03
Finally! After several months of tweaking, fine tuning, dumping out and starting all over and many, many soapy overflows onto the kitchen floor (one spill in particular comes to mind – sorry ’bout your ass babe!)….I have done it! Well, at least I think I’ve done it. I never had a dishwasher in my home until we moved here. I just always felt like they were energy and water wasters. We never really even talked about getting one in our old place and when we bought this house, I figured I’d do with mine what my Grandma did with hers. She kept her booze in it. But once I had the chance to fire that baby up and take her on a test drive…I was smitten! I love my dishwasher and all that she does for me! I make sure I run full loads (I can pack a dishwasher like no one else…trust.) and I only run it once a day and sometimes skip a day or two. But what I hate the most is buying dishwasher soap. First, it’s super expensive if you buy green-detergents and second I feel like I waste it. I am a little, ehem, heavy handed so when I squirt the stuff in to the cup…I fill that sucker to the brim. And the other little cup gets a full squirt as well. I was buying Seventh Generation in bulk from Amazon and felt like we were saving some money..but there had to be a way to do it cheaper. So I started my quest for the perfect formula for homemade dishwasher soap. I think this one is the best by far so I wanted to share. Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think! If you come up with different ingredients or measurements, let me know cuz I want to check them out too!
Sals Suds Homemade Dishwasher Soap
1/2 cup Sals Suds
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp lemon juice
couple of drops of your fave essential oil (I used tea tree)
How pretty is that?
I use about 1tbsp per load or two if I’m washing pots and pans. Play around with the amounts and see what is best for your dishwasher. You should be able to get about 48 loads if you use 1 tablespoon. I also use straight vinegar for my rinse aid..no diluting with water. It’ll get plenty of water with the dishwasher running! Not only does the vinegar do a great job rinsing the dishes – it gives your washer a good cleaning at the same time. Good luck and let me know how this works for you!
Naturally yours, Dallas
When you become a parent for the first time – you say to yourself that you’re not going to do this with your child and you’re not going to do that. Either you loved your own parents and thought they hung the moon and you want to be just like them OR you’re like me and your parents serve as instruction manuals on what NOT to do. I love my parents but they put the F-U-N in dysfunction and I’m running in the opposite direction with my own kid. There are no hard and fast rules for raising kids, but I know what I don’t want to do and I just felt like I needed a little guidance on what tactics or theories might work best for us. There are several different parenting styles and all come with their own list of supporters, naysayers and the like. Some are love driven, some are fear driven and all seem to work in their own ways with their success being based on what the parent is striving for. For me, well, I grew up in a very authoritarian home. Punishment was handed out on the regular either physically, mentally or emotionally. My father was not afraid to dish it out…trust me. And because of that I lived in fear of my father. To one extent that “fear” is what kept me in line all the time. No trouble at school, no trouble out of school, yes sir, no sir, no drinking, no sex, no drugs…nothing. I was one straight laced kid solely out of the fear of the wrath that would be handed down by my dad. Sometimes I hated him, most times I loved him – I always respected him. But looking back on my childhood I do remember the feeling of loneliness and isolation. I felt invisible and not a part of the family. “Kids should be seen and not heard”, my dad would say. My curfews were set, my grade expectations were set, my groups of friends were set, what I wore, where I went, who I talked to on the phone and for how long…..all closely monitored by my father. He wasn’t mean per say, just very controlling. So now as I begin my parenting journey with my own son, the one thing I know is that I never want him to feel the way that I did. I’ve been searching for a different set of tools than what was handed down to me by my own parents. I want my son to feel included, loved and respected. I want to show him that his voice matters and that his opinions have value and merit. I want to give him control over his own life and help him understand the responsibility and consequences that come with free will. Oh yeah…did I mention he’s only one? 
