I feel like I have not had a normal existence since we got back from Toronto – busy busy busy, five million things to do, teething teething teething TEETHING <—although the last two are cutting rightnow, and then we’re home free until the second year molars make their appearance.

Despite that, I have been getting things made here and there, in tiny little chunks of time. I just don’t realize it until I sit down to think about it in blog format. Is that sad?

I’ve been making these little round face scrubbies here and there, mostly in the car, to replace the disposable cotton ones that you buy in a tube. They’re made from the same plain cotton yarn I already had on hand for dishrags, and take less then ten minutes apiece to crochet. They work soooo well, and I just toss the used ones in a lingerie bag to put them through the wash. I don’t wear makeup anymore, but I can only imagine that these would be 500% better than thin cotton rounds for makeup removal, applying toner, etc… they are the perfect amount of soft & nubby.

Laundry soap. Since Mikey and I have freakishly sensitive skin we hate pretty much all laundry soaps. I’ve been meaning to try making my own for awhile, but don’t know anyone who does and didn’t want to pick some random recipe from the internet or a book. Conveniently, Amanda at soulemama.com posted her trusty recipe this week, so I decided to give it a try. For a 10 cup, 80-load batch at 1/8 cup per load, you need three 1/2 oz bars of finely grated castille soap, and one cup each of baking soda (93 cents per batch), borax (67 cents per batch), and washing soda (1.00 per batch). I picked up the couple of things I needed while I was out yesterday and made a batch when I got home. It smells delicious, and I am using it right now. I used Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap, which makes a batch cost about the same as an equally-sized bag of Charlie’s if you can find it on sale for $2.99 per bar like I did. We DO love Charlie’s around here, and will still use it on diapers, but since it’s so hot and muggy and almostsummerey right now, peppermint laundry is just too good to pass up for the convenience of mail-order laundry soap. (And since you asked, Paisley does not have sensitive skin and prefers that her blankets and towels be washed in the cheapest, perfumiest laundry soap I can find.)

To fill the LOST-void and soothe my stressed-mommy-brain, I spent 3.5 hours after Hazel went to bed the other night crocheting the blanket that will never end (the one I ONLY work on when I need to calm down), and watched Dexter. It was magical. I love them both.

Goodies for the little teeny You-Are-Having-a-Baby-Yayyyyyyyyyyy lunch that I gave for Maggie on Saturday. Delicious. Such instant gratification to make AND to eat. (Do you sense the blue & gold theme in my life?)

Listening: The Beatles
(I am) Reading: The Last Child in the Woods
(Hazel is) Reading: When I Was Young in the Mountains, which I had the urge to read with her after kindly booting this guy from our porch the other day (I don’t know why I always assume they are male)

Here’s some stuff I’ve been working on – or at least intending to work on – over the past week:

Bunnies for Hazel. As you can see, I got no further than printing out the free pattern and choosing fabrics before Hazel woke up. I love them but now that they’ve been sitting here for two days I’m starting to think maybe they are too drab… I might dive back into my stash for something more colorful.

Working on stuff for inclusion in April’s Spotted Box, which I agreed to on a whim and am very excited about – I did one in 2008 and kind of flipped out when my own box came in the mail!

The blue & gold blanket, which I only seem to work on when Hazel is teething. It’s always laying around in a heap somewhere, trailing its two balls of yarn, and when I want to work on it I have to hunt down my (gigantic, purple acrylic, very enticing) crochet hook because Hazel has always found and hoarded it away for her own crochet hook needs, which usually involves lots of waving it at the dog. I’ve lost count since January, but I’ve used a huge one pound ball and a half of the gold, and I think I’m on my sixth ball of homespun. I don’t really see an end in sight for this blanket.

And the work of raising little war resisters… I think a group reading of The Butter Battle Book is notable progress :)