Sunday, September 25, 2011

Keepin' it clean...

I'm not gonna lie... I'm really not very good at this "housewife" stuff. I'm hoping one day I will be, and I think I'm getting better all the time, but I am a work in progress. My house is not always clean. My bed usually isn't made, I don't recommend the 5 second rule around here, and my dog does a lot of artwork on my sliding glass doors...


BUT - there are a few things I have to keep clean. I like a clean kitchen, and clean bathrooms. The rest I can tolerate. We empty the sink every night after dinner so dirty dishes don't pile up, I wipe down the kitchen counters all the time and I get really frustrated when the boy empties out his pockets on the bar and spreads everything out, so I try and pile it all up
and put it in "his basket". Seriously, when you open my front door this is what you see.

(note overflowing green "basket" that needs to be cleaned out...sigh...at least it's in a basket!)

It's the main focal point of our little house. If the kitchen was grody anyone that comes to the door would see it, and I certainly don't want my UPS man thinking we are the dirty people in the neighborhood. That's not cool. I also insist on keeping my guest bathroom tidy. Mostly because I don't like gross bathroom germs, but also because honestly, you just never know when someone is gonna ask you if they can "take a leak" and I don't want them seein' our pee dribbles, that's kind of embarrassing. Since I'm really not good at this cleaning stuff one of my little "tricks" is to keep some of these in both bathrooms.
They work great for a quick cleanup whenever it needs it, or when you know someone is on their way. You can use them on almost every surface in there to spruce it up at the last minute. (and I may have actually used them to clean the entire bathroom today) Keeping one in each bathroom has definitely made a difference. I used to just say "oh, the counter is getting grungy, next time I walk to the other bathroom I'll grab the cleaner and wipe it", but now I just pull out a wipe and do it. The other thing I keep in both bathrooms is toilet bowl cleaner and a brush. To some it might seem silly to have two of all this stuff, but to me, it helps me keep up on the little things that make a big difference. Countertops and toilets are where are the nasty stuff lives, and nobody wants to get someone elses nasties on them when they visit. That's just gross.

Do you have any daily cleanup tips that can help out this un-wife housewife with a busy life from putting off the little things? I would surely appreciate them. And please, if you are gonna stop by, gimme a 5 min warning so I can wipe everything down and we can pretend that I keep a clean house :)

**I wasn't asked by Clorox to write this post... I was just giving ya'll my advice on semi housekeeping and asking for yours! :) **

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Does anyone else ever have this problem?

What you can't see in this photo is that she is actually pushing her head down on my arm so that I can't move it... My silly Zoey Monster. Forever the attention whore...
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Friday, September 16, 2011

Sulfonamona-wha?!?!?!

So I started getting grey hair a little prematurely in life - it's not bad, but it bothers me. It bothered me enough that a few years ago I started dying my hair with that drug store box wash out crap that doesn't actually ever wash out. Eventually I had to start going darker and darker to get rid of the red/orange/brassy color and I began to realize that I no longer knew what my natural color was, but it wasn't this dark brown/orange color that I had acquired.
(brassy/reddish/orangy color - so not natural!)
So this week, for the first time in my life, I had my hair professionally colored. I got highlights. It's so much lighter than my hair has been for the past 5 years that It's taking some adjusting to, but I think I like it. What do you think? Be honest...
(indoor lighting...)

(hello sunshine!)

In an effort to maintain these chemically processed locks properly, I've started looking into sulfate and paraben free shampoos, but I am so confused. There are so many, and so many have ingredients with similar names to sulfates, but are supposedly okay. I don't get it. I also don't want to spend a whole bunch of $ on something that doesn't work well, or smells nasty. I'm a nursing student - I'm broke! The boy loves me, but not enough to spend $50 on shampoo. Have any of you picked up on this SLS free craze? What kind of 'poo do you use for your 'do?