Someday List

My first few days as a SAHM were pretty surreal. The weather in Chicago went from winter to spring overnight, the air smelled cleaner, the house seemed bigger...everything really felt ideal.

And then reality hit.

Kidding, but really, there were a few days of "honeymoon" period where LW and I did everything and went everywhere and now things are settling into a nice little routine for us.

Every morning, we start by having breakfast together, followed by him watching some Daniel Tiger while I do the breakfast dishes and dinner dishes from the previous evening. Then I head upstairs to sneak a shower while he's still enthralled in Daniel. Around 9:30-10:00am we head to an open gym, library or friend's house many days during the week to blow off a little steam. He falls asleep on the way home, takes a solid nap and that's when I can do as I wish.

This is the "golden" time, as all moms know and understand. Nap time is the one quiet, blissful, beautiful time during the day where we can eat candy bars without hiding behind the pantry door or do our nails without also being a jungle gym.

Every day I have a list of things I plan to accomplish. I love having lists - even if I put things on it just to cross them off. I feel so accomplished watching my list dwindle.

In addition to my "Daily Chores" list, I now keep a "Someday List". This list is full of those tedious, seemingly impossible, challenge-packed tasks that when you realize they need to be done you chuckle to yourself and say "Someday". Someday. As in....never. Me telling myself "Someday" might as well be me telling myself "No chance in Hell I will ever actually do that".

WELL, I've actually started the list. AND I plan on doing the items that are on it! Because....if an item is on my list, I mean business. If I share mine...will you share yours?

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One Hour

Yesterday my amazing sitter was here for the morning and spent her time spoiling LW and her son. They colored, crafted, snacked, I'm sure had the usual dance party, read books, played trains...the whole nine yards. So naturally when I had to ask her to stay an extra hour because I forgot to check my conference call schedule prior to having her arrive, I felt really guilty.

She agreed to stay and never bat an eye at my request. That extra hour happened to roll over lunch time, so she also fed her son and mine. I forgot to offer her food for her own lunch.

That one hour changed my attitude for the day. For once, I was able to spend my lunch hour snuggling my child. I could read him a book, watch part of a show and we could cook a soup for dinner together.

I didn't have to make him lunch, or clean up after him or fight to count how many bites he'd taken while I watched the clock to make sure I didn't go over my allotted hour break.

LW spent the entire morning playing, so when it was time for his nap, he just fell asleep without fighting me. I didn't have to take him on a drive in the car or listen to him stomp around his room creating mass destruction for an hour. He just laid down, and went to sleep.

Since I'd already cooked dinner, after work I took our dog to the vet without feeling rushed. I came home and we ate at our leisure...because dinner was ready when we were. Then, I cleaned up and did the dishes from the whole day (a feat that is NEVER done at night, always begrudgingly in the morning before 8am).

Because I had one hour so unselfishly given to me during the work day, I was able to mop my floors that night. Something that (sorry Mom) I hadn't done yet this year. I also folded a mountain of laundry, which may even get put away this week. I did this while LW watched Frozen for the 8,000th time but I didn't feel guilty because I knew he had spent his day playing or peacefully napping.

One hour gave me the relaxation after bedtime to sit and have a conversation with my husband and our company for the evening, a friend who was in from out of town, without eyeing the dishes that hadn't been washed or the laundry that hadn't been folded. Because I'd already done both!!

Hiring someone to come and help me during the day has done wonders for my mentality.

Because of the unselfishness of the person I chose to help me, I am able to be more productive and relax more often.

Whoever your care giver, hug them. Buy them a Starbucks. Remember to offer them lunch. I had no idea the peace of mind an hour would give me.

To our caregiver: As I have said before, we are blessed to have you...and I cannot say thank you enough. Also, I'm really sorry I forgot to offer you lunch. Next time, just eat my food!!! All of it! Any of it!! 

This also goes for Grandmas and Grandpas who spend their days off chasing our wild little beast, changing diapers, battling tantrums, combating naps and wiping snotty noses. You already did your time by raising your own children and still you volunteer your time for your grandchild without a moment of hesitation. Thank you. We appreciate you more than you know.

