Making my own laundry and washing products!

I've heard of making your own laundry detergent before. I wanted to try it eventually, but I'll admit I was afraid it would be a huge, messy bother. Then a lady I used to go to church with started making hers and selling it for $1/gallon (she makes the liquid kind). When I found that out, I knew it had to be costing far less than $1/gallon to be worth her while, so I decided to look into it.

After I read about how to make the liquid kind, I knew I didn't have the storage space for a 5-gallon bucket of liquid detergent ... I didn't even have the 5-gallon bucket! :) But I kept reading and discovered a "recipe" for the powdered detergent.

I don't remember the exact website where I got the recipe, but there are lots of websites out there, and most of the recipes are about the same. So let me share them with you, in case you're interested. Hopefully you'll see how easy this is and what a money-saver it can be.

First of all, you need the following items to start:

• washing soda (NOT baking soda) - $2.99 (will do multiple loads)
• Borax - $2.99 (will do multiple loads)
• 1 bar soap (avoid beauty bars, although Lever 2000 seemed to work nicely this time) - around $1

Just a few quick warnings before we go on: If you have breathing difficulties, you may want to wear a mask to make this. The powders are very fine, and they could irritate your breathing if you breathed them in. (This is not usually a problem when you're using the detergent, since you won't be mixing and stirring as vigorously as when you make it.) Some people also recommend wearing gloves because of the Borax, but it didn't bother my skin at all. If you have sensitive skin, it might bother yours.

You may have a time finding the washing soda. My Wal-Mart used to carry it in the laundry aisle, but now they don't. They've replaced it with a bigger box of baking soda. There is a difference: baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, while washing soda is sodium carbonate. I managed to find my box at Giant.

Some sections of the country carry a special bar soap for making laundry detergent. It's called Fels Naptha (Zote is another) and comes out to around $1/bar. They don't carry it here. The closest thing I could find was a bar of Octagon washing soap at Food Lion for $1. However, I made my first batch with Lever 2000 because I love the scent of it and someone else had successfully used it, too.

The first thing you need to do is grate the bar of soap, using a fine cheese grater. (You'll need two cups of grated soap; a regular-sized bar should be perfect.) Don't worry, it should be perfectly safe to use your actual cheese grater for this since it really is soap and soap is what cleans your dishes. Wash it well afterward, and it should be fine. If you prefer, though, you can find cheese graters at most dollar stores. It looks like this once it's been grated:



I wanted more of a fine texture, though, since it will be mixed with washing soda and Borax, both of which are powders. So I gave it a whirl in my food processor. Again, this should be fine since it's just soap. It ended up looking like this:



Then all I had to do was add 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of Borax, stir it really good and put it in an old Cool Whip container (clearly marked) in my laundry room. It only uses 2 Tablespoons per full load, so if you have a small load, you can get by with just 1 Tablespoon.

How well does it clean? Well, I've read that many people compare it to Tide with Bleach Alternative. One guy even did a comparison with two identical stains and found that this homemade version cleaned as well as Tide with Bleach Alternative. Considering the fact that Consumer Reports considers Tide with Bleach Alternative to be the best cleaner on the market, that sounds pretty good to me!

As always, remember to pretreat any stains for best results. (You need to do the same thing if you're using Tide with Bleach Alternative.)

Just what is the cost breakdown on this detergent? I'm not completely sure yet, since the washing soda and Borax both make several batches per box. But several other people have done cost breakdowns and report that this is under $0.10 per load, usually under $0.05 per load.

I've used it already, and I really love it.

But that's not all I made. I hate paying big money for fabric softener, so I looked up a recipe for that, too. You need these:



I made up half a batch because that's all I had containers for, but here's what you need for a full batch:

• 3 cups distilled vinegar
• 2 cups hair conditioner (dollar store varieties work just fine)
• 6 cups water

Mix them all together and use 2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) per load. Here's what it looks like when it's done:



It works great - my clothes have never been softer!

