The internet has ruined my decision making abilities.

I've recently become obsessed with keeping the house, and especially the floors, clean. I think there are probably three main reasons for this:

1) I now have the time and energy to do something about it. The floors sorta bothered me at our last place but I had to let it go. Obsessing about something when there is no fix is just torture.

2) The floors/carpet here are light. This means when they are clean, they look great. But when they aren't clean, you can tell. There is something good about brown floors, they hide dirt very well.

3) The whole nesting thing again. I know Nigel won't really be crawling around on them for a while but whenever someone walks on the carpet with shoes I cringe thinking about how they are dragging in germs that I won't every be able to get out! Yuck! (The irony is that in general we are not anti-bacterial people, I won't use antibacterial soap, never Lysol anything and think kids need a good dose of dirt in their life. I often complain about germ obsessed parents but this is one place where that fails me. I don't want my baby on a dirty floor!)

The carpeted area isn't so bad. We got a new vacuum for Christmas and it works so much better than the old one, I love it. It also is clear so I can see the dirt whirl around. It's a good thing I vacuum during the day because then it is only the cat who hears my raving about all the dirt I got out! Zeeba doesn't ever seem that impressed but at least she doesn't mock me.

Plus, I've now banned shoes from inside the house which helps a lot although Craig said I wasn't allowed to make a sign like I wanted too.

The problem is the non-carpeted areas. I've given up on cleaning them with a mop and bucket a while ago. I kept buying mops then realized all I was doing was pushing around dirty water and making a mess. I had been cleaning them Cinderella-style with a rag and a bucket of vinegar/castile soap water. It worked but was well, a lot of work. And getting down on my hands and knees for 30 minutes is sounding less and less appealing.

My solution - I think I need a steam mop. No yucky smelly cleaners that could leave residue, no hurting knees, a nicely sanitized floor - sounds great right? So I turn to my friend the internet to do a bit of research. The tend to run between $60-100 which is not bad if I remember that I have probably spent at least $60 buying mops over the last three years.

The problem is which one? I read reviews on the Shark but they all say the Eureka Envirosteamer is better. Most of the reviews for the Envirosteamer are great, except the ones that say the Monster and the Shark are vastly superior. And then their are people that love the Bissell....except the ones that don't. Ahh! I don't know, it's all so confusing.

So now what? I turn to you dear readers. Do any of you have a steam cleaner? Which kind and do you like it?

Or maybe the real question is, how did I ever make a decision before I had the internet to offer me 10,000 options when I really only want one?

MSM: Turning a house into a home

Most parts about moving are a pain but there is one thing I really do enjoy - redecorating. Even though I have the the same furniture, art and knick-knacks, everything looks new again in a new environment. I get all the fun of redecorating without having to spend money on new stuff.

And I really like our new place, it is one of the nicest we've lived in. The cabinets are new and made of oak, the walls and counters and appliances are all white and not dark brown or 70s gold - yes, my countertops at the last place were gold, as was the oven. It is very hard to make gold and brown look cheerful.

And we finally have enough space, actually we have more than enough for now but I have a feeling Nigel will take up the rest easily enough.

Things are still in progress, decor wise, but here are a few pictures of my favorite things:

Kitchen hutch and bar area:

I love all my little jars and pretty cookbooks lined up (my uglier but still useful cookbooks are in one of the drawers underneath with my canning supplies and tupperware). The basket holds our cloth napkins and Craig finally has a little bar area! Although right now we don’t have anything to put there other than the Maker’s Mark and we aren’t opening that. But it’s a nice decoration :-)

My Cross Collection:

Flowers in bathroom:

After saying I was going to get these printed months ago, I finally did last week and actually framed them. The pictures were ~$7 total and each frame was $3 at Wal-mart so in all the project was less than $20 and added a nice pop of color to our guest bath.

Rainbow bookshelf:

I started organizing our books by color a few months ago and love it! Not only does it look cool, but it is really practical. Even if I can’t remember the exact title of a book, I do normally remember the color of the cover and spine and can find it easily.

But don’t be fooled into thinking this is all of our books, the shelf continues below but it is just the brown to white colors – boring! Plus I keep some things by subject still: my bible study and devotional type books over where I do my morning studies, my marriage, pregnancy, parenting and homeschooling books upstairs in our room, and the beginnings of our children’s collection up in the spare bedroom plus Craig has more in the basement in boxes. We have too many books but none that we can get rid of.

Spare Bedroom:

I think this is actually my favorite room, or will be once it is done. Since we are planning on keeping the baby with us, at least for a while, we turned the extra bedroom into a guest room/office/craft room (next to the bookshelf and dresser is a desk but it was covered in fabric and crafty stuff) . I love it because almost everything in it means something: The quilt on the bed is my favorite of all the quilts I’ve made. The furniture was my bedroom set growing up and most of the little knick-knacks are things we gleaned from our parents home. I need to make a better sham (one that actually matches) and a dust ruffle but I still have the fabric leftovers from the quilt so that should be possible. Plus it still needs something on the walls. I’m not sure what but I’ll know it when I see it, hopefully at a garage sale or thrift store :-) I’m not in a rush.

