New Bathroom!

As if paying off debt wasn't already the highlight of our spring...Husband finally finished our bathroom! And words cannot adequately express my level of elation not only at the fact that it is finished, but that it is SO. AMAZING.

Let's start with the shower:

 

This is what you see when you enter the room (eventually there will be a custom glass door for the shower). The shower is what was once a half bath. A before picture would be really great right about now, but we are super bad at those. The sink was along the left wall you see here and the toilet was opposite. Where the shower curtain is were two walls and a narrow door. When Husband redid our bedroom, he reframed our bedroom with a different entrance so that what was the hallway was now room for the toilet and vanity in a master bathroom. A year ago, we tore it all out and started from the studs.

Husband designed and framed the shower and then tiled the floor and walls. With some help from Brother. He then installed THREE spouts - one standard spout, one rainfall shower head, and one handheld. At any given time, two can run simultaneously using any combination. It. Is. Amazing.

It is also interesting to note that the exhaust fan pictured does, in fact, double as a Blue-Tooth speaker. Husband likes to scare the you-know-what out of me by waiting until I'm in the shower and blaring loud metal music.

Next is the vanity and mirror. Lighting design is husband's bread and butter, so when he found this back-lit mirror from Ikea, he decided it would be perfect for our space. He also installed overhead lighting which has a name I don't remember, but it's cool and is on a dimmer switch. Which is awesome for early mornings.

This vanity was also purchased from Ikea and is so roomy! I love all the space in the drawers. And they are soft-closing (I think that's what it's called when they close quietly on their own?). I think we may buy another and replace the sink in our downstairs bathroom with this one as well.

The toilet was the one thing I really wasn't sure about. Husband wanted a "tankless" toilet where the tank is in the wall. This was mainly to save space, but I must admit, it is pretty cool. The lid is also soft-closing and the controls are on the panel shown. The small one is for Number One and the large is for Number Two. The other day, Sister told me she pushed both because she did both. Ha!

And I think my favorite feature (though you can't tell from the picture) is the tile. It's HEATED! There's a control panel on the wall and it's automatically set to start heating before we get up so it's nice and toasty in the mornings.

Review: Think Dirty

One day, I was out to lunch with a friend and she introduced me to this app. I am not a huge app user - I usually download them, never open them, and then delete them when I get that screen of death that says I'm almost out of storage.

We were talking about eating clean and such, and she whips out her phone. Our convo went something like this:

Her: Wanna see something gross?
Me: Hi, I'm Randi. Have we met?
Her: It's this app that tells you how dirty all your stuff is.
Me: Huh?
Her: You type in the product you want to check and it gives you a rating on how "dirty" it is.
Me: That sounds awful.
Her: It's GREAT. (Pulls out her phone, displays app.)

Her: See? Now, what do you use to clean your face?
Me: (proudly, because I have recently graduated from the drug store stuff to the DEPARTMENT STORE STUFF) Clinique.
Her: (typing it in) So, here you go:

Her: The five its its rating out of then. The higher you get to ten, the dirtier it is. So yours is about half dirty. So, not terrible. What about your laundry detergent?
Me: (snapping my fingers) I know this one is clean. I use Meyer's. (Remember this post all about Meyer's?)
Her: (sad face) Oh, friend. I'm sorry. I'm about to burst your bubble about Meyer's.
Me: What do you mean? It can't be dirty - the whole point of it is that it's kinder to the environment and made with clean chemicals. That's their whole advertising campaign!
Her: That's what I thought too, so I bought a bunch of it. Are you ready for this?

Her: NINE?
Me: NINE? You have to be kidding me!

The rest of lunch was spent in a similar vein (we were at PSub so the kids were happy coloring and watching TV): me thinking of products and her scanning them and me getting all depressed. One ironic thing we found was that the laundry detergent I had given up to use Meyer's, All Free & Clear, was actually very clean:

Go figure.

Another cool thing about this app is that, if it doesn't have a product you are looking for, you can add it. They didn't have my shampoo, so I scanned the barcode and submitted it. Surely this is fine, right? I mean, it smells so good and it's so pretty!

