Counting acorns

Last week was April vacation week for Maine schools, so our great niece Violet requested a sleepover at our house.

More specifically, seven-year-old Violet requested a TWO-night sleepover.

We were happy to accommodate her request. Violet is a delight and we always enjoy her visits.

Soon after she arrived on Tuesday morning, Ken asked her if she'd like to earn a little money.

Violet, of course, said yes.

For the past several days, Uncle Ken had been hard at work raking our lawns from last fall's leaves. That part he doesn't mind terribly, but picking up acorns as he rakes the leaves causes him much stress, not to mention tired muscles.

He told Violet he'd give her 1¢ per acorn if she'd help him as he raked. She was all for it.

Ken found a "tool" for her to use to dig the acorns out of the ground. It was a key for prying open a paint can.

Violet went outside and immediately got to work. I soon joined her with my own tool, a kitchen can opener.

Soon we'd devised a system: We'd fill a Tupperware bucket with acorns, take it to the porch, dump out the contents, and count the acorns into small groups of ten each. Then we'd tally the total, Violet would record it on a notepad, and we'd start filling the Tupperware bucket again.

Our system worked beautifully, we did a lot of chatting, and Violet saw the pennies add up.

Before we could believe it, Violet had a big yellow pail full of acorns, $12.20 worth. She was proud, I was relieved, Ken was elated to be free of picking up the acorns himself.

Violet casually placed her tally sheet on the kitchen counter, where her Uncle Ken couldn't help but see it, and awaited her payment.

Ken is one to pay his bills promptly, so Violet soon had newly-earned money in her Disney handbag.

 The next afternoon Violet and I decided to pick up a few more acorns. I told her to write "Wednesday" at the top of a fresh tally sheet, so she promptly wrote "Wensday." Then we again tackled the acorns.

This sessions of acorn-picking was shorter, but Violet managed to earn another $6.82.

Our lawns are not entirely free of acorns, but the acorns are much scarcer now. Best of all, Violet earned some money through good, hard work, and she put her budding arithmetic skills to good use. It was a win-win situation.

Christmas in April, for me

Yesterday I drove down to Biddeford to check out the newly-opened Saco River Yarns. The shop is located in one of the big, old, former textile mills in Biddeford, next door to the Saco River Dyehouse.

I'd been wanting to check out the yarn shop. Its grand opening was last Saturday, but I had to miss it because of this darned sinus infection that has been keeping me subdued for the past two months.

I wasn't entirely sure exactly what I'd find at the yarn shop, but I wasn't disappointed. Although their main shop room is still getting stocked with yarns and knitting supplies, the back room is where most of the excitement can be found. In the back room, pictured above, are shopping bags, dozens and dozens of them, full of yarns from the dyehouse. These yarns are technically seconds, but they're still fine quality. Best of all, they're sold by the pound.

In fact, they're sold for $3/pound.

My kind of deal.

Two other knitters were already pawing through the bags when I arrived. They quickly explained to me the deal: All the yarn that strikes your fancy for $3/pound, grab a shopping bag and start making your selections....One of the workers at the dyehouse repeatedly brought in more bags of yarn while we were making our choices.

I had no idea how many pounds of  yarn I'd chosen, but it looked like enough to keep me off the streets for the next several weeks.

I went to the cash register and helped the clerk put my selections onto the scales. I'd chosen five pounds of yarn.

Then the clerk asked, "Do you knit for the Maine Mitten Project?" I replied that I did, indeed, and that I'd cast on for a pair of new mittens just yesterday morning.

"In that case, " she said, "you get one pound of yarn free."

All I need to do is take the finished mittens to the yarn shop, and I'll be given another free pound of yarn.

Sounds good to me. So I handed over my $12 plus tax, came home happy, and photographed these gorgeous beauties.

I know one of the yarn brands at the dyehouse is Quince and Co. That brand has become well known in the past couple of years.

I hope the dyehouse and yarn shop are a big success, because it's wonderful to see new life breathed into these big, old mill buildings that have sat idle for so long.

My latest experiment

I've known for some time now that it's possible, even sensible and cost-saving, to make one's own laundry soap.

I guess I kept clinging to the notion that if I used "store-bought" soap, my laundry would be cleaner.

Then I saw the Duggars on the Today Show two or three weeks ago, and Mrs. Duggar extoled the virtues of making one's own laundry soap.

This gave me the courage I needed, almost....

So I googled "homemade laundry soap," read some reviews, and went to WalMart to purchase the necessary ingredients.

I almost lost my courage while perusing the laundry soap aisle. All of those prepackaged laundry soaps, all of those pretty packages, looked so...superior to anything I could concoct.

Just after I grabbed some Borax and some washing soda and was reaching for the bar of Fels-Naptha, a fellow shopper, a lady, said to me, "You must be making your own laundry soap."

 I told her I'd never  made any before and was trying to decide if I wanted to attempt it or not. She went on to explain that she'd been making her own laundry soap for years and that yes, definitely, handmade laundry soap gets the clothes as clean as any commercial brand.

She noticed I was about to grab a bar of Fels-Naptha, though, and suggested I use a bar of Zote instead. She feels it does a much better job of cleaning the clothes.

I'd never noticed "Zote" in the laundry detergent aisle, and it's no wonder, since it was hidden on a bottom shelf with the large containers of liquid detergent, no where near the Fels-Naptha.

The lady added, "You save so much money by making your own laundry detergent, you know." I told her I'd use the savings for yarns for my knitting habit. Then she said, "You can also make your own dishwasher detergent."

I said I'd give that a try once I'd survived this first experiment. I can handle only so much excitement at one time.

Once I got back home I googled "homemade laundry soap" again, selected a recipe calling for 2 cups of Borax, 2 cups of washing soda, 2 cups of baking soda, and 4 oz. of Zote.

I used a simple hand grater to grate the 1/3 bar of Zote (a 14 oz. bar that set me back a whopping 97 cents. I've seen Zote for sale on line for three or four times that price.) The grating went quickly and easily, and the grated Zote looked so yummy, like pink coconut, that I had all I could do not to eat a handful of it. But I restrained myself.

I mixed together the baking soda, the washing soda, and the Borax, then I added one cup of this mixture to my blender with 1 cup of the grated Zote. I kept doing this until all of the Zote had been nicely added into the dry ingredients, as you can see in this bowl on the left.

It's possible to make a liquid laundry soap, but the thought of storing a large container of liquid soap doesn't appeal to me at all. The dry powder is much more sensible, in my view.

Here's the kicker: one load of laundry takes ONE TABLESPOON of this laundry powder. For heavily soiled laundry, two tablespoons might be in order.

I've done 4-5 loads of laundry with my new detergent, and my clothes are coming out nice and clean. I don't see that the Tide I've used for decades does any better than my homemade soap does.

I'm curious to see how long this first batch lasts. I've got plenty of Borax, washing soda, baking soda, and Zote left over to make several more batches.