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What You REALLY Need To Cloth Diaper

This post has been a long time coming...I mean a lonnnnnnng time coming. So many friends ask me how they can prepare and what they need to cloth diaper and I've rattled off my basics list in a hundred emails but I think having a list on this blog may help more people, and help me not forget anything when someone asks!

I started cloth diapering Billy at 9 days old. My best suggestion is if you're expecting your first and you haven't had a shower yet, feature a raffle ticket announcement in your shower invite. Explain that every cloth diaper gift will receive a raffle ticket for an AWESOME prize at the shower. I did this at one of my showers and because of it I did not NEED to buy a single diaper for my stash. I did anyway, because cloth diapers are so cute, but I did not NEED to buy any diapers. None. NADA! It's a beautiful thing, people.

If you want to CD from day one, you need a full newborn stash. Cloth diapers say "One size fits all". I'm going to tell it to you straight: They lie. Register for some newborn diapers. And they can be velcro, because they're easier and wittle bitty fingers will not search to rip them off. OS diapers will fit nicely once your little is around 12-15lb and MUST ALL BE SNAPS. Or else. ;-)

SO! The list. I'll link everything I can, and these are all the brands Hubs and I prefer. TONS of other brands are out there, so do your research! I can provide another post w/ explanation for everything, but this is JUST the list. Trying to keep it simple for the newbies :) Enjoy!

Newborn Cloth Diapers
24 Size 1 Prefolds (We love: OsoCozy)
8-10 Size 1 Covers (We love: Thirsties Hook & Loop)
1 pack of 5 Snappis
5-8 NB AIOs (We love: Li'l Joeys Snap)

One Size Diapers
18 Size 2 Prefolds (We love: OsoCozy)
10-15 Diaper Covers (We love: Flip, Blueberry, Rumparooz)
8-10 Pocket Style Diapers (We love: BumGenius 4.0)
5-8 AIO Style Diapers (We love: BumGenius Freetime)
5 Hemp Inserts for Pocket Diapers (We love: Hemp Babies Diaper Doubler)
6-12 Charcoal Bamboo Inserts for Pocket Diapers (We love: the cheapest ones you can find)

Misc Other Necessary Materials
California Baby Diaper Rash Cream
CJ's BUTTer Stick
2 Planet Wise Diaper Pail Liner
Diaper Pail  (We love: SORTERA from IKEA)
Norwex laundry detergent 
Tide
OxyClean
Diaper Sprayer
Kirkland brand baby wipes
40 newborn wash cloths to use as wipes 
California Baby Diaper Area Wash
Drying Rack (We love: a standalone for sunning diapers [as seen in image above] and a wall-mount)
Something to store all of your clean diapers (We love: ANTONIUS from IKEA w/ 4 plastic 7 gallon drawers)

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A Wild Weekend

The month of November has F-L-O-W-N!!!! Is it just me!? I don't think it is.

Hubs asked me last night while I was writing thank you cards to my Jamberry customers why I hadn't blogged and I said I guess I'm just not inspired enough to write right now.

He said "If this week wasn't something to blog about...then I don't know what is." Let me recap:

Thursday night: LW woke at 8:45 vomiting kielbasa EVERYWHERE. Hubs and I rush in, I handle LW, Hubs handles bedding/vomit/carpet and within 25 minutes, LW is back to sleep and Hubs and I can go downstairs.
9:30 Princess starts whining and acting up...sniffing ferociously at the basement door. I said "She has something....no....there is something ALIVE under that door that she has trapped there". Hubs goes to investigate. A mouse starts hopping down the stairs. Hubs gets his "mouse catcher" (a box from new blinds and a broom) and escorts the mouse to the far side of our property.
9:35 Princess still losing her mind... I say "Can you just go down there with her and see if there are more...?" Hubs opens the door and P runs to the bottom of the stairs and into LW's play area. Where Hubs finds another mouse. This time dead, and exploded...all over LW's toys. ACK. Hubs cleans up.
9:45 Princess AGAIN losing her mind and I'm about to lose mine. She's following something that appears to be in the ceiling and as I'm sufficiently getting more and more creeped out I look, and there is a wasp on the wall – what she was following. A wasp. In Chicago. In NOVEMBER. ?!!?! Hubs kills and disposes of wasp.
11:30 Hubs and I are finally nestling into bed, drifting off to sleep and I hear that horrible, terrible, awful sound, as clear as day. LW puking. Again. Repeat steps from earlier, this time even FASTER since we were expecting it. Clean up, bathe toddler, new jammies, clean sheets, scrub carpet, new blankets, rock, rock, snuggle snuggle, out like a light. 15 minutes. Can I just reiterate how horrible the smell of vomited kielbasa is? UGH. Really horrible.

