Domestic Diva tip #2

I decided a while back that seeing as I spend so much time on Pinterest I may was well take the time to test some of the life altering domestic tips I have painstakingly pinned.
I do spend way to much time on Pinterest...I can admit it.
I'm actually addicted to tell you the truth......don't tell my husband!!

Honey..if you're reading this....just remember all the yummy recipes I've prepared for you recently, and understand that without Pinterest, none of those recipes would have made it to your dinner plate!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

So here's one I tried out again today and, I am happy to say, with pleasing results.

This pin comes from DIY Project Network.com and is titled "Scent your entire home".

Here's what all of you winter loving, furnace using folks in the great white north are going to do.

Pick yourself up a bottle of room fragrance or a bottle of essential oil.
I use the body shop room fragrance green tea and lemon, occasionally switching it up with mandarin and tangelo...also from the body shop. 

I find that the longer you use the same scent the less you notice it and changing it up every once in a while makes your house feel fresh and shiny all over again, just like the first time!!!!
We are big fans of citrus scents in this household. Citrus body wash, citrus hand soap, citrus moisturizers, citrus everything!

Next you're going to head on down to your mechanical room, you know, the room that houses all of the vital organs of your home like the hot water tank, furnace, electrical panel. I like to call it the man cave.
In that room you should find a furnace, maybe it looks a little like this...

The next step is to gently slide out your furnace filter and drop some of your room fragrance or essential oils directly onto the filter.

And, as my children will tell you...my favourite saying........put it back where it came from!!!!

I have used this domestic diva tip in the past and have had complaints from the hubby as I was a little too generous with my droplets, my house smelt like one of this ladies you get stuck behind at the cashier wearing waaaaaay to much perfume. So tread lightly until you find just the right amount for your personal smelling preference.

For those of you currently living in the southern hemisphere and do not have a furnace, you can also try this domestic diva tip on your air conditioner as directed on the link from DIY Project network.
Apparently it works just as well, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know how it went. We have a heat pump at our house that cools us down in the hot summers, so I have a while to wait to try this tip out.

So that concludes today's Domestic Diva tip, stay tuned as I experiment and test out my pins for usefulness and general domestic zen-ness??? Is that a word?

Meh.......see ya!

P.S. Feel free to check out my pin board titled Domestic Diva...click here

Vintage goodies galore

I have come to realize something about myself as I age. I have great potential to be a seriously awesome hoarder.
It's in my genes! My Nana is a hoarder, I'm pretty sure my mum is too and I really, really think I would be fantastic at it!!!
I have these great memories from my childhood, and maybe you have some similar as I know that people from my Nana's generation didn't throw ANYTHING away. Or maybe you don't and as it turns out my family is just plain weird!!!

Every Sunday we would go to my Nana's house, for as long as I can remember, that's just what our family did and still do..for me at least until I moved to Canada at the age of 26.
After we had eaten our "Tea" or dinner, we usually would play a board game, watch Walt Disney or 60 minutes and if we were lucky, on a warm summer evening, we would be allowed to go look for treasure in Nana's garage.
Nana and Poppy's garage was more like a covered carport or lean to, attached to the side of a shed that housed their caravan and seasonal stuff.

In that carport, there may have been a car buried under all the "stuff", I'm not altogether sure but my brain is not letting me access that information.
Now remember, I'm about 8 years old and to me, that garage was like stumbling upon the cave of Ali Baba and his forty thieves.
We would ask Nana if we could go pick something from the garage to take home, sometimes she would say yes and sometimes she would decline and we would sulk and go find something else to do. BUT......if she said yes, my two sisters and I would race to that hoard pile of treasure and climb up to the top of the "Stuff" and look for something fantastic to take home.
It was dark in there...and dusty...and soooooo much fun!!!

I don't recollect any of the objects that I selected so much as the thrill of the hunt..and climbing up as high as possible so I could maybe find that perfect something to be mine. In my mind I picture the scene to be like something out of a Dr Seuss story and I'm positive that the garage was not, in fact, filled to the ceiling with stuff but probably just had lots of boxes stacked around mixed in with important, necessary objects.
But that's my happy memory and I'm planning to keep it that way.

So I'm pretty sure that's where my hoarding gene was burned into my soul.

Now I'm not talking about being the type of hoarder that keeps stuff like clothing, garbage and useless stuff around. I'm more of a vintage/ furniture/ tchotchke type of hoarder.
I especially like going to thrift store's, the one's run by little old ladies where the store layout had no rhyme or reason and you really have to dig for your treasure. Remember, I'm all about the thrill of the hunt!!!!!

