Meet Layke.

Layke has been with us now for about 3 months. Isn't she cute? She came with all her pretty little accessories. Ü She's such a sweet little girl, except when she's not. ;o) Her & Bray get along really well, but occasionally, she gets a wild hair & torments the dickens out of him. Which happens about 3x daily. So I'm thinking 'occasionally' may not be the accurate term. Heehee. But he tolerates her & they run, play & sleep kind of snuggled, so I think he enjoys having another little 4 legged friend around. :)

She loves to go in the car, she loves to cuddle & sleep in our bed. She is, however, high maintenance. She just desires to be with someone at all times. If I'm not holding her, she is right at my feet. She's been stepped on a couple of times & she's actually tripped me several times. She loves the kids & gets excited to see them, just like Bray does. Too cute. I haven't taken her to the vet yet because she's current on shots/heartworm - so I'm not really sure what she weighs. I think she's around 6-7 lbs., at the most. Bray weighs 15 lbs., so she's about half. Love her. She's prefect. No more dogs! ♥

Goodwill goodies.

Goodwilling day 2. I drove just a little further today to a different Goodwill. It's smaller than than the one I frequent, but well worth it. I noticed today how clean this particular Goodwill is. Clean & nicely organized. Ours is filthy & completely disorganized. Now I have two Goodwills to find good thrifts. :) Also, there is a thrift store right next to this particular Goodwill (I've been in there once) - but I ran out of time today so I didn't have a chance to browse.

Here's what I found today (none of it cleaned yet):



The table! The table I have been searching for. I've been needing a compact, light table to stick in our downstairs 1/2 bath. This is perfect! I'm going to spray paint it, but I need to decide on a color. That'll probably take 6 months. ;o) Table was $10.50

Medium glass vase $1.75

Large glass vase $2.75

Food Network Ü Christmas dish. So cute! Has a cute little package on the inside, gold trim around the top edges, & at the top of each side there are little captions: side 1 "Tis the Season to be Jolly", side 2 "Dashing Through the Snow", side 3 "Making Spirits Bright" & side 4 "Laughing All the Way". Love! $4.95

First toy ever from Goodwill - a very dirty (ew) Barbie car $2.95

Cute new condition shirt for Bentley $1.99

Shirt: Things They Don't Teach You in School

*It is impossible to lick your elbow.
*Girls blink almost twice as much as boys.
*"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
*There are more chickens than people in the world.
*"Sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the hardest tongue twister.
*No words rhyme with month, orange or purple.
*Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
*It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
*The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it.
*A sheet of newspaper can't be folded in half more than 9 times.

He loves stuff like this. Interesting about the bug legs in chocolate, heh? I watched a segment on the news not long ago stating this very chocolate detail. ;o)

Total: $26.94
I had 9 stamps & she gave me one for free: -$10
Total: $16.94

As I was leaving, the clerk said "be sure to come back tomorrow, everything is 50% off!" LOL Just my luck! Ü



(Pardon the crappy photo - I'm in a hurry today. :)

Goodwill goodies.

*Please excuse the slammed together post - Blogger is not cooperating today & will not let me insert paragraphs. Grr.

I haven't posted my Goodwill Goodies in a while. Currently I'm not going as often as I was - but someone emailed me & told me they enjoy seeing the bargains I find. So, Mercedes & I went today & here's what I found. Not much today! Ü



Hoola hoop - $.60 (the had a whole rack of new ones)

New Tommy Hilfiger red shirt - $1.99

Tommy Hilfiger denim shorts - $1.99

Yellow striped Justice - $2.99

New Hello Kitty - I paid too much but, it is new & cute - $4.19

Black Children's Place t - $1.99

Basket - $.75

3 white Target's 'Home' collection dishes - $2.00 for all

Total: $17.86

I've mentioned before that the Goodwill down the street from me is huge. I.e. it's in a previous grocery store. Most of the time, our Goodwill is packed & recently they have really increased their prices. It's quite ridiculous & I can always hear someone complaining. There are several items I have not purchased simply because of price. Tomorrow I will travel a little further to a different Goodwill. I've been there once before & it doesn't get the amount of traffic ours does.

