Almost free ice cream

Da boyz looked at me like I was nutso when I  brought a couple of big bowls of snow in the house.  They had never heard of snow ice cream.  Less than two minutes later, I was setting bowls of wonderfully flavored and textured ice cream in front of them. 

They were both very skeptical.  They each stuck a finger in, scooped up a tiny bit, and touched it to the tip of their tongues.

The next thing I knew, the bowls were empty, and the oldest is asking me to show him how it's done, he wants more. 

I talked him through doing it himself, and he had another big bowl. 

This, as far as I'm concerned, is the only good thing about snow.  Unlimited amounts of ice cream, practically free.  (Have you priced ice cream lately???)

So, do I get THANKS from my progeny for making them such a delectable treat?  HELL NO!!!  The youngest one finishes licking the bowl and goes downstairs to watch a movie, and the oldest declares, "I simply can't believe you let me live to 22 years of age and never made this for me before...." 

It's time to kick that one out, isn't it???

"I'm Not Eating That..."

Quite some time ago, a blog I subscribe to had instructions on how to make your own laundry detergent.  It looked simple, so I decided that once I finished my mega-sized box of Tide that I had just gotten at BJ's, I would give this a try. 

The day has finally come, and I have made the laundry detergent.  The hardest part was finding the ingredients.  Mine weren't as cheap as what the guy who wrote the recipe managed to buy his for, but it still only came to $12 for enough ingredients to make many, many buckets of laundry detergent, which is a heckuva lot cheaper than my mega-size (and mega-$) box of Tide.

The first step is to cut or grate up little pieces of a bar of soap and boil them into a soup in a pot of boiling water.  I was nearly through this step when Charlie arrived home from school.  When he came in the kitchen, he saw me at the stove and got a quizzical look on his face.  (That's because me at the kitchen stove is a rare occurrence these days.)  He sniffed and came closer and looked at my pot of simmering green "soup" and looked up at me in consternation.  His look alone asked, "What the hell is THAT?" 

So I signed, "Dinner!  Ready to eat?"

He looked back down at it, gulped, and shook his head "NO."  It was emphatic enough to mean "NO WAY."  Maybe even "NO WAY IN HELL."  The next look he gave me clearly said, "Man, you guys eat some strange stuff in this country."  Sign language is so eloquent, and sometimes Deaf people don't even have to pick up their hands to express a whole sentence, y'know.

Great relief on his face when I explained what it really was and that Tide and I are through. 

Oh, and for those who are curious about the recipe, rather than copy it, I will provide you a link to the blog where I got it.  The guy who wrote this did a wonderful job of documenting exactly how to do it, pictures and all, so why re-create the wheel? 

Click here to learn how to make your own laundry soap.

But don't try to feed it to your kids.