Your Favorite Pins

Remember when I said my kids were dropping like flies? Yeah ... apparently that applies for the whole family, myself included. So please forgive me if I am slow to get posts up. It seems I have injured my shoulder, as in can't-drive, can't-put-on-my-own-coat-on or tie-my-own-shoes kind of injured. Right now, as I type this, I am lowering my wrists and leaning to the right, in a sad little attempt to keep some of the weight and strain on my right shoulder to a minimum. Let's just be thankful you can't see me, okay?! I have posts and projects lined up, plus an upcoming giveaway, just be patient as I work on getting them done. I have to move a little slow and limit my activity in this position. I'm thinking I will be back in the doc's office before long. Eek!
For now, I thought I would share your most loved pins. If you're not following me on Pinterest, come on over and do so. Also, catch me on Twitter where I can one-handedly update regularly thanks to our good friend, iPhone.

Our very own list of FREE Photoshop Actions

My Wow-worthy Southern Style Bacon Mustard Greens

Our 1st Thessalonians Printable -- I am so glad this is loved!

Our crash course on getting the mildew out of your towels -- Glad I'm not alone, so thank you!
I am so grateful for all this love you show me. Pin on!
XO, Steph

How to Keep Your Kitchen Clean

1. Start With A Clean Kitchen

Starting with a clean kitchen makes your time in the kitchen much more enjoyable. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to find a pot only to discover it's sitting in the sink. Or trying to cut vegetables with a cluttered counter. Have the kids quickly pick up any messes in the kitchen when they arrive home from school. My youngest, four years old, loves to wash the dishes. She feels important when she does.

2. Speedy Clean List

Have a speedy clean list, making it your goal to never spend more than 20 minutes cleaning your kitchen. In that 20 minutes you should be able to wash the dishes, wipe the counters and stove (drip pans included), and sweep the floor. Twenty minutes a day doing this will go a long way in maintaining the integrity and joy of your kitchen.

3. Never Go To Bed With Dirty Dishes

This is our best secret. One of the biggest ways to make a kitchen look dirty is by having a sink full of dirty dishes. It also takes a lot of stress off the next day knowing you don't have dishes awaiting you. You can easily fill the coffee pot with water, because you don't have to shove a bunch of dishes around. Odors don't develop overnight from leftover food and you spend less time, within 20 minutes, in the kitchen later because you're not spending all your time scrubbing stuck on food. Why is this my best secret? you wonder. Because I have one great tip for you on this: RINSE AND LOAD. Recite that like a mantra in your home. Say it to your kids until they are sick of hearing it: RINSE AND LOAD. It literally takes less than one minute to rinse a plate and place it in the dishwasher. Take this free printable I created, hang it over the sink or somewhere else in your kitchen. But make sure your kids, and yourselves, consistently remember to RINSE AND LOAD.

|| DOWNLOAD ||

Graphic courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

4. Clean While You Cook

This is something my mom taught me when I was learning how to cook. Instead of throwing a skillet into the sink when you're done using it, give it a quick rinse first. Instead of using three different spoons for stirring each pot, rinse one off and reuse it. If you spill on the stove while cooking, wipe it up with a paper towel right away, instead of letting the egg or sauce dry. This is something that drastically increases your clean time later. We want to do anything that might help keep our kitchen time down to 20 minutes.

5. Clean Your Fridge Twice a Month

Refrigerators are one of the biggest breeders of germs in your home. Food gets shoved to the back and grows mold. You lose more plastic storage containers than you can shake a stick at. Clean your fridge twice a month (or when you go grocery shopping). This will get the smells and rotten food out, free up any storage containers you can use, and give you a better idea of what is truly available when you are ready to go grocery shopping.

6. Use Non-slip Rug Pads

One of my biggest pet peeves is when bottles get tipped over in my fridge and in my cabinets. This clutters up the space, liquids leak out, and generally becomes a huge mess. To prevent this from happening, use non-slip rug pads on your flat surfaces. Your glass bottles will no longer slip around in your fridge. You can spray paint them, too, to a little pop of color to the inside of your refrigerator door!

7. Use Designated Containers for Kids

I don't know about your kids, but the first thing mine do when they get home from school is raid the kitchen. They make messes without even realizing it, and eat half the house before dinner is even served. To maintain their clutter, have designated bins for them.  Use some vinyl to adhere their names to a plastic container, and fill them with what they may have that day. This will keep your food budget under control and teach your kids limitations. If they have leftovers from their sack lunches, they can put them in their own bins. 

8. Make Use Of Storage Racks

These days you can buy storage racks for just about anything, from spices to pots and pans. Fully invest in these. Some may be pricey, but they make organizing your cabinets so much easier, which in turn makes your time in the kitchen less painstaking.

9. Store Bagged Items Properly

In continuing with your cabinet organization, invest in storage containers for your bagged items, such as a cereal, beans, or rice. All those bags do is create clutter. In my home, they tend to get stacked on top of one another, and I never know if I have a bag of rice or a bag of black beans available. Oftentimes I wind up buying rice when I already had a bag there. I just didn't see it!

