Update on Green

Back in October, we did a post on organic living. It's been several months, and we still love all our clean and green products and haven't once missed the old, chemical-filled ones. We clean our house every weekend, and we've only had to make new batches of our homemade window cleaner and surface cleaner once (further proof that we're saving bank).

Our Seventh Generation Free & Clear Natural Laundry detergent has been great on our laundry, and hydrogen peroxide and vinegar have taken care of any stains and brightened our whites. We've also added natural fabric softener sheets ($4.49 on drugstore.com) (dryer sheets) to the lineup, to much success. (Little to no static per load).

We were totally surprised the first time we used them;
they're brown and crinkly! 

We're still loving our handsoap (Mrs. Meyer's Liquid Hand Soap in Lemon Verbena). We buy it in bulk from drugstore.com or at Target (it's the same price either way) and use it in the bathroom and the kitchen. Also in the bathroom, we've been rockin the natural toothpaste - clean and sparkly teeth, and in the natural makeup has been great on my skin. 

On that note, let me introduce my newest and most favoritest product (oh yeah, it's so good I don't even care about grammar): Queen Helene Oatmeal 'n Honey Natural Facial Scrub ($4.60 on drugstore.com)

Oh. My. Goodness. I use it in the shower in place of two face washes (one with abrasive little beads to clear dead skin, and one from Mary Kay that I've used since I was fourteen). So far, I haven't had any breakouts or extra oily skin or anything. It has the most heavenly feel to it - you only use a dollop and the oatmeal has the most soft, yet tingly scrubbiness, and it smells divine. It's light, and it does the job well and leaves my skin feeling amazingly soft and clean. I'm obsessed. I think I shower just as an excuse to use this. 

Also in the shower, I've switched from Neutrogena's body wash to Dr. Bronner's (if you read my blog regularly, you know how I feel about Dr. Bronner's): Dr. Bronner's Organic Fair Trade Shikakai Soap in Unscented ($15.29 on drugstore.com)

I was going to get the citrus kind, but they didn't have it on drugstore.com, and as it turns out, I don't even mind! The smell is very light and natural, and (to my surprise) the soap comes out a really scummy brown color, but no worries, it lathers up nicely. I can't even believe how clean I feel after I use this soap - it's completely awesome. My skin feels soft and light and just so clean. I definitely recommend going green with your soap - it's wonderful on your skin. Stephen had some issues with it drying out his skin a bit when he used it over the weekend, but after a few days it adjusted and hasn't been a problem. Besides, that's what lotion was invented for. 

I kid you not: it's amazing. 

 The other new product I've switched to is lip balm: Yes to Carrots Lip Butter in Citrus


This stuff is fantastic. I had seriously chapped lips and it took care of them in just a day. It's made with all natural products and nothing harmful - just the type of thing I'd like to put on my mouth. I've also tried out Dr. Collin's lip balm in vanilla with spf protection, and I like it, too, but there's just something about the Yes to Carrots brand that my lips love. I definitely recommend it, and it was only like two bucks at Hy-Vee.

So all-in-all, the whole organic process is going well. There are a few tricky non-organic things left that I've having a hard time switching to:

shampoo: we use Aussie and it's cheap and works well

hair products (like smoothing serum, chi spray to keep my bangs from frying, and the occasional hair spray) - old habits die hard. 

Face lotion - I just switched last week to the new face wash, but I've used Mary Kay's since I was fourteen for both the lotion and face wash, and I've used olay night cream since high school to keep my face soft...I haven't found any natural products that I've wanted to try, and like I said, old habits die hard...so we'll see. I'm sure I'll make the switch eventually. 

What about you? Do you guys use any natural, green, or organic products or am I the only crazy one? Stephen thinks a lot of it's a bit silly, but it makes me feel better because it's good for me and for the environment. You can't really beat that, I suppose. 

Love,

Vanessa 

Diante's Room

We call the smallest spare bed room "Diante's Room" because that's what was written on the wall when we arrived...apparently it was important for the previous owner's child to mark his territory. It was in especially horrible condition...

Please note that parquet floor and random wood trim. 

I don't know what's worse - the condition of the walls or the odd painted wallpaper strip.

Granted, the original windows and spider man decals are pretty great. 

And the way the sconce just burns your retinas...ah...home sweet home. Or not. 

So we ripped down the wallpaper and some of the trim, got new windows, and did a bit of mudding. 

And then loaded the room full of junk. 

So we lived here for two years and didn't do anything to the room, even though we did stuff to the other parts of the house (like the hallway, trim, and doors  in this picture)

Finally, we got around to finishing Stephen's future office space. (Mostly so he could have a desk to put his computer on, instead of on stacked boxes).

Mud, sand, trim, primer.

 Already it looked a million times better.

Wanna see another before? Of course you do: 

Before...

After primer.

Then Stephen painted the room with some paint that we acquired from a previous job. 

Oh, and please note the pretty white ceilings. Yay for no more water spots. 

We couldn't get rid of the sconce without lots of other problems, so we replaced it. It's not ideal, but it's definitely an upgrade. 

And a new door. Which has yet to be painted. 

Dry paint - no more scary painted wallpaper! 

Currently, Stephen's office is being put to good use...or at least put hard to work. It's a bit sloppy at the moment, and not 100% done. 

Oh, and the desk is enormous. 

 We still need window treatments, some artwork on the wall, new lamps, and a new home for the ironing stuff.

Silly ironing board - you don't belong in an office! 

At least the closet's organized - even if it still doesn't have a door.

