Thing Fling: The Living Room

### Discarded

# The box from my roper boots.
# The box from Mom’s latest L.L. Bean shopping spree. (Thanks, Mom! The PJs are adorable.)
# One worn sandal whose mate has been missing for 2 years.
# An empty shipping box from the kids’ software package.
# A Costco receipt.
# An issue of _Popular Science_.
# An empty 10# can that was being saved for some art project that never happened.

Final score: 7.

The Wire Baker’s Rack In The Kitchen

### Found

* Too much Gladware.
* Six boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix.
* A purple mitten.

### Discarded

* {1/2} cup of cake flour in a huge box.
* A square of baker’s chocolate with a Rebecca-sized bite taken out of it.
* A mostly-empty bag of sticky rice.

### Left for later

* A purple storage container full of beading supplies. (MC, any interest?)
* Cleaning the microwave.

The Boxes Near The Front Door

So, after a busy morning of going to the courthouse to take care of paperwork and fixing lunch with no bread in the house (must bake bread, and soon) and taking Rebecca to gymnastics and finishing up the day’s lessons, I finally settled down by the front door and did a preliminary sweep through the boxes stacked next to it.

### Found

* A school-aged children census form from May (but it doesn’t count, because I did ask them to resend it and they never did).
* A Queen CD.
* The One Ring (again).

### Discarded

* One bag full of ripped up credit card applications.
* Two feathers from my feather duster.
* Three BH&G magazines full of space-saving ideas for houses that are three times the size of mine.

### Left for later

* Six inches of paperwork (still in envelopes) that needs to be filed later this evening.

The Floor Of The Southeast Corner Of The Living Room

Matthew and the kids are outside finishing the shed while I’m dealing with the house. Last night I baked cinnamon rolls so that there was something for breakfast other than toast; alas, they tend to evaporate rather quickly with the kids.

### Found

* Origami paper.
* A million Bic black pens.
* A pair of moccasins, size 11.
* A tin whistle and a wooden fife.
* An Elm manual.
* Ten pes{o~}s.
* A collection of Matthew’s 5{1/4}” floppy disks, including such classic titles as Bankstreet Writer.

### Discarded

* An “under construction” sign.
* Two bags of paper trash.
* A jingle bell, minus the jingle.

### Rendered accessible

* The DVD/CD cases.
* The bookshelves.
* The floor.

Liquid laundry detergent

Ingredients

6 C water
1/3 bar Fels-Naptha soap, grated fine
1/2 C washing soda, not baking soda
1/2 C borax
6 C hot water
2 gallon bucket with a lid

Method

  1. Mix Fels-Naptha soap in a saucepan with 6 C of water. Heat on low until dissolved. Stir in washing soda and borax. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens, and then remove from heat.
  2. Add one quart of hot water to the bucket. Pour in soap mixture, and mix until completely combined. It should be a light yellow color. Fill the rest of the bucket with hot water, and mix well.
  3. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Use 1/41/2 C of mixture per load of laundry, depending on size and soiling of load.