Revisiting Vinegar

I have a friend who posted on her Facebook page the other day about how she discovered that white vinegar will clean the grout in her bathroom, and clean it well! If you've poked around my blog a bit then you've probably discovered my page about homemade cleaners.

Vinegar is my #1 go to for many of my cleaning chores around the house. I use it straight as fabric softener in the wash as well as to clean and neutralize pet accidents, I combine it with rubbing alcohol, water and a drop of dish soap for windows, counters and appliances and I use it mixed with water to clean my kitchen floors. I mix it 50/50 with Dawn dish soap to clean hard water stains and soap film off my tub and shower and I put a cup of it in my carpet steam cleaner to remove odors and stains-as a bonus it leaves the carpet soft and fluffy when it's dry. I also use it periodically as a rinse on my hair to remove hard water build up which dulls my color and makes my wavy hair look...well, not so much wavy as frizzy-and when my hair is dry there is almost no vinegar smell, I say almost because there is just a hint..and if I used some olive oil as a moisturizer I'd smell..well, kind of delicious if you're into salads!

Here is the link to The Vinegar Institute website where they have dozens of uses. At around $2.00 for a gallon, it's a safe, environmentally friendly and frugal product to have in your arsenal of cleaning supplies.

Pin of the Day 4/24

I love this idea and I'd love to adapt it to my pantry. Put the often used items on the door shelves where I can get right to them and the store the less often used items inside the pantry. This would also adapt well for my hall closet, my clothes closet or an entryway closet. Oh the possibilities!

Pin of the Day 4/19

Back today with a Pinterest Pin of the Day:

I really like the rustic look of the used brick combined with the irregular shapes of concrete. Our local Craigslist has many postings in their "free" section every week with offers of used concrete chunks and bricks. This would be an awesome and FREE way to landscape our ugly side yard that we only see when we take out the trash. It wouldn't be hard to to turn our ugly and often weed filled side yard into something this cute and kitschy. As a bonus, the brick and concrete may cut down of the stray cats using our side yard as their own toilet facilities (yuck) and will probably inhibit some of the weed growth. 

Pin of the Day 4/15

Today's pin is a beautiful crochet basket! I love the ombre effect, the artist used 9 colors to create it.It caught my eye as soon as the page loaded. The colors are fabulous! I'm thinking this would be a great basket to crochet as a gift. Hmmmm, do I need a gift any time soon??? Even if I don't it's a project worth making!

Pinterest Pin of the Day 4/14

I have upcycled/recycled many an Altoid tin over the years, but not quite like this! I've got a few saved up right now that I can put into use in my very messy, fully dis-organized upper left hand desk drawer. It's so bad that I actually avoid opening it up. (shocking, I know)
I can make the labels using my printer and my Xyron Create a Sticker and along with yesterday's shutter project, be on my way to a better organized work area.

Pinterest Pin of the Day 4/13

Today's Pin of the Day is an organizing tool that would work well over my desk:

I know somewhere out in the garage I have a set of shutters, or maybe it was a shutter door. Either way, I can have the Hubster cut, paint, add a backer board and install the shutter over my desk in no time at all! It certainly will help get the paperwork OFF my desk and up where I can see it and look nice in the process.

My Pinterest Pin of the Day

I've got to say, THIS pin really got me thinking!

How awesome would my mornings be if I had cabinet for my coffee maker WITH a POT FILLER faucet IN the cabinet! I think I've found my personal Holy Grail of Kitchen Organization. This came to me at the perfect time too, as we are planning on updating our kitchen this summer. I just happen to know a cabinet maker and a plumber...I think it's time to invite the pair of them over for coffee! :-D  

50% Off Alert!

Two things I love are a cute handbag and a great sale and I love it even more when the two come together!

Through a link on The Flylady's FB page I found the fine ladies at Reverse-A-Purse. They've created some cute handbags in a good selection of styles and sizes that have fun, fashionable, reversible covers that you can change up to coordinate with your wardrobe. I know there are other companies out there that have done this, but I fell in love with the style and color combinations they offer on their website.

Reverse-A-Purse is running a 50% Off sale for their FB fans until Midnight EST tonight (Thurs 4/12). The sale applies to everything on the site including their ALREADY DISCOUNTED Deal of the Week! The code you need is FB50.  I ordered 2 bags and 4 reversible covers and as soon as they arrive I'll give them a review, snap a bunch of pics and share it all here.

What the heck????

I was about to embark on a new idea to post my favorite Pinterest pin of the day and I came across what I thought was a single pin anomaly. Upon further investigation (by way of a Google search for rock cozies) I found there are quite a few people making crochet covered rocks. Yes, there are people "out there" and I mean that in every way possible, crocheting covers for rocks.

Crochet Rock Pin

I also found crochet covered rocks on, Etsy

and on Ebay

And a website devoted to the crochet covered rocks as well.






I'm amused and confused by the crochet covered rocks. The artist whose blog I referenced may be on to something though, as I suddenly feel like I may have a use for all those scraps of yarn I have been hanging on to thinking that "someday" I'll find a project for them. Perhaps, finally I have. Of course I won't be leaving MY yarn embellished stones on beaches to be found, I'll most likely be leaving them on the piles of paper that litter my desktop, kind of like a warm and cozy, pre-historic organizing system. :-D

Tomorrow I'll start my Favorite Pin of the Day postings...today, I'll just enjoy this kitschy little discovery.