Anyway, I really kind of feel like this app ruined my life. I also feel like it's okay if all my stuff isn't ones and twos. I think it's okay if I work up to that gradually. Most of my cleaning stuff is Norwex anyway, which doesn't even use chemicals, so I'm at least doing that part right, right?

De-Cluttering

I have a new favorite non-fiction (yes, you read that right) NON-FICTION book, Home Comforts. I try not to write about books until I have finished them, but this one is 874 pages long and not a Harry Potter book, so odds are it's going to take more than 8 days to finish. It covers everything you could ever want to know about keeping a house. I ordered it in time for my trip and flipped straight to the chapter on cleanliness, hoping for some time-saving tips. What I got was a face palm sort of moment when the author shared an anecdote about a chair in her upstairs hallway. She said the chair had remained empty for six months until, one day, she dropped her keys and jacket on it in haste. By the end of the afternoon, her son's iPod and headphones and her husband's sweatshirt were both on the chair. She outlined the idea that when spaces are neat and orderly, people feel compelled to keep it so. But once a spot was "messy," no one hesitates to add to the messiness. This is not rocket science, just a face palm.

This is part of my problem with neatness. We are pretty neat people, but as soon as that spell gets broken, it's like WOOSH. It's all kinds of messy up in here. So today, I set about to clear out everything in the living room that wasn't part of the furniture or the decor. I put it all in baskets and if I didn't know where it went, it stayed there for me to sort out later. Here are my before and afters:

Spot by the door (not sure what else to call this):
This is a constant place of clutter. The Star Wars bags are from our trip (last week) and the blue and white chevron is FROM PRESCHOOL. IN MAY. Right. So I set about decluttering this area first.

Before:

After:

All I did was put away the bags that didn't belong there, straighten the toys and books, and put my keys in my purse. Took three minutes.

Main Living Space:
This space actually looked pretty good to start. A few things out of place, but this is it in its average condition.

Before:

After:

(pardon Sister who is putting the stickers I found on the desk all over her leg)

Desk:
This is the big problem. Nearly all paperwork ends up here (except, of course, the Justin Timberlake concert ticket my husband swears he put here and was nowhere to be found and cost us...well, I'm ashamed to admit the actual dollar amount. A lot.) There isn't really a good system for all of this...it's just mail, cards, cash, notebooks, desk supplies, books, bills and records, and a bunch of random crap. I tried to get Husband to move it upstairs and put the new piano here, but he wants the computer in the common family area, which I get. So the solution has to be keeping it free of junk.

Before:

After:

The picture I didn't post is the basket full of stuff to which I had to say, "Huh. I have no idea where this should go." Husband and I tackled that one together, and I am happy to say we had places for everything by the end (even though most ended up in recycling or trash :).

Product Review: Norwex Bathroom Scrub Mitt + Ergonomic Toilet Brush

How I Heard:

Norwex is pretty much my new favorite thing. Click here for details :)

What I Used: 

I used the Bathroom Scrub Mitt. It has microfiber on one side:

And little scrubby things on the other side:

I also used the Ergonomic Toilet Brush for the toilet bowl:

 

Application:
I used the mitt to clean my bathroom sink which was, well, disgusting.

See?

I ran the mitt under water, squeezed it out really good, and then went to work. There was some serious toothpaste stuck to the basin so I did need to use the scrubber side. I used the soft part to go back over everything one more time. It looked GREAT and only took a few minutes.

Results:

I also used it on my toilet, but I didn't take pictures. You're welcome. When I was done, I simply rinsed it out and hung it up to dry for next time.

Okay, before I go on, I need to confess something: I like to clean bathrooms. I truly do. If there is ever a corporate cleaning situation, I always volunteer to do the bathrooms and people always think of me as this super-selfless person who is taking one for the team by doing the dirty job that no one wants. But the truth is that I'd rather clean the toilet than dust, sweep, or clean the sink. I used to do it at the golf course I worked at, and let me tell you - once you've cleaned a public toilet - or worse, a URINAL - nothing can gross you out. And since I am not easily grossed out by germs or dirt or hair, the bathroom and I have a good thing going. Okay - confession over.

