Best Laundry Tip Ever!

 

What do you do when you need to wash your teenage daughter's t-shirt and it  is the whitest white and the deepest red?!!   Wash with the colored clothes...yipes--of course not!  Wash with the whites...no way!  But if we wash it with the lights (the remaining option), the stains won't come out!

The answer is to use my best ever laundry tip (actually it's not my idea). In my whole life, there is only one laundry tip that I consider the very very best--automatic dish detergent for stain removal! 

Years ago, when Rebekah was only a baby, I was in desperate need for a magic cure.  You see, Rebekah was a drooler.  In case you didn't know, drool turns brownish gray on everything--especially on the gorgeous baby dresses that my friend Sarah Forman loaned me. 

One day I was perusing the homemaking books at Half-Priced books when I picked up a cute book by Erma Bombeck.  Hand-written on the inside cover was a laundry tip--1/2 cup automatic dish detergent, 1/2 cup bleach in a few inches of sink water for baby drool stains.  Wow---manna from heaven! The Lord had answered my prayers!  I left out the bleach because all of these beautiful dresses were colored, but the automatic dish detergent worked perfectly.  And it still works great today!

When you get out those baby clothes from two years ago and find yellow stains on them, or urine on diapers, sweat, many food stains, stinky tennis shoes or just dingy socks or underwear that the boys have worn a few times too many...this tip is the answer for you!! And if those items are colored...this is the only solution!  Any protein stain can be improved or removed by this cleaner. Why?  Because automatic dish detergent is filled with enzymes! It's designed to eat protein...and that's the kind of stain I'm trying to remove!  Don't gross out by the brown water though--you just didn't know that item had so much dirt in it!  Surprise!!

So give it a try on those delicate colored items and enjoy the clean clothes!

Steps for cleaning with automatic dish detergent---

• Add 1/2 cup detergent with enough lukewarm water to cover the item. (Coldish if item bleeds.)

• Swish detergent until it is dissolved and mixed with the water. (especially needful with dry detergent)

• Add item--scrub and squeeze a little--especially the stained part.

• Let soak for thirty minutes.

• Rinse thoroughly with clear water.

• Dry as usual.

Voila--clean clothes...no fading of colors...and one very happy teenager!

Happy Homemaking!
Donna

Making a Boxed Cake Mix Taste Homemade

This is such an easy thing to do and the difference is WOW!  I've been decorating cakes for years and this is how I make my cakes taste really good without having to make them from scratch.  Since yesterday was my birthday, I thought I'd tell you how to make a boxed cake mix taste homemade. It's my birthday gift to YOU!

First...use milk instead of water.

Second...use melted butter instead of cooking oil.

THAT'S IT!!  (Don't even start with the cholesterol, calories, nutrition stuff!  I'm talking cake!! and birthday!! Hello?! )  I'm talking DELICIOUS!!  We have FOUR children born in October and we just couldn't STAND cake any more..until we discovered this tip on the back of a Betty Crocker box.  Wow your friends and try this tip!!     Thanks Betty!!!

Jacob Wins Debate Tournament!

 

I wish I had pictures from the tournament in Dallas to post, but Jacob is with Rebekah at the Reynolds' home getting ready for tomorrow's Mock Trial competition and he has the camera with all the pictures.

Ah well, for now you will have to settle for the trophies and a picture of us from last year.  I was home about five days and then had to leave to take Jacob to the DFW qualifier tournament.  He and Jasmine had a perfect record all the way up until finals. Of 58 teams, they were the only ones to have a perfect preliminary record of 6 wins and 0 losses!  They were the top rated team of the tournament! 

They didn't lose any rounds or judges in the outrounds...not even one until the semi-finals.  They will have to work on a few things in their case, but considering that Jasmine had a 104 fever the last day, I think they did fantastic!  I can't wait to post the sweet pictures of them with their trophies and of our whole club who all did really wonderful!

Even though they won 3rd place as a debate team out of 58 teams (which is great of course) it was a really special treat that Jacob won FIRST PLACE Speaker Award for Team Policy!! Since this was a Texas State Championship tournament, he automatically received a free invitation to the Texas Home School Coalition Banquet to whom former president George W. Bush has been invited.  They believe he will attend.  Jacob is thrilled.  He was given a standing ovation for his win and I was just about to burst!  Usually the 1st place speaker is one of the members of the winning team.  

Of course, he is already busily working at home to prepare for the next tournament.  He and his good friend, Cody Stevens, are working on a duo and he and Jasmine will be working very hard to make their case even better.  We finally got home on Tuesday night (my birthday), but that's for another post.  It's great to be home!