Laundry Detergent

During our Ladies' Retreat in March, we had a few "FYI" sessions where some of the ladies taught us how to do different things.  One of the sessions was on how to make your own laundry detergent.  At the end, we were told that in doing so, we would be spending only a penny per load of laundry that we did!  With a baby coming, which means more laundry, I thought that it was something I should look into doing!  I printed the recipe off from online, and bought all of the ingredients the next time we went grocery shopping.  The night that I made my first batch of it, I was very determined to take pictures of it.  It was then that I remembered that my camera was at the church!  I had to take the pictures with our phone.  That, combined with the fact that I am not that great at taking pictures, produced the pictures that you will see.  I am sorry that they are not the greatest pictures.

 Here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup of Borax (I bought 20 Mule Team Brand)

1/2 cup of Washing Soda ( I used Arm & Hammer)

1/2 cup of Baking Soda (You can use more or less depending on how fresh you want your clothes...I also used Arm & Hammer for this)

1/3 bar of Fels-Naptha soap

The first step is to grate the soap into a pot.  It was kind of funny because it did look like cheese, but by the smell you can tell it is not:)!

This is what the soap looked like after it was grated...it also smelt very good.

You then put in 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap has all completely melted.  You of course need to make sure that you are stirring it.

Then add the borax, washing soda, and baking soda, and stir it until it is all dissolved.

Put 4 cups of hot water into a bucket, and then put the soap mixture in and mix it up.  You will then add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and you are done!!!!! 

I doubled the recipe, so it made about 4 gallons of detergent for me...I bought this 5 gallon bucket at Wal-Mart since I did not have one large enough.  I was a little nervous about this whole endeavour, but it actually turned out to not be very hard, and I am very glad to be saving us some money.  One more thing about this detergent that is nice is that you do not have to use dryer sheets if you wash clothes, so that is another way that we area saving money.  One last note--you use 1/2 cup per load.

**Make sure you continue down and read the next post...Tyler and I both happened to have time today to write one, and I do not want you to miss his since it has been a while since he wrote!

Life is Marching Forward

     Our life has not been too exciting lately, but I thought that since I actually had some time, I would update you all on what is going on in our humble little lives!  These little chunks of time that I get are not very often, so I take advantage of them when I get them!
     This last week at school has been spent in preparation for A.C.E.  Regional Student Convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for which we will be leaving on Tuesday.  By we I mean:  Pastor and Mrs. Williams, Dad and Mom Brock, and Tyler and myself.  It is for the kids in our school that are ages 13 and older, so it does not directly affect me, but it does indirectly affect me since Tyler is very involved with it all.  The kids have spent a very busy week practicing and perfecting anything that they are going to compete in.  There are a wide range of competitions, such as:  art, speaking, music, athletics, and others I cannot think of.  We have discovered some talents in our teens that we did not know they had before!  It should be a fun 5 days that we spend there, although I am sure we will be tired when we get home.
     Tyler's birthday is coming up on the 21st of April, which will be the day that we are travelling home.  I have been saving my pennies from my allowance to get him a gift that I have been wanting to get him.  After I bought it, I discovered that I had some extra money left in my little savings, so we went to eat lunch at Sonic today, which was very yummy.  It is one of those places where you drive up and they bring the food to you in the car.  Tyler had a Chicago style hot dog--I thought it was amusing to have one of those in the wild west of South Dakota, but it looked pretty good.  We also got a Strawberry Limeade, and finished it off with Strawberry malts.  Tyler thoroughly enjoyed himself, since he has been keeping a strict diet, and this was his day off to eat whatever he wanted. 
     Speaking of his diet, it has been an experience for me, since I have had to completely change my menu plan.  He has been on the Eating for Life plan, and so far has lost 8 pounds!!  I am very excited for him.  It is good for me, too, since it is a much healthier way of eating.  What we have both enjoyed about it is that the food is very yummy, yet good for you.  Well, all the meals have been good, except for the tuna casserole which I WILL NOT make again.  First of all, Tyler did not really like it that much, and second, the tuna made my kitchen stink!!  Our favorite so far has been the chicken enchiladas--they are amazing!  He also has been very faithful with working out, which has benefited me because it keeps me working out, although definitely not 6 days a week as he does!
     As far as I am concerned, I am almost 32 weeks along with little Boy Brock.  We still have not decided on a name for him, but he will have one when he is born, don't worry!  For anyone that is interested, he is about the size of a pineapple right now, according to statistics.  He is nearing 4 pounds!  I cannot believe that, because it seems like he was just the size of a peanut.  I am beginning to get less sleep at night as it gets increasingly difficult to be completely comfortable.  Today was my day off, and I was looking forward to sleeping in, but there was no such luck!  At 5:30 a.m. I was wide awake, and there was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep.  Of course after I had been up for 2 hours doing things, I suddenly was extremely tired again...I guess nothing is predictable when you are expecting!  My school kids and I were talking about the fact that our baby was going to be a boy.  My little kindergartner, who is one of 5 boys in his family said, "That's good, because we need more boys in Rapid City!"  I thought that was pretty funny.  He's not very outspoken, but when he does say something, it is always interesting to hear what he says.
     I cannot believe that after we return from our trip there will only be 5 weeks of school left.  That is exciting and a little stressful at the same time.  My class always puts on a program for the parents, church members, etc. at the end of school and I still have A LOT to do to get them ready for that.  I definitely will have a very busy 5 weeks!  I always have the great reward of summer break to look forward to! 
     Our van ministry is also going well!  We had 27 come out on Easter Sunday, including some parents, which was a big blessing.  This Sunday we are going to have a candy scramble for the kids, so Tyler and I went out to get everything for that today.  When we got back to the church to put everything away, we realized that we got more than we thought!  Oh well, the kids will enjoy it!
     The Lord continues to bless us, and we are very thankful for that!  Since there is nothing else that I can think of, I will close for now!

