Tuesday Tips - Cleaning Ceiling Fans

I never seem to remember to clean anything above my eye level. The tops of doors, the tops of pictures hung on the wall, and ceiling fans. Luckily we only have one ceiling fan in the house. I remember cleaning it before, I just can't remember how long ago. We've been in our house for 6 years now so it could have been years ago...scary.

While lying in bed the other night I noticed a dust bunny hanging precariously from one of the blades. We don't ever use the fan but I decided it was time to get rid of it before it falls down on top of me in the middle of the night and I inhale it. My organizational idol Martha Stewart recommends using a pillow case to both clean the top of the fan and to catch any falling dust. All you do is place the pillow case onto a blade of the fan and wipe.

Here is the inside of the pillow case when I was finished. Pretty gross, huh?

 

Be sure to put a drop cloth of sheet down beneath the fan to catch any runaway dust bunnies. I caught several. I may have to put a reminder on my calendar to do this more than every few years. It was pretty icky. 

TV Countdown - update

So we've stuck to the television free weekdays and so far so good! We've been listening to music in the mornings instead of watching morning cartoons. We've had less attitude issues and a lot of spontaneous dance parties. I told the kids that they could watch a lot more on the weekend but that seems to be waning too. Yay!

School Days

Nate started preschool yesterday. He woke up at 6 and asked every few minutes if it was time to go. Needless to say he was very excited!

Gabby was excited too. She grabbed her backpack and kept saying "school". I told her she has to stop using diapers and go in the potty to go to school. She said "no school."

Tuesday Tips - Limes

 

Did you know that there is a trick to slicing limes? If you want wedges for squeezing and you cut them the wrong way you won't get as much juice out of the lime. Start by holding the lime standing up, stem side down and point sticking up.

Slice away! Seriously, you really will get more juice out of your lime slicing it this way. Some bartenders insist you slice the lime and discard the "core". I've tried slicing limes with and without the "core" or center and haven't noticed a difference.

Side note, when choosing limes, a green grocer told me that the thinner skinned limes are much easier to juice. I've followed his advice and I've gotten juicy limes every time!

Time

It's hard to believe that Summer is over and another school year has started. Nate starts school on Wednesday. Above is a picture from last school year. He asked me if he gets to ride the bus this year because he's ready to go to school on his own. He was very disappointed to learn he has a couple of years before he gets to ride a bus!

TV Countdown

My kiddos don't watch a lot of television compared to some other kids but they definitely watch more than they need to. Above is a picture of them watching this morning. They are enjoying it while they can. We have a deal when school starts next Wednesday they can only watch on the weekends. It all sounds good now but I have a feeling there will be kicking, screaming and crying.... Wish us luck!

Sea Worthy

 

Yesterday we celebrated our cutie-pie goddaughter's 2nd birthday. Happy birthday, Corinne!

 

The party had a sea theme which was fun and very age appropriate. From jelly fish decor that big sister Elise made to Swedish Fish candy "swimming" in a fish bowl. (Gabby kept giving her puppy dog-eye look to anyone near the candy dish and ended up eating over 12!)

 Even the crab dinner plates fit into the theme.

 

The food is always amazing at a party thrown by Holly but what I look forward to the most is what she will do with the dessert! Check out this fun assortment of desserts:

 

An octopus,

A sea turtle,

A cute little crab,

And my favorite, an oyster and pearl cookie. The cookie was a rich buttery shortbread, thick creamy frosting and the pearl was a Dutch mint. So yummy!

The games were also sea worthy. They had a pool filled with sea creature squeaker toys, each kid had a bucket with their name on it and a net to "fish".

 

 

We had an amazing time and wish our little "princess" a very Happy 2nd Birthday! (This is the card I made for Corinne this year. I'll have to coordinate with her mom next year so I can make it the same as the party theme.)