Rules for Feeding the Stash

Monday, June 1, 2015

A Lot of Laundry, Plus Some New Books


Happy Monday and Happy June! I hope you all had good weekend and are ready for summer, because apparently it's here to stay. I have identified several cool spaces that I can retreat to, and I've cut off three old pairs of pants into shorts, so hopefully I'll survive the next few months.

I've been fighting some weird hive-like rash the past couple of months, and after several weeks of tracking it and a little bit of research, I'm hoping it's a reaction to my laundry detergent. So I mixed up some homemade laundry detergent on Saturday, and spent most of yesterday laundering pretty much everything I own. I got through about half of the clothes, and most of the bedding, and hopefully my skin will start clearing up this week. For the curious, here's the link to the recipe I used-we've used it before with great success, and then fell off the wagon mixing up more (no excuses, really-the hardest part is grating the soap). But I have no complaints about its performance, and it doesn't leave a scent (at best, it smells vaguely like soap, and it all rinses out).

We also went on an epic thrifting adventure Saturday afternoon! I got a couple of skirts, a hilariously dated orange flower wall hanging, and some books-especially short story collections (pardon my dog's butt in the picture up there, he was napping and I didn't want to disturb him). I got really into short stories in high school, when my English teacher turned me on to Neil Gaiman, and half of his books that the library had were short story collections. Since then I've branched out to find a bunch of authors and editors I love, and I especially love them for reading before bed, so I won't be tempted to stay up late after a cliff hanger. I haven't been reading too much lately, but hopefully work should slow down some the next couple of weeks and I'll feel more like reading then.

10 comments:

  1. I didn't know you had a dog! awesome :) Thanks for the link for the laundry soap recipe. I've been wanting to make my own for awhile! I like unscented ones too. I think I'm sensitive to the fragrant ones because they always smell just crazy strong and make my eyes water.
    I hope it's not too hot yet where you live! We had a crazy thunder / lightning storm last night after muggy heat was trapped in the valley for a few days. Now it's nice and rainy :)
    Happy June Kat and happy knitting!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, we have two dogs-that one up there is our Cairn Terrier, and then we also have a Papillon. It's starting to get pretty warm here, but hopefully we'll get some rain soon-we need it desperately!

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  2. bummer about the hives, my daughter did that a few years ago and we never figured it out. We think it was outdoor allergies and it went away on it's own.

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    1. Yuck! I managed to give myself stress hives the summer before I started high school, but I cannot figure these ones out yet. If this doesn't work, I'll have to try a doctor and hope we can figure something out.

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  3. Heehee, I love the secret dog butt just popping into that picture ;) Anyway, I really hope your skin will do better with the homemade detergent!

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    1. Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed-if it's not this, I don't really know what it might be. At worst, it's giving me a chance to go through my closet!

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  4. Ugh, hives are the worst! Hope the laundry detergent change helps them clear up. And yay short stories! They really are great for before-bed reading. I'll have to put Pretty Monsters on my reading list - Stone Animals is one of my favorite short stories, and I've always meant to read more of her stuff.

    Happy June, Kat!

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    1. Glad to hear you liked some of her work! I'd never heard of her before, but this book had good blurbs from Holly Black Garth Nix, Audrey Niffenegger, and Michael Chabon, so I figured I could chance the $2 :)

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  5. I hope you figure out the rash. Sounds frustrating :/ Enjoy your weekend finds!!

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    1. Thanks! I'm hoping that this works, but at least I have some nice new finds to cheer me up :)

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