How to Remove Ring Around the Toilet
I am so sorry if you are reading this post during breakfast. The images contained herein are not appetizing or pretty. It’s time to get down to the dirty truth. I clean the toilets in our home regularly. I really do. Despite that, to varying degrees, the toilets always end up with a ring around the water line. It mocks me. Depending on the minerals in the water, the toilets also get marks where the water runs down the bowl to refill. More mocking. Everyone swears their product or cleaning method is the best way to get those marks off the toilet. Maybe it is…for them. For me, they never work. Ever. Did someone order melodrama?…
Favorite Things
Today, because it’s Monday and I’m in the mood, I thought I’d share another list of my favorite random things of late. 1. THIS IS WATER: 2005 Commencement Address by David Foster Wallace My husband and I were mesmerized by this commencement speech. Take the time to listen to it and I guarantee it will give you many things to think about. “The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. To be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about myself and my certainties. Because a huge percentage of the…
17
Tomorrow this fella and I celebrate 17 years of holy matrimony. Golly. We were babies! As I was looking for a wedding photo to scan, I found a book of advice written to me by women whom I respect and who have been married decades. It was a blessing to peruse their words and have the experience and confidence to nod my head, yes, yes, oh no way, yes, yes. If I was to add my advice to the book, here’s what it would be. Don’t try to measure your relationship to anyone else’s. Seriously. Don’t. There is no one who wins at that game. And frankly, you don’t know what goes on behind…
Sheet Metal Map
I’m not sure if it’s all boys or my son in particular, but my 5-year-old doesn’t give a rip about decorating. Now, if I put something new in his room – it doesn’t matter what it is – he’s stoked about the shiny thing for all of 3.2 seconds. Then he’ll move on to the important matters of a kindergartener – whatever those are. In all reality, I’m decorating his room for me. The blank walls in his room gave my wandering mind something to focus on while I read LEGO City: Fire in the Forest! for the 217th time in a row. It’s a fascinating read. I wanted a huge piece of…
Chocolate Peppermint Schnapps Cake
If I was to rename this blog, I think I would call it Baking With Booze. I mean, every time I do, we do have a pretty darn happy home! Last year I finally made my aunt’s Whiskey Cake and wrote about it in a blatant attempt to drool all over the Internet. When the Junk Whisperer visited me over Christmas, we brainstormed other ways we could adapt the recipe while daintily eating bites of Whiskey Cake and practicing portion control. Just kidding. The only thing that was true about that sentence was the brainstorming and the Christmas visit. She went home and made a Rum Cake, which I hear was…
LEGO Valentine’s Day Cards – Free Printable
On Wednesday, I shared the writing-themed Valentine’s Day Cards my daughter is handing out this year. Now, it’s time to share my son’s Valentine’s Day cards. The day I was working on this post, this picture popped up in my Facebook feed from 3 years ago when my son was 2 years old. I left it in all of its unedited glory. Did you laugh out loud and spit tea on your computer screen too? It took me three years, but I am finally able to look back on that clean-up and laugh! My favorite Facebook comment on that picture was from my friend Christine who said, “it’s not easy being…
Write This Way Valentine Card Printable
Last weekend my husband, daughter and son were bonding over some sort of computer game. It’s what they do. Picture them all sitting in a row, almost shoulder to shoulder, each playing the same game on their own computers. All of the sudden, my daughter realizes there is instant messaging “chat” functionality on this game. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Now we don’t have to talk to each other!” I just…I can’t even…I… Let’s just say it is a little ironic that she picked a communication-themed Valentine’s Day card. My brain is still processing all the hope we are hanging on this next generation, so I can’t remember if the idea or the trinket came…
Gold and Turquoise Wood Arrows
Now, I don’t want you guys to take this the wrong way, but I’ve been mulling an idea over. I really think that instead of streets of gold, Heaven should be filled with the aisles of Hobby Lobby. Furthermore, the 40% off coupons could be replaced with 100% off coupons. Imagine it… The last time I was there (Hobby Lobby, not Heaven), I was on a mission to find something that could pass as a Valentine’s Day decoration, but wouldn’t actually BE a Valentine’s decoration. Do you get what I mean? Yeah, me neither. But I knew it would all become crystal clear the minute I saw the thing that I didn’t know…
White Chocolate Cashew Cookies
Every good cookie needs an equally good story. This one has touches of Little House on the Prairie, Desperate Housewives and Dirty Jobs. Doesn’t that sound appetizing? I used to be in marketing. It all started with a giant jar of UNSALTED cashews. That’s right. I accidentally purchased unsalted instead of salted cashews. How was I to know what would transpire after that? The humans I live with were displeased. In all fairness, they are also displeased with baths, vegetables, bedtime, wearing shoes and any days that start with school. But, back to the cashews. My husband decided to dip the cashews in Nutella. I decided to make White Chocolate Cashew Cookies. I’m…
Printable Valentine’s Cards for Kids
I’m working on Valentine’s Day cards for the kiddos to hand out to their classmates. It’s quite a process in deciding what type of card each child wants to hand out. It reminds me of my most favorite time of year when my kids go about picking their Halloween costumes. Without fail that process goes something like this… Child: I want to be a (insert any random character here). 5 seconds later… Child: No, I want to be (insert a combination of random characters here). Me: So, you want to be a Storm Trooper My Little Pony Ghost? Child: YES! That’s exactly what I want! 5 seconds later… Child: No, I just want…
