Spring Cleaning

I've always loved making bathrooms shiny! When I was little I pretended to host my own cleaning show. I told audience members how to really get your faucets to shine. :) Haha.

If you deep clean your house this spring please don't neglect baseboards, the tops and sides of door jambs, light plate switches, overhead fans (in bathrooms especially), refrigerator doors + handles, and around doorknobs.  People often forget those areas and they can look nasty. Thank you.

Here are some cleaning digs I recommend:

Microfiber mitts or cloths (the kind with opposable thumbs are nice). Get one and you might forget to hate dusting. They pick up more than swiffers and don't snag on rough corners. After microfiber looks full of dust you can beat it outside to get off the excess nd keep dusting, or you can always wash it. Keep one in your glove compartment and your dashboard will always look spiffy! 

Rubber gloves. Not only will your hands stay out of the muck, they won't absorb nasty chemicals either. I used to hate it when my hands smelled like bleach all day after I cleaned, but now they don't smell anymore!

 

Old toothbrushes + toothpicks. Especially in bathrooms and kitchens, dust combines with liquid-- water, grease, hairspray, etc-- and settles into every groove imaginable. I use old toothbrushes and toothpicks to remove it. The dials on your stove, the outside rim of your sink, the runners of sliding glass doors, that tiny space between your vanity mirror and its frame-- I dare you to pick at that gunk with a toothpick. They're also great to use on drains, spigots, and other tight spaces.

Click to read about my take on chemicals and products:

The Baby Bag

Behold the Eddie Bauer messenger I bought at TJMAXX.

If the bag had come in an awesome color I'd have taken it but this was it.  Usually I'm the girl with a brightly colored purse, so the utilitarian look will be a change for me, but function was more important to me than color.
 

What I most wanted:

1. Easy storage for and access to: keys, wallet, and cell phone. 

2. Lots of pockets to hold things so they don't jumble into a mess. 

3. A bag I wouldn't be embarrassed to carry everywhere. 

4. Durable + easy to clean. Also won't start to look old. 

Everything I thought I might eventually have to stash in a diaper bag-- extra clothes, blankets, books, toys, snacks, changing kit*, meds, burp cloth, water bottle, etc.-- I brought to the store with me so I could really tell how a bag would suit my needs. Hands down this was the most functional and attractive choice.

 Why this particular bag:

1. My stuff has it's own section! I won't have to dig for my keys or phone and I can get to them with one hand. Most importantly, my clutch-wallet fits without a squeeze.

2. Changing system fits into it's own outside zipper pocket! Sweet. 

3. Dylan is pleased he won't be embarrassed to carry it. 

4. Slim! Even with all the junk inside! Half the diaper bags I saw resemble clunky luggage even before they're packed-- this does not.

5. Classy construction: the zippers glide open, it's lightweight, there's a very comfy shoulder strap AND a trim handle for easy pick-up, and it doesn't look cheap. 

6. With everything inside there was plenty of room to spare, and it was very organized.

Finally I found a diaper bag to suit MY needs. There was much rejoicing.

*I have a sensational all-in-one changing pad that holds diapers, wipes, and ointments, so I wasn't looking for a bag that came with that extra stuff (plus if it comes with a bag it's usually flimsy). While not intended to be a "diaper bag," the bag I chose is sort of like this one from Chicco, except better. And mine didn't cost $60.

Alone & Windy

Dylan works the graveyard shift*. Have I mentioned that? He does. As it's 10:00 pm right now I'm all alone at home in a rather eerie situation. WIND is howling through the trees and spaces between houses, wailing and moaning with great enthusiasm.

I must admit it's a little unsettling having windows rattle next to me... in the dark. Eek! Silence starts and all is calm-- interrupted suddenly by howls of air whistling through tree branches. Yes sir. Just a tad creepy being here alone. One more creak of the carport roof and I may hide under the covers! :) 

*We both actually like his schedule. By working graveyard Dylan gets the same amount of hours but ALWAYS gets a three day weekend; we have more time together than if he worked during the day. 4 ten hour shifts instead of 5 eight hour shifts. Since we don't have kids (yet!) the nocturnal thing feels more like an oddity than an imposition.

