It's Monday!

Ok I've seriously been slacking.  I'm totally failing at the Happy House Express Challenge, and haven't finished any of my chores in the last week.  I haven't even posted on here.  I have some work to do!

Excuses, excuses... so yeah I started  new part time job and haven't felt good at all due to all the ragweed being out, but it's still no excuse.  I should have at least finished something!

I also totally forgot to pay my water bill.  I woke up the other morning, turned on the water to make coffee, and nothing. Uh oh! At first I thought they may have turned it off since they are working on the road nearby, but then I opened the bill that had come in the mail the day before... Listed the last water bill and the new one due September 15th...  The August bill was technically 15 days late.  So, apparently here they turn your water off really fast.  Add a $10 late fee and a $30 turn off charge and my bill basically doubled.  Wonderful!  I'll be very careful that doesn't happen again!  They could have at least knocked on my door to say they were turning it off.  I'd have paid them right then.  Luckily, they turned it back on the same day and I was able to do the loads of laundry I needed to finish.

Yesterday I finally caught up on washing the dishes.

Today I am washing my quilt for my bed and changing my sheets.  In the middle of washing the quilt, the washing machine drain overflowed... so now I'm doing the baking soda/vinegar down the drain thing.

Any disasters mistakes of your own to post?

Weekend Planning Blog Hop!

This weekend, I'm working!  Needless to say, I seriously need to plan because of that.

Friday
Go fill out paperwork for new part time job.
Work out
Chill with SO
Make dinner

Saturday
Wash car
Work out
Have another day off with SO! Yay!

Sunday
Work... Overtime, yippee!
Catch up on chores...

• Wash and put away dishes
• Clean out fridge
• Take out trash
• Vacuum laundry, kitchen, bedroom, and living room
• Do other daily chores from express challenge
• Manicure and Pedicure
• Laundry (at least 2 loads... work clothes and socks/underware)

So that's it for my weekend planning.  Doesn't seem like a lot, but Sunday is a busy day for sure!

Now, onto the Blog Hop! Instructions from My Happy House.

How it Works:
If you haven't already, blog about your weekend plans. Maybe you have a bunch of projects you are going to tackle. Maybe you are attending BBQ after BBQ. Or perhaps you are laying low. Whatever it is, share it on your blog! Try to include at least one task to accomplish as that is the Happy House way ;) Feel free to use the "Weekend Planning" button in your post, the code is on the bottom right hand side of the blog.

Then, come back to this blog and link up your post in the link collection at the bottom of this entry.

If you want to participate in the hopping part of the Blog Hop, simply click on the "get InLinkz code" at the bottom of the post, copy the code provided and include it in your Weekend Planning post! The more people that participate, the further your blog will hop! :)




Get the inLinkz Code

Soft & Absorbent Towels

Picture from Apartment Therapy

In case you didn't already know, you're not supposed to used fabric softener (including dryer sheets) on towels. Why you ask?  It creates a build up of chemicals on the fabric.  These chemicals may make the towels soft and fluffy and reduce wrinkles and static cling, but they also help to repel liquid stains including water. When you attempt to dry off with your nice fluffy, great smelling, soft towel it doesn't work.  I especially noticed a problem with my kitchen towels, as I would go to dry up a spill and they would just push the spill around.

I have found this amazing substance that softens towels, but they remain absorbent.  It's very simple, and every household most likely has some in their pantry.

My secret weapon? Vinegar! Plain old white vinegar.

When washing your towels, add 1/2 cup of vinegar to your rinse cycle or fabric softener cup (works for HE washers too).  After drying, your towels will be nice, soft, fresh smelling, and absorbent!

Try it!  Let me know if it works for you.

Petite Vanilla Bean Scones

Petite Vanilla Bean Scones

Prep Time 20 Minutes
Cook Time 20 Minutes
Servings 12

Picture and recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Ingredients

SCONES
3 cups All-purpose Flour
⅔ cups Sugar
5 teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
2 sticks (1/2 Pound) UNSALTED Butter, Chilled
1 whole Large Egg
¾ cups Heavy Cream (more If Needed...I used about 1/8 cup more)
2 whole Vanilla Beans

GLAZE
3 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
½ cups Whole Milk
1 whole Vanilla Bean
Dash Of Salt

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Split the vanilla beans down the middle lengthwise and scrape out all the vanilla “caviar” inside. Stir caviar into cream. (I added the empty bean for more flavor and just removed them before adding to the dry ingredients.) Set aside for 15 minutes.

Sift together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut cold butter into pats, then use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour. Keep going until mixture resembles crumbs.  Be patient.  This takes awhile.