I also made dishwasher detergent because I ran out of that recently and didn't want to buy the expensive stuff. You need:

• 1 cup washing soda
• 1 cup Borax

Mix those together and use 2 Tablespoons per load. To avoid etching your glassware, make sure you use rinse agent. Plain old vinegar makes an excellent rinse agent.

I hope I've inspired you to give them a try. They are very easy with minimal time involved, and they can save you a lot of money.

Ott-Lite alternative

If you do any kind of crafts, you've probably heard of an Ott-Lite. It gives you full spectrum daylight any time of the day or night, and it's so much easier on your eyes than regular lighting. It also gives you true color, so it's much easier to tell if your project is going to match.

Take a peek at these pictures to show you the difference between regular "soft white" and "daylight" bulbs:



This first picture is taken under a regular soft white bulb.



This second picture is the very same paper taken under a daylight bulb. The difference is unbelievable!

Well, my eyes aren't the greatest. I've had glasses since 2nd grade, and I'm now 32. We won't discuss how many years that is, but it's plenty of time. :)

Anyway, I've been wanting an Ott-Lite to go on my craft table, but I've always cringed at a sale price of $40 for a tiny desk lamp. So I kept delaying and delaying the purchase ... until I read about an alternative on Splitcoaststampers.



These CFLs can be screwed into any regular light fixture (even my $1 thrift store desk lamp), and they give off the same full spectrum "daylight" lighting as an Ott-Lite. The tiny desk Ott-Lite was $40 at the cheapest (and another $30 every time you have to replace the bulb). I got this 4-pack of bulbs at Lowe's for $8.00. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure that one out!

If you go looking for these, make sure you look for the ones marked "daylight". There is an entire aisle of lightbulbs at my Lowe's, and they have CFLs in regular white and soft white, too. You don't want to pick up the wrong kind.

I hope this information helps someone else as much as it has helped me!

The combined bedroom

Here is the virtual tour I promised yesterday. This is my kids' newly combined bedroom. Once again, let's start at the closet.



It might look a bit full, but it's so easy to find everything now! I added one of those hanging rods that double your hanging space so that I could have space for both kids' hanging clothes in one closet. (The rod was a $2 flea market special, still in the original sealed box.) We dress up a lot, so my kids have more hanging clothes than most.



On the floor of the closet is a shoe rack that perfectly fits all the shoes my children can currently fit into. Yes, there are a few empty spaces. They were wearing those shoes! :)



On the righthand side of the closet, I've hung the "grow into" dressy outfits that I didn't want to crush into a box. Behind those outfits I hung the pocket-style shoe organizers, one for each child, with shoes for them to grow into. I try to keep a few sizes ahead and buy like-new shoes at thrift stores and yard sales when I get the chance. These keep them organized by size, in the correct order.



Let's take one last peek at the closet before we move on. Do you see that strange-looking hanger at the front of my son's clothes? It's our fancy-shmancy tie hanger! These are all clip-on ties that used to be shoved into a drawer. I never could seem to find the one I wanted quickly, so I asked my husband if he had any ideas for hanging them in the closet. It was his idea to clip them all onto a wire hanger, and I like it! I didn't have to buy anything new, either. :)

Okay, let's take a peek under my daughter's bed. (My son's bed has drawers underneath.)



Did you ever realize that banker's boxes fit perfectly under some beds? I never did! Since we have no attic or basement, I have to get creative in storing clothing that I buy ahead. This was my solution, and it works perfectly. Each box has a different size of clothing, and I was able to fit all of both kids' "grow-intos" under the one bed, with room to spare.

I know some people don't like to store things under their beds, but I couldn't see just wasting this space - or letting it collect miscellaneous toys that get forgotten.

Alright, let's take a look at the main part of the room:



This is what it looks like as you walk into the room. We needed some sort of nightstand for bedtime drinks to rest on, so the desk was the perfect solution. We needed to find a place for it anyway!



And here you can see my daughter's half of the room, which we didn't change much. We only rearranged the pictures.