One of Those Mornings

     Yesterday, we had "one of those mornings" at home.  It started with something that happened because of me and my scatterbrained ways.  Tyler and I have been very faithful about eating oatmeal every morning before we go to school, in an attempt to be more healthy.  I normally run into the kitchen, turn on a small pot of water to boil, and then go and do a few more things to get ready before coming back to put the oatmeal in.  I followed my usual routine yesterday morning, and after a couple minutes, Tyler smelt something funny, so he went into the kitchen.  I had turned the wrong burner on, so the water was nowhere near even being warm.  That was not the problem, though. My nice, beautiful wooden holder for my knife set, which I really love, was sitting very close to the burner which was on. One side of it was no longer beautiful wood, but rather it was completely black.  I did not realize it until I heard Tyler's "Oh no!"  We quickly altered the situation, and still had some good oatmeal, but I will forever have a knife holder that is black on one side.
     A few minutes later, I heard Tyler say, "Oh no!" again, and ran into our bedroom to see what the problem was.  I saw him sitting on the bed, staring with dismay at his school shoes, which he had just put on.  One of them had a very large hole in it, making it impossible to wear.  Poor guy!  Thankfully he did have some other shoes that he could put on.  While he was doing that, I was running around the house lighting candles and opening windows, because the maintenance man was scheduled to come to our apartment during the day to repair something, and the smell that my burnt knife holder left was not exactly the most pleasant.
     We finally got out of the house, a little dissapointed at the 50 degree drop in temperature since the day before.  We also were almost getting blown away by the wonderful South Dakota wind that runs wild out here.  As Tyler opened the door for me to get into the car I heard him say "Oh no!" for the third time that morning.  It was then that I noticed that there was no longer a side mirror on my side of the car.  It was rather laying several feet away, pretty beat up.  He picked it up and placed it in the car.  As we began to drive away, I got a full picture in my mind of our car without the mirror and thought of how it is looking more and more like a car that the Beverly Hillbilly's would be driving, and I just had to start laughing!
     Tyler, of course, looked at me, wondering what I thought was so funny.  I just had to tell him, "You just had a Johnson morning, even though you are a Brock".  That's what seems to happen when you marry a Johnson...just ask my sister-in-law and she will say the same thing!  As we talked about everything, Tyler was finally able to laugh as well.  There were several things that we could be thankful for.  It was good that we did not have a towel or anything else very flammable on the stove to catch fire.  It was also a blessing that Tyler has several other pairs of shoes that he can wear.  We also were very thankful that we have a car that still runs, no matter how it may look.  We would rather be able to continue saving money until we can buy a nice, new car without being in debt for it. 
     We have been praying for patience, and I guess yesterday morning was a tool from the Lord to help teach us how to have patience, even when we would rather scream.  Praise the Lord He is wonderful, even as He teaches us lessons!!

Moving!!