So, it's a work in progress, but it is progressing. Stephen's such a good, hard worker! 

Love, until we get some more done,
Stephen, Vanessa, and Anya

Resolutions updated:

It's fifteen days into the new year (that's it?? I swear it's been at least a month already...) so we thought you might be interested in how our achievable goals are coming for the year so far:

Vanessa

I've organized and de-cluttered four kitchen shelves (two above the sink and two above the microwave). That alone has made being in the kitchen much less stressful. It's so nice to reach into the cupboard and actually be able to get the can opener out without dragging fourteen things out with it. Also, who knew we had that many seasoning packets? They're now all organized in a baggie...see:

Oh how I wish I had a "before" picture...

I have  lots of tea.
You can tell the top shelf is
not organized yet.

Seriously...this is an improvement. 

Please note the easy access to the can opener.

I've also cleaned out my closet and put away our sheets in an orderly manner. I also cleared off the nightstand on my side of the room and we sold the giant TV that sat there unused. Yay for more space! Now we just need to do about a million and one more things until the bedroom is complete...but that's another project for another day (or month).

Organized closet! 

Empty and clutter-free dresser! 

Want a close up of those pictures? Of course you do.

That is Carl (age 5), Nathan (age 3), and Me (age 5)
playing dress up. This is pretty much my favorite photo. 

I also love this picture of Stephen as a little kid. Hence why it's
on my part of the dresser. 

Oh, and I cleaned out the junk drawer. That was a doozie. I had no idea so much crap could fit into one tiny drawer. And we have REALLY tiny drawers in our kitchen. Like mega small. They're trailer sized. So yeah...yay for organization and cleanliness!

Oh, and all of our drawers have these weird, annoying
dividers. Someday, when we get to demo the kitchen,
I will be the one to rip these suckers out. 

Stephen:

He can't write this post right now, because he's currently sanding the second bedroom walls. True story. I'd even get a picture, but he's all shut in there with the shop-vac trying to keep the dust to a minimum. I'd even go outside to get one, but the only window I can see into is the one being used to swirl dust out of the house, so yeah. Sorry about that. But he's been very productive this year. Along with the usual amount of helping out family and friends with their projects, he's been busy prepping the second spare bedroom for sanding and priming (FINALLY). Friday and Saturday he raked leaves and junk out of the backyard and took five loads of yard waste to the dump yesterday. Now our yard is bare and dirt-filled and we couldn't be happier. Well, that's a lie, but it's a definite step in the right direction. I can't even get a picture of that for you guys because it's dark now! Fail, I know. But I'll get one tomorrow and add it on.


Update: Here are some pictures of the yard (so empty of debris and leaves!) and the small bedroom in it's current stage of development): 

Once upon a time (for the past two years) this fence line had been
obscured by a giant pile of leaves. Now the sandpit (the weird section
by our driveway, which incidentally would make a great third
garage port) is clear and empty! 

The yard is also gloriously leaf-free. Now if only we could get
grass to grow in the back half...

Here's the third bedroom aka Diante's room
aka Stephen's office. The ceiling is primed,
now we just need to prime the walls, shoot up trim,
sand, and paint the sucker! 

How are your resolutions going? Anyone given up yet? Hope not!

Love,
Vanessa, Stephen, and Anya


P.S. Did anyone find my haiku? I'm a nerd. 

Twenty Twelve

So, it's a new year, a fresh new archive on our blog. I feel like doing resolutions is cliche, but then again, I do love a good cliche! So here are our (trying oh-so hard to not be cliche - like "go to the gym 3x a week" or "spend more time with family" obviously we all want those things all the time, but they're not super measurable) resolutions:

Vanessa:

I'm trying to follow this calendar in order to get rid of more junk and organize our house. It has one simple task for each day of the entire year, which makes it super not-overwhelming. For example, today was "de-clutter the top shelf of one of your cabinets" which I just completed. I chose the one above the sink, and I ended up doing one a half shelves, just because it made more sense. I threw out some expired coffee, re-organized the baking stuff, moved some recipe books to the basement bookshelf and pulled out a couple of cheap things that we can sell in the garage sale or donate to good will and even something to hand down to my sister Megan on her 21st birthday (I'm sure you can guess the nature of that item). I've done pretty well so far each day, except for Monday, because I didn't have the necessary tools to construct a donation station, so I'm planning on doing it this weekend. :)


Stephen:

Organizing and getting things done is obviously a big theme in our house.  While I can’t quite make a strict calendar, I can set goals for each weekend to complete projects, organize, and get things done.  As we all know, things happen.  Cars can break down, computers crash, the weather's bad for an outdoor project, we ran out of food, toilet paper, printer ink, dog food, and gas for the lawnmower... all at the same time.  You know, the usual.  Since these lovely snags like to pop up, there will be two goals or projects than can be done.  One will be a larger project.  One that can have more time and energy dedicated to it to complete.  The other is more of a backup.  These are not less important but they may be several small projects that can easily be done quickly, or it may be something that can be done in stages.  While doing this it will be important to not set too many goals at once.  If a small number are set, things get done and you are happy that you met these goals.  Anything else that is completed is just gravy.  This weekend I will do a screen door at the in-laws on Friday, take yard waste to the dump Saturday.  It may not seem like much but those are easy to achieve and it keeps momentum going.

What are you resolutions (corny, or not) for 2012? Anyone got anything good?

Love,
Vanessa and Stephen (Anya's only resolution is to grow fat and lazy...done!)