I'm pretty happy with the level of organization I have going on at home. I do little things daily to make sure that it never gets completely out of hand and looks like a mess. Other than the seemingly constant laundry going on here...it's always surface clean.
If you work out in the morning...do you make your bed before or after you work out?
Did you work out this morning?
Did you make your bed?
A relative told me they sweep their main level every night before bed.
*BLINK*
Wow.
Cool.
My mommy used to do that too.
Me?
Not so much.
In fact...I only sweep when I see something. Then I get the broom and actually sweep it up. ESPECIALLY in the kitchen.
Twice a week I run the vacuum on the bare floor setting and hit the rugs too.
Since we don't have kids crawling on the floor or walk around without shoes on...I think I'm doing well.
What say you? How often do YOU sweep your floors? Do you do it daily?
I'll be honest when I say I only use prep bowls when I'm trying to keep the kitchen as clean as possible while cooking because I have company coming over or I'm recording what I'm doing. I have a stackable set that I bought at TJMaxx for like $7.99 for about 6 in the stack of varying sizes.
You put each ingredient in it's own bowl and then put the source product away. Keeps everything neat.
Do you use prep bowls?
I have a lot of FAVORITE kitchen tools but this has to be in the top 10 for sure: Kolder Salad Dressing Bottle
That's not the exact one I have but it's way cheaper than I remember paying for mine years ago and it will serve the purpose quite nicely. There are easy to follow recipes for basic salad dressings on the side and you can always just screw the top on it and store the rest in the fridge. This is one of those GENIUS things I wished I'd thunk of. LOL!
Name one of YOUR favorite kitchen tools! Not appliances...little hand tool thingys.
On the corner by our house the grass is coming back all weird so The Robinator decided to spread some seeds.
First...he put this down over the problem area: Scotts Turf Builder 15.97 lb. Fertilizer with Plus 2 Weed Control
Then...he used a seed spreader to spread the seed: Pennington 1 Step Complete
Then...he watered it down well and covered it with hay.
So...our neighbor is going to water it in the mornings and Robby is going to water it in the evening. He's thinking he should have some new grass sprouting by the end of the week.
Oh...were you wondering what I did while he did all the work?
See that green stuff underneath the house numbers? Yeah...that's mildew and it had to go. LOL!
Spring cleaning continues at 13700 and we couldn't be more excited about how our efforts look. I've always felt that every Spring, you should do all of the things you'd do to your home if you were getting it ready to sell and that's kinda how we're treating our list of projects.
What would we do if we were trying to get the best price possible right now?
Cleaning and staining the deck and fence was hard, back breaking work for us and man...at the end of the evening we'd be bone dead tired. That said...we didn't properly clean our tools before we went to bed.
Or the next day.
Or even that next day.
So yeah...we thought we were going to have to get rid of $30 worth of new brushes and roller.
I need to buy new ones. Have YOU ever replaced your cushions? Where did you find the perfect ones? Was it difficult to find cushions for YOUR chairs? Do your chairs use seat cushions only or seat AND back cushions?
On Saturday, we power washed our deck: How to Power Wash Your Deck - SPRING CLEANING
On Sunday, we power washed our fence while I started staining our deck after lightly sanding it and then blowing off all the dust from the sanding.
As I was staining the deck with a brush...SOMEBODY was down below complainig that I was dripping stain.
SOMEBODY almost got a can of stain dumped on his head.
Continue reading "How to Power Wash and Stain Your Deck - SPRING CLEANING" »
I have a grocery store cardigan that stays in the back of my truck with my reusable grocery bags because I hate being cold in the grocery store and I'm ALWAYS cold in the grocery store.
Is that just me?
Do YOU keep a sweater in your car for the same reason?
Or is that just me too?
The Robinator's mommy gave him this bench for the balcony at his apartment a long, long time ago. He brought it with him when we moved in together and it's been with us ever since.
I decided to give it a once over today and make it a bit less rickety. I tightened the screws and replaced some rusted nuts. Then...I roughened up the surface with a sanding block to get it ready for staining.
And then...I stained it.
And voila! A new finish on a lovely old piece!
Have YOU done any Spring cleaning yet?
SWITCH CEILING FANS TO COUNTER CLOCKWISE!
CLEAN OR REPAINT ALL BASEBOARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLEAN ALL WINDOW TREATMENTS!
I'm of the mind that anything around the house that I can hire someone to do...I can do myself. I've hired people to do stuff and the people who come out to do it aren't rocket scientists and I believe I'm smarter than the average bear. The Robinator, on the other hand, thinks you should just pay someone to do it so YOU don't hav e to do it.
But I like to do stuff.
