An All-Season Wreath

Some of you may remember me mentioning this wreath project here recently and how much I was dreading doing it.  Well I finally sucked it up and got going on it and while I'm not going to tell you that it wasn't tedious and time consuming, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought.  And once the circles were traced, it was the perfect way to sit on the couch and catch up on Real Housewives and Top Chef and be productive at the same time.  It's white so I can add things to it as the seasons change and dress it up a little, as you see here for Valentine's Day, or just leave it plain.

Homemade Cleaning Products

I'm always curious about whether some of these home cleaning "remedies" on Pinterest work, as I'm sure are you.  So let me share one with you that knocked my socks off and confirm that it is, in fact, totally amazing!

I'm not one of those that's really worried about the chemical thing in my home, or being green, I just flat out want to save money and, let's be honest, save a trip to the store--my two-year-old (or my lack of wanting to get presentable for public viewing) is turning me into a recluse.  We rarely leave the house.  Really.  Thus, I'm a big fan of homemade cleaning solutions.

So, I had a backed up sink--like, this thing would fill up in about two seconds and take 10 minutes to drain.   In my experience, Drano (and everything like it) is expensive and doesn't really work all that well anyway.  And I remembered I had pinned this (actually with this sink in mind):

Source: askannamoseley.com via Jennifer (My Fabuless Life) on Pinterest

and thought I'd give it a try.  (Just FYI, I don't know why this picture has a little spray bottle and a tube.  It has NOTHING to do with this cleaning method).  Baking soda + boiling water.  That's it.  Who knew that baking soda and some boiling water could be such a little miracle?!!  I put about half a cup of baking soda in a pile over the drain, shoved it down the drain (I have those covered drains that go up and down to hold water and I couldn't get the top off) with the corner of an envelope (first thing I could find), let it sit in the drain while the water boiled and the second I poured the boiling water down the drain the clog was gone!  It's been draining like a champ for a week now.  And my husband is happy he didn't get stuck with that nasty job of pulling stuff out of the drain (there really is nothing more disgusting).  The tutorial says to pour bleach down afterward, but I didn't bother with it and it works fine.  So if you do happen to be a chemical-free or green person, this is a GREAT method for unclogging your drain.

Happy cleaning!

*The full directions are listed right on the Pin, so I won't bother to list them again here.  Just click on the picture.

Laziness

I have a project that's been floating around in my head for roughly 2 weeks now and I'm sitting here on the couch thinking I should get to work.  And it's actually a project that's really conducive to sitting on the couch and watching House Hunters endlessly (which I do really well).  But....it involves a lot of cutting fabric and worse, it requires me to actually get off the couch and walk downstairs to my craft room to get said fabric and scissors.  I really don't want to get off the couch.  Dilemma.

Discarded Cabinet becomes Entry Organization

What can you do with a discarded kitchen cabinet, a pallet, and some paint? Make a place to dump store all those little things that get deposited around the house when you come in from the garage.

See how after the jump

Back to Balance in Twenty12

Source: instagram.heroku.com via Jennifer (My Fabuless Life) on Pinterest

Oh yes, it's that time of year: Oh So Cliche Resolution Time! (I know I'm a week late.  Whatev.)  I've become more of a fan of the whole resolution thing over the past few years.  It's probably only a recent development because, in 6th grade I had a teacher who was a Stephen Covey  (of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fame) super fan, and had all things 7 Habits and goal-setting drilled into me.  So, I've basically been rebelling against goal-setting or anything that remotely resembles my 6th grade hell experience ever since--mature, I know.  Seriously though, if you ever meet my parents, ask them how I feel about the word "proactive," or say the word in front of me--if you're brave enough.  Get the picture?  This is not to say that I'm not a productive person, I'm just not known to be the write-it-down and track-it type of goal-setter and okay, maybe I can be a little flaky.  Now that I'm pushing *gulp* 30, and like almost an official adult {or at least supposed to be, right?}, I figure I can probably stop rebelling now and do grown up things, like setting goals, at least for things I want to do.  And I do like the idea of goal setting and just figure that the new year is a perfect time to get down to business on all of those, "I want to _____" from the previous year.  

My goals for the coming year are all an effort to achieve more balance with my marriage, my family, my home, and my health--all of which, just for the record, are fabulous right now, but they're all areas where I can always strive to be better.  Pretty much the old token resolutions, but much needed when I'm just starting to finally figure out this balancing act called parenting.  Are you thinking isn't her child like 2, she's just figuring it out?!  Yup, she is. Call me a slow learner, or normal {I think it's normal, you people who have it all together are amazing!}.  I'm also guessing that I'll never quite feel like it's all "figured out,"  but we'll just say, I'm starting to get a better grasp on it all.  I've never fooled myself into thinking I can "do it all," (or at least do it all well)  but I want to get a handle on the every day stuff like housework, budget, cooking, exercise etc., so that I get more time and quality out of the things that are important to me--like spending time with my husband and daughter, and still have time for the things I enjoy too--like "projects!" (Do you say that word like Cher from Clueless?  That's what I hear in my head.)

So stay tuned to my quest to achieve some balance in 2012!