laundry kit

monday is laundry day at our house. it pretty much takes me all day starting with my first load around 7:15am so caleb's blanket can be done by 9am for his morning nap, and ending with doing the ironing while watching a movie after natalie is in bed. when i have more than four people in my family someday i might have to change my system. or just not let things like this happen:

yes my children are playing in a mountain of clean laundry on the floor. at least this time it hadn't been sorted and folded before they pulled it all down off the couches.
i would also have to change my system if i had to wash by hand. i think then i would have to wash everyday. thank goodness for electricity! anyway, here is the laundry kit instructions, and my laundry kit experience:
 

Laundry Kit

Suggested Materials

·         Water

·         5 gallon bucket with a lid

·         Plunger (not black)

·         Clothes line and pins

·         Detergent

·         Wash board and tub

This is the cheapest way to do laundry without electricity. Cut a hole in the lid of a 5 gallon bucket just big enough to fit the handle of a plunger through. Put clothing and detergent in the bucket. Pour water (temperature depends on the color of the clothes, hot for whites, cold for darks) over them until clothes are immersed. Put on the lid and agitate the water with the plunger by pumping vigorously at least 20 times. Dump out water and wring out clothes.  Put clothes and clean water in the bucket and rinse by agitating again. Rinse again if there are still any suds on the clothes. Then wring out the clothes as much as possible and hang them in the sunshine to dry.

If your clothes are particularly dirty, you may need to use a washboard to scrub them. Fill a tub with several inches of water to soak clothing. Add detergent and put small amounts of detergent directly onto the stains. Scrub the clothing on the washboard until clean. Be careful as this wears out clothes quickly. Rinse in a separate bucket. Wring out and hang on the line to dry. You can either store detergent or you can store materials to make your own.

Here is a recipe:

Powdered Laundry Detergent

1 bar of soap

1 c washing soda

1/2 c borax

Grate soap or crumble into pieces until fine textured. Mix all ingredients. For a light load, use one tablespoon. For a heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. Yield: 3 c detergent, (approx. 40 loads)

now lucky for me, kent and my mom got me ritzy laundry equipment: a pressure handcrank washer and a solar drying retractable line. wow, right? =o] my mom also gave me clothes pins and material to make a pouch, so guess what natalie and i did for her project in preschool this morning... 

here we are last week doing the wash (yes we did it in the bathtub. it didn't know what it was going to be like and it was night so i didn't want to go outside.):

it really wasn't that bad, it just takes a while. and it is more involved. like you can't just stick it in and forget about it until you hear the buzzer.
anyway, here is all the equipment:

notice the specified wash water storage containers in the background. =o]

good luck and have fun!

(wan'a-be) going cloth

you know that saying that 'Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves"? well sometimes that is true for me and my husband. i tell him these crazy ideas that i have and he reins me in and helps me to test the waters before i jump in with both feet =o]
 last week i used cloth everything. okay, so as the title implies i cheated several times. but for the most part i did not use any paper napkins, paper towels, toilet paper or disposible diapers. instead i used cloth napkins, dish cloths, flannel toilet paper and cloth diapers. thank goodness kent talked me into testing it for a week before committing to cloth diaper caleb into potty training.
here is the sum up of my adventure: thank goodness i am a mother in the 21st century!! i guess it really it wasn't that bad once i got the hang of it, but man did it take a lot of time. maybe if i had more diapers and liners and i didn't have to wash them every night, i wouldn't have felt so over whelmed by it. and if i had made the cloth diapers myself instead of buying them i wouldn't feel so guilty right now about "wasting" $60 of our christmas money on stuff that will now be stored for emergencies =o/
(by the way, i am going to be posting my laundry kit and sanitation kit the next two weeks so you can know how to do all this in an emergency, and not have to make my mistakes!)

anyway, cloth napkins and dish cloths are a cinch to switch to. i really think that is a done deal in our house.
flannel TP really wasn't so bad either. kent didn't participate, but since our plan is to use paper for bowel movements and flannel TP for urine i guess it doesn't really effect him anyway. i also used a peri-bottle. so aside from having extra laundry (which kent said couldn't be put in with our regular loads =o]) it was a snap.