Beat the egg in a separate bowl.  Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture; stir gently with a fork just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until it forms a rough rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.) Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Use your hands to help with the forming if necessary.

Use a knife to trim into a symmetrical rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Transfer to a parchment or baking mat-lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

VANILLA GLAZE

To make the icing, split one vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the caviar. Stir caviar into milk; allow to sit for awhile. Mix powdered sugar with the vanilla milk, adding more powdered sugar or milk if necessary to get the consistency the right thickness. Stir or whisk until completely smooth.

One at a time, carefully dunk each cooled scone in the glaze, turning it over if necessary. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.


My Comments

Recipe can be altered for other flavors. Just add 1 cup whatever flavoring. (Blueberry lemon, oatmeal rasin, cranberry orange etc.)

Honestly I messed up when making these.  The first time I moved the dough to roll it out, it was too crumbly and totally fell apart.  No worries though.  I scooped everything back into the bowl, added a bit more cream and mixed a little more before dumping the dough back out to make my rectangle.  I was scared I'd totally messed things up, but I pushed through and they still rose just fine.

By the way, the bottle of McCormick's vanilla beans only has 2 beans in it.  I learned that the hard way.  I just used 1 1/2 for the scones, and 1/2 for the glaze.  Still very yummy vanilla!

I flash froze half with no glaze before baking and baked/glazed the other half.  I only made 1/2 the glaze recipe.

They turned out amazing! I ended up with 9 glazed scones... 3 had to be taste tested to um.. make sure they weren't poisonous. Let's just say they're good even without the glaze!

Breaking Bad Habits #2

I have another bad habit to add to my list.

1. Leaving clean clothes on the pool table.
2. Making a recipe, loving it, and not being able to find it again!


I hate this!  I have made multiple recipes that I loved and have not been able to find them to repeat them.  The one in particular today was blueberry scones.  I know I'd combined recipes from multiple sites to come up with a good blueberry scone recipe.  I even made a lemon icing as a topping.

I could have sworn I put the recipe into a binder I keep for things I've printed off the internet.  No such luck.

Recently, I started typing and saving or copying and pasting recipes into Google Docs.  That is, if I remember to do it.  I must have made this one before that though.

Now, I'm hoping to blog about the new recipes I'm finding on my blog.  I just have to remember to take pictures of them.

That doesn't help me now though.  I'll just have to start all over again.

Another place I've found recipes that I can't find now is magazines.  A couple years ago I made some awesome pumpkin muffins that didn't call for cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (I'm deathly allergic!).  I don't remember what magazine I got them out of, or where to find the recipe again.  Grr!

Here's to breaking this bad habit and saving recipes from now on.

Closet Cleaning Fun

Who doesn't love a clean closet? The wonder of being able to find your clothes and shoes was lost to me for the past few months (ok, ok years...).

The idea behind cleaning my closet was to be able to "shop my closet" and actually wear my clothes (as opposed to uniforms and PJ's all the time). It just feels so good to have a clean closet. It adds to my motivation for keeping everything clean. If everything has its place, it's easier to put it away!

I originally posted these pictures on the You Look Fab Forum.  You Look Fab Forum Closet Cleaning Post



So the first picture is the messy, messy closet! I had some plastic drawers in my closet to organize socks and undies etc. Yes those are my panties and my bras. Just had to show how messy it really was. I couldn't even close the door!



Next is the messy dresser. Ok, most of my clothes are folded, but they are all mixed up! It's hard to find anything to wear. You know us girls have a horrible time deciding what to wear... it's even worse when you can't find anything!



So I took everything out of the closet. I wiped down the shelves and vacuumed and steam mopped the floor.



Here is all the stuff I took out of the closet. Stuff everywhere! Clothes on pool table are all clean and have been there for about a week... not all mine, some are SO's.

Next in the process was sorting through my clothes. I had a huge donate pile of clothes I still had from middle school that I knew do not fit anymore! LOL Also had a trash pile for the things that are worn out... not much in that pile, mostly panties and socks. I made a store away pile for the things I just couldn't part with yet. If I don't go searching for them in the next year, they will be donated. Everything else goes in the keep pile.  Tiger Lily was helping!

I went to Wally World (it's all we have here in our small town) and bought 40 wooden hangers for about $25... I thought they would all match, but when I got them home for some crazy reason, 20 of them have black metal for the hook, and 20 of them have silver. Grrr!! It was the last 2 boxes they had or I'd take them back. Yes I'm that picky. I also got 8 skirt hangers and a few "shirt" hangers for some of my nicer coats in the front closet.

For around $10 I got the best invention ever, a closet extender. Made my 1 tier hanging space into 2! It adjusted to the perfect size for my closet!

