Good Clean Fun

To begin with, (speaking from experience) this is a great project to do BEFORE you have cleaned your bathroom and NOT after.  'Kay?  

This little activity is nothing new, but it was something that I discovered had unintended but beneficial side effects.  My kids LOVE to play with baking soda and vinegar.  They love watching it bubble up and fizz and I love that their "experimenting" is completely safe.  I used to give them the baking soda to play with on a cookie sheet but quickly discovered that it didn't stay there, so in a stroke of genius I decided one day to pull the drain on the sink in the bathroom, fill it with baking soda, and let them play in there.  When I was finished I would just wash it all down the drain and be done, no huge messy clean up needed!

 What I discovered was that after this play time not only were my sinks clean, but also they drained a lot better!  I knew that baking soda and vinegar were good for cleaning and I knew that you could use them to clear a drain, but I didn't know that kids' fun could result in something being cleaner at the end than it was in the beginning.  Score one for Mommy!

 So now whenever I have a slow drain I dump some baking soda, pour some vinegar, and let the kids have at it.  But they don't know that they are cleaning so shhhh....

A Little Catching Up...

I know, I know, I've been a little MIA since the great craft room makeover.  Believe it or not, I have actually used said room, just not a whole lot that is post worthy.  Here's what I have been doing!

I've gotten my fall garden planted, the beans, peas, onions, and broccoli are all coming along nicely!

 The spinach on the other hand, well, something is eating all the sprouts.  Not sure what, but they are eating the lettuce sprouts in my pots too.  Ugh.

 I've been supervising construction projects, this is the most well nailed pallet in the entire state of South Carolina.

 This is what happens when I tell Mistress that it's time for a shower.  My saving grace is that she ALWAYS forgets about hiding her feet.

 We went apple picking at Sky Top Orchard in the mountains of North Carolina.  It is absolutely beautiful up there, and if nothing else the hot apple cider donuts are worth the drive!  SO yummy!

Mistress turned 4, so I threw her a little party at the local YMCA water park.  We got rained out halfway through, but it was fun while it lasted!  The cupcakes were a fantastic recipe that I found and I finished them off with a simple buttercream.  I actually made the cake toppers, and the fabric I used for a little table accent later became a pillowcase for Mistress's room.

 The treat buckets were really fun, I was the crazy lady sitting outside the dollar tree switching handles and shovels so that they all matched.  Yup, I'm that crazy.

 

Bug brought home a simile book from school.  I'm framing this page.

 And finally, how fun to make faces in homemade ice cream for the kids?  They loved it!

Also, DH has just finished FIVE business trips in the last month, so I'm hoping that now that he's back and the kids are all in school I may just have time to do something else fun.  Until then!