Simplicity with stainless.

Betsy is under the weather.  Again.

So, I thought I'd share a quick tidbit.

The best stainless steel cleaner, EVER, is distilled vinegar.  

Dump some in a spray bottle, dilute with a little water, and voila!

No polishing, no having to use 5 different cloths.  

Just spray and wipe off.

Genius.

Baldy and me.

He had me at 'magic', all those years ago.

Teasers.

First off, let me say that my super secret project is NOT for the faint of heart.

I knew it would be tedious, but yowza! 

Although, I should tell you that, so far, I am loving the results.

It also keeps me from wasting time away after the kids are in bed,

as I normally play Mahjong on the computer,

or watch trash, like, 'TMZ' or 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'.

I know... LOSER.

Hopefully, I will be able to share the breakdown with you all soon.

Secondly, is it just me, or does spring make your creative juices flow?

My brain is, seriously, working at, like, 92% power versus the mythical 10%.

{I totally make up all of my numbers, by the way.}

To begin with, the house is getting a $50 make-over.

Spring cleaning and some pops of the unexpected here and there.

 

If I didn't have about 4,793 other projects on my mind,

{baking, sewing, painting, thrifting, Easter celebrations}

I'd have a seat in one of those inticing chairs
(expect the bottom one is a kids' chair).

Oh, and the copious amounts of :

cooking, cleaning, laundry, homework, sports, yadda, yadda, yadda.

All that, AND I want to be outside with the kids as much as possible.

These days are beautiful.

Sunshine on our faces.

Grass between our toes.

It's that warm.

God has been smiling down on the Lou.

Thanks, Big Guy.

Finally,
Jillian over at Catch My Party asked to feature
 Rosie's party as a 'Party of the Day'.
{It's in the 'Party of the Day' slideshow on the homepage.}
A big thanks to her!
And, Ro's party was posted over at Birthday Girl, too!
Thanks Becca!

a few things.

First off, I cleaned out my closet this morning. 

Yikes!

Before:

After:

The bags:

The prize:

I found my sister's 'go to' black dress.  MIA for longer than we can remember.

I'm pretty sure this will officially get me off of her hit list.

And, no, I'm not kidding.  Lately, she wants to end me.

Secondly, I wish to tell you that I am a clean, clean person.

You could eat out of my toliets.  I mean if you're freaky like that.

Closets and junk drawers do not fall under my must-be-clean-at-all-times umbrella.

They did before kids, but now, it's just a losing battle.

Think Monica from friends. Remember her mysterious closet full of crap-o-la?

Anal-retentive/OCD, but with a twist.

My dirty little secret is starting to make me feel crazy.  Institutional crazy.

Something had to be done, and this is the start.  Thanks to this.

I hope it snowballs from here.

Finally, will someone puh-lease help me find this elusive 'spell check' in the new editor. 

Otherwise, I will resort to screen capturing my editor page and showing you all that it doesn't exist for me.

Does.  Not.

That, or I need glasses, or an entry level Computer class.

Both are probably completely & utterly true.

I know nothing about computers.  I had a party the day I learned how to enlarge my photos. 

Punch, cake, the whole she-bang.

Here's proof.

If you have a quick tip on the spelling situation shoot me an email or a comment.

And, as always, be patient with me...

I'm a constent work in progress.

Is it sick that this excites me?

Because it does.

It really, really does.

I have discovered that power washing, may just, in fact, be better than vacuuming.

Gasp!

I know, I was just as surprised as you.

But, holy Fredricktown, it is stupendous!

And, to think, I didn't even think our concrete was that dirty!

Water + power = cool!

The transformation and somethin' sweet.

Seriously. Can you believe it? You could actually roller skate down there. It is fantastic. I'm lovin' the curtains I made to cover all of our storage containers. They were super easy. $8 flat sheets from Wal-Mart (did I ever tell you I HATE Wal-Mart?), an eyelet kit, some thick wire/cable, some hooks, and voila! The other cool part is we left some space between the curtains and the shelves, so, now, the kids can even use the curtains for "performances" or whatever else lil' kids can come up while employing the use of floor to ceiling draperies. Sha-weet, huh? Geez, I feel so much better!

PS make this...

pound cake

chocolate reddi-whip

raspberries

melted nutella drizzled over the top

yum!

See Ya!

Niecy Nash WILL be proud.

As many of you know, Niecy Nash is the hostess of The Style Network's Clean House show. She has noooooo tolerance for clutter or pack rats, piles, collections, junk or basically, everything that is in our basement storage room. Now, let me preface what you are about to see with a disclaimer that I am EXTREMELY clean when it comes to the spaces we live in. Not the spaces that are used for utility purposes. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you this is true. Please do not judge me based on the following horrifying images.

Shocking...I know. Yesterday, Jake and I began the daunting task of cleaning house. It is time, and with the basement redo coming up, it only makes sense. Let me tell you how liberating it is to throw stuff away! Freedom, I tell you, freedom! It is really coming along. By tonight, I'm thinking it will be complete. I feel like calling Niecy to come over and roller skate down there with me. Ha!

Progress, thus far:

Hopefully, I will have completed after pictures by tonight. We'll see...

PS The boys' room clinched 4th place in ohdeedoh.com's 'cooler, smaller contest'. Here's what gets me fired up about it. The voting button had a 'glitch' as their IT guy called it. Because of this glitch there were lots of people who could not cast their vote. However, they still call the contest legit. Hmmmmmmm...I don't think so. Whatev!

Keep on cleanin'!

I wish my heart was in it.

The kindergartners at our elementary school make hug pillows for local hospitals' heart surgery patients every year. Each child gets to decorate one and pick the fabric for the back. It is really cute. I volunteered months ago to sew up the 3 inch opening left after they had all been stuffed. Now that it is that time, I feel like I want to take a long walk off of a short pier. I love helping out a good cause, and it will, literally, take me about 20 minutes to whip those puppies out on my machine, but I am just starting to feel better after that virus ambushed me, and my house looks like the boys from 'Lord of the Flies' were in charge here the last few days. Sure, there are no boars' heads on stakes anywhere near, but when I walk on the kitchen floor, I hear crunching noises. That's never good. Jake's done a great job helping out, but men just have different priorities than we do.

Enough complaining. I am going to finish beds, dust, vacuum, and then sew up some love.

Buh-bye!

"EAT" your heart out, William Perry!

clean.

full.

the fridge has spoken.

ps if anyone wants to buy me
all new stainless appliances,
just let me know!
they can even be cheap.
except the range, i would like,
a viking 30" gas range
with open burners.
thank you very much.

buh-bye!