Broom Love

You may think I have totally lost my mind with this post.  A post about a broom, Lindsay, really?  Well, that's what my mom thought when I called her and said, "I'm so excited for my new broom to arrive!"  And as I just wrote that, I realized, that it does sound pretty strange........what has my life come to?  I'm excited about a broom?  Someone over here may need to get a life........

Enough about my craziness, though, and let me tell you about my new broom.  I have really been trying to live according to this William Morris quote since we entered 2012.......

"Have nothing in our homes that we do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

I have done a pretty good job clearing out a bunch of clutter that we no longer need and the house is starting to feel more organized.  However, when I posted this quote over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page one of my international readers chimed in and said, 'how about.... do not have anything we do not know to be useful AND believe to be beautiful?  And I thought, yes, that's even better!

So I needed a new broom for our home and I took this Facebook conversation to heart and thought, "if I'm going to buy a new broom, it's going to be one I love and get excited to use."  And I'm a firm believer that you can buy just about anything on Etsy.com, so I headed there to begin my search and this is what I ended up with:

I ordered this handmade broom from the Broomchick on Etsy.  I had never heard of her shop, but she had great reviews and I just loved the natural style of this one, not to mention the fact that it fits in perfectly with our cottage.

I can't just name one part of this broom that is my favorite.  I love that it is handmade ~ that's a big thing for me, it's always great when I can buy handmade and support local, US small business.  I love the multi-colored broomcorn and I love the natural wood stick handle.  The Broomchick has many different brooms to choose from, but this is a multi-colored standard kitchen broom.

I am currently keeping this broom hanging on a hook in the kitchen next to our kitchen hutch.  It's too pretty to put away and hide.  My sister-in-law thought it was just for decoration when she saw it in our kitchen and my mother-in-law said she wants one for her birthday.

So sweeping is not the most exciting task, but why not get excited about it by using a tool you truly love?  Again, you still might think I'm nuts, but I'll tell you one thing.......I've never been more excited to sweep in my life than I am with this broom!

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Inexpensive Wall Art ~ Decorating with Paper

I love when I find a great print that can bring an entire room together.  Usually I'm looking for it in the form of fabric, but when I can't find exactly what I want, sometimes I have to turn to other sources ~ like paper.

Several months back I was shopping at my local Home Goods store and as I was going to check out this fabulous wrapping paper caught my eye.  You know how much I love patterned fabric so it was no surprise that I was drawn into this bold wrapping paper.  I needed some wrapping paper for a wedding shower gift, so I picked it up and it said $3.99 and I said 'sold!'.  Well, I wasn't even paying much attention, but when I got it home I noticed that is was Vera Bradley wrapping paper.  No wonder I liked it, I love her designs!

I used this wrapping paper to wrap of the wedding shower gift and then had quite a bit leftover.  I noticed that it actually picked up quite a few different colors that I have going on around our house, especially in the family room.  So I pulled two frames off the wall that were needing an update, cut the wrapping paper to size and framed them. 

Instant wall art ~ how great is that?  And inexpensive, to boot!

Here is a little corner of our family room with the two framed pieces of wrapping paper.  In addition to wrapping paper, think about framing fabric, wall paper or sheet music as well.  It's an easy update that can really bring a room together.  And if you get tired of it, no biggie, just change it out and move on to something new that you love.

Above is a picture of our bedroom, where I simply framed two squares of fabric to tie the room together.  Another easy, inexpensive wall art project.  Definitely a great bang for your buck!

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Bounce Dryer Bar Review and $50.00 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and Bounce. All opinions are 100% mine.

Laundry, laundry, laundry - does it ever end? Well, with three kids under the age of four, the answer is..........no. I was recently asked if I would like to try out the new Bounce Dryer Bar and I jumped at the opportunity. Have you heard of this product? Well, it's the newest in the line of products from Bounce and it is fabulous! It has all the benefits of dryer sheets, but brings it to you in a more convenient form. I know I have reviewed products here and there on the blog, but trust me when I tell you that I would not recommend a product unless I truly thought it was great!

The Bounce Dryer Bar was so simple to install that I actually installed it in the dark. I'm not kidding. Our laundry is in the basement (otherwise known as the dungeon) and when I went down there to start using this product the light was burned out. I didn't realize my husband had installed a light elsewhere, but that's beside the point. The point is that this product could not be any easier to use. If I can easily install it in the dark, you know that you will have no problem at all installing it in the light!