Did I ever tell you I was not, not, not a Goodwill shopper? Hell-bent "no!" I have a friend who has always shopped at Goodwill & for the life of me, I could never understand why. As a matter of fact, many years ago, I distinctly remember telling my husband that I could not, would not, ever shop at Goodwill. My children would never have Goodwill clothing, let alone my home full of Goodwill finds! Appalling! Why? I was a snooty snob. The store is icky & stinky & ew, plain & simple. Fast forward to about 8 months ago. I enjoy reading decorating blogs & I quickly noticed a familiar pattern - a lot of decorators get their furniture pieces at Goodwill (at exceptional prices) & restore them into beautiful, new pieces. One day I decided to suck it up & run in to check out their furniture, since so many others were doing it. If others could browse Goodwill, then so could I. So I did. Then I went back. Heehee. The next time, I ventured into the home accessory section, simply out of curiosity. Then I went back. Again. The time after that I thought what the heck, I'll go to the boys clothing, you know, just to 'see'. And then the girls clothing. And the rest is history. To be honest, I'm quite perturbed with myself that I never shopped Goodwill prior. The brand new, or like new, brand name clothing I find is worth the trips alone. And guess what? You can wash your hands as soon as you leave & the icky smell washes right out of clothing. Who woulda thunk? Ü

Disqus & floor steamers.

Disqus is my new comment format! Woot! Now I can reply to comments right here on my blog, versus trying to reply by email. Some I can reply via email, but some accounts aren't set up that way (from what I understand, it's an option in the Blogger profile). Now it doesn't matter! I love reading comments & love participating! If you choose to leave a comment (please, don't feel obligated!) & want to be notified of replies to your comment, I believe there's a little option box you can check when filling out your comment. Ü

I must check out these floor steamers! Rebecca told me about hers months ago & I totally forgot to research. I'm still skeptical - do they really remove dirt? Grime? Dirty paw prints? Dried milk/juice? They sound too good to be true, but I really think I'm going to try one if they are affordable. Thanks so much for your comments on my Cleaning Products post - I so enjoy chatting about products & finding out what works for others. Whitney's comment reminded me that I have tried Method products & I like them. They now disinfect, too. I currently use Method's Daily Shower & have used it for quite some time.

Happy Sunday! Ü

Current cleaning products.

I'm happy with my current products. As you can see, I still have two that need to be replaced w/ non-toxic cleaners.

I absolutely love 7th Generation products. Love the disinfecting wipes & love the spray cleaners. I'm thinking the multi-surface spray & the bathroom cleaner are the same thing in different bottles - but I'm not sure, as the bottles don't disclose all ingredients (I wonder if there's a reason for that? I've never taken the time to google it.) What the bottles do disclose is that both are made with Thyme, an all natural disinfecting oil. As a matter of fact, I went & bought my own bottle of Thyme so I could make my own disinfecting spray, but haven't attempted it yet.

I'm discovering vinegar & water can be used for anything, anywhere. I use it often & the smell doesn't bother me bit because it dissipates so quickly. I now even dust with vinegar & water. I don't spray the surface directly, I spray my cloth (currently using cloth diapers - works like a charm) & it cleans as well as Pledge Multi-Surface wipes (used those for years). I clean mirrors, windows, tables (wood), electronics, decorating accessories, shutters, everything w/ vinegar & water. I feel like I'm really saving some money because vinegar is so inexpensive. I typically purchase a generic brand 'cause vinegar's vinegar. Ü

For years I used Bon Ami in my bathrooms (even in the toilets) & kitchen, but switched to Clorox (p.u.!) & Lysol (ditto!) for the bathrooms. Now I'm using the 7th Generation in the bathroom sinks/tubs/showers/faucets/counters. I currently have a white, porcelain kitchen sink & getting stains off that sucker is no easy task. Recently I've used Comet w/ bleach (massive fumes) & it worked the best. I also tried bleach & peroxide. Now I use Bon Ami, apply good ol' elbow grease & I'm totally content with my white sink & I'm pleased I'm not using a potent cleaner w/ bleach. I only use Bon Ami for the kitchen sink.

I use Pine-Sol on my floors (marble, wood, ceramic). Reason being, vinegar & water takes so long to dry! I'm not sure why, but I don't have that amount of time, & the Pine-Sol dries much quicker. My floors look sparkling clean & smell good, too, so I may just continue with Pine-Sol & be done with it.

