and something it sounds like Gavin.

I recently got a job waiting tables and pretty much as soon as that happened, my business, the laundry soap, fabric softener business got very busy. Thanks again to Hound dog for the recipe.
I also added naturally home crafted lotions and bath bombs recently and they are doing well.

I'm having a hard time keeping up with house, home business and job.

Hubs is working night shift at range detail. I don't know if that made things better or worse for us. We rarely see each other, he sleeps a lot, but he's starting to make an effort to see me and help more with house and kids since I am rarely home and we virtually never see each other.

Even with all of that we are barely making it, but Christmas is bought and paid for, for the kids atleast and the bills are caught up for now. Atleast the major ones.

So staying in Colorado for a while.
If you want to see the website, search Julie's Laundry Products on facebook. I don't imagine many of you will but it came
Directly from hanging out here and talking to you ladies.

 

[BusynMember]

Wow. Thanks for the update. Love the laundry detergent idea and that you got that idea here! I am sending you good wishes and sometimes not seeing a husband is helpful to the marriage...lol. I'm serious. My marriage to my ex never would have gone on for seventeen years except that he was so scared of being broke (although we weren't) that he worked a part time job, even on Sundays, and I worked when he didn't to avoid daycare costs and putting kids into daycare at all.

Thanks for checking in and hoping to see you more often!

 

[recoveringenabler]

Thanks for the update, things seem to be moving along relatively smoothly. Good for you with the laundry soap business. My usual mantra is hoping for "uneventful" which as we know here is heaven when we are not embroiled in difficult child or bumpy life events...............so enjoy the smoother ride for the moment!

 

[dstc_99]

I am so glad to hear things are looking up!

 

[DammitJanet]

Good to hear.

I really need to get that recipe from Hound dog because I would like to try it. Tide is so expensive!

 

[PatriotsGirl]

I would like that recipe, too. With more people in the home, we have a lot more laundry...

 

[Dixies_fire]

The general recipe is:
1 bar fels Napatha grated you can also put it into a food processor for a finer grate
Put that in a pot you don't care about and cover the felsnapatha with water.
Put the burner on very low and summer it till the fels Napatha melts.

You need 5 gallons of hot HOT! water, you can split this into a couple buckets if you need to

Add the felsnapatha mixture

Add 1 cup of arm and hammer LAUNDRY SODA not baking soda

Stir it up

This part is completely optional and makes no difference to how well it cleans it just keeps the soap from separating as much
1/4 cup of gain. You can make 55 batches with the smallest bottle of gain so it's not really defeating the purpose.

You can scent your detergent with essential oils or bath/body oils
Or the scent crystals they sell at the store
Or you can make your own scent crystals too and add it but it isn't as strong as the store bought stuff.

You can use the soap to clean just about anything
You can use it in a steam cleaner, you can add two ounces and hot water and vinegar and mop with it
You can put straight soap and baking soda and make it into a paste let it sit an hour and scrub the stove with it with steel wool (has no bad smell like easy off)
It will take sharpie off a counter with the scratch part of a sponge, it will clean microfiber upholstery, you can use it on cloth diapers.

The detergent is a gel-ish consistency don't let it deter you.

I hope hound dog doesn't mind that I shared it.

I started making friends here and it's helping me a lot. I am not quite so miserable here and can see myself staying for awhile. I've also gotten close-ish to my ex husband's girlfriend they are about an hour away so we talk about Terryn and other stuff almost daily.

I really miss talking to you guys more, but I've been going at a non-stop pace. With tk not being here very often, I have very little to report.
Hubs I have to handle on a day to day basis, I never really know what kind of day it's going to be with him, sometimes I'm grateful he works so much and sleeps so much, other times I genuinely miss him and we have a good time together. It's hard, it's really hard, the psychiatric he was talking to stopped listening when he said he needed off the seraquil and needed to be changed to something else. Which is ultimately what caused the no medications decision. It's really hard for him to get into his doctors appointments and because of the way the army is, he can't be exactly truthful about what is going on with him. It's worrisome.
But what can you do?

I'm glad you all are alive and kicking and doing well and if I don't get a chance to say so tomorrow happy thanksgiving!

 

[scent of cedar]

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love it that you are doing so well. This is wonderful. Your business idea was a good one, and I'm wishing well with that for you, too.

:O)

Cedar

 

[recoveringenabler]

We miss you here Dixie, please drop by anytime and just talk about your life, it doesn't have to be about a difficult child all the time, plus right now, your husband sounds a bit like a difficult child anyway!!

This may be obvious to everyone but me, but could your husband go outside of the Army to get professional help for his PTSD and medications? Is that permitted?

