Some Things We Have Done

I'm glad I took some pictures over the last six weeks, because I had already forgotten about some of these things. (And I'm sure other people in my family have pictures of other activities that I don't have.)

The four of us did some hiking at Dismals Canyon in Alabama.

Mae has come to visit us a lot.

Clay worked in his forge. He made some pliers completely from raw materials. (I need a picture of the finished product.)

We celebrated Clay's 21st birthday.

Mae loves to color.

And be outside.

Big Sam and I have given quarantine haircuts! I trimmed about 4 inches from Leah's hair and 5 inches from Julie's (no picture.)

Sweet Mae again!

Sam and Clay built a rock climbing wall. This is during the construction phase.

And this is the finished product.

The Easter Bunny came.

Leah, Sam, and Mae dyed Easter Eggs.

Clay made homemade bread and this homemade flan, pictured below.

I deep cleaned my oven (not using the self-cleaning feature). It took about three hours! This is the before picture. I am embarrassed to say that I have never deep cleaned my oven, and it is 15 years old!

After--not perfectly clean, but as clean as three hours of hard work, baking soda, vinegar, scrub brushes, norwex cloths, norwex cleaning paste, and elbow grease could get it.

Jimmy planed some boards from trees that had fallen or been cut down last fall.

Leah did a couple of Bob Ross art classes online as well as created much art on her iPad.

All in all, it has been a fun, productive shelter at home experience. I have kept up with my housework and even cleaned out a couple of closets and drawers.  Jimmy pressure washed all our concrete around the house and backyard/pool area, and he also finished a beautiful desk he has been working on for years. Sam built a go cart from an old piece of yard equipment....he attached a trailer hitch to it, and it will pull his four-wheeler. I need to take a picture of it!

Facebook Shopping Parties

Here's something else I have been doing lately......Facebook shopping parties. In the past few months I have been introduced to Norwex (three parties), Younique, and Color Street Nails. I know there are many Facebook parties out there, but these are the three I have been invited to recently. Before these online parties, I knew nothing about these companies' products. In fact, when Lynn was showing me her sticker nails and was trying to tell me where she bought them, it took several tries before I understood what she was saying. Color Street Nails. I still don't know why they are called that.

Ok. Disclaimer. I am not selling any of these products. I am not hosting any online parties. I am getting no financial or other company benefit from telling you about this......I have just had so much fun, and I am sharing my life with you readers again! :)

1. Norwex. This is the only Facebook party that I have participated in live, and it was fun! I am sold on their enviro cloth, mirror cloth, and dusting mitt. I have enjoyed cleaning so much with them. The dusting mitt really attracts the dust, and my furniture stays dust free so much longer than before. I will not be using their body cloths to shower without soap or their kitchen cloths to wash dishes without soap, because, well, I like soap! I like the smell of soap! I do have their makeup removal cloths, which I love! I still use Mary Kay eye makeup remover to get my mascara off, but the Norwex cloths and hot water get my face clean. It's very easy. I have three of these cloths, and since I do laundry every. single. day. I always have one clean. 

2.  Younique.  Makeup. I am not high maintenance in the makeup department. I still wear some Cover Girl products just like I did in high school. I use several Mary Kay products, including my long time staple, tinted moisturizer, along with various other products all sold at Walmart. 

But, I watched several tutorial videos, spent a long time chatting with a consultant while I held Baby Mae late one night while Julie slept, and before you knew it, I had bought some new makeup! I am now using some sort of foundation, a fabulous foundation/powder/concealer brush, and mascara and a fiber lash set--all from Younique. This is the first time I have worn actual foundation in decades, and I really like it. It is very light and goes on effortlessly with the brush. (I don't wear the tinted moisturizer if I wear the foundation.) I also just bought some face primer, which I used for the first time today. The Epic mascara may be my new favorite mascara. I have used the fiber lashes a few times, but I really don't have time for too much extra in my daily "getting ready" routine. 

3. Color Street Nails. This is my favorite of all. I have painted my fingernails maybe three times since Olivia was born (she's 23), and I have had one manicure in my entire life. (last year). I have had some sort of fingernail infection on most of my fingernails (it comes and goes and alternates nails) for  almost 12 years. Yuk. It's not a fungus. I have taken many different medications over the years, and nothing helps. I am pretty sure I have chronic paronychia. (Google that. It's gross.) Anyway, I do not have pretty fingernails. But these Color Street Nails have changed my life! I bought four sets (because the party special was buy 3, get 1 free! :) With each set I am pretty sure I am getting two full manicures. I bought three sets of regular polish, and one set of glitter! I use the glitter stickers on my currently yucky nails, because I have found that they stick the best. 

The first time I applied them Lynn did most of it for me. She was concerned that I would not have the patience to do them, and she was right! If I had tried them all by myself the first time, I would have given up. But she showed me how to do it, and now I have done two more sets all by myself. I think the company advertises that each "manicure" lasts two weeks, but mine have lasted only six days each time. But wow! Six days. That's great to me! After 5-6 days they start cracking and coming off little bit on the tips. I am sure it's because I keep my hands in water so much washing and scrubbing dishes.

In case you are not familiar with Color Street Nails, they are nail shaped stickers made of actual nail polish. You apply the sticker and then gently shape it to your nail. I can do it in less than 30 minutes now. And no drying time!

I am done with Facebook parties for now, because I need to get onto online Christmas shopping.

But it has been lots of fun!

The Mop and the Shower Door

Well.  I finally caught up on camp/being out of town for a week laundry last night around 10:00.  I made some homemade laundry detergent, combining two different recipes, and so far, so good. I tried liquid homemade laundry detergent about 4 years ago, but I never cared for it.  This time I made a powder, and I really like it.  I'll give an update after another week (I have to see if our smelly running clothes will get clean and fresh enough).

After reading your comments on the blog and also on my Facebook page, I decided to buy this mop from Amazon. It was cheaper than some of the brands recommended to me. I did not want to invest a lot in a mop, so I felt like this one had really good reviews and was not too expensive either.  I did not want a spray mop, nor did I want to buy any special mop spray.  I am mixing up my own floor cleaner which is basically water, vinegar, and a few drops of very low cost (bought on Amazon for about $2/bottle) essential oil. So this is the mop I bought.

18" Professional Microfiber Mop | Stainless Steel Handle | Premium Mop Pads + 2 FREE Microfiber Cloths

(That's how it's listed on Amazon)

(I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste a link to the page.)

I love this mop!  The handle is all one piece and is made of stainless steel.  It also can get longer or shorter, depending on your needs.

The microfiber cloths are just wonderful!  I also bought a 3 pack of additional cloths, because I knew the two that the mop came with would not be enough for me to use at one time.  The mop head swivels, and just glides across the floor.

I mix up my cleaning solution in a mop bucket and put the 5 microfiber cloths in the bucket.  I squeeze out and use one at a time, and then I put the dirty mop cloth away and get out another clean one. 

Mopping can be fun!

The shower door.  No luck yet on any of my reader suggestions (via in person, this blog, or my Facebook page). I have yet to try one more thing....a paste of Bar Keeper's Friend.  I am about to clean the bathrooms, so I will try this. 

I have scrubbed all the filmy stuff off my glass shower door. What is left is like hard water droplets stains.  So the door is clean and shiny with whitish spots all over it.

I am determined to get that shower door crystal clear!