Cleaning without chemicals

I know I've mentioned I have migraines. I still don't know what causes them, but I have noticed that there are things I can do that limit me having horrid death-pain types.

All the cleaners that you can buy at the stores can give me a headache if I don't air out the room during and after the cleaning process. Sad right? Cleaning makes me sick! Terrific excuse to never clean again (actually--I have several of those, I tend to hurt myself when cleaning. I've managed to crack my tailbone and bang my fingernail right off.)

So, I'm constantly on the search to figure out how to clean without normal cleaning things. You know, stuff grandma would do (well, my grandmommy was older). Baking soda and vinegar are my go to at the moment. And they work pretty well actually.

from Picklee.com

I know you can't see that really well...but the website, 10 Remarkable DIY Cleaning Solutions, has the image where you can blow it up and read them all like the first image.

I'm always looking for new things, hopefully I'll have a clean house eventually.

fab birthday gifts!

So the cost of going back to grad school has me a tad stressed. I'm probably going to have to get a laptop...plus all the textbooks, moving and school fees. Eek!

My dad thought way ahead though, and he bought me the Amazon Fire Kindle for my b-day. I'm pretty sure I can get a lot of my textbooks through it (ok...i HOPE i can get most of my textbooks through it because some of the schools I applied to are not in the USA). And because my daddy and brother are super awesome, they also got me a pink case and screen protector.

from engadget.com

I downloaded all the free books I could...and it seems like some of them are torrid romance novels. I'm slightly terrified of them but my grandmommy was the harlequin romance queen. BOXES of those books were in her extra bedroom...I have no idea what happened to them either. There's some very full library somewhere!

I also got a new tape dispenser as a tease gift from my dad. I've been complaining because everyone steals MY tape dispenser so he went and got me one (from Scotch tape). It's so freaking cute! And I'm positive no one will steal it. Because let's be honest, my brother and dad are fairly macho...and this is definitely NOT macho.

from officemax.com

I also got some ridiculously awesome see through note-tabs/stickey notes from Avery. I LOVE office supplies. I have a fully intact office. That I don't need. Because I don't work from home, and I don't have a job. But I'm super ready...for something. These notes are transparent (some are colored) that you can write on (over the writing on the page) or even highlight on. It's really ingenious and I've been wanting to use them on some of my books (that are more intellectual than say...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

Top (L): Millennial Professor.com

Top (R):  Amazon. com (direct link for shopping)

Bottom: unclutterer. com

Speaking of zombies, I also got a gift certificate to a bookstore and went a tad crazy...I got some fabulous books that I can't wait to read. 

from Books-A-Million

from Books-a-Million

Amanda loves me! (Ok, she just linked to me)

Amanda loves me! (Ok....ok, she just linked to me...) Still-it's better than a restraining order!

I'm totally kidding...about the restraining order.

Since it's totally out in the open, I'll show some more of my Amanda + The Amandas + Clutter Prevention love!

As always, pictures are from The Amandas Facebook page

And I managed to get all my Amandas love in one place on the blog...which is here (The Amandas)

The Amandas organize a bathroom

Organizing my bath products tends to happen bi-monthly. Mostly because I ask for bath products as gifts for Christmas and my birthday and because I'm a drug-store bath product junkie.

Unfortunately my bathroom storage is next to nil. And the bathroom itself is really narrow. Luckily between the Amandas Facebook page and Pinterest...I've found some ideas!


The Amandas bathroom and makeup storage ideas:

from the Amandas Facebook page

via Pinterest

1. door storage idea from bhg.com
2. in wall storage from houzz.com
3. drawer storage from This is Glamorous

via Pinterest

1. in wall storage from bhg.com
2. under cabinet storage from bhg.com
3. in wall storage from bhg.com

1. iheartorganizing.blogspot.com
2. bhg.com

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAmandas
Pinterest.com


Update: Wow...I completely missed the fact that Amanda linked to this! Be still my heart! Since Amanda (and the rest of The Amandas) was nice enough to play down my crazy obsession with her...I'll mention that you can click the little tab under all this labeled "The Amandas" and see the rest of my love for her. Or click on Categories above...where she has her section.

And thank you Amanda for the love!

The Amandas do NeNe's Closet Part II

Amandas love!

Ok, it's really just an excuse for me not to finish doing my laundry. Ugh. It's never ending!

How about some more NeNe closet pictures? Or more of some of the same but still pretty?

shoes! 

All images from Rachel Vicknair's fan page on Facebook.

My Amandas crush is EPIC

Oh Amandas...I adore you. I'm a bit behind on my episodes, so I just got to last weeks episode. It was Alicia-centric. This was wonderful because I love Alicia!

Alicia

Alicia was in charge of the garage project. Havilah was off for a family reunion, Amanda was sick, Taylor could only stay for half the time and Dustin's back gave out. Enter Alicia's family! Her sister Ricci came out and helped-how sweet is that?

I can understand Alicia's parents pushing the bar exam, but I think Alicia is smart enough to be fine even if she doesn't take the bar. And after watching one of my friends take the bar I can understand not wanting to go anywhere near it (that's not Alicia's problem though), it is NASTY evil. Besides, she could be The Amandas lawyer! Problem solved.