Finally, we were able to go to sleep Thursday evening. Friday Hubs was off work so he ran all of our family errands while I worked. Friday evening we moved a family heirloom from my in-laws over to our house. A 1915 Victrola. We don't have many things in our new house yet, but we are acquiring cool things!

Friday night we designed and ordered our Christmas card. CHRISTMAS!! My FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR! Some of my friends have referred to me as a "real life Buddy the Elf" because I love Santa so much. And Christmas. And snow. I can't wait to share our card with you! But, it's no fair showing you before it mails ;) Plus, it's not even Thanksgiving. I have some respect, you know.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling like it was Christmas because it was the Old Navy cardholders Black Friday Sale. WAHOO!!!! I spent way more than I planned (shocker) but I FINALLY got some real pants that fit LW and I bought myself the most comfortable PJ pants on the planet. I've asked for 150 more pairs of them for Christmas.

I learned this weekend that Old Navy toddler 18-24m pants aren't as long as the "baby" 18-24 month pants. However, the toddler 18-24m pants have the zipper and button like real jeans, which helps TREMENDOUSLY in getting pants over a cloth booty. Plus, the toddler jeans come in skinny and WOW are they cute. We love Project Pomona pants but for $8/pair at Old Navy, I couldn't resist giving their jeans a shot to try with his cloth bottom.

Saturday evening we had a church pot luck and worship rather than having worship on Sunday morning so I made our favorite brisket recipe.

I usually must let it slow cook 8-10 hours because this time I only did 6 and it wasn't as tender as I like. BUT, the brisket was gone in a flash and I used the leftover BBQ sauce to make sloppy joe's on Sunday. YUM! Waste not, want not :)

For Christmas this year we have already finished our shopping for LW because he is getting the most tremendous Christmas gift ever. A SWING SET! He'll have things to "open" also, but a family member of a close friend offered us a deal we couldn't refuse on this beauty. It may not look like much now, but I can't wait to look out the window and see LW and his pals playing on it for years to come.

Finally, Sunday. We didn't have church in the morning so the plan was to "sleep in". Which, originally we laughed at the thought. "Sleep in" with an 18 month old?! HA! Well.... we've recently moved LW into a toddler bed and the beauty of that is that instead of crying when he wakes up, he gets out of bed and (typically) knocks on his door to let us know he's awake. Sunday morning he unplugged his monitor and proceeded to cruise his room. For I'm not sure how long....Hubs and I lazily opened our eyes and started chatting at 8:45am and looked at the clock. "OH NO IT'S ALMOST NINE". I leapt out of bed and ran to LW's room to make sure he was okay and sure enough, he was twirling and dancing around his room, jolly as you please. He looked up at me like, "Oh, hey! You're up!"

LW and I had a 2nd birthday party in the afternoon for a friend from the old neighborhood at this SUPER fun play spot very close to our house. If you're in the NW burbs - check out Kids Club Party & Fun! Apparently they have Groupons often and it was a FUNNNNN two hours!!

I love giving gifts that aren't toys and take a little creativity to construct. For our birthday boy friend, I built a gift basket full of all organic and gluten-free snacks! Birthday Boy's mom has Celiac's so I know diet is really important to her for her son. I had a BLAST constructing it and with a World Market coupon, it kept the gift totally within my "birthday gift" budget.

For some people on our lists that seem to have "everything", a gift basket full of treats they may not splurge on normally is a really fun and inventive gift. Hubs and I love giving baskets full of wine, cheese, crackers and sausage to his dad for Christmas every year. And every year we have such a great time building them! Then all year long when we visit, we munch on the little treats from the basket.

What's your favorite creative gift to give?

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Favorite Life Hacks

You've seen them everywhere - those 'Life Hack' posts of things that people SWEAR make your life easier! Well, I've been trying a few of them and have to admit, what I've tried has really worked! And definitely made my life easier. Here are a few of my faves (found on Pinterest and Google)

I love to make pasta and quinoa salads and cutting a million little cherry tomatoes in half takes forever. This life hack really works, but you need a super sharp knife to do it.