So we debated on doing our deck ourselves and then we decided that yeah...we can get'er'done.
We took everything off the deck:
Continue reading "How to Power Wash Your Deck - SPRING CLEANING" »
This is what I do with all those samples I get from Sephora and the dermatologist.
And those free toothbrushes from the dentist.
You never know who might leave something they need at home or who just ended up spending the night unprepared after a late night on the deck with a couple of bottle of wines. LOL!
I keep the shampoo and conditioner in the shower.
Oh...and I have bags of new Hanes underwear too so you can shower and not feel gross after. I just realized recently that I don't have any for men but hey...men are cool with feeling gross right? LOL!
So...I've been looking at mattresses lately and I have to say I'm a bit annoyed at mattresses these days. The top of the line ones can't be flipped twice as I'm used to doing (left to right, top to bottom) and that makes no sense to me at all. I mean sure...it's better for the mattress makers because mattresses which can't be flipped twice will wear out sooner than I'm used to but it's a lose for the consumer.
Then I looked at the middle of the road ones and you know what? They've done the same thing. They've made it so that only one side of the mattress can be slept on and yall...that's a bother. I flip our current mattresses pretty regularly and that's why they last and stay comfy. It's time to start thinking about a new one and well...the options out there aren't conducive to how I like mattresses.
Did you notice this too the last time you went mattress shopping?
Have you purchased a good mattress recently which can be flipped twice? If so...PLEASE share. PLEASE!
Those of you with the pillowtop mattresses...how long have you had them? Any issues yet with not being able to flip twice?
Do you own one?
T-Rhonda called me today to rave about this cleaner she found at the dollar store:
Any of you ever try this?
If you like this...I just saw a green one and a white one almost exactly like this at Marshall's for $39.99.
This year, instead of dropping a few hundred on flowering plants for my planters and pots, I decided to start seedlings of flowers. In the past I've only done this for herbs so I'm kinda excited to see how they turn out. I planted them on Sunday and they are already sprouting in the Jiffy Greenhouse
Would you do this instead of the Spring trek to Home Depot or the nursery for flowering plants to spruce up for Spring?
Have you ever put a house on the market for sale? When? Was it recently?
How long did it take for you to have it ready?
What did you focus on?
Did you get it ready first and THEN contacted a real estate agent or did you contact the agent first and take their advice on what to do?
About how much money do you think you spent?
Did you start building or shopping for a new house before you sold the old house?
I bought one of these and now my nightstand stays clean.
GO ME! 6 Pocket Bedside Storage Mattress Book Remote Caddy
Do you have anything like this?
What's your take on late night dishes? Say for instance you've cleaned the kitchen and someone comes in and gets a glass of water or a slice of pie. You good with them putting the dirty dishes in the sink overnight or do you expect them to clean them and put them in the dishwasher?
I saw this on an episode of "Modern Family" and decided I want one: Progressive International Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Keeper
I always have too much fruit and veggies to fit in the fridge bins so this would be nice I think. What do yall think?
Seriously...this is awesome.sauce. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT????? Broom Groomer Broom Cleaning Dustpan
On Christmas day I was cooking and the fire alarm went off in our home. I was confused because nothing was smoking in the kitchen. Robby went to the panel and disarmed it but then the alarm company called and told us they'd sent out the fire department already because it was the carbon monoxide detector.
Um...huh?
Then they told us to get out the house and wait on the fire department.
As they were telling us this...the fire department rolled up and we got out of their way. They were all official and whatnot with monitors and they checked the levels in our home for carbon monoxide. The highest they found was a 5. It's dangerous when it's 35.
So...it was determined that it's time to change out our detectors because they store "levels" and start going bad after about 10 years. We're going to get new ones installed in January because we didn't know they needed to be replaced every 10 years.
I don't know if you knew this or not...but now you do so yeah...check that out. Carbon Monoxide poisoning ain't nothing to play with.
A few months ago Jaru started this weird scratching crap. Like...he would start and couldn't stop. No matter where he was or what he was doing.
Even if he was sleeping.
On the leather sofa.
One morning we came down and noticed the first hole in the damn sofa seat cushion. Soon there were three holes and then...as many as five on two cushions.
Damn sofa looked like it was on a rickety porch down in Memphis somewhere hustling and flowing.
No biggie since I've been SLOWLY looking for a new one right?
WRONG.
Damn dog hasn't stopped scratching so I spend a crap load of money on a NEW Thomasville reclining leather sofa and let him scratch that one up too?
Um...yeah...no.
So what to do?