There is a fantastic antique store in Enderby which I pop into a couple of times a year. I usually end up leaving empty handed as I am married to a non hoarder and I can't justify purchasing 95% of what I would really love to bring home.
My mum was here recently so we took a family excursion to the store and spent a good hour in there looking at all of the treasures. My hubby was on the hunt for antique razors, his new addiction. Zoe collects old bottles and picked up a few lovely ones.
And me????? Well, I just took some great pictures of all of the things I wished I could bring home with me.

If you ever find yourself in Enderby with some time to kill, go check out Jerry's Antiques.

Spring break 2012

 

What to do, what to do with kids for spring break? My day yesterday went a little something like this.

•  Get up, feed kids.
•  Pull all the pictures off the wall and start moving things from wall to wall until it feels right.
• Change one thing, nothing else feels right.
• Put everything else back on the wall so that hubby doesn't notice when he comes home.
• Take pics of the one thing that you are happy with (see below).

• Feed kids lunch.
• Go outside and burn some energy (see below).

• Pack the kids back up in the car to get those icy cold toes into a nice warm shower.
• Put kids to bed to rest for another fun day tomorrow.

Domestic Diva Tip #1

So, if you've not discovered Pinterest yet then I must warn you to continue reading this post at your own risk. 
I will not be held responsible for any addiction that you may encounter, the hours of your day wasted on the computer or the sudden urge to modpodge, organize, redesign and/or renovate your entire life!!!!


If you are brave enough ( or stupid enough ) to ask "What is Pinterest" then I apologise in advance.

Pinterest is an online Virtual pinboard.
It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

For example, I have a board title "domestic diva", this is where I accumulate all of the brilliant ideas OTHER people have discovered for housekeeping that I plan to implement in my own home so as to radiate domestic awesomeness.

So the theme of this post is exactly that.......Domestic diva tips. I would like to share some tried and true ideas that I've found on pintereset and elsewhere online so that I can at least feel as though the hours spent in front of my computer screen ooohing and aaaahing have not been in vain.

Starting from today, maybe once a week, once a month or as the urge floods over me to share, I will test a Domestic Diva Tip and give it either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

That way you can all keep from wasting your precious time on a Pinterest addiction such as mine!!

So here goes: 

Domestic  Diva

Tip #1

Protecting stainless appliances

with baby oil.

A couple of hears ago we upgraded our kitchen appliances, the hubby instantly wanted stainless steel, a look I LOVE also. However, we've all heard the warnings about finger prints, smudges and scuffs driving even the most dedicated housekeeper to insanity.

But who can resist?? You either come to terms with the fact that your appliances will never look clean like the day you unwrapped them or make stainless steel wipes your new best friend!

I do a little of both, I can live with the smudges on a day to day basis but always find myself shining those suckers up before a dinner party or visit from the mother in-law.

I recently read somewhere the baby oil does a great job of buffing up those appliances like brand new so I thought I'd give it a try. Normally I use the stainless steel wipes from the supermarket, no brand in particular, just whatever is on sale. There's no doubt that they work but they are a little pricey for what you get, and I always try to stretch the amount of  square inch wiping I get from each cloth and end up with tell tale "cheap lady" streaks.

So, good old Johnson's baby oil, I'm sure this bottle is as old as my 6 year old. But it still looks, smells and works great. A little squirt onto some paper towel and buff to your hearts content. 

Some people recommend that you clean the surface first with a wet cloth, mine wasn't too bad to start with but you can see the streak marks from the last time I wiped my fridge down. If you look carefully, the door on the right has been wiped with baby oil and the one on the left is a good representation of what my stainless steel always looks like.

I was going to leave one side treated and the other untouched in order to do a comparison in a week or so but the pure joy I got from seeing my stainless steel so shiny got the better of me and I ended up doing everything, the dishwasher included!

So readers, The Fonz and I agree. The cheap and multi-use baby oil gets my vote, my home will now officially be a stainless steel wipe free building.

House cleaning central also offers a multitude of other options for cleaning stainless steel. I've only tried the baby oil and am super happy with the results so far. 

Happy Domestic Bliss to you all. Feel free to share any of your own tips.

SPRING????? Where did you go?

Things were looking so good, the grass turning green, the snow all melted and the sun shining like no-ones business. So I dug out the shorts from the back of the closet, dusted off the gum boots and got to it!

My peonies breaking through the surface like red hot pokers.

The sedum bursting to get out there and put a smile on my face. I can always count on the sedum to be one of the first to show up at my garden party.

My old friend Mr garlic....wakie wakie rise and shine!! Getting ready for the long growing season ahead.

Time to invite some veggies to join the party!!! Bush beans, zucchini, squash and pumpkin all in the ground, along with the dahlia tubers that have been hanging out in my house all winter long oh so patiently,

It was looking so promising..........and then......DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

GGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Off to the store to buy more seeds!!!!!

A new home for pepper dog?

With all the flurry and excitement of spring it's easy to get caught up in planning new projects for the house and yard. I have to continually remind myself of all the unfinished projects that need to be completed, and reassure myself that we'll get to them eventually.