Here is my son's half, complete with John Deere pictures and curtains. Yes, it looks a little different having a room decorated half-pink and half-green, but it's the best solution for us right now. I'll worry about what the experts think when I have the luxury to do so. :)

You know what? This bedroom looks cozier now, with its two-themed effect, than it did with just my daughter's bed and toys. We all like it better!



Last, but not least, we have the dresser. Since my son's bed has two drawers under it, I was able to fit all of their folding clothes into this one dresser and his two drawers. That freed up the dresser I showed you yesterday in the play room.

We are all enjoying this organization. Just today my kids had a bunch of toys out to play with at once. It was confined mostly to the playroom, but I felt my stress levels rising again. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we were able to put it all away when they were done playing. That's the value of "a place for everything, and everything in its place."

The new toy room!

I have resisted the idea of a toy room ever since my son was born over five years ago. Every toy room I have ever seen has been a disaster area, and I didn't want one in my house. I also didn't like the idea of boys and girls sharing a bedroom (unless they really have to) because it gets awkward as they get older. I have changed my mind on both counts.

First of all, my son has been sleeping in our bed for over a year. It was just easier to get him to sleep that way, and we are guilty of being too tired to care. After all, we all know that no self-respecting 13-year-old is going to sleep in his parents' bed. These things have a way of taking care of themselves. :) At any rate, that meant that one entire bedroom was essentially not being used, except to play in.

Secondly, I read Deniece Schofield's book Confessions of an Organized Homemaker and realized that it is entirely possible to organize toys so that the play room is not a disaster area and so that kids can put their own toys away most of the time.

So here you have the end result of my thinking. This is a huge sanity-saver for me because it drove me crazy when I'd clean the house and 30 minutes later the kids had dragged out every toy known to mankind and scattered them throughout my house. Now they are confined to the playroom for the most part, and I can have a clean house for more than five minutes at a time.

Let me share some pictures and ideas!



First of all, let's look at the closet in the toy room. Closets can easily degenerate into "don't open the door for fear of an avalanche" places, but I despise that. I wanted everything to have a clear, labelled place. I think it has happened, for the most part. This is the top shelf. These are the toys they don't play with a lot and I don't mind getting down for them every now and then when they decide to play with them. Note the bin is marked "Walkie Talkies". Now anyone who can read knows where those things go! My daughter's sleeping bag is rolled up inside the backpack.



These hanging backpacks hold my kids' Leap Pads and one play laptop that gets occasional use. Next to them on the clothes rod are the few dress-up clothes (fireman and astronaut).



Underneath are several boxes of occasionally-used toys that are not a bother to unstack every now and then as they're used. The play guns (the most-used of all these) are on top and easily accessible.



This is to the left, and it's one of my favorite features. These three plastic pull-out drawers fit perfectly into this space with just enough room to pull the drawers out. The bottom drawer holds extras of my son's Ertl farm set. The middle drawer holds miscellaneous Lego pieces, and the top drawer holds all the specialty vehicles made with Legos.

There was just enough space above this organizer to hang the hooks for hats. There are "make believe" hats here, as well as the utilitarian baseball caps. I placed the winter boots on top the drawers because my son uses them when he dresses up as an astronaut. :)



Now let's get out of the closet and take a quick tour from the door, to the left around the room. We've repurposed things as much as possible, since we didn't want to have to buy a lot of new things. This changing table worked well to store trucks, small animals (dinosaurs, zoo animals) sorted in dishpans, as well as stuffed animals on top.

Next comes the baby doll Pack 'n Play filled to the brim with baby dolls, then the shopping carts parked in front of the bookcases. Of course, when they want to look at books, they just move the shopping carts. I seriously debated getting rid of those carts, but they dearly love them, so I just gave them a parking place for the evening.



Here's what the bookcases look like when the carts are moved away. We pared down their book collection to only what would fit on here, reasoning that we can go to the library for specialty books. We stuck to their favorite series - Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, Curious George, Critter, Max Lucado and Tonka, to name a few.