cloth diapers on the other hand, are a discusting hassle. seriously, unless they are absolutely necessary, like in an emergency or for financial reasons, or you are just extremely committed to lessening your contribution to the landfill by a few pounds, they are not worth the time and effort. i was constantly worrying about leaks and rashes and the bucket of them waiting to be washed each night. i started out using the cheap-o tri folds with plastic pants from walmart and by the end of the first day caleb had a horrible diaper rash (he had maybe 5 his whole life before this week) and his circumcision scar got infected after one night. so i tried a different kind of cloth diaper (the ones that cost a pretty penny) and only used disposible ones for overnight and that worked fine. side from him getting a rash with the cheap ones, he also got yelled at for the first time in his life poor guy. he already has a hard time holding still for changing time but having to do those pins was just too much! natalie came up to me while i was changing him and said "mom, are you frustrated about changing caleb's diaper?" "yes." "well just calm down and maybe next time you can make a better choice." at which point i looked up at her and saw the expression and body stance i must give to her when she is freaking out about something unnecessarily. i just had to laugh! so appearently i can't be a good mother and use cloth diapers at the same time. =o] getting the disposible liners (a single sheet you put on the diaper that can be thrown into the toilet) and the diapers that snap was the key for survival for me. i also talked to a friend so uses cloth diapers (bless her!) and she told me she made hers using this pattern called Rita's Rump Pocket  and it has worked for her. the ones i bought were GroVia but they were cheaper at the store i went to then on their website. bum genius is also good. i choose the grovia ones because you can get several uses out of the shell (unless there is a leak but caleb never did) because the liners are outside, but with the bum genius and the rump pocket the liner is inside so you have to wash everything each time you change it. anyway, caleb survived the week and so did i. i'm glad i had the experience, but i'm also grateful that we can afford disposable diapers and the landfill doesn't weigh on my conscience.

 natalie wanted her picture taken too...

i'm sure our neighbors loved seeing those diapers and wipes blowing in the breeze =o]

there you have it! tune in next week for the how-to's of this section!

also this isn't going cloth, but it is defiantely going green: a diva cup! if you want more info email me because it's kinda personal =o]

the plague of pornography

Have you ever been blindsided? I am a trusting and thus pretty gullible person, so have been duped on occasion. But there have been two times in my life when I was flat out lied to over an extended period of time and didn’t catch it. Part of my confidence comes from being prepared, and so I’m sure you can imagine how distraught I was when we recently found out that a couple very close to us has been destroyed by pornography. The only good thing I can see that has come of this is that my sweet husband and I were compelled to discuss something we had never even thought of before: how to protect our family against the plague of pornography. Sure we have heard the countless talks given in General Conference and in our ward, read articles in the Ensign and New Era, and been taught by our own parents growing up, but we were lulled into the trap that our children were young, neither of us had the problem and so we were fine. NOT SO!! It is never too early to protect your family from a known danger!  If you search for “pornography” under the General Conference filter on the church website you will find 186 references to the dangers of it and how to avoid its destructive and devastating effects. I don’t know how far back the search engine pulls the talks, but we can be sure that pornography is being discussed with more frequency and urgency than ever before.

In this past General Conference President Boyd K. Packer gave an amazing talk entitled “Cleansing the Inner Vessel”, that I would like to quote parts of here, but would also encourage you to read the entire talk.

In our day the dreadful influence of pornography is like unto a plague sweeping across the world, infecting one here and one there, relentlessly trying to invade every home, most frequently through the husband and father. The effect of this plague can be, unfortunately often is, spiritually fatal. Lucifer seeks to disrupt “the great plan of redemption,” ¹¹ “the great plan of happiness.” ¹²

Pornography will always repel the Spirit of Christ and will interrupt the communications between our Heavenly Father and His children and disrupt the tender relationship between husband and wife.

The priesthood holds consummate power. It can protect you from the plague of pornography—and it is a plague—if you are succumbing to its influence. If one is obedient, the priesthood can show how to break a habit and even erase an addiction. Holders of the priesthood have that authority and should employ it to combat evil influences.

We raise an alarm and warn members of the Church to wake up and understand what is going on. Parents, be alert, ever watchful that this wickedness might threaten your family circle. …

Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Remember, God is our Heavenly Father.

Paul promised that “God … will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” ¹⁴ You can, if you will, break the habits and conquer an addiction and come away from that which is not worthy of any member of the Church. As Alma cautioned, we must “watch and pray continually.” ¹⁵

… If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish. …

Every soul confined in a prison of sin, guilt, or perversion has a key to the gate. The key is labeled “repentance.” If you know how to use this key, the adversary cannot hold you. The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of the tempter. If you are bound by a habit or an addiction that is unworthy, you must stop conduct that is harmful. Angels will coach you, ¹⁹ and priesthood leaders will guide you through those difficult times. …

Priesthood holders carry with them the antidote to remove the terrible images of pornography and to wash away guilt. The priesthood has the power to unlock the influence of our habits, even to unchain from addiction, however tight the grip. It can heal over the scars of past mistakes. …

President Joseph Fielding Smith told me of a repentant woman struggling to find her way out of a very immoral life. She asked him what she should do now.

In turn, he asked her to read to him from the Old Testament the account of Lot’s wife, who was turned to a pillar of salt. ²³ Then he asked her, “What lesson do you gain from those verses?”

She answered, “The Lord will destroy the wicked.”

“Not so!” President Smith said that the lesson for this repentant woman and for you is “Don’t look back!” ²⁴

Strangely enough, it may be that the simplest and most powerful prevention and cure for pornography, or any unclean act, is to ignore and avoid it. Delete from the mind any unworthy thought that tries to take root. Once you have decided to remain clean, you are asserting your God-given agency. And then, as President Smith counseled, “Don’t look back.”

