Spring Cleaning Help!

What do you think of when you think of spring? Easter, grass, bunnies? Allergies, sneezing, cleaning? The good and the bad of spring. Today I want to focus on spring cleaning. I've come across a few new products to help with this unpleasant part of spring that I'll be sharing.

Today I'm sharing how I'm using a tried and true product that everyone is familiar with...but maybe not in relation with cleaning. I received Arm & Hammer Baking Soda free to use and review. I had always thought that baking soda was only for...well, baking. But it actually does SO. MUCH. MORE. Like CLEAN!

I thought I'd start in the bathroom. I'm having trouble making my bath tub look clean. Despite the fact that I clean it regularly and despite the fact that I've cleaned it with all sorts of products - bleach, Comet, Soft Scrub...I cannot make it look sparking WHITE! Would baking soda be the answer? Well yes and no. Let's start with no. Sadly, the dark spot didn't go away. This is not the answer I've been searching for to get the white. BUT...I did get the sparkling! I'm not kidding - that tub sparkled like fairy dust had been sprinkled on it!

Next I decided to try it on a problem spot in the kitchen. My stainless steel refrigerator. We got this new fridge in January. It's beautiful...and spacious...and prone to STREAKING. The streaking drives me crazy.

See how awful! No matter what I did, it looked like this! So I wondered if the baking soda might be the trick and after a little Googling I found that it might be just the thing I needed!

I started by making a paste -  mixing baking soda with a bit of water. I used a microfiber cloth to spread the paste on and then took a piece of a wet old t-shirt and washed the paste off. Then I dried it with a paper towel. I started with one small area just to test it out and was blown away!

Success! It looked so GREAT that I did the rest!

So happy! Go get your own box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda! Use it for baking...cleaning..Get more information on this product HERE.

No More Busy!!

Someone posted an article on Facebook the other day called Busy Is A Sickness and it really got my wheels spinning! Go read it, I'll wait...

If you didn't follow directions, I'll sum it up a little bit. He speaks about how busy we all are these days and about how we wear our "busyness" like a badge of honor. When friends ask how we are doing, we tend to dramatically exclaim about ALL that we have to do and ALL that we have going on and then the friend commiserates and gives us a run down of how busy they are as well. But one day his friend put things into perspective - made him think of how lucky he was to either "get to" or "be able to" do all of the things he had to do in that day. And he began thinking of how much of his being overwhelmed came from self imposed anxiety.

After my conversation with my friend, I began to notice how much of my rushing was an overreaction to my "awfulizing" in my head. Most of the time, I manufacture urgency in hopes that it will create urgency in others. Instead, it only creates anxiety, resentment and spite. Which is absolutely counter-productive. And even in the cases where the urgency is real, it's often due to a packed schedule I created.

This is the part that really got me to thinking about my life and my feelings of stress. My husband and I were talking the other day about whether or not I should go to work at some point. He asked why I would want to do that when I am finally a stay at home mom like I have always wanted to be. I told him that I just haven't settled into it as easily as I thought I would. I like everything about it and feel so blessed but I just always have this uneasy feeling of guilt that I'm not earning money. After I read this article, it really hit me why I am not enjoying being at home like I thought. It has to do with what he says about manufacturing busyness. In my case it goes something like - I sit down to have a leisurely lunch on a slow day but  instead of enjoying it, I think of all the people at their offices working hard or other moms who want to be stay at home moms but are at work instead and then I feel guilty. So I rush through my lunch and start thinking of all the things I "should" be doing - organizing a closet, wiping down a baseboard, running an errand - and then I don't feel so guilty because I'm not relaxing, I'm stressing out and feeling pressure about all of these things that do need to be done but are not anything urgent or needing to be accomplished right at that moment. And if I really want to pile it on, I start thinking of all of the things I've not done that I probably should have or things I didn't do as well as I could have. And then I feel really nice and stressed and busy. And then I don't have to feel guilty!

Obviously, that is not good. And now that I realize it, I will stop. I woke up this morning feeling nauseous after a night of not very good sleep because I felt nauseous all night. The old me would have made myself fight through getting a bunch done all while feeling horrible. But today I thought about how much I've gotten done the past few days, about how once the kids get home this afternoon I'll have tons to do, and how I have a meeting tonight. I got comfy on the couch and started up my latest binge watching Netflix show(Hart of Dixie right now - SO good!) and I've been getting a baby mermaid tale done all morning...and NOT feeling guilty one bit about it.

The writer of the article sums it up with this

I am created in the image and likeness of God, yet somehow that isn't good enough for me. So I fill my Facebook feed and my calendar with self-important busyness to avoid just being. In the process, I not only miss out on the peace and beauty that lies within myself, but I also miss seeing that same beauty in others, because my manufactured urgency has covered it up with anxiety and worry.
It's time I let my busyness rest in peace.
So my prayer today is this. That I stop defining myself by my doing, and start defining myself by my being. That I stop measuring time by the clock on the wall, and start measuring it by the experiences I share with those around me. And that I stop seeing my life as "busy," and instead, see it for what it truly is.
Full.

I am adopting this prayer and hope that you can do the same!

Red Cups and Killer Whales

Today I've read about people being mad about the color of the new Starbucks cups...still don't really get that one. And then college students and professors being mad at a college president who subsequently resigned. A mall "sterilized" Christmas so as not to offend shoppers...which ended up offending shoppers anyway. People are mad about killer whale shows so SeaWorld is going to stop having them. Isn't that the main attraction of Sea World?