The toilet brush is GENIUS. I don't know why someone hasn't thought of this before now. The toilet bowl might be my favorite part of cleaning the bathroom. Spraying the toilet bowl is always the first thing I do and then scrubbing it down is always the last thing I do so that when I go to scrub, the chemicals have already been working on the germs for a good chunk of time. Now this is the part I really like: I know how nasty that toilet bowl is and I know I'm scrubbing and flushing the nasty, pee-y, poopy germs away. This time, it was better because I knew I was able to reach even more of the nasty stuff!

My Take:
I am a fan of both of these items - the toilet brush in particular. It made the already kind of fun process of cleaning the bathroom even MORE so.

Click to read my review of the kitchen cloth and cleaning paste.

Product Review: Norwex Kitchen Cloth + Cleaning Paste

How I Heard:
As part of my Norwex Party, I received a ton of free products. Want to see a picture?

I posted this picture in the previous post, but I'm just so excited about it! My favorite time to clean is Saturday mornings. I usually wake before six and it's the perfect time to get things done before anyone else is up. I was extra excited this Saturday because a) I had a new audiobook to start and b) I had all this great Norwex stuff to start putting to use!

What I Used:
I started in the kitchen and decided to tackle the sink with the kitchen cloth and the cleaning paste.

I took a picture of the kitchen before I started but then decided you didn't need to see my counter tops or my sink. Suffice it to say we were gone quite a bit this week and things were piling up! Once I finished rinsing dishes and got everything out of my sink, this is what it looked like:

Application:
Normally, I would wet the surfaces, sprinkle Comet, and let it sit for a few. This time I got my kitchen cloth and my cleaning paste and went to work!

My sink was DISGUSTING. Ordinarily, I'd have to get the scrubber out and scrub, scrub, scrub. And don't get me wrong - it took a little scrubbing. We had eaten syrup at one point and...well, yuck.

Results:
After, perhaps, five minutes, it looked like this:

SPARKLING!

My Take:
I LOVE this thing. I proceeded to use the kitchen cloth to clean my counter tops, stove top, and dining room table. It's like the envirocloth, but the weave is different. It's a bit thinner and much easier to use in the kitchen. I LOVE it. I also loved the cleaning paste. I can't wait until my stove top gets dirtied up so I can use it there, too!

UPDATE:

Right after I posted this, Lucy decided to draw all over the trim with crayon.

Instead of panicking, I grabbed my Norwex kitchen cloth and scrubbed it down. Gone within minutes!

Norwex Party!

This is the box of stuff that arrived at my house today. How? Let me explain...because folks, this is exciting. I love stuff that is free and practical and this was BOTH.

My friend TeRee has started selling Norwex. I was really surprised when she started doing this, mainly because TeRee is EXTREMELY practical and most of these sorts of things are extremely IMpractical...like bags or make-up. It was also surprising because TeRee is NOT the saleswoman-phushy type, and in my experience, people who are successful in this type of business usually are. I was intrigued. So I offered to host a party for her in June. It wasn't very well-attended BUT I did get a free envirocloth, which is the "everything" cloth for Norwex. I started using it on all my surfaces and my floors. And...I loved it.

I should preface with the fact that I HATE doing parties like this. I hate going to them and I had NEVER hosted one. But this was so cool that I decided to do another one in November - just before the holidays, thinking this truly is the PERFECT Christmas gift for those people for whom you never know what to buy. This time, several people came. They watched TeRee USE PERMANENT MARKER on wood flooring and get it up with only the cloth and a touch of elbow grease. They watched her SMEAR BUTTER ALL OVER MY MIRROR and then wipe it up with only some water on a cloth. She TOOK EVERYONE INTO MY DINING ROOM AND FOUND A STAIN ON MY RUG AND GOT IT OUT using the cloth and water.