But in the meantime I thought I'd share these cute, space saving funky ideas for the four legged family members of your home. I would love to have one of these for our pepper dog, he is always hanging out on the deck, why not make his home also functional while we're at it.

Dace and I were just discussing where to locate the dog house, with all of the deck renovations we've done recently poor pepper doesn't know where he's supposed to be anymore.
The garden keeps expanding as does the deck and all of his favourite spots keep getting dug up or built on top of.

Someone was using their noggin when they thought up this idea. The people over at Sustainable Pet have created these space saving designs, I thought it would be perfect for our deck and our dog! They also make cute bird houses too...very trendy!

They come with or without plants and are made of all non-toxic materials, including beeswax waterproofing.

The Heart Box is my favourite. I'm imagining it would have to be quite large to accommodate pepper dogs rear end and allow for a good turn around space inside....another project for hubby?????

Vintage book wreath.

Here it is...all done and in it's new spot in my house. It's not overly christmassy is it? You'd tell me if it was...right????

What a quick and rewarding project for an icky outside day. Nothing beats a good session with the hot glue gun.

I'm not going to get all ellaborate with a tutorial as this one is so easy, even my 10 year old could do this.

Step 1. If you don't have a styrofoam wreath to use as a base you could do what I did and simply make one from an old cardboard box....like so....this way you get to make whatever size you like.

Old books are great if you can get them, these ones were on the side of the road free, free, free....a little smelly but free I tell ya.
Step 2. Tear pages from your book, giggle because it feels so naughty....and set them aside. Warm up your hot glue gun.

Step 3. Curl, fold or scrunch your pages however you like to get the desired effect, glue them onto the BACK of your wreath form.
I tried to overlap mine just a tiny bit to make sure the the cardboard was not exposed.

Step 4. Flip your wreath over. Begin a second row of pages, followed by a third and forth if you like. You can keep going for a fuller wreath, it's completely up to you. glue, glue, glue.

To complete the final row I folded the edges of the page slightly and wrapped it back onto the backside of the wreath and a shot of hot glue to hold it all down.

 

You can glue a hook on the back or a piece of folded ribbon or string for hanging.

Taaadaaaaaaa!!

Christmas in February?????

I've been thinking a lot about wreaths since last week, Brenda was whipping up some lovely ones at the store and I think wreaths need to be more of a year round decorating item rather than being dusted off and hung for Christmas.
I found some lovely ones on line and after picking up some used books on the side of the road yesterday, I now have the materials to make my own.

Here's a few I found already that I think are close to what I have in mind.

I think I like the first one the best and feel like it's in my skill level.

Watch this space for the finished product and maybe even a tutorial.

It's a winter wonderland out there.

I think the Canadian snow loving gene is slowly penetrating my Aussie sun loving being. Its been 10 years since I moved here and I would say it's taken those 10 years for me to really appreciate this insane weather.

Usually I am so in awe of the snow in the beginning of the winter, it's so pretty the way it blankets everything and makes all things look so strikingly clean and fresh....but just after Xmas something snaps inside of me ( I believe this may be the beginning of the infamous cabin fever), and I've had my fill. Counting down the days until spring and the warm sunshine becomes my daily ritual.

But this year I must say, I don't half mind the fluffy white stuff and the chilly mornings.

This year we purchased skates for the whole family and are making a wee bit of an effort to learn to skate, it's a bit embarrassing to be out there on the ice pushing around a chair for balance, I'm finding these days the fear of falling on my butt is way more scary that being laughed at because I look like an idiot.

The luge track is open for business and is better than ever. The hubby spends hours manicuring the track every year and fine tuning the angles and turns to satisfy the need for speed. It's a fine art let me tell you and he does it so well.

To keep ourselves busy inside we've been picking small projects that require no budget to complete, purging house stuff has been a big focus this year and finishing off projects long forgotten.

Here's a shot of some wall art hubby recently hung in the living room, some old saw blades we got from a farm auction.

This wall was an odd one to find art for and this seems to work well, plus..added bonus..it keeps the kids from climbing on and around the couch.

The death of Mr Jack 'O'

I don't know about everyone else out there but a real sign that Halloween is over and done with at our house is the traditional jack 'o' lantern slaughter in our goat field.

Please observe........

....everyone say bye bye Jack 'O'.....

          ....Jack 'O' say hello to my little friend Chopper!

mmmmmmmmm pumpkin.

So, if you are within driving distance of my house, please feel free to join in the annual pumpkin feeding frenzy by bringing over your Jack 'O's.

And on a completely different topic, I'm hoping my wonderful friend Sam, who happens to be the best crocheter ( is that a word?) in the world..will give me a hand to learn how to make me one of these.......

......super cute. I found it here.