I scoured the internet for solutions and seriously...nothing seemed like it was going to be a good enough solution so I went to ABBA Upholstery in Gaithersburg. They sold me a leather hide as close to the color of the leather on the sofa as possible seeing as though it's a 10-year old sofa. Then they took my old cushion covers and remade the covers down to the velcro on the back of them. SO.AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
Initially they said it would take 2 weeks but 2 weeks was Friday and I didn't get them until today. We've been living on the sofa using a blanket for all this time and BAAAAAAAABY! We were soooooooooooo happy today when we put them on! GO.US!
So yeah...moral of the story is...there probably isn't a refinishing product that you'll like either if you're anything like me. The new cushion covers ended up costing us $425 but that's way cheaper than how much it would cost to replace the entire damn sofa running the risk of the damn dog scratching another hole in a BRAND.NEW.SOFA.
I'm good with the slight discoloration until his azz stops scratching or until we just wear out the new pebbled cushions and make it all smooth and worn. LOL! $425 WELL spent in my opinion! GO ME! GO US! 13700 ROCKS!
What would YOU have done?
I have a cinnamon broom in my home because it smells so lovely. From what I understand...they also bring good luck to the home too. Cool. Double whammy!
I was at my girlfriend's home the other day and she had a money bamboo plant. It brings her luck in money areas...she believes since that's the way the story goes.
My mother would burn sage and walk around our home to "cleanse" the house.
Because of her I never let ANYTHING sit on top of my bible cuz it would "block my blessings."
Crazy?
What say you?
Do YOU do anything for good luck at home?
I got 4 messages the day before Thanksgiving asking how to whip up some quick gravy and I answered.
I filmed how to make easy gravy on Turkey Day so folks could refer to the video for next year. I'll put this here in the event yall need it too. Oh...and remember...there are LOTS of different ways to do this. This is just a quick and easy version that's pretty tasty in my opinion.
Fat/oil separator: OXO Good Grips 4-Cup Fat Separator
Immersion Blender: Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender
M
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at 13700! I like to put a bit of Christmas in every room so I'm working my way from the bottom up. LOL!
The mancave looks like Christmas spit up in there. ROFL! Someone grumbled about Santa staring at him while he was watching a game. I have a feeling I'm going to go down there one day and Santa will be turned to the wall.
I'm still working on the mantle but it's getting there. I'm going to use the peppermint ribbon on a small sugared fruit wreath to put on the mirror. That mirror came from upstairs where it was replaced with the new mirror. GO ME! RE-PURPOSING ISH!
The tree is "light" this year. I was about to start putting bulbs all over it but then The Robinator said he liked it like this so I stopped. LOL! Seemed only fitting to use Magnolias again this year. :)
I like how it doesn't look all matchy matchy. Makes me smile.
That's just a garland with a piece of ribbon woven through it. I might attach some snowflake glitter ornaments to fish string and attach with white thumbtacks to give the allusion of them floating up there. Let me tell yall how dusty it was on that ledge above the door. I was shame.
Seriously...SHAME!
Poinsettia stems in a gladiola vase along with a cinnamon broom that I bought at Trader Joe's for $3.99. They smell soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! GO ME!
This lil guy brings me joy. He's chilling in the powder room. LOL! I love his smile! He's a tea light holder and he's holding a puppy. LOL! Makes me smile.
I hope to be finished this weekend. I have a few more fun things to do that will include glitter, glitter, lots 'o glitter and I want The Robinator to do a few things outside. He quickly veto'd putting lights on the holly tree for me. Something about being pricked to death, scratched up like crazy or whatnot trying to put lights on a 10 foot holly tree. Ninny. LOL!
Have you put up your tree yet? Are you in the Christmas spirit yet?????
I wanted to put peppermint striped bows on these two mini topiaries and couldn't find any already made. I didn't want to have to buy a complete spool of ribbon to make two little bows...but I ended up having to anyway.
I was only doing simple bows. Two loops...two tails. Easy breezy.
I wanted to share with you guys a little tip I use to make bows for pretty much anything. I always use Christmas ornament hooks
GO ME!
Do YOU know how to make bows? Do you use wired ribbon? I do because it's sooooooooo much easier to shape it properly.
What's the last thing you made bows for?
I found a new mirror I liked last night. This was would have been the third one I purchased in as many weeks. The other two had to go back because they didn't work for me even though they had the shape I was looking for. Well...one actually made it back to the store...the other one is sitting at the front door ready to be RETURNED to the store. LOL!
What do you think of this one? I was looking for round or oval with a substantial frame. After trying out lighter colors, I felt the darker color would ground that big azz yellow wall MUCH better.
The room is shaping up. I found a pillow I like better than the ones I've been using. Yes...you read right. I found ONE pillow. I've located another one online so I'll purchase that one by the time the holidays are gone.
