Spring Cleaning

Saturday morning I was honored with the opportunity to share in a class called Cheaper and Better at my neighbor's church.  What a fun group of ladies was present!  And I learned a lot, got to bring home more cleaning recipes and ideas, plus helped the ladies make a powder sink/ tub cleanser along with a Soft Scrub imitation cleanser.

I wish I had brought pictures of our garage sink.  I did not take notice of the sink since early fall, so when I actually stopped and looked at it last week I was grossed out.  It was disgusting.  But on the bright side, a fun project because it was so gross.  I decided to use my homemade cleanser and see how it cleaned, although I was tempted to jerk the sink off the wall and take it to the dump.

This DISGUSTING sink....

Plus homemade cleanser - recipe below - and a cloth.....

got the sink this clean.  Good, but not good enough....

So I used a little more cleanser and a green scrubbie to finish it up!
This is an old, antique sink and in our over-used garage.
This cleanser is super!  See below for recipe:

Recipe for imitation Soft Scrub:
Plan to mix this in a good sized bowl, as it will fizz from the baking soda and vinegar combination.  And storing it in a squirt bottle is a good idea -it will be thicker, like Soft Scrub.  (If it thickens, then just add a little more water and shake it up.)
2/3 c. baking soda
1/2 c. Castile soap (liquid)
2 T. vinegar
1/2 c. water
a few drops of tea tree oil

Use a funnel to transfer from bowl to squirt bottle and clean away!

Revisiting Mom's Comment

Back at Thanksgiving, my mom made a comment about a corner cupboard that I had purchased and placed in the dining room. She wasn't wild about it.  Actually she said she'd get rid of 'that thing' if she were me.  It was dated and a little out of character for our house and decorating.  Oh, I liked that cupboard, though, so I decided it needed to become a priority for a redo.

During the short, bearable winter here in northern Michigan (that's the first time I've ever had the privilege to express those feelings about our winters!!),  Anthony hauled the cupboard downstairs to the craft room for me.  The inspiration I was getting for the cupboard would have it end up in Laney's room, which I have decorated with black and cream toile for bed clothes and curtain.  Laney is using a den-type room as her bedroom, so it's not really decorated for a young girl, but it's pretty and comfortable, and her own!  

First I lightly sanded the cabinet, since the previous owner had toiled on handpainted florals along the top.  Then I applied a gloss cream paint.  When dry, I applied a 'crackle medium' which is clear and dries quickly.  Once that's dry I painted black acrylic craft paint carefully but quickly, watching the 'crackles' appear as it dried.  It was exactly the look I was going for!  


I had some black and cream toile left over from the curtain, so I stapled it where the glass would have been in the doors of the cabinet.  


The family gave it mixed reviews; but Laney loves it, and I do, too!  The whole toile obesession thing - not sure if it's ever going to end.  Fifteen years ago when we built this house, my husband suggested I not commit to any of the toile fabrics or dishes that I had selected, since I would probably 'grow tired of them.'  Ha.  I am still wild about them - and they've come very much in style, too. 

Lord willing, we have another project coming up - a house project - and just maybe I'll do some toile things there....

Babes and Buffnesses

Heard of the expression, "Out of the mouths of babes..."??  Once upon a time I was creative.  I even used to have a few good design ideas.  Somehow as time has passed my ability to eye things for size, fit, color match, and other design elements has dwindled.  So sad.

Take for instance the plate and bowl tower that I tried to create for Autie's Open House.  The middle part - the champagne flute - really should have had a wider rim to hold the bowl.  But it looked good to me, until Autie pointed out the obvious.

There was more 'obvious' to be found with the second attempt on a tower, but advice coming from a boy 'babe' (he'll KILL me for calling him that).  I found another champagne glass - not a flute this time - at the Goodwill.  I really liked its empty stem - looked like it was calling out for a stem of daisies to dress up the tower.

Anthony was eating (again) at the kitchen nook and watching me.  I dropped the stem of three daisies into the stem, smiling and gloating a little, exclaiming how much I loved the glass, especially how it held the flowers.  As I placed the bowl on top - Squish went the flowers, completely out of sight by the bowl.  Oh, the laughter from Babe Buffness.









He sauntered over, took the bowl off, flipped the champagne glass over, and placed the bowl onto the bottom (now top) of the glass.  Yeah, he was smiling and gloating the whole time, too.

So now, thanks to babes and buffnesses, we have a few cute raised thing-a-ma-jigs for the Open House!