     This is just a quick post to say that over the weekend we successfully moved into our new apartment.  I really, really like it!  I had a few sentimental moments while we were packing and moving, because we were moving out of the apartment that was our "first apartment".  I remember walking into it for the first time right after our honeymoon and being so excited that I had my own home!  I also remember putting everything away in its place, putting pictures and other things up, and making it look more "homey".  I remember having my very first guests for dinner in my little home. I remember finding out that we were expecting our first little bambino.  I remember learning together to trust the Lord as the funds that came in were not quite enough for what we needed.  There were so many more memories that came to my mind as I packed box after box.  Well, life moves on, and I guess at some point everyone ends up moving out of their very first home.
     The youth group was a GREAT help in moving!  They arrived around 9:00, and by 11:00 they had everything moved, my kitchen almost all put away and organized, and a lot of the old apartment cleaned.   Tyler's parents and sister, as well as my good friend Rachel were also a great help.  Rachel is one of those people that has constant energy and can go for hours and hours.  She spent most of the day Friday helping me and several hours on Saturday. Neither Tyler nor I can stand having clutter and boxes everywhere, so we worked until everything was in its place and every picture was hung on the wall...it took us until about 8:30 that night.  It was such a great feeling to know that we were completely done.  Hopefully at some point we will be able to post a few pictures of our new place.
     We have now enjoyed 4 days in our new little home, and are enjoying it very much.  Our next step is to get baby's room ready for him to come.  As his kicks get harder, I realize that the day is fast approaching!  Well, Goodbye for now! 

Busy, Busy, Busy

     Hello everyone out there who reads our blog!!  I am very sorry that it has been such a long time since we posted anything.  As normal our life has been happily moving along at an increased pace.  We are now in the 4th quarter of school, and as my piano teacher used to say..."PTL" (Praise the Lord!).  I cannot believe that in just about 9 weeks I will say goodbye to my little people for 3 whole months!  Of course, there will be another little person entering my life shortly thereafter.
     I had my 28 week appointment yesterday, and baby was alive and kicking!  His little heartbeat was 150!  I also had to drink a bottle full of glucose and have my blood taken.  After all of that sugar intake I got a little light-headed and my ears were buzzing.  Since I did not get a call within a day, I guess I passed my test!  For any of you who are interested, our baby right now is about the size of a rutabaga, as one of my sources tells me.  Seeing that he started out the size of a dot, I say he is doing pretty well!  We still have not decided on a name for the little guy. We have had a lot of fun laughing at some of the names we have seen in baby name books. There is one name that we are strongly leaning towards, but I will not reveal it at this time!!!
     Another news item of importance is that we will be moving to a two bedroom apartment on Saturday!  The youth group is going to be coming to help us, which will be a blessing.  I really do not enjoy living in an apartment full of boxes, but I know that in just a few days it will all be over.  I am thanking the Lord that an apartment came open for us to move into before the baby is born, because I think it would be much more difficult to do later.
      I will have to close this short update for now, but will do my best to post more in the near future.  God has truly been blessing us, and we have nothing to complain of.  Goodbye till later!
    

Family

While Tyler and I were in Indiana for graduation, we enjoyed so much the time we spent with family.  I thought I would share a couple pictures of our time together.  My sister and her kids (pictured with us above) came from Wisconsin, and we had some crazy times together.  David, who is five years old is getting to be fun to talk to.  On the night of graduation, as we were all getting frantically ready, he saw Tyler and then came to find me.  He said, "Mary, Tyler looks very handsome!"  I thought that was just so funny--he really liked Tyler's suit.  I had to agree with him that my husband looked handsome!!  Tyler took the two boys to the park in the afternoon, and because of that I think they will forever love him!

On Friday, after Stephanie and the kids went home, the rest of us went along with my dad on a few of his appraisals for work, went to see the Tippecanoe battlefield, and ate at Olive Garden!  I went online and found the history and details of the battle, and began to read it to my family when we got to the battlefield, thoroughly enjoying all that I was learning.  They did not appreciate my love of history too much, and soon let me know that they had learned everything they wanted to about the battle for one afternoon!!  We enjoyed walking around the battlefield, as well as a pretty little river that ran along side.

Lorena, Mary, and Lorelynn near the river.

Mom and Dad

Tyler and I enjoying the river

In front of the battlefield

My little sister and I (who is not so little anymore)

We are standing in front of a monument erected to the men who fought.

