Dos Babettes

Today, I finished the border on Little Man's Babette Blanket.

This is my favorite blanket patter ever!  It's fun, interesting and surprising.

It's also 'chair confining'.  This isn't a blanket you can take with you.  There are so many different colors and you rarely use the same color in more than two rounds, usually just one round.  I had three bags of yarn, so traveling with this wasn't an option.  I didn't even change seats in the house.  I tucked my yarn bags next to one chair and that's where I've been hooking.  And hooking.  And watching TV on my iPad (Shameless, House of Lies, Girls, Homeland..so good).



Little Man's Babette

I finished at about noon today.  Three times since, I've looked at the chair and wanted to get back to the yarn.

Both Babette's Together

My next task is getting into my luxury basement studio.  I have to dig a path into it first.  In the Christmas rush, it got icky.  Boxes and balls of yarn and garbage and receipts and just stuff all over the place.  There is even a double sink, faucet, crystal chandelier and air hockey table in there.  No wonder I can barely move in there!

Once I get into the studio, I have to run some yarn through the knitting machine.  I have a couple purses I need to get moving on...I've been very delinquent.  Note to anyone that asks for a custom bag, give me a deadline.  I don't do well with "When you have a chance".  I need to work on that.

If I'm lost, look in the basement, until then, thanks for reading!



271/366: Pintember Cleans Again

If you don't succeed, try again, right?

Wrong.

Well, kind of.

If my stove top didn't look like this in the first place:

 This baking soda and hot towel trick for 15 minutes may have worked.

 As you can see, below, it worked, slightly.  What really worked was the benefit of the hot, wet towel on the stove top.  It softened up the rings around the burners.  I then decided that I needed to work the burns with a blade.  And I did.  Much of it came off.

Until I broke the blade.

So I'll show you the bottom corner of our main burner that is now clean! 

I still have the white scratches in the middle of each burner.  Any ideas on how to get rid of those?

Here is the inspiration pin for this 'At Home Remedy':

Source: behindthestudio.com via Carrie on Pinterest

260/366: Pintember Closet

Sometimes, motivation comes without visual inspiration.

Sometimes, motivation comes from complete embarrassment.

Have you ever looked at the same mess so much that it doesn't look like a mess anymore?

This WAS my closet, in the midst of it's cleansing:

Oh yeah, I gave you full viewing pleasure because the closet isn't the only problem.  It's the bench, and the purses, and the shoes.  Oh the shoes.  We have a big shoe problem in this house.  BIG.

And it's not just me, all of us.  Big Boy wins with the fewest pairs of shoes with 3 pairs.  I threw out 4 pairs of my shoes.  I haven't worn them, they were old and ugly, they are gone.

I donated a bunch of coats, tossed some (with broken parts) and moved some up to the bedroom closet.

Are you ready for the reveal?

Those are my shoes hanging.  Tom's on the bottom shelf and the boys share the box below the plant.

  

 My purses are all in the closet with my current one hooked on a coat hanger next to my shoes.  I still need to go through the winter hats and gloves, but that's better on cooler days.

So you've seen the cart.  Want to see the inspiration horse?

Source: bhg.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Love the yellow inside and purple walls!

I think my hall needs some major color!

256/366: Pintember Grime

This one is embarrassing.  Only slightly. 

I'm not Merry Maids and if I don't see it, I don't clean it.  I mean, it's an oven right?

I saw this pin last month and thought I'd try:

Source: diyhshp.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

The pin uses a mix of Baking Soda and water.  Simple.  No chemicals.  If I clean with something I could eat, it's a good thing.

Here is my oven door...don't you judge me:

 Let me preface this by stating that this is a really old oven.  I am guessing that it is only a couple years younger than me!

It still turns on and heats up, so we are good.



 Back to our project.  The mix of Baking Soda and water should look like a thick paste.  I rubbed it all over the door and glass.  I have never been able to see through the glass.  I actually thought it was so stuck on and hopeless.  Since the oven glass wasn't transparent when we moved in, surely they had already tried it.  Or, perhaps it was a 'frosted' glass.

After I let it sit for 30 minutes, I scrubbed a little and wiped it off.  This is what I got:

Much of the grime was off, but the glass was so caked on that the baking soda didn't even touch it. 
I closed the oven and thought...it's like shaving your legs in the winter.  What's the point?  No one goes there.