People placed orders. And, as it turns out, when people place orders, you get free stuff!

This isn't even everything (because I had taken some of it out and used it before I thought to take a picture), but here is the list:
1 Ultra Power Plus™ Laundry Detergent
3 Enviro Cloths
2 Car Cloths
1 Timeless Natural Hand Cleaner
1 Dusting Mitt, blue
2 Body Packs, vintage
1 Naturally Timeless Anti-Gravity Night Cream
1 Enviro Cloth, blue
1 Kitchen Cloth, orchid
1 Window Cloth
1 Container Cleaning Paste
1 Hair Turban  
1 Baby Body Pack
1 Ergonomic Toilet Brush & Holder
 
She also gave me a set of dryer balls because I was the first person to ever host a second party. So I ended up with almost $400 in free stuff.

So super excited to start trying this stuff out!

Lucy's Room

Ahh, the realities of the second child.  Of course I wanted this done before she arrived, but there was just no way this was going to happen.  With four weeks of bed rest and almost three weeks of NICU, getting the nursery fully prepped before her arrival was just not possible.  We brought Lucy home on Monday, October 22nd, and we just finished her room over break.  While do feel badly that it took so long, I am finding some comfort in the fact that I have already purchased more retail things for her than I did for Charlie in his entire first year.  It's just...there are so many adorable girl things!

 

This dresser was remade and given to us by some very talented friends (see this post) who refinished and painted it for us.  I found the changing pad cover for $1 at a yard sale and the lamp was a gift from Grandma.  You can't see it very well, but the bag hanging on the wall in the top right-hand corner of this picture says "Lucy" and was made by my friend Stacy at Ziggy Tails.  She also made the towel draped over the edge of the crib below.

I got the idea general idea for this wall from here (I adore this nursery!).  I found the frames at Hobby Lobby (more expensive than I was hoping for).  We had the mirror cut to fit the frame (it was only $10!) and then I made the L like I did for my niece in this post, though all the curves in the L made it more challenging.  The hair-bow one is simply chicken wire hot glued to the frame.  I think the whole wall turned out quite nice!

We used Charlie's old crib but were given new crib sheets by Grandma.  The crib skirt came with the bumper (that we will probably use eventually) that I got at a garage sale before Charlie was born.  The curtain was a labor of love for my mother.  I got the idea from this, but of course, I didn't want it to be so pink.  Since I was on bed rest, my mother made several trips to the store, cut, hemmed, trimmed, ironed, sewed, and resewed to make this perfect curtain for Lucy's room.  On the other side of the curtain is a little sitting area, complete with a TV and toys, but we didn't want Lucy to have to share her room with this space, so the curtain was a perfect choice.  Thanks, Mom!

The lovely wall hanging is courtesy of Caroline - isn't she so super crafty?  I love love love this!

This shelf also belonged to Charlie.  We moved it out of his room when he went to a big-boy bed because we didn't want him climbing it.  It's more for storage than appearance.  But at least the iPod dock is pink. (It was a gift from a student from last year - what a great end-of-school gift!)

I am so pleased with the way the room turned out.  A huge thank you to all who helped!

Organized Home: Week 3

Week1 and Week 2 down...only two more to go!  This week's list of assignments from MoneySavingMom.com proved a bit easier because I was home all week.

Day 1:

• Make a list of 5-10 weekly goals - I had 8 and crossed off two that day!
• Pick up all the major living spaces in the house with 15 minutes on the clock
• Clean out your silverware drawer - yeah...this really needed to be done

Before...lots of baby silverware on the side that we don't even use anymore!

I couldn't believe how gross this had gotten! I soaked it in the sink and scrubbed it free of all of that gunk!

And viola!

I bagged these up for storage with bottles and old sippy cups.

Day 2:

• Refer to weekly goals and make about 5 specific ones for today
• Vacuum the main living areas of your home with 15 minutes on the clock - I vacuumed our new rug for the first time!  In case you missed the picture from last week, here it is again!