And alas, Clorox toilet cleaner w/ bleach. Sigh. What can I say. I'm a stickler about my toilets. I only use it inside the bowl & at the time Rebecca told me to stop using it, I had just purchased a 2-pack. Heehee. So I'm still using it. But I flush really well after cleaning so none is left over. When the Clorox is gone I'll attempt a green toilet blow cleaner.

I am such a product junkie, I'm telling you, I had so many products under my kitchen sink it was unreal! About three or four years ago, I switched to cleaning completely green (still used commericial detergent, but went with the perfume-free) & threw away/gave away all my toxic cleaners. I lost a lot of money doing that. But I felt better because the change was definitely a positive one. Then hubby & I battled Staph infections (nightmare!!!!!), each had 2 surgeries with me a possible 3rd lingering (I wiggled out of that one, thank God!) & after experiencing that absolute hell, I was terrified cleaning green wasn't killing the Staph. So, I went out & repurchased all toxic disinfecting cleaners.

Many months ago I was cleaning the shower & I thought I was going to asphyxiate on fumes! I realized that inhaling toxins had to stop not only for me, but my family as well. I'm still not where I need to be, but progress has been made. And everyone is breathing easier. Suffice to say, transitioning back & forth several times has been very costly. No more of that. Ü

Thought I'd throw in a photo of the current condition of our master shower. Ain't she purdy. This renovation is not going well & due to the fact my husband cannot get the tile off the seat, he has come to a standstill. All six of us are still using the upstairs bath/shower & it's awful. We have seldom used that bath/shower & the dap was peeling off, so hubby redid it. He did an awesome job. Now the new dap is peeling off. WTH? I'm paranoid water is seeping in underneath & getting that sheetrock wet, which will land us in the very same position we're in now with the master shower. We just can't win for losing. This weekend one of us will redap & this will prove to be interesting, as it has to sit/dry for a day or so. We ain't got no other shower. ;o) All that said, let me tell you, we are very blessed & spoiled. It's been tough using the upstairs bathroom, but I'm so grateful we at least have another shower to use.


That was one long post with way too many words. Heehee.

Happy Friday! Ü

Girl got her some new shoes.

My wee ones have had some remaining birthday/Christmas money hanging around, so on spring break I took them to Walmart & let them purchase whatever their little hearts desired. The littlest one chose a Play-Doh set & shoes. :)

The color is a delish, shimmery, watermelon, the heel is just the right height, the design is nice & airy, the bling is the most perfect pink cupcake surrounded by diamonds & the quality is...plastic. ;o) She done good! Ü

Saturday she wanted to put on some of her sister's makeup. So she did. ♥

I noticed a few days ago that she had some unpleasant allergy symptoms brewing. The coughing began @ 3:00 a.m. this morning & coughing resulted in vomiting. Which resulted in me changing all bedding in early hours & making a Kroger run for Robitussin. Which helped. In case you're wondering, it's kind of spooky out @ 3:00 a.m.

Today I'm tired. Dragging, actually. I assumed (silly me) we'd have a nice, long, early nap today. Together. Didn't happen. I'm still up & she's still up. I am not a cappy hamper today & I've used some naughty words. And for some odd reason, sometimes, using naughty words just makes me feel better. Bad thing is little girl heard naughty words. Will be interesting when she repeats them in front of her daddy. I'll once again be prepared to raise my hand when she's asked where she heard naughty words. I raise my hand a lot, a lot. What can I say. I'm honest. Thank goodness I'm too old to be punished. Ü

My disobedient tiny tyke said earlier: "Look mommy! Selena Gomez!" To which I growled: Oh, I see her! I bet Selena Gomez takes naps!" Heehee.

Girl may have some new shoes & look beautimous with makeup, but girl ain't cute today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today. Pfft.

Epic fail.

I thought I'd take a photo of myself. Obviously, I can take them of others, but me, not so much.

I've been playing with photos, but I must quit screwing around now. We have a family dinner to attend. I have to get dressed & fix my hair. My hair is not fixed (or, complete, rather) in this photo. I've only straightened it (I still need to fix my bangs (desperately) & put my hair up in a clip - it's 6-7+ inches past my shoulders...blah) & put on makeup. I also have two frizzy haired little girls to get ready, too. Getting ladies ready to go out on the town is no easy, quick task. It's hard work being glamorous. ;o)

Happy Saturday! Ü