Laundry Tips

I just finished writing all of this out and realized it isn't a very interesting post LOL I am keeping it though, because it took a long time to type out! I hope it may help some of you, but if you are bored to tears reading about my laundry routine, please feel free to skip this entire post LOLOLOL Just scroll down to the bottom, I am adding some pretty new blooms from my yard, and pictures of the kids ; )




As you can imagine, doing laundry for 9 people is a monumental task. It used to leave me with a sinking feeling in my stomach every time I thought about it. A couple of years ago I had an idea that has made this necessary chore much easier, at least for me. I thought I would share, in case it could help anyone else. I still have times when things get out of hand, but for the most part my laundry has been under control for the last few years, and that is saying a lot! My method is obviously for a large family, but anyone could take elements of it to make it work for them. Also, I have older children, so someone with only young children couldn't use my tip of making them wash their own stuff! LOL

Before my epiphany LOL I used to only separate the towels from the clothes. Everyone's clothing went into a huge pile in the main bathroom. This worked fine when it was just me and dh, but as I kept adding children, it got crazy! I was never good at doing laundry everyday, I have to have days when I don't have to do any, or at least hardly any. First, all the children that were over the age of 8, learned how to wash their own clothing. I showed them how to separate the darks from the whites and how to spray any stains with Shout. Then I showed them how to put the detergent and Downey into the machine and how to set it and turn it on. They each have their own laundry basket in their room and are responsible to put their dirty clothes into it. Since they are only doing laundry for one person, they only have to wash a load of darks and a load of whites about once a week. I used to have a day assigned to everyone, but that didn't work out. So now, I look at their baskets and when I see they are getting full, I tell them to do laundry. The two older teenage boys pretty much keep it up on their own now. I am sure their wives are gonna love me : D I have had some people look at me like I am cruel or something when they hear that I make them wash their own clothes, but I don't really care. I am having them wash THEIR OWN CLOTHES for goodness sakes, I think this hardly amounts to child abuse :::eyeroll:::

So, I am only responsible for dh, Samuel, Ava and of course, myself. I also wash all the towels and sheets. This is still a good bit of laundry, so I have made this easier on myself as well. Samuel shares a room with Savannah. So, I put his clothes with hers. I have found it is so much easier to wash all of the clothes that are stored in the same room together. This way when they come out of the dryer, I bring them to the room they have to be put up in and fold them there, on the bed. I don't know about y'all, but putting the clean folded laundry away is the worst part of this chore! If everything is folded in the room it goes in, you just have to open drawers and stick it in, or open the closet and hang it up. This tip itself has made my life SO MUCH easier! I keep Ava's clothes in my room just so I don't have to bring her clothes somewhere else. I do help Savannah with her laundry because of Samuel's clothes being with hers, but she folds and puts away all of her own stuff.

I am very blessed to have a Whirlpool Cabrio washer and dryer, the washing machine has a 4.5 cubic foot capacity. This means I can fit A LOT of towels and sheets in at one time : ) I still have several loads of towels and sheets a week though. What I do is put a load washing at night before I go to bed, that way they are done in the morning and I can just stick them in the dryer when I wake up. It keeps the washer and dryer open for washing clothes during the day. I do have a load of towels or sheets to fold most days, but folding towels and sheets doesn't bother me as much as a load of clothes for some reason.

With this routine, I am only having to deal with washing clothes two or three times a week, and the older kids can't blame me if something they want to wear isn't clean : ) And in my humble opinion, it is good for children to learn to take care of their own things. I would do this even if I only had two children. I only had one brother, and I was still expected to help with the laundry and housework, and I think I am the better person for it.

Oh, I forgot to add, if there is a really nice outfit or dress that has to be washed on delicate or is just something that I REALLY don't want messed up, I have them put it in my closet. I will do a small load of delicates once a week.

Now, here are some pretty pictures to help with the boredom LOL

My only pink lilies


This is a hibiscus, Chad says it looks like a giant boobie LOL



Every morning, Samuel and Ava follow me out to the yard to see what has bloomed, they are still in their pajamas

Our recently planted green beans are just coming up, yeah we are a little late LOL






Samuel planted something in these cups, he waters them several times a day, I doubt they will grow LOL

I got an award!!!!!

I got my first award, I am so excited!!! Holly from Mommy Holly was so sweet to gift me with the Arte y Pico Award !
Check out her blog and her etsy shop, she sells beautiful handmade cards and tags!


Now for my nominations : )

A thrifty mrs is from England and she has a great sense of humor and lots of beautiful thrift store finds!

Lola....again is the mom of 6 and she is hilarious! I always feel better after reading her blog : ) She is also a very talented seamstress.