Here's how the Bounce Dryer Bar works......... You remove the bar from the packaging and peel off the paper on the back side of the bar to reveal the sticky adhesive. You open your dryer and place the bar (sticky side down) on the side wall of the dryer. All you have to do is hold it down for 15 seconds and you are good to go.

How many times have you forgotten to put a dryer sheet in with a load of laundry? Or have you ever been doing laundry and ran out of dryer sheets? Well, that can be a total bummer and with the new Bounce Dryer Bar you do not even have to think about it. You just toss in your laundry and forget about it. You end up with months of great smelling laundry as well as softness and static control.

Granted, a dryer sheet may not seem like a very big deal, but in the life of this busy mom, it's just one less thing to have to worry about. I think we all want to find ways to make our lives a little bit easier and the new Bounce Dryer Bar does just that! The bar lasts for three months and after it runs out, you can simply buy a refill pack. The holder stays in the dryer and you just replace the bar. So you only have to think about it four times a year, instead of thinking about dryer sheets for every load of laundry.

The Bounce Dryer Bar comes in the scented and unscented varieties depending on your taste. I tried out the scented version and it smells great! I love the way fresh laundry smells and this has the perfect scent. Some people are very sensitive to scented products, so in that case I would recommend going with the unscented bar.

The bottom line is that the Bounce Dryer Bar is great. Like I said before, it's all the benefits of a dryer sheet, but it a more convenient form..........now that makes life easier and I'm all about that!

To find out more about the Bounce Dryer Bar, please visit the Bounce Facebook page for videos and additional information.

Do you want to win a Bounce Dryer Bar and a $50 Visa gift card from Bounce and BlogHer? To enter the giveaway, please tell me how the Bounce Dryer Bar would make your life easier?

Follow the rules below to enter.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

Giveaway open through 12/6/2011.

For more opportunities to win, visit the Bounce round-up page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers' reviews!

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{ Nesting } - Organization Overload

It's less than two months now until little man's scheduled arrival.  And when I say scheduled, I mean really scheduled since, unless I go into labor early, I have a c-section date already on the calendar (due to my previous c-section with Miss M.).  Anyway, I have since realized that there are 5000 things I want to get done before this little angels arrival and SO little time to get it all done.

Recently I went slightly crazy organizing the house.  I think my good friend, Lara, thought I had lost my mind when I was showing her all the insides of my cabinets.  Do any of you get crazy-organized before a baby arrives?  I have done this each and every time during all three pregnancies now.  I think it's my last ditch effort to have total control over my life until chaos ensues with life and a newborn.

I love feeling organized and I am feeling pretty good about the state of our house right now.  Here are just a few things I've been up to with my home organization.........

The Kitchen

Kitchen Cabinets:  I only did a little organizing in the kitchen cabinets, but I love having things placed in containers.  I think it makes the cabinets so much more pleasing to the eye.  I also think you can store so much more when you get rid of the bulky boxes.

Kitchen Drawers:  Ok, you might find this crazy, but I measured all of my cabinets, shelves, drawers, ect., before I went shopping for any containers.  I wanted to make sure I got the perfect fit and didn't over-buy or under-buy.  I headed to the dollar store (Dollar Tree) in my area for all these different drawer containers.  I find they have a great selection of organizing supplies, some even come in sets of three, and for $1.00, you can't beat it!

Corner Kitchen Cabinet:  This cabinet has always been a little awkward.  It's really deep and in the corner of our kitchen.  Things have tended to get lost towards the back.  I found these two shelves in my in-laws basement that they were using and I think they make the cabinet feel so much larger.  I've always loved having our cereal in these plastic containers.  It makes it easy to see how much is left and keeps it fresh longer.

Spices: I keep the majority of my spices in the double-tiered, lazy-susan pictured in one of the earlier cabinet photos.  But for the spices I reach for frequently, I keep them stored in this rack that is attached to our kitchen walls.  We found this one at IKEA several years ago and it has been great!

I keep all my cooking utensils in this tall white container (to the left) and our oven mitts in one of my favorite white woven stone bowls.  I always have a cookbook out and we keep our olive oil and white balsamic vinegar on the counter as well.

Kitchen Hutch:  This is one of my favorite additions to our kitchen - the hutch.  I bought this about four years ago from the JC Penny catalog.  It was not a very expensive piece, but it has provided us with so much additional storage that it was well-worth whatever the price was back then!

