Green Tips!

Cleaning was on the agenda for the weekend. I promised a few followers of my blog that I would post my favorite tips. Researching "green" cleaning is a little bit of an addiction for me because I am always trying to find a better, healthier and honestly, easier way to clean. Another important factor for me to clean green is that my girls always want to help (which I know will not last for long so I have to take it while I can). Making my own cleaners I know exactly what is in them and feel comfortable letting the girls help.

So on with the tips, I will try to cite where I got most of these but I have been researching these for awhile and may not have some of the info...sorry.

My number one cleaning agent....yes, Vinegar. You can use to it to clean almost anything. A couple of my favorites are in the microwave, 1/4 cup-1/2 cup vinegar with 2 cups of water in a bowl and cook for 3-5 minutes. When finished, open the door and wipe out. No heavy scrubbing or scraping. My other favorite is using vinegar in the laundry as a fabric softener. Fabric softener leaves a residue on your clothes, towels, sheets and in your washing machine. Just place a tablespoon or two in the fabric softener compartment and you will have soft items with no residue. It will also clean your washer too! Double duty...my favorite.

I reference www.vinegarcleaningtips.com frequently too. The site has 1001 uses for white distilled vinegar.

Another great site for getting recipes for cleaning is www.herbcompanion.com, they have some great informational blogs too. Here are a couple of my favorites: 

Super Surface Spray

• 16 ounces spray bottle
• 14 ounce - 1:1 solution of distilled white vinegar and water
• 7 drops tea tree essential oil
• 7 drops lavender essential oil
• 7 drops lemon essential oil

Use this aromatic and disinfecting solution for cleaning kitchen counters, cabinets, refrigerator shelves, blinds, painted wood surfaces, painted walls, molding, fan blades, and more.

Natural Lemony Furniture Polish
• 16-ounce spray bottle
• 1 cup olive oil
• 25 drops pure lemon essential oil
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• Fill remainder of the bottle with purified water
Shake well and spray onto your rag or directly onto furniture. Buff dry immediately.


Read more: http://www.herbcompanion.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=744&tag=Naturally Clean#ixzz1kDuPyffd

An usual product that I became a fan of when cleaning is wax paper. Wax Paper can be used on your chrome faucet in the kitchen or bathroom to remove water spots and bring it back to shiny again. Wax paper can also be used on your swiffer mop to dry dust the floor. I use this when in a hurry but you still have to throw away the paper when done so I prefer to use my cloth cover that I throw in the washer.

 The kitchen cutting board, a high use area that needs regular cleaning. We use our pull out cutting board all the time so when it comes to cleaning it I want to use something that is safe and that gets the job done. My favorite go to...medium to coarse salt and half a lemon. Sprinkle the salt all over the board and wait a few minutes then take the half of lemon and rub it all over the board making a paste. Rub in a circular motion for about 5 minutes and then wipe clean.

Okay, this is my last tip for today. This one that I got from pinterest. I have an airwick plug-in in my laundry room. What motivated me to look at the Pinterest post for making your own refill at first was the cost of the refills. Then, after further research of looking into these guys I realized that it is a health benefit to make my own as well. Okay, up on my soapbox for a minute....These air fresheners contain VOC'S (volatile organic compounds) which are highly toxic. They can cause a whole host of problems with prolonged exposure such as: infertility, headaches, nervous system disorders, memory loss, exaggerating asthma, and cancer for you and your pets. Decided that it was not worth all that just to have my laundry room sell good. So when I found this how-to I was excited. 

All you have to do is: Remove the top with the wick in it. Rinse out the old bottle to remove the last scent. I, of course used a vinegar rinse to fully remove the old odor. Then fill the bottle about a 1/3 of the way with your favorite essential oil and then fill with water but not all the way to the top so you can put the wick back in. And ta da...you have a new plug in without VOC's!

Some great scents are: Grapefruit, Lavender, Peppermint, Orange, Lemon, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, anything fruity smells great. Try it for yourself and experiment with scents!

Until next time...Have a great week!

Snow Inspiration

Well, it was bound to happen at some point, the first snow of the year fell on Thursday. It was after all January 12th. Once the white stuff arrived my mind instantly started to fear cabin fever. I needed a project and a big one to get over that fear. So Saturday while one girl was sleeping and the other was sledding with her Dad (did I mention the conditions have to be just right for me to play outside in the snow....50-60ish and sunny! :-)

What better place to start a big project then my bedroom. Friday night I painted the room and Saturday I tackled the closet. The closet was a big project and with the help of pinterest ideas I was ready to make the best of the space we have. Here is how everything came out:

The new gray paint

The organized closet :-)

Found the flip flop idea on Pinterest, they are on hangers!

Hanging boots, also Pinterest with curtain hooks.

Amira helping Dad with the first snow!

Another tip, from my mother, which I found useful was to organize the clothes by color. It makes it so easy to see what you have, so like in my case you don't end up with 15 black shirts in about the same style! Not many new sewing projects to share this week...had a cold that kept me down a few days. Until next time, have a great rest of the weekend!

Back to Reality.....

So the reality that the Holidays are over has set in and real life is back. The girls have adjusted back into their daily rountine, although both have asked me how many days till the next stay home day. There is just not enough time at night to get everything done.

I got accustom to staying up later while I was off and I am having a hard time going to bed early now (again I am not the only one having a hard time with the adjustment, as I type I hear little feet running around upstairs, Marina of course!)

So I have been spending my sleepless nights with my sewing machine trying to teach myself some new tricks. With the help of my favorite new website, which I can proudly say I got my sister-in-law and mother hooked on, Pinterest I whipped up a few things for the girls. I may need to seek out a 12 step program to stop spending every free moment I have surfing on Pinterest, it is insane how addicting it is.

Till next time...Good night! (It is 10:15pm and I am actually tired!)

Here are the new items I whipped up this week:




Amira's new Paris Dress



Marina's new dress and headband (She would not stand still for a picture!)

 
   


Amira's Barbie Skirt (She is pretty big at our house right now! :-)







 













Hello 2012!

As 2011 came to a close I realized that there were so many things that I wanted to share and never quite got the chance. So with 2012 starting fresh I decided what better way to share and journal then to start a blog. So here we go....I am hoping to keep up on this but I just had ten days off from work and here I am on the last day working on it.

Amira (5) and Marina (3) had such a great time over Christmas (even though the dreaded flu struck us). The girls have enjoyed staying home with Abe and I over the last ten days that getting back into the rountine tomorrow is going to be tough. I must admit for me too!

The Barbie House

I spent some time over the break reuniting with my sewing machine. My obsession with pinterest.com inspired me to get it out and get creative. Abe and I made the girls a Barbie house for Christmas, which turned out fantastic, thanks to my ever patient husband!

My first sewing endevour was pillowcase dresses for the girls for Christmas and they turned out really cute. I even made one for Amira's, "American girl". The sewing bug had hit and off to Hobby Lobby, Amira and I went. We found some really cute fabric and made another matching outfit set for her and her doll. Although, Amira now thinks that I will custom make all her clothes with a new outfit every morning....not going to happen!

I am hoping to update on the girls, life, projects and recipes (made by Abe of course)! I think 2012 is going to be a great year! Happy New Year!



Girls at Christmas, not thrilled about having to wait to open gifts for pictures!



Christmas Dress I made for Amira!

Christmas Dress for Marina!