One Shabby Chick has 4 beautiful children and makes the most beautiful quilts and other things and is lucky enough to live in Hawaii!

Sodeste Tine is from Denmark and is just the sweetest soul, she has two beautiful children and makes the prettiest things. Check out her I SPY quilt, it is beautiful!

The Villa Family Marie has 3 gorgeous kids and is a talented seamstress, I always enjoy her honest and heartfelt posts. Check out her etsy shop, she has some really cute stuff, I especially love her custom name pillows.

I have so many more great blogs that I could award! I will save them in case I get another meme like this : ) Just check out my side bar, I guarantee, you will enjoy every one of them!


Once you've been selected, please follow these guidelines and pay it forward:

1) Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.

2) Post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog by so everyone can view it.

3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
4) The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) Please post these rules!

MIA

Sorry, I know I have been missing in action. I went from posting everyday, to not posting for almost a week! I guess I got a little burnt out : ( I was a little under the weather this weekend as well, I am feeling much better today, though.

I don't have much to show for my absence LOL I haven't done much sewing. I have a little dress that I still need to finish. I hope to get back in the swing of things this week.

I did go to the flea market/antique store Friday afternoon, and found a few treasures. Some more plates that will eventually go on the wall in my kitchen and this beautiful Dutch wall plaque. I love the colors! I also found a few more vintage patterns.







I forgot to share this beautiful teapot my Mom bought for me from the antique store. I had admired it when we went shopping, but it was too expensive, so she went back and got it for me : )



Dh is painting the house, and we went to Home Depot to pick up the paint yesterday. Our house is red brick and we picked a dark grey for the facial boards. While there, I picked up some more hydrangeas. These are also the Endless Summer, but they are white! They are called Blushing Bride, how fitting is that! LOL This whole flower bed is pretty much hydrangeas now, these are one of my favorite flowers and I love the fact that they come back each year. No replanting.


Here is another one of my Gladiolas, this one is light purple



What is up with Google this morning?! I have had a heck of a time trying to get to my blog or save anything! It must be Monday! LOL

Oh, I just remembered that The Bachelorette comes on tonight!!!! This is my one and only tv show that I look forward to now that LOST is over until FEBRUARY!!!! I don't have many tv shows that I HAVE to watch, but when I get addicted to one, I am VERY loyal LOL I love that it is The Bachelorette this time, lots of cute guys to look at ; )

While I was outside taking pictures of the flowers, I saw this gorgeous butterfly

Summertime

It is now unofficially summer, I love this time of year, for the most part anyway(I could do without the extreme heat in July and August). Because I homeschool, this is summer break for me as well as the children. 3 months to just be lazy and enjoy the long days. I have more time to enjoy my hobbies and to enjoy my family. We probably won't be able to afford our yearly vacation to the Alabama coast, gas and food prices are just too high, and going higher ::::sigh:::: Feeding my family costs a small fortune, and our 15 passenger van is far from fuel efficient. I am really thankful that we have a pool in our backyard, we can have our own summer fun, without any extra money : )

We were truly blessed with this pool. My dh did some work for a guy who just didn't feel like taking care of his pool anymore, so told Chad that if he helped him move the deck to his house, we could have the pool. It was alot of work for dh to take down and then reassemble the pool, but it was so worth it. We did have to buy a new pool liner and pump, but for around $500, we have a huge pool for the kids! Then, his uncle decided to take down his pool and told dh that he could have all of the wood from the deck. Dh had built this deck for him years before. So, God also blessed us with most of the wood to build a nice deck. My children and several neighborhood children enjoy it all summer long. Once the heat really starts kicking, it is the only way to enjoy being outside.

Here are some pictures from Memorial Day, my Mom and Dad came over and we barbecued and relaxed, while the kids swam. And of course, we had watermelon, you have to have watermelon for Memorial Day : )







My babies having fun.....



This is how my big girls play on the new swingset. They climb on top and sit there and read, here is Isabella doing just that. I can't imagine how much pain I would be in if I tried to do that LOL



I am not doing very well with the post a day in May LOL It is funny how when you start a challenge like this you are all gung ho, but when you get to the end you kind of run out of motivation. I really did enjoy pushing myself to post more often, however. I don't think I will be able to keep doing a post everyday, but I do hope to keep posting more often than I was. My goal is going to be at least 3 times a week, hopefully 4. I know I have enjoyed reading everyone else's more frequent posts : ) I hope y'all have enjoyed mine. I know years down the road, I will enjoy looking back on these posts, blogs are our modern day journals.