These two pictures are proof of what being in a car all day, traveling through farm country, will do to you!!

Our Life in the Past Two weeks

            Well, you have not heard from us in more than two weeks, and believe me they have been two very busy weeks!  Life seems to just be going faster and faster for us here in Rapid City.  We wake up at 5:30 in the morning, and before we know it it is time for bed.  Although we are running like crazy, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still alive.  You see, part of the problem is that we do not have Internet at home, so any updating we do to our blog has to be at the church where we do have internet.  Most days, by the time we are done with work, we do not really feel like staying until 6:00 p.m. just so we can update the world on our lives!!  If we did that, supper would not be ready until 7:00 or 7:30!


            We are thoroughly enjoying all of our busyness. Since the last time we posted, we had our first "real" company over!  I say real, because we have had the teenage girls over a couple of times and Tyler's parents over for desserts and games, but this time it was the full thing.  We had a sweet, older couple in the church over named the Mondts.  Mr. Mondt coached college football for about 30 years in Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and I think a few more places.  He looks exactly how you would think a college football coach would!  I am sorry we did not get a picture of them to show you all. We rushed home from work, and I started to put the last details on the food together ( I had prepared some of it the night before), and Tyler very graciously finished up some of the cleaning for me. I was sort of a nervous wreck for a little bit, because I wanted everything to be perfect, but once they came in the house, I was calmed very quickly because they enjoyed everything and we had so much fun talking!  I made lasagna (just like my mom's), spinach salad, garlic bread, sweet tea, and Peanut Butter pie.
     

This was the lasagna.  Tyler said it looked weird, but that is how it always looked at home!  Once he ate it, he thought it was the best lasagna he had ever eaten:)!

This was of course the Peanut Butter pie.  It was very yummy.  The bad thing was that we then had it sitting around for several days because there was so much of it.  It did not help our diet any!!!

         


            Another thing we have done since our last blog was take the youth group to a teen rally at Pastor Matt Furse's church in Custer, South Dakota.  That was great fun!  We went with Mr. and Mrs. Betz, the couple in our church that takes care of the teen activities, etc.  I rode with Mrs. Betz in the girls' van, and Tyler rode with Mr. Betz in the boys' van.  It was nice enough outside to have games.  It was hilarious to see them try some of the games out-they were pretty creative.  We had pizza and pop (of course), inside games, skits, songs, and preaching.  Two of the Betz boys did "Who's on First" and did a great job.  Even though I have heard that so many times I could hardly stop laughing.  The guest speaker was Evangelist Bill Smith.  He had a great message that spoke to my heart, and I think many of the hearts of the teenagers.
         

            To change the subject a little:  Tyler has learned how to master grilling out!  His brother gave us an old grill of his, and his parents got him a propane tank for his birthday.  He was so excited and could hardly wait for the first nice day to grill out.  The first thing he tried was steaks, which have been in our freezer since someone in the church gave them to us right after we got married.  They turned out really great, especially since I put them in a marinade the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator all night and all day.  The thing that did NOT turn out was the corn on the cob we tried to grill.  We did not turn it and one side got burnt beyond recognition as a piece of corn!  Since then we have tried, hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken.  They have all been wonderful.  We did try corn again, and the second time it was perfect!  If you have never tried it, you have to!


            Along with the fun things we have been doing, we have also been doing our normal work at the church and school.  School will be finished one week from tomorrow.  We are going to take the Elementary kids to one last field trip at a petting farm near here.  We have also been working very hard on the program for the closing night.  I did not realize how hard it was to make up a program!  There were some parts that I had to keep on going back to and editing because words were too big, or it was too long, etc.  The kids are doing really well for the most part, and I am proud of them.  The little k-5 girl will get "embawassed" sometimes and just won't read, so hopefully we can get her where she needs to be.  I am a little sad that I will not get to be at the program, because the same night I will be in Indiana at my graduation.  We are going to try to get it recorded so that I can watch it later.  I am not sure if I am more nervous about their program or about my own graduation!!  I feel as I have accomplished one more thing in my life, because I taught Jonah how to borrow when he is doing subtraction.  It took a lot of explaining in a very animated form as well as examples with a classmate of me borrowing rulers and pens, but he finally mastered it and was able to do about 12 whole problems all by himself!!

     
           There has been much more going on in our past two weeks, but I am sure by now most people are tired of reading my ramblings.  All of our other adventures will have to wait for another day and another post!