10. Deep Clean Once A Month

My final tip is to deep clean your kitchen once a month. And by deep clean, I mean the whole thing, top to bottom. Scrub the floorboards, beneath the cabinets, inside and outside of the cabinets, on top of the fridge, inside the oven, and so forth. Keeping up on these necessary chores helps keep your kitchen sparkling all year long!

Image © Chalon Handmade || Graphic Design by NewlyMynted

Happy Cleaning!

Steph

Gifts for mom bloggers

If you caught yesterday's style post, you read that it was my 30th birthday. I didn't ask for much for my birthday, but Logan did such an amazing job at gift giving, I thought it was only apt to share some of his ideas with others who may possibly be curious about what to get for their blogger wives or girlfriends.

First, Logan sat and helped me with my 30 things about me post. Taking interest in your lady's blogging is important, even if it is a silly post about herself. Support is, above all, most important.

I asked for two things for my birthday: a nail gun and a diamond drill bit. When your lady is a DIY'er, you can never steer wrong with tools and hardware, or a gift certificate to Lowe's. I, however, did not receive either of these two things. At first I frowned a little inside, but then Logan tossed this at me ...

You want to worm your way into my heart, give me Starbucks coffee and Ghirardelli chocolates. I love the fact that this hillbilly man of mine catered to my city-girl standards. And FYI: those "Twilight Delight" chocolates are to die for!

A day off is always a good idea for us mom bloggers. Come on, ladies, admit it, THAT'S HOT! I got permission to do nothing all day. He cleaned the whole house. The most strenuous thing I did was sand down a table I'v been working on. He took care of the kids and refused to let me lift a finger.

Then he confiscated my computer momentarily, and do you know what came next?

Adobe Photoshop CC! The latest and greatest Photoshop program there is! I was in heaven! I have longed for Photoshop for years, but I've never been able to afford it. I have always used GIMP, because it's free. It's a great program, has done the job well. But my little blogger heart has always longed for Photoshop. I would have been tickled to death with Lightroom or other basic program, but this man got me the crème de la crème of Photoshop programs. I have been glued to my computer, downloading scripts and actions and learning how to navigate the progam. If you are aware of any, let me know. This program was only released two months ago and I'm having difficulty to finding downloads that are compatible with Creative Cloud. 

My evening ended with my favorites, crème brûlée cheesecake and a moscato wine. It was a simple birthday, but one every mom blogger desires. Permission to do nothing by indulge, DIY, blog and photoshop. 

What would be your dream blogger birthday?

XO,

Steph

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An in-depth guide to mildewy towels

The water is piping, warmth streaming down your back. Feeling clean, refreshed, you shut off the shower and reach for your towel. And there it hits you, that stinky smell of mildew built up in the fibers that you are now spreading all over your body as you dry off. Your clean, refreshing shower is now officially ruined from that putrid stench.

That's pretty much how I felt for a time. My towels smelled horrid. Every time I dried myself off, I felt I was spreading mold and mildew all over my skin. Yes, I said mold. You know that nasty stuff that builds up along the bottom of your shower curtain liner? That's what is building up in your towels, making them smell as bad as they do. I found there were easy ways to clean them, but I wanted to know what caused it and why. So I did some research and here is what I found:

First let's talk towels. Towels are made of 100% cotton. The absolute finest cotton towel you can buy is Egyptian cotton. It has a very expensive weave, making it more absorbent and soft. The next best thing is Pima cotton, also very absorbent. The absorbency is why they make such a great use for towels, they absorb water quickly. These towels can easily run you upwards of $10-$15 per bath towel. Often you find towels that say something along the lines of "made with" Pima or Egyptian cotton. These often contain other low quality materials. It's all about marketing!

Over time, with use (or wear and tear) towels begin to lose their absorbency. Low quality towels do so more quickly. Eventually they begin to absorb bacteria and fungi that build up in the bathroom. An additional cause of towels losing their absorbency is how they are washed. Too much detergent can saturate the close-knit fibers in a towel, and fabric softener coats them. Imagine my surprise to find that little Snuggles bear has been deceiving me all this time with his fluffy basket of towels. Cuteness be darned!

Never fear, for there is an easy solution:
Wash no more than three large towels at a time with 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar in HOT water. Run the load again with 1/2 cup of baking soda, also in hot water. Dry them until they are completely dry. Not just hot, but dry. Do not use fabric softener. Mine were pretty bad smelling and this washing technique helped get almost everything out. If only you could have seen me standing in the laundry room, sniffing my towels as they came out of the dryer. It was like heaven, and people thought I was strange. If only they knew ...!

You can also make your life easier and use some preventative measures to keep this build up from forming. After each shower leave a window open or the bathroom fan running to allow the moisture in the room to escape. Don't wash your towels in large quantities. Continue to wash them in vinegar, as the acidity gets the really dirty things clean. Do not wash them in detergents (unless it is anti-microbial) or dry with fabric softeners. A fungus-free, smelly good towel is far better than a Downy soft towel in my opinion.

I hope my bit of research is useful to you. Do you have any natural ways of cleaning mildew around your home?

Much love from my home to yours!
Steph

Image courtesy missmac

Graphic design by NewlyMynted

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