I promise that ahead of you is peace and happiness for you and your family. The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children can be happy at home. And I invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you who are struggling against this terrible plague, to find the healing that is available to us in the priesthood of the Lord. I bear witness of that power in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

If you or someone you love is struggling with pornography, there is a wealth of knowledge and resources at http://combatingpornography.org/cp/eng/  ,  https://wsr.byu.edu/content/national-pornography-statistics , http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,6629-1,00.html  and, http://lds.org/topics/pdf/LetVirtueGarnishThyThoughts.pdf .

Even if you don’t think you have a problem now, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Experts agree that it is much easier to avoid addiction than overcome it. And like President Packer said, this plague is at our doors. Sort through the above material yourself if you have the time, but here are some basic helpful suggestions to protect yourself and your family if you don’t:

-          Avoid even the appearance of evil in your home. Be extra careful about the media you allow into your home and onto your screens.  

-          Have the best filters installed onto your computer and even your DVD player to avoid accidental exposure to obscene material. Don’t allow electronics behind closed doors.

-          Teach your family about the dangers of pornography and immoral behavior, and what to do if they encounter it at home, at school, at the park, etc.

-          Be selective about who babysits your kids, where you allow your children to go play, and avoid sleepovers even with relatives (most sexual abuse cases occur with a known family member) if you will not be with them.

-          There is a difference between being gracious and forgiving, and being stupid. If you know that someone has a history of pornography addiction, NEVER leave them alone with your children. 100% of sex offenders admit to having sought out pornographic material and the majority started with a pornography addiction that lead to acting on what they witnessed.

This is a plague of biblical proportions. Jesus taught that in the last days iniquity would abound, and the love of many would wax cold (JSM 1:10). We must protect our families from this disease so that they may grow up in love and righteousness. I know the Lord will help us if we ask for Him to be with us. Even if people lie to their families and themselves and become enslaved by pornography, we can all be healed through the Atonement of Christ and enjoy the peace and love that comes with righteous living if we will only choose it. Act now!

Mental Preparedness

This will be the last of the holiday type posts that don't require projects to accomplish and document =o] i just needed one more week to get organized!

The final link in our preparation chain is mental preparedness. The sisters in our story both had testimonies of the Savior and both wanted to please the Lord. But the lesson we can learn from this story is that we have to be in tune with the Spirit to know the mind and will of the Lord, not just do what we think He wants us to be doing. If we want to find out what is needful for us, and choose the good part, our minds and hearts have to be prepared.

President Harold B. Lee gave the following counsel: "There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance. Are you priesthood bearers aware of the fact that we need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness?

"Let me give you the sure word of prophecy on which you should rely for your guide instead of these strange sources which may have great political implications. Read the 24th chapter of Matthew-particularly that inspired version as contained in the Pearl of Great Price. (Joseph Smith Matthew 1) Then read the 45th section of the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord, not man, has documented the signs of the times. Now turn to section 101 and 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants and hear the step-by-step recounting of events leading up to the coming of the Savior. Finally, turn to the promises the Lord makes to those who keep the commandments when these judgments descend upon the wicked, as set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 38.

"Brethren, these are some of the warnings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question." -Conference Report, Oct 1972, p. 128.

So we see that the scriptures are the place to start when it comes to mental preparation. If we prepare for the calamities preceding the Second Coming we will be ready for anything because the list found in the scriptures is lengthy and varied. Study these suggestions and the scriptures cited in the Topical Guide under "Jesus Christ, Second Coming". You can also go online to lds.org and read talks by modern day prophets about the last days and the Savior's Second Coming.

There are also countless books about the Second Coming, and Emergency Preparedness for that matter, written by faithful church members who are honestly trying to help; but again the scriptures and the Spirit should be your main source.

Going to the temple with specific questions in mind would also be a great way to mentally prepare.

Living in tune with the Spirit so you can receive inspiration on how your family specifically should prepare is essential. With so much to do in such a limited time, we need all the help we can get! Take time to ponder and pray as you study these scriptures and I promise you that practical tasks will come to your mind.

One of the major problems in any emergency is that people go into shock. They panic. They shut down. They make matters worse. Most people just think that "that would never happen to me" and so when they are in a crisis they can't handle it emotionally or psychologically. Mental preparedness includes reading up on potential disasters and necessary responses.

The bottom line is to get all the education you can, and not just in subjects relating to emergency preparedness. How many times have we been counseled by prophets to get as much formal education as possible? There is value in public and private schooling and getting degrees from nationally accredited institutions. But continue learning no matter your stage of life. As mentioned before, any knowledge you obtain in this life goes with you to the next so it's not like any of your studying will go to waste!

Especially since it is the new year, now is a great time to set some goals and get to work!