On top of the righthand bookcase I added my daughter's purse collection and a bin of all the small things she likes to carry around in them. On top of the lefthand bookcase is the toy cash register that they use to play store. (We got rid of a second identical one.)

Between the two bookcases, I stored the teepee huts I made for them for Christmas. They are easy to pull out, and this makes great use of that otherwise-wasted corner space. I've also stored their stick horses here, since they play with them with the teepees. You'll see an insulated lunchbox hanging from the teepee - that holds a few miscellaneous things like a lantern and binoculars that they use with the teepees.



Next we have the dresser (we'll peek in the drawers in a moment), a corner "shelf" we just bought at the thrift store for $3, and the play kitchen. I've organized and labelled each shelf in the corner organizer so that everything has its own home and is easy to put back. There's a shelf for my son's toy horses, one for learning toys (toy laptops and other educational games), musical instruments, and craft supplies.



Want to know how we've organized those dresser drawers? How's this? :) My kids aren't overly concerned about finding a specific item of play food, so just dumping the food items into one drawer and the utensils and such into another is as good of organizing as we needed for these items. It's easy on the eyes, easy to find what they're looking for, and even easier to put things away.

There's yet another drawer with baby clothes done in the same fashion. When they get older, we might try to fold the baby clothes, but right now they both enjoy taking the clothes off the dolls more than anything.



Moving around the room, we have the kid-sized table and two chairs in front of the window. This is where they can play kitchen, put together puzzles, listen to stories on cassette, play with games, etc.

Then there's the play table. We thought seriously about getting rid of this, but then we hit on the idea of organizing all the tiny accessories into labelled bins underneath. It was the perfect solution for us. (See below for a picture.) You'll see two stacked popcorn tins to the right of the play table. One is John Deere, and it holds all the John Deere Matchbox-sized toys. The other is Tonka, and it holds all the Matchbox-sized construction equipment. The play rug with a town on it is rolled up for easy access.



And here is what it looks like underneath the table. We concentrated on not hiding anything behind something else. Everything can be accessed from one of the three available sides of the table, without having to rearrange anything. And since they're labelled, cleanup is a lot easier. My son is pretty good at reading, and he knows exactly where everything goes now.

Tomorrow I'll share pictures of the shared bedroom. I like how it turned out, too!

I did it!

Remember I mentioned I'd like to have a yard sale last Saturday and get rid of the baby clothes that are clogging my storage closet? After I thought it over for awhile, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Saturdays are one of the busiest days in the parsonage, and that's the only day people have yard sales around here.

So I didn't have the yard sale. But I determined that wasn't going to stop me from doing what I needed to do. I bagged up all of the clothes and donated them to various causes. Most went to our church's missionary society who will forward them to missions in New Mexico and Texas. I sent the boys' suits to a fellow minister whose boy is a few sizes younger than mine. And a few things went to Harvest Ministries, my favorite local thrift store.

I did list my Blue Jean Teddy nursery set on Craigslist simply because I have tons and tons of stuff. I couldn't see just getting rid of it without trying to sell it first, so that's the one thing that's still sitting here at my house ... But it's listed, so that counts for something!!

Would you believe I emptied eight bankers boxes? There were five 13-gallon trash bags full of clothing that went to our church, two to Harvest Ministries and one to the fellow minister's family.

My storage closet is now half-empty. It's a good feeling! Now I can better organize what's in there so that I can get to it when I need it. I used to have to pull out fifteen boxes to get to the one item I needed. Not anymore!

I thought I might get depressed when I got rid of the baby things, but it was actually a freeing feeling. I don't feel so pressured to hang onto every scrap of clothing just in case we have another baby.

Inspiration from my reading

I picked up a copy of Messies 2 by Sandra Felton at a thrift shop for $0.25 the other day. I'm trying to tackle some books in my "new-to-me books" pile. This happened to be the one that caught my eye yesterday.