This one is my own invention, I rigged my stroller with two Mommy Clips and a Large Utility Tote from Thirty-One to get a shopping cart I can walk to and from the grocery store or through the farmer's market with! The neighbors on my street are also using this trend to their advantage!

 I do this with Billy when he's congested and it really helps him sleep!

 Marshmallows in brown sugar keeps it from clumping and drying out. So great!

I just tried this one yesterday, I had a watermelon to chop for a party and it worked PERFECTLY. Everyone got bite-sized wedges of watermelon and I had no mess to clean up from cutting the watermelon. It took me less than five minutes to cut up the melon and clean it up. I will be using this forever.

What are some of your favorite life hacks? 

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Take A Step Back

Growing up, I was a competitive equestrian. It is an expensive sport, and my parents couldn't afford to buy me the best horses, so my mom taught me early on to appreciate what I have. My parents worked very hard to give me everything they could to support my passion and the lesson still sticks with me today. My mom always said, "There will always be someone prettier, with a more expensive horse, a nicer trailer who can go to more horse shows than you can. Learn to enjoy what you have."

I have chosen the life I live and I love it. I have friends who travel the world and teach children in other countries. I have family who travels the world for work, visiting new states and countries every day or every week and it's all they've ever wanted to do. Me? I chose to work a desk job, live in the suburbs, be married and have children.

And then there's this guy:



Which...seriously, what person could watch that and not think, "Damnnnnn. I should have done THAT with my life!"

But then I take a step back and look around me.

I could choose to see the mess, or I could choose to see how blessed we are with family that loves us and spoils this perfect, precious little boy. That boy whom I nurtured and grew in my body and gave birth to. Who I get to spend all day every day with. Who I am currently listening to as he teaches himself the "Guh" sound.

Right now there are about 5 different musical toys playing songs all at once. The washing machine is so noisy I can hardly hear myself think and although I just cleaned two days ago, more surfaces than I am willing to admit are covered in a fine layer of cat hair.

I could see those negatives, or I could see that we live in a beautiful, now fully updated home. We always have clean clothes to wear. We share our lives with healthy, happy animals.

My sink is full of dirty dishes, because we are able to buy and cook food.

While it is important to have goals, dreams and aspirations, I think it is equally as important to take a step back and think "What I have is awesome too" rather than, "I wish I had what she has". The grass isn't always greener.

Love the life you chose to live. If you don't, then change it. You control your happiness.

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GIVEAWAY 7: Norwex

Happy Earth Day! How fitting to offer some free environmentally friendly cleaning supplies on a day like today? Meet Lauren. 

Hello, I'm Lauren and I'm an Independent Norwex Consultant. 

I'm so grateful that Jess has given me the opportunity share with you my knowledge of how you can radically reduce the use of chemicals in your home and personal care. Norwex has given me everything I need to create a truly healthy home for my family while saving me time and money. In today's busy world, it has been proven that Norwex products can reduce your cleaning time by 75% or more. Save you money by reducing the use of chemicals and cleaning supplies up to 90%. With Norwex you will improve your over all health. You don't breathe, touch, or ingest harmful chemicals. Dirt and dust are removed from your surfaces instead of just being spread around. You will have a cleaner indoor climate, which reduces allergies too. You will also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you are doing your part to preserve the environment for future generations. 

So let's talk about microfiber and the Enviro Cloth, or as I like to call it the "everything" cloth. What's the big deal? Technically to be called a microfiber the fiber must be 1/6th of a human hair. Norwex microfiber is 1/200th of a human hair and the fibers are embedded with microsilver making them naturally 99.9% antibacterial! 

When used dry, static electricity attracts dust to the cloth. When used damp, those super fine fibers suck up all the contaminants on your surface and trap them deep inside the cloth and will not release them until you wash it out with hot water. So you can wipe up raw chicken juice, then the kitchen table, and wipe your kids messy hands with out any cross contamination! 

When you are done rinse out the cloth and hang it to dry. Then the silver goes to work and the germs inside the cloth die. You can use it multiple times before having to launder it saving you time and energy costs. 

