Homemaking Organized Blog

Archive for August, 2011

Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule

If you don’t know it yet no one cleaning schedule works for everyone. We all have different sized homes, families, and lifestyles. We have different levels of clean we want and certain levels of not so clean we are comfortable with.

The ideal solution is to create your own perfect cleaning schedule. But just what should go in it? Well Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule has you covered and has been upgraded and reduced in price to meet your need.

And! There is a promotional kick off!

This Thursday, September 1 at 9:30am CST, a graduated pricing structure will be available:

• 50 copies will be available for $.50
• 100 copes will be available for $1.00
• 200 copies will be available for $2.00
• 300 copies will be available for $3.00
• 400 copies will be available for $4.00
• 500 copies will be available for $5.00
• The rest will sell for $5.99

You want a copy for 50 cents? Well then head on over to the Perfect Cleaning Schedule Facebook page to snap up your promo code.

I’ve had so much going on I’ve almost been too busy to blog (see previous post). In addition to preparing to start the homeschool year, and all the foods I’ve been preparing for the freezer we did our first canning project this week. My husband and I. He really wanted in on this. We opted for apple sauce. We wanted a fruit.  A fruit product we already eat. And something easy. It was painless really. We canned in really small jars. We should have used 1/2 quarts but oh well. Next we ‘say’ we’re going to try apple butter and then some pear sauce.

I’m also giving ginger syrup a try. I’ve been wanting to make some ginger molasses cookies and I found this recipe on King Arthur’s website. I remember having seen Ming Tsai make some very easy ginger syrup with bonus ginger candy (if you’ve ever been pregnant or just nauseous ginger candy can be a lifesaver) on A Moveable Feast (cooking video with a few famous chefs) so I  found his recipe and it’s simmering now. Wanna  join me?

Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

Ginger Syrup Recipe

Ginger Syrup video

Now I’m off to help my mother shampoo her carpets.

Toodles!

So just in case you think I’ve been letting the blog go stale on purpose…

Image via Wikipedia

I love soap. I mean I just love it. This wonderfully scented, thick bars of cleanliness. Especially, unfortunately the luxuriously scented bars from France, Portugal, etc. These can be expensive. Sometimes I do find a deal of sorts at stores such as Ross, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning, and the like.

I actually don’t buy soap a lot. People have figured out this is the perfect gift form. I will know and appreciate that one bar of soap.  People have given me weird gifts for giving them those big Savon de Marseille bars of soap for gifts (the 1KG is a good size). But later they gush and thank me.

I lucked was blessed a little over a year ago to purchase a load of skin friendly soap from Israel. This soap is what we use to bathe with. I also have sensitive skin.

These are all soap bars if I haven’t said so yet.

Mostly I use my bars in the guest bathroom. So hey if you’re ever a guest in my home you get the best of my soap collection!

Recently I found the urge (even with my massive collection) to pick up a few luxury bars of soap for the guest bathroom.

I happened upon Claus Porto. Like I said I usually buy my expensive soap at a discount and this brand doesn’t go on discount. I purchased some tiny pieces to try out on guests.

Yes they are marvelous and now I cry tears of regret because I will not pay for the full price larger bars…I think.

But in all that I found a great idea for what to use those bars I just can’t bear to put out (my husband blessed me with some Roget and Gallet a few years ago and I just can’t use them.)

Ancathus and Acorn’s Tuesday Tips for Sweet Smelling Soap : This is a great idea to add a bit of scent to your home.

My Motto: You can never have too much soap.

Do you switch up your meal plans during the warmer summer weather?

We sure do.

Here are some of our favorite summertime family meals.

Ground Turkey and Chicken burgers: We have various ways of serving them up. Buffalo Ground Chicken Burgers, Greek Turkey Burgers, Teriyaki Turkey burgers to name a few. Our family recipes are adapted from those found in the Taste of Home Light & Easy Magazine.

Summer Dinner Salad: These are great with so many fresh veggies in season. Mixes of the following…lettuce, boiled eggs, cooked potatoes, olives (sometimes), tomatoes, avocado, various cheeses, beans (sometimes), cooked chicken or turkey, and dressing. Don’t forget pasta and potato salads too.

Wraps: Well we call them tortillas but I guess since they rarely carry the traditional ingredients we’ll have to go with the name “wraps”. We really like them with cooked chicken, sauteed with onions and peppers. Then just add lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes.

What are your favorite summertime dinner dishes?

Betty Crocker has a whole section on their website to entice you to try tasty new dishes this summer. Betty Crocker Red Hot Summer Trends

If you have a post potty trained child who still needs a little bit of encouragement with nighttime bed wetting this giveaway is for you. We used these for our now 6 year old and they were the perfect transition to her FINALLY sleeping in big girl underwear (our name for it).

Now if this is TMI for you just move on but for those who have been there any amount of info is really helpful.

The givewaway is packed with useful stuff for your growing kid.

So sign up to win at MommyGoggles

Where have I been?

I love having soft scents throughout my home. After over 10 years with cats I just have to have nice scents in the home but I still like to use care because of small children and allergies. Nevertheless I won’t call myself a junkie or anything but I do have a great fondness for scents (and soap).

Sidenote: I do not wear perfume in the summer because of my gardening activities. Thought you should know.

So anyway. I’m putting together a gift basket of smell pretties for a family member’s birthday. I call this the year of luxuries because I feel like giving slightly  indulgent gifts that one may not buy for one’s self.

So this particular gift basket is with luxury soap, sachets and a small room diffuser.  I spent some time picking the right diffuser. Meaning it couldn’t be too expensive but I still wanted it to do a good job.

So searching for the right diffuser landed me upon a site that carried something called a Fragrance Lamp or Diffuser Lamp (I think). I had seen these before under the name Lampe Berger. I never quite understood why these diffusers were so expensive (this is when I thought they were simple ceramic diffusers).

Then I started reading about them and watching a few instructional videos…

Woah! Where have I been?!

You fill these fragrance lamps with a special blend (that apparently you CAN make yourself), place some sort of wick apparatus in there. (wait a little while the wick absorbs the fragrance). Light the thing which makes this uncomfortable sized flame for 2-4 minutes. Blow it out and put a top on it. The little cute bottle scents your home and APPARENTLY cleans up odorific smells.

So hubby and I talked about it and watched a few videos and thought we might like to try one….

I’ll keep you posted but in the meantime some links

Courtney’s Candles: This is where we got the lamp.

About Effusion Lamps: Great information on using one.