If I was an alien visiting this planet for the first time and reading Twitter or the news in an attempt to learn more about the planet I just landed on, I would deduce that in order to fit in I would need to find some things to get angry about. Or I might think I need to figure out what things other people might get angry about and worry about that and change what I do in order to keep from agitating folks. 

I'm getting really tired of all the anger. I see the worrying everyone has to do about what might set others off. And it makes me sad to see so many companies making such drastic changes to their business models or people altering their lives in order to appease the angry mobs.

Why are people these days so threatened by those with different views from themselves? Why do we have to get bent out of shape over anything that doesn't go our way or seem to fit in line with our opinions or worldviews? 

It's a bunch of adults acting like children in my opinion. My kids expect everyone to do what THEY want them to do and to think exactly as THEY think and to stop anything that bothers THEM. It's my job as their parent to help them to understand that there are a lot of people in the world doing things that we don't necessarily agree with or even like. Why don't other people understand that these days?

I have no suggestions on how to change this or calm everyone down. I just had to vent a bit...before the anger takes over me and I pick up a protest sign and a frowny face and start marching around demanding everyone change everything for ME!!

It's The M-O-S-T Wonderful Time Of The Year...On TV!

This makes me SOOOOOOO happy!!

Changes, Changes, Lots of Changes

So much has changed at the cottage! As of a month or so ago, I am no longer selling Shabby Paints. It was a hard decision to make but one that I am already seeing is the right one. I was having such a hard time keeping up with the business and my family and my house and everything. So I decided to focus on all of that - most especially...myself!

My house is a mess!!! So much chaos and disorganization! My kids are not a mess but I was a mess trying to keep up with all of their activities, reports, papers due etc. And me...well, I'm overweight, unhappy and not fun to be around! So all of that is getting remedied! Several wonderful programs and support systems have fallen into place for me and I can't wait to tell you about some of the things I've been doing to make changes!

I am also excited to start blogging more about my faith, politics, and world events like I did on my old blog Wheelbarrow Manor. I had stopped blogging there a long time ago. When I started my business I really wanted to keep that Wheelbarrow part of it (read the story of why here) and the cottage just seemed to fit better for the antique part of my business. Plus, truth be told, my house and current lifestyle is much more akin to a cottage than a manor!

So, I'm going to pick up where I am now right here at my cottage!! Hope you enjoy!

Color Charts and Scrubby Soap Rescue!

Anyone else struggling to keep kids entertained this summer? We are not constant camp people. I know some kids are in different camps every week of from the end of one school year to the beginning of another! Not only do we not have the money for that, I miss my kids during the school year and enjoy the time home with them! I also think there is great value in kids being bored. They learn to be creative!

I do admit to having gotten lazy about limiting screen time and television in the past few weeks though so I decided to get a little more strict last week. It paid off! After a few hours of them being miserably bored and me being the meanest mom EVER, they got together and started writing and planning a movie. They ended up recruiting a few other neighborhood kids as well. There are costumes changes, hair and make up, and even a flash back scene. I am not allowed to see any of it until it's done of course but from the bits and pieces I've seen them doing and heard them talking about, I am anticipating an epic thriller!

They did have some down time in between filming the other day though and the "B" (bored) word was bandied about. My rule is that if I hear the "B" word, I will put the offender to work! Usually chores but this time it was a little more fun than usual. I was working on color charts to sell in the booth and online so they got to help with that and thought it was great fun!

My middle daughter helped as well but I didn't get a picture. She is the one who ran off and left the paintbrush on the table with Cranberry Bliss in it! I had no idea until a day or so later when I went to work on it some more and found a dried up, sticky Cranberry Bliss mess of a paintbrush. Yikes! Momentary panic but I then I thought...

Using my Scrubby Soap I was able to get the Cranberry Bliss mess off of my brush and continue on making little paint dots!

These will be available in the next week or so! It is taking longer than you would think and there are a few colors that I don' have in my personal stash. I don't want to open brand new jars so I'm trying to figure out a work around on that!

Meanwhile, Scrubby Soap is available in Orange and Lemon at both the Antique Gallery of Mesquite location (booth #0622) and the Amazing Again Furniture location in Dallas!

Informative and Instructional How To Video - Gelato Gel Stain

Have you used the Gelato Gel Stain yet? I haven't...and I'm NOT happy about it! It's just so crazy with the kids home for summer. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE having them home and we have a great time - going to the pool, shopping, playing board games, movies.

It's just hard to focus on anything because when we're home I'm either exhausted from whatever activity we've done that day or they're coming in and asking me things or showing me what they just made or telling me who just did what to them. I'm so ADHD that it just takes one little thing for me to get distracted and completely loose my train of thought!

Headed to the pool!!

So the furthest I've gotten on trying the Gelato is to do little sample boards which gave me a great feel for what the colors look like but not really how to use the product.

Luckily for me, Kandice from Just For the Woods, who not only does amazing work but she stages beautifully, made a video for us!  She did a bunch of pieces with the Gelato Gel Stain before it came out so that we'd have some examples to show like in this post.



Hope this helps! I'm hoping to get around to doing some practicing so I can let you know what I think and then maybe once school starts I can get a video done as well! I know it's helpful to watch how different people do it. For example, I will more than likely use a brush so that will be a big difference!

I'll be putting this video on the video section of my website if you need to see it again later!

Send pics if you do any projects with Gelato Gel Stain!