I use my Enviro cloth for everything! I got 20 years of grease off a kitchen shelf with little effort after store bought de-greasers failed. I get pet stains and red wine out of my carpet by rubbing them with a damp Enviro cloth. Sticky syrup all over after breakfast is gone in a flash. Use the Enviro cloth to clean anything you normally would with store bought cleaners. I can't imagine my life with out this amazing cloth so I will be giving one away to one of you so you can start reducing the use of chemicals in your home too!

 You can find chemical free solutions to all your cleaning and personal care needs on my website www.LaurenGuss.norwex.biz . If you love what you see you can purchase online with this direct link http://www.norwex.biz/publicstore/event/372575/default.aspx to Jess' online party. If you love the products, but want to save money then you can host your own party (my average hostess gets $250+ in free products!). If you love the products and want them all, then join my team and become an independent Norwex Consultant!

Ready to win your own Enviro Cloth? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Craft Organization: Phase 1

Well, the aforementioned piece of IKEA furniture which was causing me such headache is finally assembled and waiting for craft materials to make his life complete.

Hubs was a master and fixed all of my pathetic errors last night! Billy and I were so excited this morning we had to take a photo of it in our jammies to show you.

IKEA STUVA

After lunch I had a few minutes before I had to hop back online for work so I began organizing the top two drawers. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!!

Bottom: IKEA KUSINER

Don't you love accomplishing little things on your lunch break? 

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New Project: Playroom/Studio

I am an obsessive researcher and planner, and I've planned so many rooms in our home out but nothing has changed significantly yet other than three rooms being painted. I'm so frustrated with the beige on the walls in the rest of our home and so sick of just talking about what project might be next that I've decided to take the next thing into my own hands.

This weekend, we begin the renovation of our basement to turn it into my studio/home office and Billy's play room. I've taken "before" photos to show you, but I'm holding out until there are "after" photos to compare.

What I WILL share is a little inspiration I have for the room (see it all on my Pinterest board for this project). We live in a raised ranch, so it's not so much a "basement" as it is a lower level main space with windows.

The walls will be Aqua Breeze by Behr:

I want some cozy kind of nook that I can read to Billy in and he can sit to watch a movie. This also needs to double as a sleeper so when we have guests there is a spare bed. This option from Costco appeals to me, but the price does not....maybe my splurge item for the room? We'll see...

I want my desk/workstation to face out, so I can easily keep my eye on Billy while I work and he plays. Something like one of these, with shelving around me to store craft items:

Storage is a must, so we will be accumulating some modular storage options along the way. This whole space is perfection to me, just add my workspace behind the lens and we're good as gold.

Those are the main things on my mind right now, other than clearing out what's already down there, patching, sanding, painting, figuring out some lighting solutions....okay, so there's a lot on my mind!!! I can't wait to have a clean, bright, organized space Billy and I can share while I work and he plays.

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Cleaning with Norwex: Before and After

**Before I start this post, please know that I receive no kickback from Norwex and I am not a consultant. I simply love their products and want to share the word! For more information on Norwex and to contact a consultant near you, click here.**

Since my Norwex order has arrived I have gone a little crazy cleaning. Their products clean so easily and keep things so much cleaner, longer due to no residues left behind, that now instead of my usual "daily" cleanups, I am finding new things in my home to clean! 

This morning before church I started cleaning for a party we're hosting tonight for our Youth Group. I used a kitchen towel dampened with water to wipe off our dining room table, which always feels a little tacky when wet. Wouldn't you know, from using Norwex the table is no longer tacky feeling? I guess it sucked up the years of grease that had unknowingly caked itself on there. Score.

Then I moved into the kitchen to clean off the shelves where we store extra pots/pans and our toaster oven. Once the shelves were done I noticed a little (at the time, I did think, "little") grime on the door of the oven. 

Using the same kitchen cloth still damp with water and a dab of cleaning paste (aka "elbow grease in a jar") I started on the door. I hadn't used my cleaning paste yet, so I was anxious to see how it worked. 

We've had this oven at least 4 years, and I use it multiple times a week to roast chicken thighs, veggies, bake cookies, you name it...and I've never cleaned it until today. (Mom, I can feel you shaming me)

Within a few minutes I was stunned and called Bill in to prove I wasn't hallucinating. Naturally, he told me to stop what I was doing, take a photo where I was and document the remaining cleaning for the blog. 