Recommended Baby Gear

My sisters are my trusty sources of modern-gadget mom knowledge. They recommend stuff that I wouldn't have thought to get. Like the baberoo necksaver. Self-explanatory, it's designed to prevent your child from looking like Nearly-Headless-Nick.

Seems sort of silly to get a neck pillow for a baby, doesn't it? But then I think of how many hours they spend asleep in a carseat or stroller and it seems less silly. I know MY neck hurts if I fall asleep in the car (or tour bus!) with my head lolling around with every bump in the road.

Today TJMAXX had them for 50% off. I bought one.  :)

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Wear orange today, please. Just for me. No green! Just orange. :)

Green Thumb & Petunia Pride

Plants and I struggle with relationships. Just ask the feeble clinging-to-life pot of shamrocks in my living room. Hopefully getting a green thumb has more to do with practice than natural ability, cause I'm trying reeeeeally hard.

I've been making early preparations for my 2011 yard to be blooming terrific. (Does that count as a joke? It was supposed to, otherwise I'd have written terrific-ly. As in, adverb? ...anyway...) I bought fertilizer, swept away leaves and sticks blown in by winter winds, raked away dead grass, and soon I'll be turning over dirt to make nice, soft, drain-able flowerbeds for this years batch of petunias. 

Yaaaay petunias: cheap colorful flowers tolerant of Utah dry heat and blazing afternoon sunlight that won't die easily! Woot yeah! But what colors should I choose? My house has sea-foam green siding (built in '41) and I need flowers that work its color-quirk.

Picture found at Vista Landscaping

Some things you repeatedly tell yourself to do but don't get around to them. Last summer mine was "take a picture of my house covered in the petunias that I planted." Big surprise, I never took that picture. I lost my chance to preserve the memory of a great summer. Moping aside, I've decided that it's okay because this year it will look even better! (and I promise to take a picture so you can see it too.) I'm gonna GET that green thumb, baby!

Sorry I didn't post last week-- my Mom was in town and I was having too much fun to get on the computer. :) Miss you already, Mom.

Sunday Funnies

At church today our bishop announced that we'd have our closing prayer after the prelude music, then corrected himself and said closing prayer would be after the postlude music. At this point Dylan leaned in to me with a sly grin on his face and whispered, 

"If music before and after this meeting is prelude and postlude, does that make our meeting a lude? I didn't know we were allowed to have lewd church meetings." 

Har de har har.

Guess What Was For Dinner

Italian Breaded Pork Chops, Asparagus, and Mashed Potatoes. This is the type of food that makes life worth living! Try the recipe, it's very tasty-- but be warned-- it makes enough breading for 16 pork chops, not 4.

My Dylan

If husbands had a super-power, Dylan's would be the ability to calm me down. Those of you who've known me for years and years might say I can be a trifle... dramatic? Since I've been married, I am a much more mellow person. Really. Dylan's calming abilities tell my physical form and my mental storms that everything is ok, and to hold still. He's magic! Five minutes with him and my fire-breathing dragon insides have been lulled to tranquil sleep. Also, he gives really good hugs.

Dylan spoils me. He supports me with everything. He surprises me. He makes me laugh. He washes dishes. He eats everything I cook (even the infamous "dragon soup"). He notices what I do every day and says thank you for it. He recognizes 99% of my references and quotes to obscure things--wow! He tells me he loves me. He tells me I'm beautiful. He drives on the freeway for me cause he knows I'm afraid to. He's excited that I'm pregnant and is even more excited for our baby. Most of all Dylan is understanding, even when pregnant-me recoiled from him for the unforgivable offense of breathing on me after eating 1 soda cracker. He makes marriage easy. 

I really love him.

Tragedy of 1st position, indeed. Haha!

Her arms are my favorite part.

Girly Ruffle Cake

from Martha Stewart

I eagerly await the opportunity to make this cake, cause oh baby, I'm gonna make this cake. The basic premise is that you fill one piping bag with both white and pink frosting, half and half, so when it's squeezed out it's two-tone. Ruffles made of two-tone frosting will be eye catching and forgiving, as far as piping talent is concerned. And I love the pink! 

Come to think of it, maybe I'll make a blue and white version of this for my baby shower (substitute "baby ruffle cake" in instead of "girly.") Hmmmm. But then, who wants to eat blue frosting? It never looks as appetizing as pink. *sigh* I'll have to think of something else.