The non-slip liner was left from another project a couple years ago, so I took advantage of something I already had at home.  This kept my shoes from slipping off the shelves and falling all over the floor.

After a few days of work, I thought to myself, "It's finally done!"

Having my closet organized has worked out amazingly! I've actually been wearing outfits more, cute shoes more, and it is a whole lot easier to get dressed! So much better!

I ended up with 5+ bags of stuff to donate.

I didn't think I would fill up the hangers, but I did! I even went back and edited to find my black plastic hangers and had just enough to put my dresses on those. I'll have to get more when I have some more money to spend. For now things are a little mixed up still.

I also donated my smaller drawers to SO's closet... the bigger ones don't fit in there. The 2 bigger ones I have left are holding socks and stockings/hose.  I also have a little tray on top for the things that come out of my pockets and my watch.

My dresser now has my lingere, tank tops/cami's, workout wear, tshirts, and pj's. Everything else will be somewhere in my closet. 

I think one shelf will have shorts for now, and another shirts that can be folded. My shoe shelves are working out wonderfully and they hold mostly nice shoes that don't get worn often. My boots are on the floor in a space. And I have a space behind my dresses that I will probably put my carry on suitcase as I don't have space elsewhere to store it and it doesn't fit under the bed.

I have so much vertical space left above the top shelves, I'm thinking about getting some more shelving... maybe some brackets and have boards cut at home improvement store to add shelving above to store seldom used items/ out of season stuff. Obviously I would have to have a step stool to reach it, but it seems like wasted space.

Note: The blank spots on the top shelves are for jeans and work uniforms. All my jeans and uniforms are in the laundry right now.

And I love my new mirror. I think my SO is using it more than I am!

I love the idea of using a tie hanger for accessories!  It works so well!

On a happy note, during all the organizing I found a favorite necklace I thought I'd lost forever! I had cried and cried over losing that necklace. Not anymore, and now I have a place to put everything!

Hope you like! Let me know if you have any ideas on how to make it better.

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

I got this recipe from Molly via My Happy House/ My Happy Meals. I have to say it is amazing!  Quick, easy, healthy, and tastes great!  I'm from an Italian family, so if it's pasta, and I say it's good... it's really good!

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked pasta (penne)
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can of chicken broth
1 package of cream cheese
1 package frozen spinach (thawed, drained, placed in paper towels and wrung out so that it's dry)
1 tsp garlic, chopped (I used my minced garlic from a jar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
15 cherry tomatoes, halved (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (I bought a block on grated it over the top- fresh)

Cooking Instructions
Cook pasta and drain. Cube chicken breast (1" cubes), heat half the chicken broth in a large skillet and add chicken. Cook until no longer pink (5-7 minutes). Add cream cheese, spinach, remaining chicken broth, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat for 3-5 minutes until cheese melts. Add tomatoes. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes until tomatoes are soft. Toss with pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

Thanks Molly!

Breaking Bad Habits

I have a few of these for sure.  Obviously they are habits so they will not be going away overnight.  I'll start with one and work on it til I think I've got it taken care of, then add another.  This may take awhile!

The first one I'm going to work on is leaving the clean laundry on the pool table in my dining room.  It never fails, I'll leave one load there and it turns into 3-4 quickly.  Turns into an hour worth of folding and putting away laundry before I know it, not to mention the wrinkles and the messy room.

Just recently I cleaned off the pool table and put everything away, so I'm starting with a clean slate.  Let's hope I can keep it that way!

Do you have any bad habits that need breaking?

Check out the new series Breaking Bad Habits with My Happy House!

It's Monday!

It's Monday!  Beginning of another fabulous week.

This weekend I did a couple loads of laundry and put them away (huge accomplishment for me!), cooked dinner Friday night, worked Saturday, and had a girly movie marathon Sunday along with my normal Sunday chores.

I thought today I'd share my "chore" schedule with you. I've found if I do things on a schedule, I'm more likely to remember to change the sheets before it's been a month, or clean the toilet before it has a yucky ring around it. Things stay a lot cleaner, so you don't have to work so hard to clean them.  Add to that a feeling of accomplishment and I think this is a keeper.

My schedule starts on Sunday and goes through Thursday.  I'm still working out the kinks and adding/rewording things so bear with me!

Sunday (Trash)

• Empty all trashcans
• Wipe out trashcans
• Clean out refrigerator
• Take garbage to curb

My garbage day is Monday morning and they like to show up around 0830am so I try to have everything out the night before just in case I'm not up yet.  Little secret though, I have done the mad trashcan dash in my pj's more than once.  Oops!

