A Boston Tradition

Friday night we headed to the Theater District for a show that has become a longstanding Boston tradition. It is called Shear Madness and it a comedic murder mystery where the audience gets to be involved in solving the crime. It has clever improv, and they also change the jokes to fit what is going on in the world (i.e. pop culture, current politicians, world events, popular artists of this day etc.) It makes it fresh, funny and up to the minute, which is I am sure one of the reasons it has been running for 30 years! :)
 

It was so much fun and good to relax and laugh. Thanks for another great date Jobito! You're a pro ;)

Oh and P.S. They are usually at least $50 bucks a ticket but Job got them free from his school. Score! I just love a good (free!) deal :) We get a lot of our discounted or free tickets using Job's student deals which makes things a lot more affordable to do.

Entering the Theater District

Lots of fun shows to see! :)

Here is our stop! Down a little alley and neighbor to the Blue Man Group

This show has its own alley!

A Plug for Roadside Assistance Insurance

A few weeks ago we had to do this:

Then a few days ago we had to do it again:

Our insurance covered it both times (sadly we still have to pay the mechanic, but ya can't have everything ;)
These two tows within two weeks have made our roadside assistance worth it for the next 14 years or so. Does that make sense? So basically the $200 we have saved by having the insurance could pay the small extra $14 yearly fee for a long time. Plus ours covers a lot-running out of gas, changing a tire, a jump etc...
Get it people. Get it, love it, and be grateful for it when the time comes to use it.
But I still hope you don't have to actually use it because that would mean you are stranded somewhere with a broken car. Never fun ;)

Homemade Glass Cleaner

Wanna see my bathroom mirror?

Of course you do!! ;)

See how pretty and shiny and clean it is? :)

Wanna know HOW I got it so clean and shiny? (don't answer that, probably most of you don't care ;)

Well I'll tell ya anyways.

Add two drops (yes drops) of dishwashing soap to a spray bottle of water.

Spray and wipe people. It works. No steaks, no nothin'.
And it is pretty much free.
And is pretty darn natural considering it is mostly just water and the amount of soap in it is teeny. I could drink it and be fine :) (but I don't recommend drinking it...)
I was skeptical at first but I tried it and really like it now. 

Oh and I didn't have Joy brand soap which is what the recipe called for. So I just used whatever I had and it worked-Dawn or whatever. So probably any nice liquid dish soap will work.

Here is the official recipe:

4 C water

2 drops Joy brand concentrated dish detergent (I can't promise any other brand will work. But for $1.12 you have a life time's worth of glass cleaner.)

1 drop blue food coloring (otpional)

Combine in a 32 oz spray bottle and shake to combine. Use as you would any glass cleaner. 

 
(from http://groceryshrink.com/) 

No more smelly, chemically glass cleaner for me! :) 

Linked to: iheartnaptime

Homemade Laundry Soap

I am finally getting this recipe up! Job and I really love it. It is "green", saves us lots of moola, makes our clothes feel and smell good. What's not to love?! :) This post is long, but I promise this is easy peasy to make. And once you make it a batch lasts a good long time. Enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar soap such as lirio or zote. They are both laundry soaps and we have tried them with great results. (I have also heard ivory soap, Kirk's Castile soap, or Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap will work well. I've heard any vegetable-based bar of soap will work but I have only tried lirio and zote so can't say for sure)
1 cup Borax
1 cup Superwashing soda (found in laundry aisle of store)
5 Gallons water (or less if you want more concentrated soap) *Update, we found it was a bit too thick using 2 1/2 gallons. I would stick to the full 5.

 1. Grate the bar of soap into a bowl. Fill a small pot with water and heat on stove over medium-high heat. Slowly add the grated soap and stir gently over heat until it is completely melted.
Note: Try not to let the water get to a high boil, this will make the soap too foamy. Adjust heat higher or lower during melting as needed.
2. Fill a large container with the 5 gallons of water, making sure there is enough room for the other ingredients.
3. Add borax and superwashing soda and stir gently*
4. Add melted soap and stir gently without making too much foam.
5. Let the mixture cool off completely (we let it sit overnight). Once it is cooled it will be gelatinous and a think layer on top will have formed. Mix it very well once again before dividing into containers for use (we use old laundry detergent bottles, softener bottles, very clean milk jugs etc...). The soap will be a little lumpy, goopy and gel-like as your pour it out of your bottles for use. This is normal. Just give it a little shake before pouring out.


----For a medium load of laundry use 1/2 cup
----For a large load of laundry use 1 cup
----Adjust amount of soap used if less water was used in the recipe. This time we used half the water so halved the amounts of soap we used.

*We really like to add 1 cup of liquid fabric softener such as Suavitel during step 3. We think this makes the soap smell even better, makes our clothes feel comfy cozy, and saves us a step during laundry time :) But if you actually follow directions and add the softener half-way through the laundry cycle instead of dumping it all in at once like we do, feel free to leave it out ;)


1. Grate your bar of soap

 2. Melt your soap

 3. Add super washing soda

 and Borax to water (and softener if you wish)

and stir.

 4. Add melted soap to mixture and slowly stir in.

5. Let sit overnight to cool and "harden"
It will be really goopy and chunky in the morning. Give it a good stir

 And it will become more liquidy

 Funnel the soap into your containers.

 And enjoy your eco-friendly, super inexpensive, lovely smelling, and super effective laundry soap!

I linked this up to the iheartnaptime  linky party and

Soap!!

Job and I made soap last night as part of our date night! Not just any soap though, it is divine smelling laundry soap! It was so fun to make and Job has been doing laundry all morning because he loves it so much. It was easy and fun to make, not to mention it will save us a ton! We made 5 gallons (yes gallons) of this stuff for about 3 bucks.

Don't we feel all crafty and resourceful ;)