Domesticated Diva

Kids? Let them help!

Get your kids involved!  Really kids aren’t ever too young to learn how to help you.  The younger you get them involved the easier it will be.  As soon as a baby can walk, bend down, and take something out of it’s place, they are old enough to learn how to put those things back.

When my first daughter turned 12 months she started to walk.  She would get into EVERYTHING.  I could have walked behind her and just cleaned up and didn’t teach her that.. “no, no” or Hey put that back!  She would have never learned that what she was doing was wrong.

As soon as that same child is old enough to use a big bed instead of a crib, that child is old enough to learn how to make their bed.  Of course it’s not going to be made as nicely as if you were to do it yourself, but the habit of making their own bed is instilled in them real young.  Dont regret it just because your too anal and want to do it yourself.  Don’t.  Just bite the ullet and learn that any way they do it is a blessing.

My two and a half year old would actually help me with the dishes.  When the dishwasher finished, I’d just start unpacking it.  She’d toddle out to the kitchen and want to help.  I handed her the basket of silverware and she could hardly see inside the drawer, but now she is amazing! She’s 3 years old now, and knows when I’m unloading the dishwasher what her job is.  She immediately grabs the basket on her own and puts away all the silverware.  It may not sound like a lot, but it’s a BIG help! She does a great job now.  She’s not yet in her own bed, but when she does get put in her own bed, just to pull up her comforter back up to the pillow will be sufficient.

My other 3 kids know what they need to do.  Everything goes back when they are done eating, playing, showering, etc.  They make their beds the minute their feet hit the floor in the morning, and my 14 year old and 7 year old are professional bedmakers.  My 4 year old is getting better, and as mentioned my 3 year old is not yet ready to make her bed.

Why feel like you have to do all their cleaning for them? You have to teach them responsibility.  Do it right from the beginning.  Goodluck!

Beautiful Drawing on my Leather Seat

My 4 year old decided she was going to engrave her name into my leather car seat. I could kill her.. I love my car, and hate the fact that there is a large LILIANA engraved on the side of it. I couldn’t get it out with anything. I found one thing that really did work. PERFUME! No joke. I used a little bit of my “Nude” by bill blass perfume, and the ink came right out. Now the ink had actually been there over a month. After I was done using the perfume as a pen remover, I conditioned the seat with leather conditioner. So far it looks GREAT, brand new in fact! I love it.

Maybe you’ll have the same success, goodluck. Use at your own risk!

Cleaning…Christmas Cleaning

Now’s the time to run around the house and declutter.  Time to get ready for Christmas! Clean everything from top to bottom.  This will really help for when you start to decorate for the Holidays.  Don’t forget the kids toys.. toss out as much as you can, remember Santa will just be bringing more.  Clean them out!

Toss everything and anything you can imagine.  You will be so happy when your done.  I promise!

Great Contest!

My friend is having an awesome contest that I just had to share and include a link to.   You have to check it out especially if you are a candle freak like me! I love candles.  I’ve never tried the Mia Bella Candles, but I really am looking forward to trying them.  I hope I win!

http://www.my-junk-drawer.com/2008/11/win-mia-bella-products-in-my-first-ever.html

Tell her, Jen sent you.. *Smile*

Coffee Maker looking a little Dingy?

Is your coffee maker looking a little discolored? Vinegar is your bestfriend! 1 part vinegar to two parts water, and actualy let it go through an entire brew cycle.  If you’ve never done it you might want to do it like 3 times the first time! It’s a great tip, trust me! It will clean out our maker and you’ll be makingfresher tasting coffee immediatey.

This domesticated diva is a GEEKY ONE

I don’t know how many readers of mine are geeky like me.  I feel like anyone who reads my stuff probably knows the same information, and I feel compelled to share the cool stuff I find with everyone I know.  So maybe this doesn’t belong in this blog, but remember who’s behind this blog… A geek herself.. lol.. A computer network geek! Worked in the field for many, many years. Once a computer Geek always a computer geek.

The pc-libary.com is an amazing site when you can’t seem to figure out an error message or what port it’s pointing to.  I kept getting an error message pointing tcp udp port 9200. I searched and searched till I realized that PC-library is the place to go. It’s a great directory of all the corresponding ports, the error messages, etc. This site is any geeks dream. It can even tell you what software might be using what port! Now thats exactly what I need!!

We may be intelligent with computers and stuff, but we don’t know everything. So with more sites like pc-library at our fingertips the faster we can get our jobs done too! I definitely give this site two thumbs up.

Cleaning bird cages

I’m not sure if I’ve shared on this blog, but I am a big birdlover.  Birds are my babies.  I have a Sun Conure named Mimi, and a 24 year old African Gray named Sammy.  They are my loves.  Actually Sammy is Harry’s bird, but I tell Harry that I’m only with him for Sammy.  I told him if we were to ever break up, I’d HAVE to bring Sammy with me.  lol..

The only thing I don’t like about birds is cleaning their cages.  Sammy is a big bird, so he’s got a big cage.  It’s a pain to clean it, but what I do is get out the vacuum, newspaper, old rag, and a basin of soapy water.  I put Sammy out on his playground and I get to work..Takes 5 minutes.  I take a rag and put it in the soapy basin and wring it out.  I would then wipe down the whole cage.  For tough areas like under his perch I will just soak it a little more.. more soap and water in that area.  Then put that back into the basin, grab the newspaper and garbage out of the bottom of the cage.  (Tray pulls out on all birdcages) Wrap it up, toss it in the garbage, and then I wash that out with the rag.

I then go and get the vacuum the floor, and take the reach part of the vacuum and vacuum out the corners of the cages that I couldn’t get with the rag.  I also vacuum all this toys in his cage, and switch them out monthly.  I know this seems like a lot.. but I’m done.. I throw down a thin layer of newspaper into the bottom of the now air dried tray, and put sammy back in his nice clean cage.  I grab his dishes and throw them into the basin of water and head off to the kitchen where I drop off the bowls. And head to the bathroom to dump the water and clean out the basin.  I would replace the bowls on my way back through the kitchen.   Takes me 5 minutes to do the entire cage.  We aren’t talking about a small cage either. It’s all about routine.  Get faster as you go.  The more often you clean it the easier it is to clean each time.

Kids? Playrooms?

Come on… lets get ready for the Holidays. Time to get up and clean out those playrooms. Rid yourself of the chaos now BEFORE Santa comes. Toss a ton of toys. Give them to Freecycle.. OR just toss in the garbage. I’m into being “green” but come on.. if you just say your going to give them or people don’t show up, what will you do? You need to really get it out of your house.. You’ll feel so much better.

Get ready toy toss!!!!! How much can you toss?

Election Time.. Clean up!

Time to do some self cleaning..  Wipe out any negative feelings you have toward either candidate because you really have no clue who is going to win.

There are a few more hours left to vote, and even though Obama appears to be winning, you really have no idea.  If you have ill feelings clean them out now, cause if you’ve voted you’ve done all you can do and now it’s up to the rest of the world.

I heard it was the biggest election participation ever.  Who did I vote for?! Hrmmmmmmm I voted is all I can say.

Get rid of mothballs smell in closet

I had a closet in my boyfriends house full of the mothball smell.. YUCK! I opened it up, aired it out, and had to clean it completely out.. I had to take all the clothes out, wash them, etc… I vacuumed out the closet, and then hung a deodorizer in there. After 4 days, it’s just NOW removing that awwful smell of mothballs