Summer Pinterest Challenge

I absolutely love summer! I love the first warm days in March (we're in Georgia, so yes, it can get mighty warm in March) all the way through the last few afternoons in October before the cold really sets in. The rest of the year, I'm more just surviving than anything else.

This winter, I did something unexpected and conceived a child. So the entire summer this year will be spent in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Hello, activity restrictions. I have been tending my garden (which deserves its own post entirely) in short, 2-hour increments and keeping the tanning to a minimum, especially since it's been raining stinking every other day.

But I've come to face that, once the heat sets in and I get another few weeks along, doing much outside for extended periods is not going to be easy. After I mourned for my normal summer routines, I decided to give myself some challenges to look forward to. The internet came to my rescue!

My Pinterest has a list of things I want to do. These are all DIY projects I'd seriously love to give a good try, and I used a little money to gather some ingredients. My mom bought a few more for me and saved me a lot of money!

1. The first on my list was an easy one--I want to make my own cleaning products. It turns out that this is a bit too easy, because baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and lemon in different combinations will clean pretty much anything for ridiculously cheap. And, since my living space right now consists of one tiny bedroom, there isn't much to clean.

2. I want to make my own toiletries. This includes shower gel, hand soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. I have recipes for each of these things, and now the ingredients!

3. I want to make my own detergents. This will be laundry (liquid or powdered) and dish detergents, both sink and dish washer. Aside: God has randomly provided us with a free working dishwasher! How cool is that? This one may have to wait a little for me to have my own home so I'm not trying new products on my in-laws' appliances.

4. Finally, I want to make my own baby stuff. This will include cloth and paper towel wipes, shampoo, and soap. These I want to be fragrance-free as Raiden will likely have sensitive skin if he takes after his mommy. I have a pretty bad case of eczema and don't want my little bundle of joy to be a bundle of rash. Personal opinion, of course.

First up--hand soap/body wash