OxiClean

So remember back when I told you about The Works toilet cleaner, and how much I love it? Well, I still do. I wasn't sure I'd ever like another product as much. Last night, though, I discovered something I might be willing to compare. Not for cleaning toilets this time, though. This time, it's my grout. Our kitchen floor constantly looked dirty because our grout had gotten so gross. So once again, I turned to my friend google, who informed me that I should try some OxiClean on it. Yes, the laundry detergent booster. And can I say, AMAZING!

Our floor before:

Same spot after:

A couple things--I read that you should mix 1.5 C water with one scoop of OxiClean, and then use a spraybottle to distribute it on the floor. Now, I took that to meant that I could dump it all in my spraybottle and then shake it up. Uh, my bottle nearly exploded. Apparently there's some sort of chemical reaction that happens there. I'd recommend just mixing it up in a bucket, and then distributing it with a sponge, then scrubbing it with a scrubber. No, you don't have to scrub much, I promise. My floors were just especially bad. And last, just know that you'll have to mop it with fresh water a couple times to get the powder residue all up. Totally worth it, though. My kitchen looks amazing. Seriously.

PS. Please don't bug me about how dirty my floors were before. I know. I. Know. That is all.

Why I Should Never Shower; or It's a Good Thing Cailin Turns One on Monday

Every day, whenever I think the girls are preoccupied enough, I hop in the shower. Usually I try to do this while at least one child is napping, but Thursdays are hard, because we have dance at 11:00, which is normally when Cailin naps. Today, the girls were playing nicely, so I decided to risk getting in while all three girls were awake.

This is post "I cleaned up, Mom! I cleaned up the mess!"

Yes, those are honey nut. No, babies aren't supposed to have honey (or nuts, really), until after they're one.

Cailin couldn't be happier about it all.

Good thing she'll be one on Monday. How is she so old already?

Toddler Quilts FINALLY Finished!

So a year ago, I started attending a block-of-the-month quilting group. At the time I wasn't sure who I was making a quilt for, but I enjoyed the company of the women in the group enough that I wanted to participate in the project anyway. So I took Janey with me to JoAnn's and together we picked out some nice bright fabrics to make her a quilt. Come March, we realized the current bed situation wasn't working for us, and started talking about toddler-sized bunk beds. So I started making the blocks with two beds in mind. Well, last week, I finally finished up the quilts. I am SO pleased with how they've turned out, and the girls love them, too, because they feature their favorite colors in the borders and sashing. I realized, in this project, that quilting isn't necessarily my thing, but it's probably good for me to do it. It requires a lot of patience, as you iron, cut, sew, iron, cut, sew, iron, repeat a million times over. I've taken to lots of very simple, quick projects (and don't get me wrong, I still love those, too), so this has been a good change for me as I've tried to break out of some of my lazy ways.

So, without further ado, here are the quilts!

Janey's (in what else but purple, of course!):

And Breanne's (in red, like her hair):

They aren't perfect by a long shot, and I didn't take them in to be quilted, just ran along the edges of the blocks and borders to pull them together, but I really like how they turned out. More like puff quilts. Nice and cozy, which is great for two little girls sleeping against the edge of a cold house.

P.S. If the fabrics look familiar, it's because you saw them back when I made Cailin's bumpers... Yay, matching bedding all around!