Poor Taylor...I was "eeking" on the couch watching all the bugs. I haaaaaaate bugs. Who knew Pageant Queen Rachel would turn out being the bug slayer (in heels)?

And wow on Amanda matchmaking. I need some help like that. There are NO guys here (I'm not exaggerating...there aren't any!)

And Savannah was there...but she hardly had any TV time. :(

I didn't get ANY pictures from this episode. It was a garage plus a band station plus a tanning booth station. Whew. But here's a montage from the episode where the Amandas organize the food truck and office of Dreamcakes Bakery. Oh dear...now I'm thinking of cupcakes. Yum!

Pictures:

• Alicia's picture from the Amandas website on the Style Network
• Dreamcakes Bakery pictures from the Amandas Facebook page

Closets

I need a new closet. As in...I need an extension to my bedroom that is massive so I can build the perfect closet. It needs to hold all my clothes, and shoes, and jewelry. Because cleaning out my normal sized closet would be sensible y'all. And I'm too tired to be sensible!

Of course...there's a two story closet. That's right. TWO stories. I'll need to win the lotto for that particular design. Or sacrifice half of my future house. I'm slightly tempted too...

Right now my closet looks more like this...

Guess I should start purging, cleaning and organizing!

All the images are from Pinterest, except the last one which is from here

Garden Love

It's not spring yet but there's not much of a winter where I live anyways. The stores have started stocking garden tools and accessories. Most of the stuff is fairly basic (and boring) while some of it has been adorable.

I'm not much of a garden person. I don't really like dirt or bugs (who live in the dirt) and the weather is muggy. But I do really, really love pretty gardens and I really like the nifty and cute garden tools. Almost enough to spend time creating a garden. Almost.

And yes, that's a chandelier (an "outdoor" one). Who doesn't need a bit of sparkle in the garden?

Clockwise from the top left corner

• Room Essentials (RE) Garden Kneeler, Multi Colored. Here
• Orla Kiely garden tools...not available to the USA..boo. But available in the UK if anyone's interested. 
• William Morris 'Cray' Print Hand Tools Set from here
• Esschert Design Rose Collection Garden Boots, here
• Sisal Flower Shape Planter, at Target
• Tea Tin...but I think any tin like this would be wonderful to grow kitchen herbs. Here
• sprinkler, here
• Exhart White Anywhere Crystal Pendant, a la Target
• Tool Box from Alice Supply Company
• Glass Mister from here
• a pink wheelbarrow, here
• Smith and Hawken Wire Basket, here
• Victoria and Albert design (from Wild and Wolf) Garden Tool set, Anemone Print. Here
• Garden for the Cause Kneeling Pad and Tool Combo Set, here
• Water hose from Alice Supply Company, here
• Esschert Design Russian Flower Collection Watering Can, here

First grad school app done plus more organizing/cleaning

So I officially (sort of) turned in my first ever grad school application! Yay!! The sort of was because I learned that my uploading skills are quite....uh...

Well, lets just say that this weekend I might plead for some of my more tech-savvy friends to explain how to alter PDFs in case I re-upload. You see, I can make them. I just don't know how to fix them.

One thing that completely confused me was the fact that I had to upload a picture for the application committee to look at. Because my passport photo looks like all sorts of hot messes I went up to CVS and got them to take another photo. They swore up and down (well, it was mostly half-assed promises) that it would be the perfect size. It wasn't. But luckily I found the "re-size" button on my computer (I got them to give it to me on a disk). Go me.

I turned in ALL my documents. Congratulated myself on not being a procrastinator (ok, not turning it in the day it was due). And then I checked my email. They had extended the deadline. I view this as divine intervention. It makes me even less of a procrastinator. Fabulous!

Tonight I'm going to chill out at home. I'm actually looking forward to it because I told all my friends and family that I was going to spending Friday night yelling at my computer and crying over my application. But since it's done I'm going to catch up on trashy TV shows and eat bad food.

Of course, this weekend is a different matter. I have to hit up the front hallway. Majorly clean that up. The house I'm living in hasn't been deep cleaned in years. At least seven. It's nasty. Well, perhaps that's not fair...it's clean for two guys (hi daddy and brother!) but it's making my eyes twitch living here among their version of "clean".

I'm thanking all sorts of heavens that my front hallway does NOT look like this. I mean...could you imagine cleaning it? Ick.

Candy Spelling's house in Beverly Hills

I am going to have to convert the front hall closet into dish storage. My mom has all sorts of dishes for the holidays. She would hit up Tuesday Mornings and get the cutest things. So my chore this weekend is to organize them and label them in some form of order. 

I've got a ton of dish storage thingys that look like this

Via

So we'll see how it goes. I'm shooting for this level or organized...except contained in those dish storage containers. 

Images from : http://weheartit.com/ 

Organizing Junkie (The Amandas)

I have a total girl crush on this woman - Her name is Amanda, and she's an organizational DIVA.

And she does it all in heels and the cutest dresses you've ever seen (because you perform better when you're dressed for the part, in my honest opinion...well, and hers too).

look at those shoes!

She runs a company in Birmingham Alabama called  Clutter Prescription (I think at least? Or it might just be called The Amandas. I only caught a brief glimpse on the TV). That's right, she's a (really good and fancy) professional organizer.