Friends, these photos have not been manipulated in any way. Feast your eyes on the beauty of green cleaning: 

 As you can see, the left side is "before" and right is "after" - this is after about two or three minutes of cleaning. 

 In less than 15 minutes the entire door was sparkling. I used the kitchen cloth damp with water, cleaning paste, and a window polishing cloth to finish and make it sparkle. 

 Then, I kept going and cleaned the front of the oven (and top, not photographed). 

Amazed?! I AM!!! Bill was concerned about using the paste on the stainless steel, but right on the product description it says, "Environmentally friendly super paste that cleans, polishes and protects chrome, stainless steel, aluminum, porcelain and similar surfaces in one application. " 

Because I was on a roll, I continued my cleaning frenzy by wiping and polishing the mirrors in my living room. You know what I used? The same two cloths that I had just used to clean that filthy oven. Those same two dirty, grimy, covered in years of oven grease cloths...except when I flipped to a clean side, it was like I was using brand new cloths. The mirrors were clean in seconds and I still had several clean sides of cloth I could clean anything in the house with.

Want to build a Norwex stash and wondering where to start? Check out this sweet video that explains Norwex in a nutshell:


Wiping down the high chair is easier, cleaning up after cutting raw meat is easier; everything in my home is cleaner now because I don't dread cleaning. These products are so easy to use and completely green. How could you not love that?! Host your own Norwex party to learn what it's all about and receive awesome benefits of being a hostess! I am so glad I did!!!

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Little Things

My goal for December is to get back to this little corner of the internet. Honest to blog.

They may not be crafty, inspirational, or photo-heavy posts....but they will be posts!

I talk to my mom all day every day about every little thing happening in my life. We are best friends and it is awesome. Lately the topic of our conversation has been appreciating the little things.

Little Thing 1: 
Billy has begun using his pincer reflex and picking up Cheerios one at a time. He can pick them up, put them in his mouth, and if they start to fall out, he pushes them back in. The level of heart swell that happened in my chest when I saw this for the first time over the weekend was an 11.

Little Thing 2: 
My Norwex party was a success and through internet orders I hit the hostess limit for free stuff and discounts...which means I was able to afford their "Blue Sparkle Duo"....which is a toilet cleaning kit. No one should be as excited to clean toilets as I am. Since we spray Billy's diapers in there....yeah. I'll just let you wonder why I'm excited for another second.

Little Thing 3: 
Mom loves to stay at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island every few years with Dad when they get the chance, and today she bought Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Botanical cleaning products and soap, so her whole house and self smell like The Grand Hotel. Aren't nostalgic smells the best?

Little Thing 4: 
Piggy-backing off my mom's "little thing", I am burning "White Christmas" by Yankee Candle in my office. Actually, I have been for the last few weeks. And it is absolutely the smell of Christmas in a candle. Usually I like to buy different scents every year to experience all of them, but this is my new winner. Every year, White Christmas. Thank you, Yankee Candle.

Little Thing 5:
Billy is finally taking a nap in his crib today. After the holiday weekend, his schedule got totally wacked and he's been fighting me on it all day. Thank you, God. That said, I am so so SO inspired and thankful for every mommy on Facebook who shares their experience with me and tells me, "It will get better." I know it will,  but I absolutely will never get sick of hearing it from others. Thank you, mommies!!!!

What little things are you thankful for? 

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Norwex – A New Way To Clean

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA. That's just how I roll these days. Mothering and working full time gets in the way of this little corner of the internet I call home. I apologize! I'm human.

Friday evening I had some girlfriends over and we learned about an incredible cleaning company called Norwex.

In a nutshell, with Norwex products you can toss every chemical you own and use just water to clean almost everything in your home - including yourself and your babies! Don't believe me? Here is an explanation from my consultant:

Norwex microfiber is 1/200 of a human hair (that's finer than any germs and bacteria) When you use a damp enviro cloth, it sucks up all the contaminates on your surface deep into the cloth and doesn't release them until you wash them out. You will never cross contaminate surfaces with these cloths, I could wipe up raw chicken juice and then wipe my kids face with out any concern. What makes the Norwex Enviro cloths even more amazing is that they are embedded with micro silver making them naturally 99.9% anti-bacterial. When you are done, just rinse them out hang them up to dry and use them over again! I got rid of 3 boxes of cleaning chemicals from my house including bath products that contain parabens. Norwex has provided me with everything I need to create a truly healthy home, which will lead to a healthier family and a healthier environment!