Backyard stuff

About yesterday's photos, they are shots of my backyard. The backyard I am transforming into a work of art that completely speaks to who I am...yeah riiiiiight! All kidding aside, I'm adding a few cute and kitschy elements to add interest to our worn and tired old yard:

This is the perrinial garden that the Hubster planted for me. Ignore the excess dirt around the edges and the empty containers in the background, it's still a work in progress. It has Delphinium, Alyssum, Geraniums and Ranunculus with room for some Poppies and Marigolds.





                                                                                                                                                                               

Our home was built in 1921 and this is thought to be the original bathtub. From what year exactly, we don't know for sure, but "sources" date it to somewhere between the 1930's and 1940's. We've been moving it around our backyard for the 33 years this house has been in our family and planting various types of plants in it every summer-I guess this would probably be considered my ultimate upcycle! This summer it will be home to my Roma Grape tomato plants. I have planted these in the tub in years past and they have done very well.  I thought about putting some Ivy Geranium (seen in background) in the tub, but my love for fresh tomatoes outweighs my love of Ivy Geranium...of which I have plenty. Tomatoes, not so much.

This is roughly how it will look this summer...much neater of course! 

Hoping to be able to plant this weekend, the "weather guessers" are predicting rain for Saturday so right now it's wait and see. 

More photos to follow as work progresses.

Dead battery delay

I went to start a project today and really wanted to take photos to share but found my camera battery was dead. Dead as a door-nail. *sad face* I'll charge the battery and try again tomorrow. Until then, here a a few photos I've taken to hold you over:

These photos are all related...and tomorrow I will show you how!

Blessed Easter!

Happy Easter! I've been up since "Early Thirty" preparing a breakfast buffet for my wonderful family.

On the menu this beautiful morning:

• Muffins (from a mix because I am NO Martha Stewart at 6am) 
• Bacon; regular and Canadian
• Orange Juice
• Eggs-cooked to order
• English Muffins
• Spinach
• Cheese
• Waffles with Butter and Syrup
• Grapefruit
• Red grapes
• Coffee-LOTS of Coffee
• Fancy flavored creamers
• Milk and Chocolate Milk

I'm not making a big Easter dinner this year because the only ones home to eat it will be Hubster, me and our Son (14 w/autism) because the 2 older teens have other plans and quite frankly, the 3 of us aren't big dinner eaters anymore so we're keeping it simple and  making Tacos for dinner. I like to think outside the box when it comes to Holiday dinners. My Mom was the same way, we always had Lasagna for Christmas dinner. In fact for me, Christmas isn't Christmas without Lasagna. Crazy, I know, but I do LOVE family traditions even when they're not traditional.

Disclaimer: The photos above are finds from Google Images and not photos taken of my food by me because quite frankly, it's too early for me to operate heavy machinery or cameras. :-o

Garden Apron

As I was working in my garden this morning I realized that I needed a garden apron. Not wanting to go out and spend money on something that I will basically be digging in the dirt in, I hit the internet in search of ideas. What I found was the easiest garden apron EVER!. I "pinned" it on my Awesome Ideas board...because it's is the most awesome idea I've seen all week! I'm off now to raid the back of my closet for a pair of jeans to use!

Ham...now and then.

I came across this recipe for Jack Daniel's Glazed Ham. It sounds divine! I'm not baking a ham this year but I may just pick one up at the grocery store and give this recipe a try.

And since we know leftover ham is inevitable, here are some ideas on what to do with the leftovers:

• Au Gratin Potatoes with ham
• Ham and Beans (A family favorite here at Casa de Lyndie!)
• Ham and Cheese Omelets
• Navy Bean Soup
• Ham Sandwiches
• Ham Croquettes

It's a beautiful day here in sunny Southern California so I think I'll wrap this up here and head outside and work in my yard and garden. 

Kohl's Discount Code Alert

I Love Kohl's the store and the website, and I Love, Love, LOVE this handbag!! And it's on CLEARANCE!  And I have a discount code for 20% off!
The code is SPRING2SAVE and it expires 4/7/12 so if you want to use it on this fabulous handbag or perhaps something else that tickles your fancy, then you'd better HURRY!

Discount Razors for real!

Have you ever heard of the Dollar Shave Club? Well, I hadn't either until last month. I saw a post on Facebook about how you can get men's (or ladies if you don't mind NOT having a pink handle on your shaving device) razors starting at $1 a month delivered by mail right to your home. I decided to use the Hubster's face as my test subject so I navigated to their website, ordered the $6 a month blades ($6.50 with tax and free shipping) and waited for the mail to arrive.
Once they arrived I handed them off to the Hubster and let him shave at will. He noticed right away that they were of the same quality as the ever so expensive brand he's been buying at the drug store. His Gillette Fusion blades cost him around $15 for 4 blades, which last him a month. So buying blades from the Dollar Shave Club will save us about $10 a month which is a 60% savings over the store brand giving us an annual savings of about $120. Sounds like a nice dinner out once a year or Taco bell twice a month for a year. Just sayin'. ;-)
Check out The Dollar Shave Club and tell me what you think...the video on their site alone is worth the visit!
And as soon as shorts wearing weather begins, I'll be ordering some dollar razors for myself...cuz I don't need no stinkin' pink handle for my razor!

Brain Training

I happened across this great Brain Training site the other day, I thought it would be valuable for my 14 year old son who has autism. It's called Lumosity.com. It offers personalized brain exercises through web-based games to enhance memory, attention and creativity. My son balked at it at first but by the end of the first 15-minute session he was hooked.
When you sign up you get a one week free trial but you can purchase either a monthly, annual or 2 year subscription. Using the code GLOWING, I was able to get a 20% discount off the $79.95 annual subscription rate.