8th Grade Enlargement Project

It has become tradition at my DS school for the 8Th graders (his school is K-8) to do an enlargement for a Math project (it involves measurement, multiplying fractions and the like) in time for the schools open house and curriculum night. We have been seeing these since 2000 when he first started school and were always so impressed with what the kids turned out, always anticipating when it would be his turn - finally it is here! He decided to do my palm pilot. He had to measure it and all it's features, jot down the measurements and then decide whether to enlarge it 5x or 10x - we decided in 5, as 10 would have made it ginormous (notice I said WE, as after his calculations, he did need my help!). So follow along and you will begin to see a bunch of cardboard boxes become an enormous palm pilot(the first one is the actual PP)




















It was a long process, but a lot of fun to do - I think it turned out pretty well!

Impossible is Nothing - At a Snails Pace

Homemade Laundry Detergant.......

To continue my quest for going green & for also wanting to economize I have begun to make my own cleaning solutions. The first one is laundry detergent. Simple really -grate one bar of Fels-Naptha soap & boil it down to melt it (I used an old pot), 1/2c Borax & 1 c washing soda. Mix thoroughly in a 5 gallon bucket, and then add enough hot water to fill the bucket. The solution will gel up - but will be easy to pour it into an empty container (I used an empty Tide container) - fill it half way & then the rest with hot water - shake well & shake well each time you use it. I use 1/4c per wash in my front loader - I did some quick calculations & figured that it costs .0125 per load - can you believe it?

The other equally easy solution I made recently is a fabric deodorizer (Febreeze)
Mix together 1/4c of your favorite fabric softener, 1T of baking soda & 2c of hot water in a spray bottle.

I love the way this smells & makes the fabric feel - I figure this to be equal to .50 for the bottle

May All Your Dreams Come True

I found this very lovely photo on flickr by a talented photographer named Gary http://www.flickr.com/photos/garymcguire/

It seems to sum it up for me