Sending you good thoughts and hugs. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.........xoxoxox

 

[Liahona]

I've been wondering how you were doing. Glad you are able to hold your family together.

 

[Dixies_fire]

He has to get another referral and right now he sleeps roughly 12 hours a day when he's working at night, which seems excessive but he's been making an effort lately to try to wake up earlier, but he's still mostly out of it till 5pm. When he goes back to days should be easier to set up appointments so we will see.

 

[susiestar]

Dixie, I sent you a pm. Not sure if you get notifications, so I thought I would let you know.

Does your soap recipe call for borax? It isn't listed in the directions, but every recipe I have seen calls for borax and washing soda (what you call laundry soda). It is also called soda ash in some fabric dying circles and there are places online to buy it in bulk. Around here it is not labelled laundry soda so finding it with-o knowing it is called washing soda could be tough in some areas.

As for appts, I understand how hard that can be. I am sorry he cannot be fully honest and open with his docs, but the family has to eat and pay bills so you do what you must. I hope that he can get help at some point and that you can also get some couples help to learn how to deal with all of this.

If you want to save on fabric softener, there are 2 ways that work quite well. One is to tear some old clothes/sheets/whatever into squares about 4-6 inch square/rectangle/whatever. Take the store bought fabric softener and pour some into a small re-closeable container like a gladware or other easy open/easy close type. Add an equal amount of water to the softener. When you need softener, wad up the piece of cloth and dip it into the diluted softener. Squeeze out the excess and toss into the dryer and dry the clothes. When folding the laundry, put the fabric square back into the container with the other rags to be reused again and again.

The other way is even easier. Cut a 6 to 9 inch square/rectangle piece of absorbent fabric. You can use an old bath towel, an old washcloth, and old dishtowel, a piece of sweatshirt, whatever. It doesn't have to be exact or even especially neat. Saturate the cloth with fabric softener and let sit until it dries completely. Repeat this a second time. Once it is fully dry, just toss it in the dryer on top of the load of launry and dry as usual.

This can be reused up to 40 times, or so I have been told. I don't know if that is true, but one piece has worked for us for quite a long time. It is quite cost effective and it keeps something out of the landfill!

 

[Mattsmom277]

What a great update Good news all around!

As for staying in Colorado, if you are at the NORAD base, let me know via pm. I've a childhood friend stationed there. Single mom, 2 kids, awesome woman. Might be worth me getting you two in touch on facebook? New friends are always good, and I can vouch that she is one heck of a great lady and tons of fun. Sounds like all that's missing in your busier life is perhaps a girls night here and there to just let the rest of life's struggles slide aside for a few hours and have girl talk and let your hair down.

 

[Dixies_fire]

Susie- nope no borax in this kind, I sometimes still use borax as a booster for my whites here and there but none in the actual recipe.

I made a fabric softener recipe, but it's the crystal kind. Ice cream salt, sea salt Epsom salt, and you can use essential oils or bath/body oils from a oil distributor online (the kind you put in soap and candles and lotion) if a person wanted to make it for them self
The recipe should be
1lb Epsom salt,
1 box baking soda
1 cup sea salt
1 box of ice cream salt
About 4 droppers or about 40 drops of oil
You can add food coloring if you wish,
Stir it up and put it in air right containers.
2 tablespoons per load, you can use them in humidifiers
Or
Mix it with the soap and hot water
In a spray bottle
For custom multipurpose spray
They are safe to use in the bath tub and sodium is a prime ingredient in fabric softener so it does soften clothes too. The scent is not really strong after rinsing pretty subtle but it doesn't have a lot of irritants in it for people with skin problems.

But I wanted to develop a liquid formula for the endless dryer sheets too! I saw that done with sponges and I think my customers would love it! Not to mention me because I almost always miss the rinse cycle. I'm pretty sure I could just mix the scent crystals with water and it would work that way too, but I haven't tried it out I don't know if I need to add something else to
It to make it stronger.

Mattsmom- I live right under NORAD but not the NORAD base, I'd be happy to talk to anyone local around here. I thought I had made a good friend, and I have made a few casual friends here over the last few months. But I just had the most bizarre experience of my life with the person I thought was my good friend, and I'm back to square one as far as girls nights go.

The situation is too bizarre to even begin to try to explain especially when I don't really understand myself, this girl helped me get the job I have and gave me all her hand me downs for mr Lewis. I have really enjoyed having her in my life and then she fell off the face of the earth, and I don't really understand what happened.
I mean we work together but she isn't speaking to me and I don't really know why. I've tried to straighten it out and what she told
Me doesn't really make sense to me, but I'm trying to just let it be because god knows I have enough on my plate, I don't need the drama.