Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

Every year, I start out with high hopes for our homeschool year.  You may recall this pic from my school supply bargain-shopping post . I order curriculum, wait for it in the mail, and with bated breath, open the orange bubble mailers that arrive at my house one at a time.  I organize each child's workbooks and school supplies, then stack them on the homeschool shelves and wait. While counting down the days 'til school, I hop on the internet to find more resources.  I find a couple new websites to use to further learning without mom's help.  www.abcya.com, www.pbskids.com, and www.starfall.com are our three favorites. After that, I sashay over to YouTube, saving interesting videos and subscribing to new channels I think the kids will like.  Music, science videos, How Things Are Made, history videos - you name it!  YouTube may be my favorite free homeschool resource.  Netflix also has some great videos - my girls like to watch the Bob Ross vid...

A puppy has brought many new things into our lives. Chewing, barking, going potty on the carpet - all that fun stuff. I thought I was a total genius when I decided to make my own pee pads by recycling some waterproof crib mattress pads.  I just cut the elastic off, and voila!  Free piddle pads for our pup. It worked really well for a while, and I'd wash them once or twice a week. I promise I'm getting to the point.  Stick with me.  It'll be worth it. In our effort to further potty training, we moved the pads outside, so he could smell the scent on the grass. This was good in theory, but one thing I didn't expect was that sun and rain would set the stains and smells in the fabric.  No problem.  I've washed cloth diapers before.  No problem.  I can handle this. Except after a month or so, my dryer-fresh laundry began to smell.  Smelled bad.  Like a pet store. Pet store scented laundry.  Great. Maybe if I keep wash...