I changed the lampshade on that lamp to the left and added two new lamps on the painted buffet/chest. (I guess I should remove the furniture movers from under the legs since I'm obviously going to keep it there huh? ROFL!) I have several options in mind for new ceiling lighting because that current contraption has been killing me softly for YEARS!
Still looking for the perfect chairs mind you...but I wouldn't have space for them now anyway with the tree so I'm going to just keep looking.
I can't believe I'm only just NOW focusing on finishing this room but it's the perfect testament to taking your time and doing it right TO ME.
SIP: I like how you spun the LAZY truth of it all. LOL!
What say you? Mirror good? What do you think of my pace? LOL! We've been in this house for 8 years and this year is the first I've actually tried to focus on this room. Trifling huh? Go 'head...tell me the truth. I can handle it. LOL!
Need any inspiration or questions answered from the Tribe?
HAVE AT IT! LET'S GO!
Anyone ever used this? Would you recommend?
Any of you use a "free" detergent? Which one?
Remember this post about the organizing I was doing at 13700? Organizing 13700! Slowly but surely!
See the jewelry wall thingy? Well...I bought all of the stuff to do this and then I couldn't decide on what color to paint the dowels and I knew I couldn't put them up unpainted cuz yeah...they were oak dowels and the color wasn't all that funky to me.
A friend reposted the picture the other day and I remembered that I had the stuff and then...I remembered that I had a lot of shelf paper left over from these projects: Shelf Paper Use! and Another Shelf Paper Use!
And so...I whipped it out and covered the dowels with it! GO ME!
What say you? Cool huh? It wasn't difficult to do at all. I bought a pack of cup hooks (Topzone 6pcs 1-1/4" Mug Cup Hooks, Brass Plated
GO ME!
Do you think this is something you'd do?
The hardest thing about not having babies is probably the holidays. Not just the major ones...but the small ones too. At least...I know it is for me.
For us.
See...I was raised in a home where we did all the cool holiday stuff. ALL OF IT! From stringing popcorn garlands to baking Santa's cookies to making eggnog, popping firecrackers, Easter Egg hunts, Halloween decorating, chocolates for Valentine's Day etc. My family had a BLAST!
Our way. Just us.
And so was The Robinator.
So yeah...that's the hardest part.
For me.
For us.
Sure the pain is eased a bit getting to share some of these things with the kids we love but not really you know? Never really. It's always right under the surface. Always there able to steal the joy right out of the most perfect of days.
I've been in the middle of wrapping a gift, looking at my perfect, perfect tree and it's hit me like a truck so bad that all I could do was stretch out on the floor right where I was and give in to it letting the pain wash over me and flow violently through my body only to be picked up from where I lay by my loving husband and carried to bed. Spooning me until it was over.
No words necessary cuz his pain is mine and that pain has us so connected that the only joy we can find from it is given by the other.
War wounds.
Today, I decided to roast pumpkin seeds the same as my mommy showed me how decades ago. I figured the Godson would love to carve the pumpkin provided he have definitive instructions to make sure it wasn't something offensive. LOL! I put the pumpkin in the sink and washed it off well.
Next up was to trim the stem to a height where I could put a bowl over top and trace a perfect circle to cut out the top.
Then...I cut out the top.
Remove the seeds.
Clean out pulp.
Melt two teaspoons of butter and toss seeds with the butter, Creole seasoning, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
Spead on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes and VOILA! Roasted pumpkin seeds just like my mommy made for her babies. For me.
I served ours on the deck with a gluten free beer for my guy and a glass of organic wine for me.
Our Godson will carve the pumpkin tomorrow. His diabolical mind needs to grasp the concept of NON-OFFENSIVE in a way which will probably be BORDERLINE offensive if I know him. LOL! I will walk away shaking my head and his Unca Robby will DIE laughing.
Ya just gotta love this life I live.
Warts and all.
If you didn't get a new doorbell installed this morning by your handyman husband...I am FINALLY BETTER THAN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SIP: Now...who's gonna hit all that up with some paint?
BABY STEPS SIP! BABY STEPS!
I have this spa tower in my bathroom for some of the stuff I use daily:
Taymor Chrome Four Tier Spa Tower with Square Baskets
It's perfect because it's right up against my tub but so annoying because of the wire shelves. The bane of my existence has been trying to put something back on it without it falling over. IRKED.ME.SILLY! To the point where I've been thinking about replacing it.
So I have a lot of shelf paper left over. Hmmmmmm...what do to what to do?
I got out some card stock, measured and cut it to fit in the shelf basket and then covered it with the shelf paper to make a bottom. GO ME!
NO MORE FALLSIES OVERS!
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