Are you familiar with the Messies books? I have one or two of them and will collect the rest as I find them at secondhand shops. A fellow pastor's wife encouraged me to keep resource books like these on hand for the occasional new convert who has never been taught how to keep home. But I've discovered they're also good for those of us who run across an occasional bump in the road to organizing our houses.

I'll have to admit that I have one or two "Messie" tendencies that I am forever battling against. The biggest one is that I'm a sentimental packrat.

My kids are two and four, and I have every outfit they ever wore (complete with shoes), unless they somehow stained it or ripped it. They have only just started staining and ripping, so you can well imagine I have lots and lots of baby clothes to store.

You know, baby clothes for that third baby that we probably won't ever have ... The third baby that, if it ever comes along, will be so far into the future that all these adorable clothes will be completely out of style ... These adorable clothes that are taking up all my precious storage space in a house with no basement and no attic.

And did I mention that most of these clothes were either given to us or purchased for less than $1 each at yard sales or thrift stores?

So why do I have such a hard time agreeing to get rid of them? It's because I'm a sentimental packrat, that's why! :)

One of the things I read that helped me a lot went something like this ... Why hang onto things you don't use that simply give you stress [because you can't store things that you will use]? Are you willing to get rid of something that you just might need within the next 10 years?

Okay, so that's not word for word. But I'm pretty good at getting the gist of things, and that's exactly how it spoke to me.

My husband has been trying to convince me to let go of these clothes for over a year now, and I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it.

"Do you know how hard it is to find little boys' suits?" I ask him. "And what about modest dresses for little girls?"

Of course he does! So how about we share the wealth with someone else before they're so badly out of style that no one will wear them?

So I'm tentatively thinking about a yard sale for Saturday to sell those beautiful clothes my kids have outgrown ... and possibly some other baby accessories I've been hanging onto for too long. One thing I'm not budging on, though: I'm keeping their "coming home from the hospital" outfits.

Oh, and if that third baby ever does happen to come along (don't hold your breath), I'll have an excuse to shop for more adorable baby clothes at the thrift stores.

A kitchen tip for today ...

I've been reading through an old favorite book by Emilie Barnes the last few days, and I came across a tip I don't ever remember reading before.

She suggests alternating your drinking glasses (one upright, the next upside down) in the cupboard, if they are tapered.

I just got a new set of drinking glasses a month or so ago, and they are tapered. I had quite the challenge to fit them (16, I think) into the space I had allotted my dwindling collection of the previous glassware. I have always stored my glassware upside-down.

I had a moment to spare today, and I rearranged my new glasses according to her tip, just to see how much difference it made. I was surprised at how much room it gave me. I could fit another row of glasses in there now.

Are you having trouble fitting everything in your cupboards? Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

(I updated to include my picture.)

How I re-covered my dining chairs

See this post for pictures of my dining room chair re-do.

Maybe you’re like me and have never tackled a project like this before. My husband marveled that I would try something like this with no previous experience. Well, when I was growing up, my dad always told me that I could do anything I wanted to, and I’ve taken him quite literally. That has given me a lot of confidence in my abilities. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Anyway, I took pictures of each step as I went so I could share with you just how easy this is. But before we get started, let me warn you: This is most likely not the way the pros do it. It’s just what seemed logical to me – and worked!

First of all, let’s remember what these chairs looked like to start with.


The first step was to get the chair pad off the chair. I discovered that mine screwed on and off, and I suspect most chair pads do. Before you go prying them off with a screwdriver, please look for screw holes!!

The next step was to make a pattern so I knew how big to cut the material. I actually measured this before I ever went to the fabric counter, but it’s still important to make a pattern. It’s a lot easier than measuring eight times over. I used an old paper bag for my pattern, and it measures 23x24". [Remember: Measure twice, cut once!]

The next step is to cut out the pieces. Since I was using plastic covering, I also cut those out.
Once that’s done, layer first the plastic, then the fabric, right-side-down on your work surface. Center the chair pad on the square.
Next, I pulled all four corners in and stapled them in place with the staple gun.

Then I pulled and stapled the middle of each side.

