7. Warm weather: We have had the perfect "spring thaw" the past few days. For the first time in months, we walked to school, soaking up the sun. The kids played outside while I mopped up the kitchen floor and swept the garage. As a bonus . . .
8. Long naps- both babies napped for 3 hours! They were exhausted from all the fresh air. It gave me some time to clean the house and play with Camille.
9. Coffee- Oh, sweet necture of the gods. How I love you. I even love grinding my own coffee beans thanks to...
10. My Magic Bullet- Adam got this for me for Christmas. At first I was like, "Great! Another kitchen utensial to clean. Whoopie." But I LOVE it. It grinds my coffee beans, giving me lovely fresh coffee every morning. It makes smoothies as good as the stores. I love the smoothies and the kids like them too. So healthy for them!
11. Kitchen Aide Mixer- I really wanted one when we were first married. However, according to the all-knowing Consumer Reports (from which we must live and die), the Sunbeam was "just as good." So we got a SunBeam. Then it died and Adam said, "Want a Kitchen Aide?"
Um, YES.
I talked to my friend, who is seriously the best cook ever, and she recommended the artisian. We found a refurbished one for cheap and I love it. I seriously look for things to bake just to use it! I will say that I prefer my Cuisinart food processer to make bread but other than that... I love you, Minnie The Mixer.
12. Baking Soda and Vinegar- The best cleaning agents, the cheapest cleaning agents and probably one of the most eco-friendly. These, combined with hot or boiling water, get my sinks, tubs and even fridge sparkling clean. And they stay clean! There's less build up in my sink now! Bonus!
Until last year, I didn't know you could use basic vinegar as a fabric softener. I started using it and, wow. Not only are the clothes clean and soft, but there is NO build up in my laundry soap trap in the washer. Before, I was pulling out the trap every few weeks to scrub the built-up softener and soap out of it. Ew. Now, it's nice and clean and gunk free! Yay!
I'm going to have to try the Baking Soda and Vinegar as cleaner. I HATE commercial cleaners, they all make me sneeze!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Balsamic in the washer - got to try that too. Only I LOVE Balsamic and may not want to share it with my laundry :)
I use plain while vinegar and it works great! I was so doubtful but there is NO smell at all! I sometimes add a bit of lavendar to it when I wash towels or bedding but that's it. Now I can't stand the smell of normal fabric softener- it's too strong!
ReplyDeleteThe big key, imnsho, is using HOT or boiling water when you clean the sinks. I spinkinh half or one cup of BS on each side of the sink and spray with V. I let it sit 15-30 minutes and them pour boiling water over it and wipe down. I did the same thing to the diaper pail using super hot water (and didn't wipe it down, I just turned it over to dry) and VIOLA! Awesome!