Pre-planning for Another Graduation Open House

Autumn Jean-Marie is graduating June 1st and sometime in June we hope to have an Open House to celebrate.  We've pulled off two Open House parties in the past, so how hard can it be??  Well, it can be a real challenge to think up fresh ideas.


Has anyone heard of Pinterest???  Autumn has!!! So she has lots of great ideas for decorating the tables and feeding the masses.  We girls in this family already love to put on a shin-dig and having a few really awesome ideas really helps to inspire.  I always have my eye on the bottom line in terms of cost, though, so I have been the Squasher of Many Good Ideas.


Autumn picked two colors to work with - lemon yellow and apple green - and she's fine with using the fruit to match, plus daisies and white lilacs (if they are in bloom), to work into the decorations. Hopefully the weather will be pleasant the evening that we select, so the fun can be outside.


After making a Pinterest board that Autumn and I share for ideas, we talked about the favorites.  Expensive things or super-time-consuming things got nixed, especially since we are going for country charm (things that cause one to say, "Awww")  and country elegance (things that cause one to say, "OOooo, I like that!) combined.  But the number one thing we hope is that everyone is comfortable and having a great time enjoying some good food and fellowship.


I stumbled upon apple green plates and bowls at the Dollar Store this week.  I'd like to do some raised plates, some with foods, some with candles, some with flowers.  So I purchased a champagne flute to hold a bowl above the plate - perfect size for a floral arrangement.  The Dollar Store had the wet foam I would need, perfect size for the bowl and sold in a two pack.


The flute was glued to the center of the plate, then the bowl onto the top of the flute. The glue wanted to drip a couple times, but a quick wipe cleared it away and the bowl adhered solidly to the rim of the flute.


I am going to post the pictures, but with a disclaimer.  Autumn isn't wild about it!!  She would like a margarita glass, instead of  the champagne flute, since the rim would be wider and the bowl would nestle down in there better.  After she said this it's like scales fell off my eyes!  I agree with her. I truly tried the bowl out on a margarita glass first (when I was in the Dollar Store), but cannot remember why I didn't use it. So I am going to ask my handy husband to try to salvage the bowl and plate but get that flute out of there.  So if anyone wants to make one of these, try out different "pillars" with your plate or bowl (and ask the design-minded teenager, when possible).  I am pleased with the overall look and delighted with the price - not counting the fresh flowers, these cost $3.50.  I've seen raised decorative pottery or glass items for $20 and $30 and up.  If we never use these again after the Open House, it won't bother me a bit. 

Inside the flue is a pretty real looking silk daisy.

Wet foam - two pack for $1.00, preserves the fresh flowers.

These flowers were $4.00. 

Finished product minus the edible goodies.

The plate held more than two dozen cookies.
This is what I pictured in my mind - we'll see after we use a margarita glass how it looks.
We hope to use real daisies, or even better, white lilacs for the floral arrangements.

The Bossy Bench

This is Bossy the Cow (hide)- well, it probably was a steer once - that our kids bought us a few years ago.

This little footstool is next to become a Bossy Footstool.

After looking all over town for an ottoman to recover, I picked my old, faithful pine coffee table.

By removing the drop leaves, Laney and I made a bench.

She's a good worker.

Yup, it works as a bench so far.

This green stuff will make it even more comfy.  We like comfy.

The steer hide draped over - there will be plenty!

Trimming the 3" foam to fit the old
top of the coffee table, now bench.

Done - needs some more trimming.

It is passing Molly's comfy-ness test.

Stapled straps to roughly keep it in place - I didn't want to glue
the foam to the table.

A stapled silky cover to further keep the foam
in place and to be a liner for the steer skin.

Helper Extraordinaire.

Looks good underneath, too.

The hide is cut to fit and stapled underneath the bench.

Almost done - just some decorative tacks for the thicker
ends need to be applied.

Now it's done.

In two parts when we found him - fixed him and put him up.

The steer hide continues a theme of dead animals in our living room.  It really is nice that people will spend time with us.  Critters are staring from all angles.  Poor things.  The only way I can live here is that we did not kill any of them.  We bought them after their demise.

Coony - so cute and fuzzy

Prongy - as old as Phil and me!!

Her poor tail was falling off, but we
fixed her and now she stares out of
a china cupboard.

Of course, to complete the ensemble,
the ever popular and rare Jackalope,
ringed with feathers from some exotic
bird, I'm sure.

The Bossy Bench - also to be used as a footrest for the sofa.  I like it.

More favorite things...