Then the tricky part – adjusting the fullness so there are no visible puckers at the corners. I found it was easiest to get my fingers under the fabric and adjust it before slicking it down and stapling it. (I hope that makes sense! I was adjusting the fullness to ruffle at the bottom of the chair pad instead of the sides.)
Now, if you really want it to look finished, you can cover the middle of the bottom (which includes the fabric ends) with paper or a fabric that won’t ravel. I didn’t have any of that available, and I really don’t care what insects might see when they look under my dining room chairs. My guests don’t make a habit of looking underneath them, and I don’t, either. :)
Voila! You’re done! Simply set the chair pad back on the chair, screw it back in place, and admire your handiwork.

Dining room window treatment

Since I re-did my dining room chair covers and tablecloth, my husband suggested I make a window treatment as well. At first I made this as a straight-across valance with about a 16" drop. It looked blah. I was terribly disappointed.

Then I got to looking closer and decided a gathering stitch would improve it tremendously, so I pulled it up into the three gathers you see here, forming "swags." It definitely looked better, but it was still lacking something.

I don't remember who suggested tiebacks (my husband or me), but it was the stroke of genius that we needed. Once I made the tiebacks, it all came together to make a beautiful window treatment.

I couldn't be happier with my "new" dining room!

My dining room re-do

I can’t believe how nicely this turned out! I mean, I was expecting nice chairs, but this looks like something out of a high-end magazine. I’m glad my husband talked me into buying the fabric for the tablecloth because it completes it all.



This is what the chairs looked like before I covered them. (And I didn’t choose the worst-looking chair, either!) As you can see, they needed redone. I’m not sure what the company was thinking when they covered these chairs with this flimsy fabric and plastic-bag-weight plastic, but they certainly weren’t thinking long-term – or children!

So what do you think? A 100% difference? I’m thinking more of a 200% difference. It’s exactly what I’ve always envisioned for my "perfect" dining room. I mean, it was nice before, but it’s fantastic now.

I managed to cover all eight chairs in an afternoon, averaging about a half hour for each chair, from start to finish.

My husband was a bit skeptical as I was starting this on his way out the door Friday afternoon. When he came home for supper, he was so impressed and excited about it that he insisted we go right out to Wal-Mart and see if they had any of the fabric left for a window treatment. So we did!

The afternoon didn’t pass without incident, though. I’m not surprised, with two preschoolers in the house. Both kids wanted me to open the windows "so we can hear the birds sing." What mother could resist that logic? So, against my better judgment, I opened both dining room windows. Really, what could happen with me right there?

I forgot to take into account my accident-prone daughter. After almost finishing my fifth chair, I looked up to see her sitting on the windowsill. Before I could even say her name and tell her to get down, she leaned against the screen. You guessed it – she fell right out the window!

Thank God we were on the first floor and there were flowers and bushes to cushion her fall! Here’s the goose egg she got on her forehead (I have no idea what she knocked her forehead on):

Organizing a bathroom closet

If you remember, I promised awhile ago that I would post pictures of my reorganized bathroom closet once I got enough drawer organizers. Well, I found a bunch at Save A Lot a week or so ago, and I got to finish! So here it is ...



I created separate baskets for different themes - hand soaps, bar soaps, body washes, toothpastes, toothbrushes, flushable wipes, hair care, lip care, wound care ... You get the idea. I just piled everything into logical groups and looked to see if those groups would fit into a drawer organizer. If not, I divided them further.

I also made use of a basket to store smallish lightbulbs and an old plastic "canister" to store cotton balls.

Some things don't need organizers because they're already square and stack easily - like feminine care products or tissues (which are on the floor). Toilet paper rolls stack nicely, too, and they're also on the floor. You can stack them just about as high as you'd like!

My husband thinks I'm strange when I open this closet door just to enjoy the organization. I guess he doesn't understand how much I enjoy being in control of something in a house with two preschoolers! :)

Spring Cleaning: The Kitchen and Utility Room

I worked more on my kitchen cupboards today. I was mostly inspired by the book Confessions of an Organized Homemaker.