We keep our pasta stored in plastic and glass containers on the main shelf.  Baby bibs are concealed in that brown box and the little silver platter on top is a great catch-all for hair ties and little things that just end up out of place.  Our dinner plates are kept here and are easy to access.  I added a hook to the side of the hutch to hang all of our aprons (the girls each have one and I have one as well).

I keep some things we use less frequently in the bottom cabinet of the hutch.  I've got our salad serving bowls, decorative plate chargers, ramekins, creme brulee dishes, individual casserole dishes as well as some cocktail napkins and paper plates.

The Downstairs Bathroom

Downstairs Medicine Cabinet:  I kind of feel like we are getting personal here, showing you the inside of our medicine cabinet, but we're all friends, right?  Again, I got these sets of three little baskets from the dollar store as well as the one long basket.  Total cost of organization - $3.00 - totally worth it!

The Family Room

Media Storage:  I've stored all of our movies under our entertainment center.  I know it's hard to believe, but yes we still have a VHS player, therefore, we still have VHS movies.  Don't worry, we're not totally in the stone-age......we have DVD and all that other stuff too.  But if you are in the market for movies, I'm telling you, they are practically giving away VHS tapes at your local thrift stores.

I purchased these plastic bins at Wal-Mart and they fit the VHS movies perfectly.  We already had the photo storage boxes which work great for DVD, video games and VHS.  The one wicker-basket are pretty much all my husband's movies and the rest are all kiddo movies.

Someday when I'm being really organized, I'll use our DVD burner and burn all the VHS onto DVD, but who knows when that day will come.

Side-Board Storage: This is where my OCD measuring came in handy before I went shopping.  I found these three baskets at TJ Maxx and if I wouldn't have measured, I probably would have only bought two because they looked so big in the store.  But I pulled out my handy "Notepad Holder" and saw that three would fit exactly in our side-board.  We keep diapers and wipes in one basket and right now the other two are pretty open.  It's always good to have additional storage for the future so we're not constantly having to try to figure out where to put things.

Dining Room

Corner Hutch: I love this little corner built-in, in our dining room.  It's very reminiscent of the 1930's-1940's (which was when our house was built) and is original to the house.  I keep all our non-everyday glassware in here arranged by type.  I also keep some special occasion dishes on the bottom shelf as well.  It the bottom cabinet, I've stored our margarita glasses as well as some other special occasion tableware.

So that's what I've been up to lately........nesting, BIG time!  I'm trying to take full advantage of this amazing energy burst because I know it will soon be disappearing and I will be heading into the "I'm done being pregnant mode" during my final month.  I'll soon be showing your our "Nautical" themed nursery. It's not quite finished yet, but it's coming along.

What kind of crazy nesting activity have you all gone through?  Anyone else go organizationally crazy?

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Spring Cleaning - $100 Visa Gift Card AND Libman Spray Mop Giveaway

I know this is going to sound very strange, but I actually like spring cleaning.  Do I love the everyday picking up of toys, crumbs and other surprises that my girls leave around?......well, not so much.  But I have to admit that a good deep cleaning around this house feels really good (while it lasts, that is).

Click HERE to check out my spring cleaning tips and enter to win $100 Visa Gift Card AND the new Libman Freedom Spray Mop!

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Homekeeping: Storing Lettuce

Recently I did some major cleaning in my kitchen.  The girls (Savannah and Matilda) and I scrubbed the front on all of our kitchen cabinets.  I'm sure no one would really notice the difference if you came to my kitchen, but boy did it feel good.  Not to mention the fact that Savannah said it was "the best day ever"........the girl loves to clean and had a blast playing with sponges and soapy water.

That same day I decided to get my refrigerator in order.  I removed all of the shelves and drawers and washed them with hot, soapy water in the sink.  Then I scrubbed the sides of the fridge and now it looks as good as new!

It's amazing how good it can make me feel to take a little time to improve the simple things around the home.  So, this might be totally random, but as I was in my organization, cleaning mode last week.  I made sure to process my produce immediately and properly when I got home from the market.

How do you store your lettuce?  Well, my mom taught me to store it this way along time ago and it makes the lettuce last FOREVER!  Now, I'll be honest with you when I say, that sometimes I'm lazy when I get home from the store and I don't wash my lettuce and store it right away and I end up regretting it every time.  The lettuce goes bad before I've even eaten half of it.  Maybe this is how you store your lettuce already, but if not, I thought I would share this little tip with you.

Homekeeping: Storing Lettuce

Remove your lettuce from the bag (this is organic romaine from Trader Joe's).  Separate the pieces and rinse them in the sink.  Spread out some paper towels.  Lay lettuce down on the paper towels (as see above).  Blot to dry with a clean kitchen towel.

