Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Squeals of Delight

Last week a deadline loomed to get a huge order made, packaged and shipped. As the week progressed, my craft room got messier and messier. On Friday afternoon, the toddlers were napping leaving Baby Lou awake. I took advantage of the fact that she wanted to play on the floor and started in on the next blanket. It wasn't long before I heard her squeals of delight. I turned around to find... an impromptu game of Peek-a-Boo with herself amongst the yards of minky. So sweet.

(The only camera within reach was my old one. Sigh. Not the greatest of shots, but you get the idea.)

Monday, February 14, 2011

Laugh or cry?

A little background. When we have out of town guests, I like to try have my mainfloor in tip top shape when they walk in the door. It's fun for me to try see if I can do it because my house is rarely all clean at the same time. I clean daily but not for hours at a a time. I have my reasons for that but I won't get into it now.



My in-laws are coming to town today. I had my day all planned out; sew until noon, clean for a hour or so while the toddlers napped, sew again until my in-laws arrived.



It was 10 bells and I decided to give my MIL a call to see if they'd be here for dinner. "We just left Denver", she said. WHAT? Denver? Oh boy, they were only about 6 hours ahead of schedule. This'll be interesting.



Dashing downstairs, I grabbed my cleaning rag and started in on the mess, thankful Louise was asleep. In record time I had the floor washed, bathrooms cleaned and stairs vacuumed. Out the door we zoomed to the grocery store.



Returning home, I was feeling great. House clean, groceries bought. I was on a roll. Now all I had left was to feed the kids lunch, put them for naps, straighten up a tad and then I'd be able to sew until they arrived. Perfect.



As I sat down to eat my lunch, I heard my two year old say, "come here Lou, come and get it." and Lou giggle. I turned around to find an entire roll of toilet paper unrolled and what pieces Lou could get, she shredded into pulp after first smearing them in her boogers. Before I could blink, the 2 yr old passed the Tupperware cupboard opened it and swiped half of it onto the floor. Lou plowed thru it, scattering it in all directions.


Continuing their terrorizing onward, they overturned the baby toy bucket, yanked out a few diapers and tossed a couple books before I could stop them. As I reached down to scoop up Lou I realized "someone" had slipped her a piece of banana during lunch, which she promptly devoured, leaving her hands full of banana-ish. That banana-ish was now all over every surface she had just crawled across.

Laugh or cry? Cry or laugh? Not saying a word, I tossed my cleaning rag in the wash and decided I was done. Done cleaning. Done straightening. Done with it all.




Grandpa and Grandma will be welcomed by a tornado, one that was lovingly and happily created by their granddaughters. I refuse to stress about it. It's just a house. One that will get messy again anyway.

Sledding

in the foothills of the mountains,on a Sunday afternoon.



What an awesome way to spend a winter day with family and friends.


Friday, February 11, 2011

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, nestled in the mountains of Western Colorado, lived a happy little family on a pretty flat piece of land.

Early in February of 2011, it snowed a decent amount of snow for the first time that winter.
That afternoon, while the Mom was out shoveling the driveway, she had a brilliant idea. "I'm going to build my kids a sledding ramp. Maybe now they'll play out in the snow for longer than 2 minutes." So that is what she did.After school, the two boys tried out the ramp and the Mom was quite pleased with her creation.

As the boys came in for dinner, they told the Mom, "The ramp doesn't work. It's not high enough." The Mom replied, "See if you can talk Dad into making it bigger for you."


So that is what he did.
While Dad flung snow, the children

amused themselves by running and sliding across what little bit of ice was left on the ice rink in the backyard.

They laughed, giggled and had great fun!!
Soon, with the daylight rapidly fading, the new and improved ramp was ready for use. Over and over they slid, making certain their ski goggles were over their eyes as a whitewash was inevitable.
Meanwhile, indoors the Mom went about her evening activities. After a while, she realized the Dad and two sons were still outdoors. Peering out the window into the dark of the night she saw,
the ramp had grown and was still being improved. A grand time was had by all! And they all lived happily ever after.
Moral of the story: The Dad can build a much better sledding ramp than the Mom and the Mom very thankful for that. :)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Oh what a view!!

While I'm turning a blanket right side out or threading elastic thru a bag holder, I can look out my craft room window in one direction and see this. Then I look the other direction
to view this. Unbelievable!
I am one lucky dog!

Monday, February 7, 2011

A quick shout out

Man, do I have some talented friends! Every so often I hear of another one who has opened an Etsy shop. Here are two I just "found". leaandlars
I've already told you about these others, but just in case you forgot, here they are again:
Who did I forget? Kim? Have you opened shop yet? ;)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Norwex

The idea for this post came to me last night as I was washing my floor with my Norwex microfiber cloth.

Norwex cleaning products are all the rage in my peer group right now. Here's their blurb taken from their website: "All Norwex products support our company mission to improve the quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning. With a commitment to effective cleaning, responsible care for the earth, and the power of information, together we can become a generation to leave behind a legacy of improved quality of life."


Disclaimer #1: I am not trying to sell you anything, nor am I getting paid to write this. No body has asked me to write this post.

The reason I bought Norwex is because with kids starting to clean bathrooms and floors, we were going thru cleaning products like crazy. 1 capful of Lysol quickly turned into "oops, I just dumped in half the bottle". If they could clean using just water, I was willing to try it to save a few bucks.

My Norwex products and I have gotten along great. I am one of those goofy people who like a nice cleaning rag. When I find a favorite rag, I use it all the time. Just trying to make a necessary, but sometimes unpleasant, task a bit more enjoyable.

However, I've noticed a drawback of cleaning with Norwex. There's no smell involved.

Scene #1: The kids walking in the door from school.
Pre-Norwex: First kid thru the doors, smelling the lingering Lysol, yells to the other "Take your shoes off, Mom just washed the floor." Or else "Hey Mom, I can tell you cleaned today cuz I can smell it."

Post-Norwex: Kids fly thru the door from school, drop their backpacks, race into the kitchen and hear me say, "Shut-the-door-and-take-your-shoes-off-can't-you-tell-I-just-washed-the-floor-ugh!!!"


Scene #2 Hubby walking in the door late at night after his monthly Board Meeting to a freshly cleaned house.
Pre-Norwex: "It looks nice in here!"

Post-Norwex: "Yawn, I should really hit the sheets!"

Now that I use Norwex, no one knows when I clean or that I even do it. There's no smell to alert them that I do more around here than hibernate in my craft room or wash an occasional load of clothes.

Disclaimer #2: I do not expect to be complimented, thanked or patted on the back for cleaning. The above statements were completely tongue-in-cheek.

My two other favorite Norwex products are;

the dish rags. These work awesome on my granite tile counter tops. They don't leave streaks. The kids can get the counter tops clean and shiny when using these rags.the de scaler spray. When we bought our house, it had sat empty for a couple of years. There were hard water spots on both shower doors and around the faucets. I sprayed this on there, let it sit for a bit, wiped with my rag and they're shiny as new. Mom, you need this for your house!


If you're looking for a consultant call; Brenda K in MN, Jenny K in AZ or Joan J in CO.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

We have a winner!!

The winner of the CSN gift certificate is....


Caroline!
"Caroline said...
I'd love to win!!
January 20, 2011 3:17 PM"
Congratulations! I'll send you your gift certificate and you can shop the day away!