I had read about creating "centers" in your kitchen before, mostly from Emilie Barnes. I had previously organized my parents' kitchen into centers, and it worked beautifully.

Unconsciously, I had already somewhat organized my own kitchen into logical centers. So today I was just fine-tuning "centers" and locating them where they would be more convenient. Oh, and did I mention tossing some things?

I love my drawer organizers. They were made for people like me!! Check out what a little organization did to the inconvenient cupboard above my stove:



And here's a closeup of the left side to show how I stacked two of the organizers. Normally I wouldn't stack them, but the bottom one is level enough that it won't tip over, and I don't use the items on the bottom often enough to worry about the inconvenience.

I used old plastic Gerber baby food containers to store the last little bits of spices that were in huge containers taking up tons of my space. I labeled them with masking tape so I could tell what was in each. They stacked very nicely at the back of the righthand side. My main spice area is on my countertop in an alphabetized spice rack, so this is just backup and isn't used on a regular basis (so it's okay to be hard to get to).

You'll probably notice I stacked two organizers on the righthand side, too. I was able to get away with that because all the spice bottles on the bottom were the same height. I use the items on the top more often, so this seemed the logical way to store them.

Now onto my proudest achievement of the week: the utility room (aka the main entrance). For before pictures, see this post. Here is the finished product:



Notice the absence of everything (except for the oversized laundry detergent which is hidden behind the door) on the surfaces. There is an added bonus to this: I did laundry today and was able to fold and sort it all on top the chest freezer. Talk about convenient!

I'm feeling so much better now that I'm getting control over clutter!

Simple things that make me happy

I'm up later than I had planned, so I need to make it short tonight. (Cousin Camp posting will hopefully continue in the next day or so.) Here's one of the simple things of life that makes me happy:

I had a favorite glass pitcher that we received from a dear friend for our wedding. I used it nearly every day for the last five years to serve my iced tea. I could have cried when it broke a few weeks ago! It was a unique design, so I knew I wouldn't be able to find a duplicate. I went to Wal-Mart and found the pitcher you see here.

There's something about it that makes me happy. It's simple. It's rounded. It's a necessary item that is also a "thing of beauty" for me.

Sometimes it helps to step back and appreciate the little things in life.

How to Decorate with Ten Balloons

As I was grocery shopping today, I was hoping to find something to help me spruce up the house for our February ladies' meeting tonight. Of course, the theme was Valentine's Day and all Valentine's Day merchandise was 50% off today.

I just couldn't bring myself to buy any of the valentine-theme plates or napkins that I found because I thought they were so horribly ugly. I'm definitely not into the child-scribbled-art thing. So I bought some red plates and cups from Dollar Tree to supplement the valentine napkins a friend had purchased last year.

I still needed something to decorate with, so I decided to pick up a package of ten balloons for $0.50. They weren't quite so bad in design since they only had one heart on them instead of the fifteen zillion overlapping hearts on the tableware.

I got them home, blew up all ten balloons by myself and then tried to figure out what in the world I was going to do with them. I knew Meredith would have come up with something fantastic, and I tried to think about what she might do with them. (She's my hero when it comes to table decoration and food presentation.)

Let me tell you, it was hard. I tried taping them to several surfaces, but the tape didn't want to hold. I tried laying them on several surfaces, but you know what happened - they blew off as soon as I walked past them.

Since I didn't have a huge arrangement of flowers to work with, I wanted to make something similar with the balloons. So I had the brainy idea of taping them to straws to keep them upright. That worked pretty well, but I still had to work with them a bit to make them stand upright in this vase.

It took me awhile, but I did like the end result.

I still had seven balloons leftover and plenty of space to decorate yet, so I decided to go for the biggest impact and attach them to my chandelier. After I added some curling ribbon and Kleenex roses, I was pretty pleased with it, too.

It's not Martha Stewart, but it is original with me. And I was pretty pleased with what $0.50 did for my party decorations!