Cough, cough, cough

Here in the Belmont household, we have been quite sickly and prone to coughing in the last couple of weeks.  Spring and allergies have hit us hard!  Sadly, however, we have not yet planted our garden.  I can't wait to see the little green sprouts poking their heads up through the soil!  I am looking forward to lots of fresh veggies and lovely flowers!

Since my last post, a few fun things have happened.  First of all, Lauren and Kenny got married!!  I was one of the bridesmaids and we all got to pick our own dresses.  I can't wait to see the pictures!  We went about an hour and a half away to Overlook Farm for the ceremony and a fun reception in a refurbished barn on-site.  Belmont had a couple of hours to himself while I was busy with bridesmaids' pictures, so he bought a book from class on the Kindle app on his phone and read for an assignment!  What a productive afternoon!  :)

Last week, I had a few girls over from work for a Ladies' Night.  Belmont made some delicious chicken and we also had rice, broccoli, rolls, sweet potatoes, and dessert.  We all had a great time and I wound up playing a few songs on the guitar for them by request.  We danced to a few Latin songs, told silly stories about our students, and celebrated our recent good news.  Caralyn graduated with her M.A. that afternoon, I got a job at KDS, Emily got into a doctoral program, and Jessie is going to Spain over the summer!

Here is our lovely table setting, a la "Downton Abbey"

Today was my day off and I needed some time to rest.  I spent the morning thinking through KDS curriculum for the fall and Skyping with my mom and sister.  Afterwards, my friend Shannon M. told me a recipe for homemade laundry detergent that she loves.  Time to get the ingredients!  So I went to multiple stores and finally found all four ingredients: baking soda, borax, castile soap, and washing soda.  The bars of soap had to be grated before use, so I spent about half an hour or so grating bars of soap and then mixed in the other ingredients.  Boy, was it dusty!  I tried it out this evening and the results are in the dryer.  Can't wait to see how bright and fresh our clothes look with homemade all-natural laundry detergent!  Here are a few pictures of the process:

 My four ingredients: add the entire boxes!

 Grating soap bar #1...

Finally!  Soap bar #3!!

 

 Get ready for some dusty soap mixing!

 Mixing it all up!

 All mixed up in a sealed container with a lovely label

 

A close-up of my label  :)

We are now watching The Wonder Years on Netflix.  It's an episode about a walk-out during class because of the Vietnam War.  Interesting!  Belmont is playing "Hanging With Friends" and I just finished my lesson for school tomorrow.  Tomorrow a girl from our d-group is coming to observe me for Career Day.  What fun!  My first class is doing end-of-semester skits and my other class will be having a typical day as we learn about traveling.  Should be good!  And then we'll go to lunch because she is supposed to interview me for her assignment.  I feel so important!  :)

IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS!  

Jacob got a car AND got into Ranken!  What a day!

Well, time for bed!  I hope you are all having a lovely day and avoiding coughing!!  Love from the Belmont household!