Then, I turned on the oven.  Let it warm up and mixed up another batch of the baking soda...perhaps a warmer oven will release the grime better.

As you can see in the hot suds, some of the grime released right away.  But it just didn't get into the really bad stuff.

I ditched the whole baking soda stuff and thought about the can of Easy Off under my sink.  I reached for it and knocked over the SOS pads.  DUH!  I use SOS when I can't clean a baking dish.

Look at what happened:

Can you see my floor through the window?  The door is so much cleaner.  So much that I even ran my hand over the whole door.  There are still some marks I didn't get off and a couple chips in the coating of the door, but I'm good with that.

And look:

I was able to see my lunch without opening the oven door.  It was magical.

If you are a Merry Maid and have a somewhat clean oven, the Baking Soda may work for you.  It got the superficial brownish greasy layer, but didn't touch the spots that were caked on.

Grab your SOS pad and work on your arms.



251/366: Pintember Clean

After yesterday's food debacle, I needed something easy that I could control.  I tackled the microwave.

Here is the original Pin:

Source: practicallyfunctional.net via Carrie on Pinterest

It doesn't take a scientist to know that heating a bowl of water in a microwave will loosen all the grime.  The added vinegar makes it smell nice.  Just put the water and vinegar in a microwave safe bowl, heat on high for five minutes in the microwave.  Then, wipe it down.

Before

After

It really worked well.  It was much quicker than using a sponge and hot water with a little dish detergent.  I would like to mention that the second picture was taken with a flash, so it appears whiter than it should. 

I will do this each and every time, great pin.

56/366: Spring Cleaning

Lately, I've been doing a lot of organizing. It started in my studio (aka basement) a month ago.

I filled my shopping cart with totes and boxes and hooks. I loved how everything fit and looked nice. I only need seven more shelves!

So this morning it was Little Man's closet. Yes, just the closet. This is why:

I took most everything out of the closet.
Filled a very large contractors size garbage bag of crap. Parts of toys long gone, pieces of games never played and all those single socks I had been unable to match up.

Two hours into it, I realized the room itself needed to be dealt with since the items that should be in the closet and hadn't fit, need to fine a home.

Another two hours and this boy has a very clean closet with room to read AND a nicely cleaned and dusted room. I also moved his bed to the other side of the room for some variety.

My kids have a thing about hanging out in the closet and reading. You may see part of the big red armrest pillow already on the floor at the bottom of the picture. I totally get it, too. Nothing like a cozy nook to read in.

Unfortunately, much of the items I pulled from his closet were booked and photos of mine.

Next up, the hall closet and bookshelf!

Hope you are having a productive and enjoyable Saturday.

Piles

I have piles.

Piles of piles.  That never go away.

I move them, I sort through them.  When I sort, they go into other piles.  The shred pile, the deal with this pile, the junk email pile, the save for later pile.

Not having time for the piles, they all get 'sorted' into one big pile.  Alas, another big pile.

More and more piles.  I tried to join in with the "Simplify" project (as I show the button on the right column of my blog), but I was too busy.  Which yes, is the whole point.  Tonight I will try to rid this house of piles.  At least for a week or two.

One week at a time.

One pile at a time.

The Great American Dust Bunny

My pal, Lisa, at Polka Dot Cottage once took before and after pictures of a cleaning task she performed. I thought it would be very gratifying. And it was, great idea Lisa.

I cleaned Big Boy's room first, forgetting the before picture. BB moved his bed away from the wall and in true copy cat fashion, Little Man requested the same. BB's room, although worse in clutter, took much less time due to the closet. I kept the door closed. Didn't even go in.

LM's closet used to be my closet. It had lots of craft supplies and books and fabric. Also contained 3 boxes of books and pictures that we never opened from our move back to Buffalo. Well, we looked at it, and thought, ugh, not another box of crap. So, there it stayed. Until yesterday.
I stuffed two large black garbage bags just from their rooms and this closet. It feels really good to let some stuff go (see my Facebook pics for some of the book loot).

Now, if I could only clean my own room like this.

Not today.

Maybe when my back and thighs have forgiven me for yesterday.