Some little things that make me happy are:  good selection when looking for a product and, if it needs to be shipped, free shipping.  At iherb.com both happy things are available!  


Recently I needed more castile soap for making homemade cleansers.  My sis-in-law gave me the heads up to try iherb, which I especially appreciate because I had already checked three local stores.  Gotta try to buy local, ya know!  


At iherb I found everything I needed, including the lavender and tea tree oils.  The prices were very good, free shipping, plus FAST shipping - Fed Ex! - made it a great deal and good shopping experience.  (If shopping is an "experience"!)


I also found one of the top three teas I've ever had - 

Not a tea drinker, but desiring a warm cup of something healthy  in the evening, I chanced it on this.  No need for milk or sugar - this stuff is just delicious all by itself! (Oh, do add some hot water, though, for those non-tea drinkers out there. )


My friend Kara is aware of my sweet tooth, so suggested a licorice tea a few years back. It was great, but my family didn't like the aftertaste - what aftertaste, I ask? - so I didn't buy it anymore.  Another tea I had that was incredible and I know nothing about, other than it's made the 'southern' way, was at the home of the family Phy is now with in Virginia.  (waiting for the apartment to be ready)  I need to ask Rhonda exactly the details, because I think I drank a quart!  And it was on ice!  So yummy and refreshing.  


I'm now a little more well-rounded.  I've enjoyed iced tea, not any ice-tea, though, special iced tea, and now I have a warm tea for those evenings when a book, a warm mug, and a comfy chair are calling.  If anyone else would like to check out iherb.com AND get a discount, just put DUR761 in before checkout and I think you'll get $5 off your order.  Enjoy - but allow enough time - the selection is amazing!  (At least to us rural folks!)

For Pete's Sake

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/technology/communication-etiquette/facebook-etiquette-00100000072701/page4.html

Above is a link to an article in Real Simple.  There are some good points within the article about facebook etiquette.  But I have to say, that after I read it, it bugged me!  I thought about all my facebook friends.  I thought about each individual personality.  I thought about how much a part of my day the changing landscape of facebook statuses kept the day hopping along.

One friend has a new baby.  According to Real Simple's author, Ms. Appenbrink, the multiple updates and photos and short videos WHICH I LOVE shouldn't be included on Facebook.  They're irritating.  They're excessive. They're bothersome.  They're (gasp) against 'social media etiquette.'  Who died and made her the Social Media Etiquette Police?  Or more accurately, Ms. Appenbrink gets to the write the manual that we all must agree on for social media etiquette?  (I know I'm making Ms. Appenbrink the bad guy in this, but just humor me. She compiled all the opinions and published the article.)

We have a friend or three who are very politically active and involved.  God bless them!!  I don't have to search for the latest news article; it's there if I want to read it.  IF I want to read it. No one is forcing me to click on it.  That's the beauty of freedom- their freedom and mine.

What about my daughters' friend who posts updates a few times a day that literally make me laugh out loud? (I've refrained from typing LOL on her status, since I want to try to remain a mature adult in her eyes.)  Her status updates, her take on life, especially through the summer when she had a job where she met with the public pretty constantly, kept us in stitches! According to Ms. Appenbrink, my daughters' friend really should stop. If anybody tells her to stop they're going to have to deal with me. She's funny, and I'm glad she shares her sense of humor with us on FB.

Another status post has been shared a million times of late. It's below.  But it's incomplete. There are so many other personalities at work on that site.

If someone doesn't like the fact that Facebook is a melting pot of personalities all FREE to post and express to one's heart's content, then maybe don't join, or don't 'friend' those who will annoy you. Sounds to me like some folks just ought not to partake.  Sounds to me like those who are of a critical, controlling nature ought not to seek out Friends on Facebook and lurk.  But maybe that's why they're on FB in the first place.  The real deal friends don't want to hang with them because they can't please Mr. or Mrs. Persnickety.  Enjoying people for how they are and for how they react to or enjoy life in their little Facebook way is a lot more fun than policing the site for the grave errors in "Etiquette" (said with a rich, English accent and a sniff).

A disclaimer to my rant about the article:  the suggestions about photos are relevant. It's mean to post pictures without someone's permission.  But the second and third from the last on the photo list are fine, in my opinion.  I guess with the whole Facebook thing, do like the doctors are supposed to do:  First, do no harm.  And secondly, how about getting and keeping a sense of humor? Third, and final:  Post and let post, don't post and let post, or don't post and let not post....you get my meaning.  And shoot the High Horse after dismounting.