Monday (Bedrooms)

• Dust bedrooms (furniture, fans, light fixtures etc.)
• Wash sheets or covers/mattress pad
• Vacuum floors
• Make bed with clean sheets

It feels good to start the week with a clean bed!  I mainly use 2 sets of sheets, so I alternate these. I wash the sheets together in one load one week, and the next week I wash the covers/mattress pad.  On the weeks I'm not washing the covers, I vacuum them using my pet hair dust buster. I also spray the bed/mattress pad with Febreeze (Downy April Fresh scent) to add to that wonderfully clean smell.  

Tuesday (Kitchen/Laundry)

• Wipe out microwave
• Clean stove
• Wipe down shelves/counters/table
• Vacuum kitchen/laundry
• Steam mop kitchen/laundry
• Wash Lily (my dog) bed covers/throw rugs

I have a glass top stove, so I use Weisman glass top cleaning wipes throughout the week, but give it a good cleaning/scraping on Mondays.  I also actually wipe down the counters and table and vacuum due to the dog hair and tracking stuff inside every day.  I use a steam mop in the kitchen and laundry. I alternate washing bed covers and rugs between weeks.

Wednesday (Bathrooms)

• Clean sinks, shower, tub, toilets
• Shake out rugs
• Vacuum floors
• Steam mop floors
• Wash rugs or towels (alternating weeks)

Bathrooms are pretty self explanatory.  I am in love with 2 cleaners in particular.  I love Lysol toilet bowl cleaner (in the blue bottle).  I have hard water and when I moved in the toilets had rust rings.  I tried everything you could think of including CLR.  The only thing that worked was this Lysol toilet bowl cleaner.  I've used it ever since.  I also am in love with Method Daily Shower spray.  It smells amazing and helps to keep the glass on our shower doors clean.

Thursday (Entry/Living/Dining Rooms)

• Dust
• Wash blankets
• Vacuum upholstery
• Spray upholstery with Febreeze
• Wipe down remotes/ tray in front of couch and table in front room with Lysol wipes
• Vacuum floors

Thursday by far has the most work/rooms.  It really doesn't take that long though.  I've never timed myself, but I'd say maybe an hour or so.  Depends on if I mop or not.  I have hardwood floors throughout my house and don't want to damage them, so I mop them using a steam mop about once a month (except for the kitchen/laundry and bathrooms are weekly).

Because of my work schedule I shuffle things around a bit.  If I'm not home one day, I catch up over the next day or two.

I recommend scheduling your cleaning.  It may sound silly, but it's a whole lot better than just cleaning things when they get dirty.  This way they stay clean and everyone is much happier and less stressed!  Add to this the daily cleaning items from the Happy House Challenge and you have a nice clean house!

Happy House Challenge

I have been inspired by My Happy House to keep a clean, organized home.  I had already started a few weeks ago on my own, but the express challenge started last week.  The express challenge includes 2 tasks a week to slowly add to a list of 10 things to do every day.  The goal is to have a clean, happy house at the end of 5 weeks.  Also hopefully these things will become habits!

Week 1: Make the Bed and Empty the Sink

Obviously this consists of making the bed every morning (or when you get to it during the day), and making sure all the dishes are either washed and drying or put into the dishwasher.

I finished last week 7/7 for the bed, and 5/7 for the sink, which I think is pretty good considering I don't have a dishwasher!  It is amazing how much better you feel just from making your bed.  The empty, clean sink in the morning is just a bonus!  Now if I could just learn to wash dishes throughout the day and during the cooking process, this would be much easier.

Week 2: Clear the clutter and Sweep the Kitchen

This one just started yesterday.  For clear the clutter, we are supposed to pick a room and go through and put a few things away every night.  The goal is for everything to eventually have a home.  If this is too overwhelming, just take 5 minutes and put a few things away at a time.  I'm going to try for my family room.

Sweep the kitchen is pretty self explanatory.  Some use a broom, some a Swiffer pad... me? I use a vacuum.  I LOVE my Bissell PowerEdge® PET Hard Floor Vacuum.  This thing is seriously amazing!  I have a large dog with long hair and she sheds a lot!  With all hard floors throughout my home, I was going through multiple swiffer pads each day.  This vacuum is great!  It doesn't have bristles for the hair to get stuck in, but instead has rubber strips that guide the dirt and hair into the path of the suction.  Makes for quick work of a large kitchen and mud/laundry room.

Right now my camera battery is charging, but I'll add pictures as soon as it is done.

Have fun with it and enjoy your clean home!

White House, Red Door

Hello!

Welcome to my new blog!  In this blog I plan to document and share my adventures and mishaps while keeping up my home, decorating, cleaning, organizing, and cooking.  My blog name is simple as my house is white and has a red front door... thus White House, Red Door is born!

Thanks for reading!