How incredible is that?! I don't buy into the "party" atmosphere ever. Before learning about Norwex, I cleaned my whole house using only baking soda, vinegar, water and some lemons with whatever rags I had on hand. It never felt unclean, but using chemical cleaning products almost always leaves a residue. With residue leaves surface for protein, where there is protein, bacteria can grow! So I was cleaning and cleaning and cleaning all the time.

If you've been to my home, you know that we have two walls that are mirrors floor-to-ceiling as soon as you walk in (Hello, decorated by an old lady and too much work to remove!). Because I could NEVER get a streak-free clean shine on those mirrors, I stopped cleaning them entirely. I left them for our annual visit from the cleaning ladies so basically every time someone walked into my home, they probably thought we were slobs.

At the first Norwex party I attended, I was skeptical, at best. I was curious but extremely skeptical. Then the consultant showed how these cloths walk the walk. She rubbed butter all over a perfectly clean window. Then, used her damp EnviroCloth followed by the Window Cloth and poof. Completely streak-free. In that moment, I became a believer.

I started by purchasing the "Basic Package" which is an EnviroCloth and a Window Cloth. The mirrors and windows in my home have never looked better!

When we got new appliances a few weeks ago the old fridge had to be cleaned out and the floor under the old stove had 20+ years of grease built up. JUST using my Enviro Cloth and water, I cleaned the entire fridge out and left it to air dry. The next day there was absolutely no smell whatsoever. And the grease under the stove? Same method. Rinsed out my EnviroCloth and started wiping, in less than 5 minutes the floor was completely clean and grease-free!

At the party I won a face cloth. I know how dirty my moist toilettes (filled with chemicals) are at the end of the day - there is a little residue from my foundation on them with a smear of my eyemakeup..and my eyes are left stinging for a few seconds because of whatever I just wiped them with to remove my makeup.

Friday night at 11:30pm I wiped my face with the Norwex face cloth, dampened with water. I had put my makeup on before work at 7:00am so I assumed I would get no foundation and maybe some eye makeup, if I scrubbed.

Can I blow your mind right now?! The face cloth was CAKED with my makeup - probably DAYS worth and in two light swipes all of my waterproof eye makeup was removed. No stinging! No rubbing!

Needless to say, I can't wait until my next order of Norwex products arrive. I will be adding a few more face cloths, some body cloths and other cloths to clean my home with in the mix. Soon, my home will be completely chemical free!

Are you interested in placing an order? Follow this link to shop and enter my name (Jess Bedsole) at checkout before 12/2 to receive your products the week of 12/9.

I am not a "party" person, but I promise these products are worth it. They have made cleaning enjoyable to me, and I even look forward to washing my face!!

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Crispy Onion Chicken

This morning Billy slept in after his 'breakfast' at 6am which almost never happens, and that allowed me to get a few extra hours of sleep! With the energy from a few more hours of sleep I was able to cook, clean and bake today! *fist pump* 

For dinner I made "Crispy Onion Chicken" from this recipe with a hair of a twist. 

Crispy Onion Chicken (original recipe here)

• 1/2 stick butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup original french-fried onions, crushed
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Directions

• In a shallow bowl, combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Dip chicken in the butter mixture.
• Place in a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Drizzle with all remaining butter mixture & top with onions. 
• Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170°. 

As you can see from the photo, I served this tasty chicken with broccoli & brown rice with quinoa. It was such a hearty and satisfying dinner! Baking in the summer typically isn't my speed, but we have a little convection oven that's just perfect for dinners for two.

The chicken is crunchy, salty and juicy. It's almost like fried chicken from the crunch of the onions, but it's buttery and decadent all on its own. This is absolutely a keeper recipe!

My first time making it I followed the original recipe exactly. I used two chicken thighs instead of four breasts and it was wayyy too much butter for us. This time I cut the butter in half and used two breasts and it was perfect.