Roll up the lettuce in the paper towels.  You want the paper towels to still have some moisture in them (this is what keeps the lettuce fresh).

Place your wrapped up lettuce into a Ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator.  Your lettuce will now stay fresh for several weeks.  And it is all washed and clean so whenever you want to grab a piece for a sandwich or make a fresh salad, you are all set and ready to go! 

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The Best Soap & Cleaning Product EVER!

Have you heard of Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap?  Well I had heard of it and seen it in our local Trader Joe's, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it.  Lately, I have been trying to get my family "back to basics" by trying to eat more organic food as well as incorporating more earth friendly products into our daily lives.

So yesterday I was at Trader Joe's and thought "I'm going to give this Castile Soap at try."  And boy am I glad I did - it is AWESOME!!  This one bottle of soap can tackle 18 different tasks and has the most amazing peppermint scent ever.  The soaps are biodegradable and vegetable-based and are made with certified fair trade and organic oils. 

Today I used it to clean my entire house.  I used 16oz of water with about 1 teaspoon of the soap and went to town.  I cleaned my furniture, my floors, my countertops, my sink, and the list goes on.  And what's even better -  I didn't even barely use 1/30th of the bottle!!  My house has never felt cleaner and I feel really good knowing that the soap I used is 100% safe for my two little girls (both under age 2).

According to the Dr. Bronner's website you can use this soap as a body wash, shampoo, facial cleanser, toothpaste, mouth wash, laundry detergent, dish-washing detergent, on babies to cure cradle cap, and again, the list goes on and on.

So if you are interested in switching cleaning products to something that is safer for you and our environment, I highly recommend Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap.  Try it - you won't be sorry!!  Click here to find out more information. Pin It

Homekeeping

Ok, I'm back!  So sorry I haven't posted in several days - last week I came down with a pretty nasty cold that seemed to put life on hold for a little while.  Luckily I seem to be on the mend, so now it is back to business as usual.

Well, because I was down and out this past week, I really let my house go.  It was driving me nuts to have everything so out of order and chaotic (yes, that's my type A personality), but as much as I wanted to, I just couldn't get up enough energy to get anything done.  Now that I am feeling better it is time to get my house in to tip-top shape!

So where do I turn?  I turn to Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook!  Have you heard of this book?  This is a book about homekeeping not housekeeping.  It is an indispensable handbook for creating a comfortable and beautiful home and caring for everything it. My family does not simply live in a house, we live in a home - it is a dwelling place where my family comes together, memories are made, laughter happens daily, it is an environment of security and happiness, it is where we gather around delicious meals, and we cherish one another daily.  If you really think about the true definition of a home, you will realize the respect and care it deserves.

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook covers everything from properly executing a living room floor plan to setting a formal table; from choosing HEPA filters to sealing soapstone countertops; from organizing your home office to polishing your silver and caring for family heirlooms; from what to include in a properly stocked pantry to how to fold a dinner napkin.  Basically it is an encyclopedia for all things having to do with your home.

So as I resume my position at the cottage home as chief homemaker extraordinaire, I can guarantee you my Homekeeping Handbook will be at my side to get me back on track.  If you need a boost in the homekeeping department or have realized that you are not giving your home the attention it deserves, I highly recommend you check out this book! Pin It

Motivated Moms

Do have trouble accomplishing everything that needs to get done around your house?  I know, I do.  With trying to balance raising two young children (4 months & 20 months), cooking, cleaning, sewing, organizing.......it's hard to make sure it all gets done.

I found this wonderful website called Motivated Moms (www.motivatedmoms.com ).  On this site you can find a daily checklist of chores to make sure that you get all of your homekeeping accomplished and still have time for you.  It is very important to me to keep up with my hobbies, but yet not neglect what needs to get done with our home.  Now I cannot say that I accomplish everything on the daily checklist, but it's a great outline for the things that I want to get done each day.

I love being able to check things off of a list, don't you?  There's something so satisfying about seeing what you've accomplished for the day in writing.  So if you find yourself puzzled with how or what to get done on a daily basis in regards to homekeeping, head over to Motivated Moms and get yourself the daily chore list.

Click on this link to see a sample of a weekly checklist (http://www.motivatedmoms.com/samples/2010FullSize-sample.pdf )
Cottage Mama's Note:
*Right now the 2010 planners are up, but you can still get the last couple months of 2009 as well. Pin It