paint it turquoise! paint it turquoise!

It wouldn't be fair to Martha to blame her for my recent spray painting spree, but I do just love this cover and since it has turquoise in it it seemed a fitting photo to kick off this post!

My husband recently bought me two cans of turquoise spray paint.  So far I have painted two lamps, two dinner plates, a glass bottle and lid, a few clothespins, a disposable diaper box with the flaps cut out (they make great storage bins, they even have handles!) and the lid to a kitchen canister.  :)

I had forgotten how relaxing it is to watch something transform with paint.

How refreshing it is to create something that will stay that way... unlike the good dinner or carefully made bed or folded laundry or clean dishes, all stacked in place.

Those things all have their own unique sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, but there is an added satisfaction, for me, in knowing that unlike many of my tasks which are done over and over and over, this will stay and look good (hopefully) and not revert to it's previous state.

 Although sometimes an undo button might not be such a bad thing, like when I accidentally did not cover quite enough of the sidewalk while painting the second lamp.  A friend suggested I spray paint it grey over the turquoise, but my husband objected that it might look as if I had covered up graffiti on our sidewalk.  I refrained from saying that technically he would be within reason to consider my spraying the sidewalk turquoise as graffiti, but I think he has enough reason to roll his eyes at my liberal use of spray paint without that, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway. Without further ado, here is one of my projects that I'm particularly pleased with.  I purchased a set of two of these lamps at a garage sale for $3 quite a while ago, and we've been using one as our office lamp.  I didn't like it, though, and I had originally planned on spray painting it all white... but then I had the turquoise... and I thought it would be really cheery and fun with it.

I have a quick tip for you if you're spray painting a lamp... if you have a dead light bulb (the one in our office lamp was dead - thank you procrastination!), then put it in/leave it in before painting.  It will save you the trouble of masking the round hole there to keep from gunking up the light bulb socket! I saved the turquoise bulb from the first lamp and used it on the second.

I love it.  :)  It makes me smile to see it, especially since I switched out the (rather staid) shade that had been on it with this funky one.  It seems to fit with the turquoise better.

Have you revamped anything lately?  :)  Do you think one can ever have too much turquoise?  And do you know of anything that needs sprayed turquoise?

'Cause I'm looking around my house persuading myself that everything I see does not need to be turquoise... or does it...

Also, if you haven't seen House of Turquoise... :)

Here is the recipe I use to make liquid laundry soap. I was going through so much that I decided that it would be worth the effort to make my own. Also if I run out I just make more instead of it being an emergency shopping trip! The friends who gave me this recipe thought it worked better than store-bought, and I completely agree. The load of Micah's work clothes that I tested it on came out cleaner than usual! The people who gave me the recipe calculated that it was about 2 cents per load of laundry. My washing soda was three dollars cheaper than theirs was, but I'm not motivated enough to do the math. ;-)

Liquid Laundry Soap
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda (or sodium carbonate)
1 cup soap flakes or a grated bar soap
2 gallons water
20 drops essential oil (optional- I didn't have any)

Combine Borax, washing soda, and most of the water. Boil soap flakes in remaining water, and add to first mixture. The soap will help gel the mixture. If your water is hard, add more washing soda. This recipe makes about 2 gallons, so have some jugs ready before you start!

Use about 1/2 cup of laundry soap per load.

If you have trouble finding the washing soda/sodium carbonate, as I did, check the pool section, where you might find it intended for use as a pH balancer. This is fine as long as it is only sodium carbonate. (I couldn't find washing soda at my Walmart, but my small local grocery had some.)

An alternate recipe I make just for our cloth diapers is 1C Borax, 1C Washing soda, and 1C Oxyclean (4 tablespoons for a medium load). I use this instead because I was told that the bar soap in the other recipe could make my diapers retain odor and repel water! This recipe has been working very well, and I like the fact that there aren't any scents or unknown ingredients going on a tender baby bottom!

My friend Anna also posted today about making laundry soap! She makes her own powdered version, which is very similar to my liquid recipe. She points out that it takes up less storage space, so if you're interested in making your own and that is a factor, you should definitely head over there!

Currently...

... waiting for the baby.
... drinking tea.
... sitting on an exercise ball.
... thinking about what to have for lunch.
... appreciating the glorious weather and...
... wishing I'd taken my camera out when I walked this morning.
... planning on hanging some laundry on the line this afternoon for the first time in a while.
... wanting Hostess cupcakes. I know, I know. Fortunately I don't have any or any way of procuring them.
... wondering whether I should put more energy towards the baby quilt or the housecleaning.
... wondering how hard it would be to make a baby gown.
... deciding to go eat lunch before making any decisions.