Fresh Towels

Saw this on facebook today - I have towels like this at home (back in the states) so this is for my future reference after we're done with this trip in Brazil.

HOW TO REFRESH YOUR TOWELS
by Jocelyn Killam

After a while, towels start to have a build up of softeners & laundry soap. This causes them to no longer absorb like they did when you first purchased them. You may even start noticing an odor that is not so pleasant after a while, too. How can you refresh them once this happens?

Simple solution to follow....

Run them through a wash cycle with only hot water & 1 cup of white vinegar. Do not add soaps! Then run them through again. This time using hot water and 1/2 cup baking soda. Again, do not use soaps! This process will strip the residue that has built up and cause them to be fresh and practically new again. You will notice they absorb better as well. Repeat this procedure as needed.

Winter Pennant Banner

I finally made our winter pennant banner. The kids were proud of me. I sewed this one onto a ribbon. The "i" is bugging me a little, so we'll see if I change that for next year, but as for now, we'll call it good.

Winter Chandelier

Another place in our house that we decorate for the season is the entryway chandelier. The first time I did it was for this past fall, and we had leaves hanging on jute twine falling from it. For winter, we have snowflakes hanging from silver, blue and white ribbons.

We have more snow inside than we do outside right now. It's been a spring like past couple of weeks.

Iron Thingy & Winter Magnets

We updated our seasonal Iron decoration - I put away the fall leaves last week and then yesterday updated it with some snowflake magnets that we made. Bought the snowflakes at Dollar Tree and Walmart, magnets were just ones I had on hand. Here's the one by the music room - easier to see against the brown walls.

And the one upstairs, a little harder to see the white on white, so I put a few more of the silvers ones upstairs.

They make me happy!

Labeling with ABC Stampers

I got some mini ABC Stamper markers some years ago - and I keep them carefully tucked away and protected - so that the children will not find them and ruin them. I need them for all my labeling, cause the rainbow colors are just so cute! I love to label things with them.

Yesterday I finally labeled our phones, and it's so helpful for me and everyone to put things in their place because they are labeled and have a place! Labeled the wipes too, so I know which box goes upstairs and which one is downstairs.

And I use them to label binders...

 I made a little fridge magnet for them to use on our family calendar...

 And of course used them to label the box that I keep them in, which is tucked away from little hands :)

Iron Thingy & Autumn Magnets

I had this iron work thing above our bed for a while, but after the first week I knew it wasn't what I wanted up there. Still, I left its been up there for over 2 years. I took it down when Corey was in Brazil in August. I was planning on having something in it's place before he got back, but instead it's still blank and the iron thingy got left abandoned on our floor for a month. Well, it's finally found a home where I like it and where it is happy too. And I actually have two of these, cause when we had a houseguest, Angela, she must have noticed it above our bed and liked it, cause when she was visiting us here from Chile she bought one at Ross (for like $50 less than I paid, no fair). She wasn't able to fit it in her luggage for her trip home (she had done way too much shopping!) and so we inherited it. So now one is by the kid's study (formerly Corey's office) off the family room to the side of the kitchen:

and the other one is upstairs in between the bathroom and the lego room.

So it's nice cause they tie the two floors of our house together! These little iron decorations are going to house our season magnets, which right now are fall leaves for autumn. I think we'll do snowflake magnets in winter, and flowers in spring and summer. :) I like these iron things now, glad we were able to find a place for them.

Girl's Room Dresser

I painted this with a flat paint a year ago to just test things out. Then decided I did in face like the white, so we started to do a final paint with glossy white. I just did the drawers first, like at the beginning of spring, and only now did I finish the rest of the dresser. Had to sand off fingernail polish and prime over red paint and pen and markers a lot, but wow, it looks so much better now!

With two coats of polyurethane on the top to keep future scribblings off of it (hopefully!) Mel and I are both very happy with the result. :)

 And I made this a while ago ~ painted a frame and stapled in some chicken wire for her earrings.