Oliver + S Swingset Tunic and Skirt

I finally finished and took pictures of the Swingset tunic and skirt. I love this orange fabric and paired it with white linen. I machine embroidered the linen with bright orange rayon thread and added yo yo's to the straps. I also covered buttons with the orange fabric. I think it came out really cute, I love the hippy chic look of it. The tunic was a little tricky. The instructions were fine, it was just a little fiddly to put together. I will definitely make it again though, I am planning one for a friend's little girl. She passes all of her daughter's clothes down to Ava, so I figure I can make her a few cute outfits as a thank you.

Sorry, I took a bunch of pictures : ) Did I ever say how much I LOVE digital cameras!













Here is a closeup of the machine embroidery that goes around the skirt and across the bodice.





I thought these two pictures of Samuel and Ava were precious. I think I may print and frame these. I just wish Sam didn't have those big, orange arm floaties on LOL

A new swingset

Here are some pictures of the swingset being put up. I even got a picture of child #2 Parker, who is somewhat camera shy, helping his Dad. Please excuse the ugliness of the backyard. We just started cleaning up yesterday, and this is the part of the yard that hasn't been beautified yet LOL The other little boy is a neighborhood friend. He spends most of the summer with us, we call him our adopted child LOL









Samuel and Ava had fun playing in the boxes LOL What is it with boxes and kids?!






Here is an idea I thought I would share. We needed new beach towels for the kids. Instead of spending $10 apiece for cheap *beach* towels, I went to Anna's Linens and got these huge bath sheets for $4.50 each! They are big and thick and came in great colors, for a much better deal. There were seven of them , Austin took one to the golf club with him, so he could swim afterwards, his is dark blue.



My dh loves the squirrels in our back yard and built this feeder for them. He keeps them supplied with corn. The cardinals also enjoy the corn. I got this picture yesterday, I am hoping to get a picture of one of the cardinals soon. As you can see, I went wild with the camera yesterday : )


I did finish Ava's top and skirt, I will post pictures later this evening. It was too late to take pictures last night. I think it came out really cute, I figure I will post twice today, since I forgot yesterday : )


This is my first try at adding video to my blog. It took forever to upload this 30 second clip! I am going to have to get Parker, our resident computer whiz, to help me next time, I know there is a quicker way! I have been enjoying Mommycoddle's videos, so thought it would be fun to share some of mine. This is Ava and Sam swinging on their new swings, Chad isn't done yet, but you know kids, as soon as a swing was up, they were playing on it.

I lied

I feel bad, but I lied about finishing the Oliver + S outfit today. I didn't even get to sew today : ( Dh decided he wanted to go to Walmart and pick up a new swingset for the two little ones. The one we had before pretty much got destroyed by the 5 older kids LOL Then we went on a date and ate shrimp poboys and Maggie Moo's ice cream. I *should* be able to finish it tomorrow, I really want to, so that she can wear it to church Sunday morning.

I was tagged by Kelci from Crafty Mama Creations. She makes the most fabulous handbags that she sells on Etsy. Of course, everyone here probably already knows who she is LOL

So, here are the rules

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

7 Facts

1. I got my blog name from my dh. For years now he has called me Puddin as a pet name. Yes, very Southern, I know. Seriously, he rarely calls me Tonya LOL Well, when Ava was born, he referred to her as PuddinPop. So, when trying to come up with a name for the blog, I thought that was kinda cute. My 16 year old son thinks it's stupid, but I don't really care what he thinks :p

2. I am probably not done having children. God willing, I would really like 1 or 2 more. I know that I am getting older, so this may not happen, but I would be really happy if it did. Even though they drive me batty some days, I love having a houseful, I really think I am one of the luckiest women in the world.

3. I wash my hands constantly, and I can't stand to have anything like lotion or cream on them. Baby lotion is the worst!!!! I hate that because I can't use it on my babies even though I love how it smells.

4. I love Soap Operas. I don't watch them anymore unless I am sick in bed, but they are very comforting to me if I am having a rough time. I remember watching them with my Mom and Grandmother when I was little and they bring me back to that time. Only the ones on CBS though LOL

5. I am very nostalgic (see no. 4) Dh and I were in the drugstore tonight, and I smelled a shampoo that I used to use when we first got married. I felt like I was back in our first apartment. Also, my exboyfriend in high school wore the cologne Drakkar Noir, to this day I cannot smell it without thinking of him. Dh is forbidden from every wearing it! I am the same way with music. Everytime I hear the song "Afternoon Delight" I am about 7 years old and we are driving to Galveston, Texas with me singing the song at the top of my lungs. My parents must have been cracking up, I had no idea what the song was REALLY about. I thought it was about rockets LOLOL

Ok, I am cheating, but I cannot think of 2 more things right now. Y'all have probably heard enough of my weirdness anyway.

Oh, and I didn't charge the battery, so no pictures either. I really need to get on the ball, don't I?