I also used fresh garlic and salt instead of garlic salt because I have some garlic starting to stink up my kitchen. Vampires won't come knocking on this door anytime soon.

I tucked the fresh garlic bits in the crevices of the chicken breasts when I dipped it in the butter mixture – it gave the chicken such a wonderful flavor.

For dessert I wanted something chocolatey, and while I was waist-deep exploring our deep freezer today I discovered a box of Ghiradelli brownie mix! Typically I don't bake from a box but I'm not too proud to use what I have on hand. I substituted the vegetable oil the recipe called for with 1/3 cup apple sauce & 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil. I don't think the consistency of the brownie is quite right so the next batch I'll have to play to find the proper oil balance. They are a little more "cake" than "brownie" this time around.

I have little to no self control with sweets, so I like to find healthy alternatives to fats or oils while baking. This batch is not quite right, but when paired with an ice cream sandwich as it's own sundae, who cares?! ...if only I had caramel sauce and whipped cream...

My little guy has been napping all day like a champ so I've been able to get a lot done. Yesterday he was awake and alert for much of the day, so I was able to snap some photos of him. Please excuse me while I melt:

 I'm still learning my camera, so they're a touch blurry.

 The blurriness doesn't make him any less adorable.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME Princess walks by Billy, she licks his head or toes or face. He's gotten used to it, and now has started swatting at her once she gets a few good licks in. Note the action shot of his fist. Too hilarious.

I hope you had a productive Saturday!! Bill planted some hosta and day lilies in front of our house PLUS we have planters full of flowers on the front steps! I'll take photos and share it all with you this week. Our home is starting to have a little curb appeal!

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Baby Boy Closet Organization

Remember when I told you how hardcore I'm nesting? This post is a definite "I told you so". I won't bore you with too many details, I'll just overwhelm you with photos of Billy's adorable closet. Before and after!

I really felt accomplished Saturday night to get all of these things to fit into his closet. It's SO TINY I thought, "Wow! Look at all the stuff I can cram in there!" Of course, once I stepped back and looked at it I thought, "How the heck will I ever find anything in there?!" Not to mention that rickety curbside find of a wire rack was collapsing more than holding anything.

Then I decided it's time to visit IKEA and find a better solution. Queue better solution: 

Yes, I cleared out a lot of those things that didn't need to be in there, like strollers and the car seat base, but everything else is still in there! Just beautifully organized in those sweet ANTONIOUS drawers. I bought two (stacked) and repurposed one we already owned which was housing Bill's (enormous) shoe collection. 

I spent $79 on the two ANTONIOUS organizers with drawers, plus utilized the one we already had and added a Command hook to hang my diaper bag on (far right - Vera Bradley "Lime's Up" Messenger). I also used baskets and containers we've acquired from the showers or over time for additional organization within the drawers or upper shelf of the closet.

The left drawers are all basic baby items like books, bibs, blankies, etc: 

.....and the right is ALL FLUFF!!! Ohhh it makes my heart go pitter patter to see those beautiful drawers full of fluff. 

Top is all newborn 'sposies for the first few days, along with my diaper caddy and wash cloths which will be used as wipes when we transition to cloth. 

Sposies and wash cloths are in dollar store baskets and my diaper caddy was $3.99 at Hobby Lobby, but I used a 40% off coupon to save some moo-lah.

Second drawer is all prefolds that will be burp cloths (about 20). Third drawer is full of size 2 OsoCozy Prefolds for Billy's bigger days and bottom drawer is all of our one size pocket diapers; which there are more on the way thanks to the Cotton Babies Seconds Sale.

Just because I love our fluff stash that much...I took photos of the newborn stash to share and oodle over: 

BumGenius, GroVia, Cocalo, Thirsties, Kawaii, OH MY!!

Bummis, gDiapers and a dollar store bucket for Snappis.

OsoCozy Unbleached Prefolds - Size 1

Can't have prefolds without Snappis!! Love that bucket.

OsoCozy

There you have it! A fabulously organized closet full of fun and fluff for under a hundred bucks.

Now we sit back and patiently (yeah right!!) await Billy's arrival. I'm full-term (37 weeks) today, so I'm ready when he's ready!! I am praying for a healthy baby and an easy labor/delivery. Whenever that's meant to happen, I'm ready for it.

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