• Clean your microwave, stove top, and/or oven - at first glance, I interpreted this to mean I could choose which I wanted to clean, and I definitely wasn't choosing the oven.  But upon further reflection, I thought the "or" might be for those without one of those things.  So I gritted my teeth and did all of them.
• Stove Top: the stove top was a piece of cake because I clean it daily - no problems there.
• Microwave: my microwave was grosser, and I am embarrassed to say I don't remember when I cleaned it last!

You can't see it from this angle, but the top was DISGUSTING

Inside of the door, also disgusting

I started by heating a glass of water in the microwave, just like my momma taught me.  This helps loosen any stuck-on foods.  I then used my scrubber sponge and got it cleaned up in no time!

Voila - a clean microwave!

• Oven: Yuck. I seriously hate this chore.  I hate it so much, in fact, that as we were driving to Kansas City to have dinner for our anniversary, we realized we hadn't deep cleaned our oven since we've lived in this house - almost two years! Yikes!  Fortunately, we have a self-cleaning oven!

The clean cycle was three and a half hours and made the house smell like burnt stuff!

While the oven was cleaning itself, I scrubbed the racks.

Once the cleaning cycle was over, all I had to do was vacuum out the bottom and wipe out with a mixture of baking soda and water.

And a stove you could eat off of.  (Or, "A stove off which you could eat" for my grammar police friends.)

Day 3:

• Refer to weekly goals and make about 5 specific ones for today
• Clean your bathroom with 15 minutes on the clock
• Clean the top of your kitchen cupboards and the top of your refrigerator - Our cabinets go straight to the ceiling  and our refrigerator is built in, so no cleaning there!  I did, however, clean open tops of the cabinets:

This is what they looked like once I took all the pretties off.  (You can't see it, but there is a very noticeable layer of dust.)

Cabinet #1 after cleaning

And Cabinet #2!

 I also wiped down the front of the cabinets.  The instructions said to do this as well.

Yuck!

Day 4:

• Refer to weekly goals and make about 5 specific ones for today
• Clean all the mirrors and glass doors in your home with 15 minutes on the clock - Okay, I forgot about this one until right now, when I'm writing the post.  I will do this! 
• Clean out your utensil drawer in the kitchen. Get rid of any items you don't need, wipe out the drawer, and reorganize - This was a great assignment.  I am often unable to get the drawer shut because it's so packed with stuff!

This is the drawer before.  You can see why it was sometimes hard to get shut!

This was the drawer emptied...eww.  The spot was a hunk of cinnamon, I think, that must have accidentally tumbled into the drawer and gotten spread around!

This is everything that belongs in the drawer.

This is stuff that was in the drawer but belongs elsewhere.

And these are things I don't need and will be getting rid of!

Interesting side note: I found six - yes, SIX peelers.  I don't even use peelers very much! Why in the world would I need six?

And this is the finished product - an organized drawer that fits neatly into the drawer slot!

As I said, this was a great assignment.  I even discovered I had a pastry cutter! I was particularly excited to find this after reading this post from Everyday Home Cook.  I have been asking for a post on must-have kitchen gadgets and I got it this week!  Looks like the only one I don't have is a silicone mat!

 Day 5:

• Refer to weekly goals and make about 5 specific ones for today - hmm...I didn't do very well with this this week.  I did make a cleaning list, though, and I got it all done!
• Set your timer for 15 minutes and do something you really enjoy - I chose to go garage saling! More on this later...
• Clean, declutter, and/or reorganize the files on your computer. - I did this earlier this week without knowing it was an assignment.  Instead, I tackled Charlie's chair:

This is where he sits at the table.  You can't see it, but the arms and sides were gross.  And can you see all the crumbs on the seat?

There - that's better.  And when I removed the cover, it was even grosser.

I ended up using the vacuum attachment to clean up the crumbs.  Then I vacuumed around the seat and used spray to wipe it down.  I tossed the cover in the wash to be sure it was thoroughly cleaned.

I also tackled my pantry and the counter beneath it this week.  I didn't take any pictures, but my husband was very impressed when he saw it!