Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Spring Cleaning-Several Weeks

You may remember that I started my Spring Cleaning a little early. I found a list on Pinterest for the 21 Day Organization Challenge (read about it here). I tweaked my list a bit to make it fit my needs. I was doing pretty well getting through it and blogging about it. But, as you know, many things got in the way of the blogging. However, I did continue to get cleaning done.

Now, I can't go through my list with you because I apparently decided that it needed to be recycled. I remember doing it, but I can't remember my reasoning at all. I blame the sleep deprivation that comes with newborns.

However, I can use the list off Pinterest and give you an update.
  1. Medicine cabinet-done!
  2. Coat closet-don't have one, but did the hall closet instead,
  3. Under the beds-I actually don't store stuff there.
  4. Laundry room-done when we had that little flooding issue.
  5. Handbag-I have a very small one, so I clean it out constantly. I also cleaned out the diaper bag and backpack I use for zoo outings.
  6. Under sinks-bathrooms, yes; kitchen, still on the to-do list.
  7. Fridge/freezer-actually got a new (used) fridge at a garage sale. Is that cheating?
  8. Kitchen cabinets-done!
  9. Make-up case-again, it is a small one, so it gets cleaned out regularly too.
  10. Bedroom closets-with all the rearranging for the new baby, definitely!
  11. Garage-not even close; will do garage sale soon :)
  12. Craft supplies-no; to be honest, the area looks ok, so I'm not worried about it.
  13. Soap room-YES! It looks so nice and is easy to work in again!
  14. Backyard-yes and no; I need to clean up doggie mess, but it is clean.
  15. Bedroom dressers-again, with all the rearranging of dressers for the baby, yes it got done.
  16. Jewelry Box-done when I made my jewelry rack (check it out here).
  17. Living Room-done when the laundry room was cleaned because of flooding.
  18. Office-yes and no; I have organized everything into groups and know what needs to be done with everything, I just haven't gotten everything put away.
  19. Car-All the trash and extra things that don't belong have been removed. However, it hasn't been vacuumed and cleaned. I was waiting for the snow to stop before taking it to the car wash.
  20. Playroom-done; I made my toddler help me clean this area out.
  21. Enjoy an organized house!
Whew, I know I keep saying that I haven't gotten much done, but now that I look at it, that doesn't seem to be true :)

How do you go about Spring Cleaning?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

From The Soap Pot

Ahh, it feels good to be making soap again! The past few months were so busy, it just didn't happen. Between Science Fair, getting ready for baby, and having baby I was always exhausted. I'm still exhausted, but I'm finding time to be creative and make my soap while the little one sleeps.

A few days ago I made my wonderful Dead Sea Mud Soap. It is made with Dead Sea mud (duh!) and the essential oils of peppermint, tea tree, rosemary, lemon, and grapefruit. I just love the way it leaves my skin feeling and I've had so many people tell me that it has helped them with their "problem" skin. I decided to make it round, I think face soap should be round. I don't know why, it just makes sense to me.
Next, I did a leather scented soap. I had intended for it to be mostly black and orange, with just a bit of white soap in it. I'm sure you can guess my inspiration :) However, I didn't make enough black and orange soap. Plus, my orange didn't come out quite as dark as I'd hoped. It looked great in the bowl, but not when I mixed it with the soap. For this batch, I did an In The Pot Swirl. You can see on the top, I save a little soap and did some swirls there as well. I think it looks nice, but I know what I'll do differently later. I had a lot of suggestions on names on Facebook, I think I will do a survey!
Today, I made another batch of one of my favorite. Lullaby Soap! It smells like a mix between Huggies lavender and chamomile bedtime stuff and baby powder. I love it. For this batch, I keep it simple. I divide the batch in two, color half pink and half blue. The blue is ultramarine blue from BB and the pink is a mix of fired up fuchsia, pink oxide, and red oxide (BB). I simply pour both colors at the same time on opposite sides of the mold. Then, I give the top a little swirl. Can't wait to cut it!
These will all be on my Etsy shop and my store in about a month when they are cured and ready to go!

Monday, April 22, 2013

New Addition!

Well, my newest little addition has arrived! She made her appearance last Wednesday, 4/10. She was 8 lbs 11 oz, every single person in the hospital made sure to comment on how big she was.
Leana Rayne
Hayden is in love with her and keeps saying that he has to share with her! It is still tough for him to share mommy, but he is trying.
Things are a little rough right now, but we are all adjusting to this major change. Mommy is trying to get Leana on a schedule that includes sleep at night and trying to keep Hayden from feeling like he is being put to the side because of her. I'm finally getting to the point where I get a few things done besides taking care of or feeding a baby. For example, I actually have a few minutes to get this typed up and I'm not so exhausted that I feel I should nap instead!

I will admit that Hayden is still going to daycare, but he loves it so much, that keeping him home is hard on him and mommy! He gets to go to school and have fun with his friends and then come home to mom and little sister. Mom gets to focus on little sister during the day and give Hayden some good attention in the afternoon. It is really making things less stressful!

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I hope to make some soap today!