PS: This post was my first made in Window’s Live Writer which Amanda recently informed me about. It’s pretty much awesome!

Read All About It

Much is made these days about the decline of newspapers. Circulation numbers are dropping and reporters are getting laid off as people rely more on the internet and TV for news. Some also like to blame media liberal bias for the decline. People wonder if the printed news model will survive.

Notwithstanding these facts, I signed up for the nearest big-city newspaper after moving to my new location. There are several reasons why I still like newspapers:

• Coupons. If one plays the Sunday coupons right, big savings can abound which more than pay for the cost of the subscription. I though about getting just the Sunday paper, because its hard to read all of the paper everyday, but you can't just get Sunday. You can get Fri-Sun or Sat-Mon, but Sun-Sat costs the same as these options. If you're going to pay the same amount, might as well get the paper every day.

• Local happenings. I've found that the paper is the best way to find out about local events, like concerts, speakers, or polar plunges. You might be able to find this stuff online if you actively search multiple sites for it, but the paper just plops it in your lap.

• Local issues. I think it's important to know what's going on in your town, so you can vote effectively, decide if you want to live somewhere long term, become a full member of the community, and even enjoy local sports teams. The newspaper is the best way to become informed on local issues, unless your area happens to have good local radio shows or blogs, which isn't always the case.
  

For these reasons, I will continue to be a newspaper reader, even if it's soo 20th- (and 19th- and 18th-) century to do so.

Tutes to try

Edit: I found one of the other soakers I mention in the comments and added that to the list. I know I had one more but can't find it. Amy's website (linked through Little Fire Crochet Soaker) has a knitted pattern as well as a girly soaker so check those out too if you are interested in soakers.

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this or not. I was going to just post things as I made them but decided against that. I wanted to share them now since I have lots of crafty friends out there who are also wanting to make baby things. I've compiled a list of ones that really liked but I am going to take it easy and luckily, many of these are pretty simple. I have 4 months and even if most of them don't happen, that is okay. But these are a few of my very favorites:

For Mom:

• Nursing pads (I've also seen nice wool ones on etsy that I might just splurge on)
• Mama cloth
  
• Nursing cover (Elaine gave me this great tip - be sure to make/buy your nursing cover in a fairly boring fabric. Anything too cute will attract too much attention!) I actually bought one not to long ago when I had a coupon code to get it for nothing but S&H. It ended up being cheaper than fabric but I still think this is a great idea for a gift so I left it in the list.
  

For Baby:

• Babylegs
• Babyshoes (These seem complicated but I've seen them everywhere and most of the comments say they came together very easily and quickly)
• Diaper Cream (Linsay just posted this recipe again as her aftershave salve too, I think I might make some early and use it as a stretch mark cream).
• Tie/RuffleButt Onesies (I think I'll make some girl and some boy types. I know a million preggos (okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration) so I can just pass on the other gender ones once the baby is born. I've also seen a tutu onesies but now I can't find the tutorial, anyone know where it is?)
• Little Fire Crochet Soaker- I've seen lots of great reviews of this pattern. I tried to get wool for this last week but the Hobby Lobby I went to was lacking in yarn. I might have to order it online and wait :-(
• Easiest Crochet Soaker - Another one, looks a bit simpler and says it is a more one size due to it's stretch.
  
• Hooded bath towels - First I need to decide what color Nigel will be. I am totally going to color coordinate our kids. Craig and I already have assigned towel colors (I'm yellow, he is green).
• Recycled t-shirt hats, sleep gowns and yoga pants. My favorite part of these is that I can make them in bright gender neutral colors. Everything I find is is too pastel and pink or blue (or flowers and trucks) and I wouldn't want that even if I knew the gender. I like bright colorful clothes for babies - oranges and greens and red and stripes and polka dota!
  

For Nursery:

• Changing Pad Cover - I like the look of a changing pad cover but have since heard it is better to leave it just the plastic and throw down a cloth diaper underneath since they need to be changed so often.
  
• Minky & Taggy Blanket (I want to combine these two tutorials)
• Baby Wipes (So easy it barely qualifies as a tutorial but I don't want to forget them!)
• Burp Cloths
  
• Baby Wipes Container

Just for fun:

• I have no intention of making one of these but I do know several friends who are having boys and it's so funny I couldn't not include it.
  

Baby Shower

I finally get to talk about the wonderful shower my Bible study friends threw for me! (I didn't want to mention until we announced the move since I figured most of you would wonder why they held it so early.)

They knew we would probably be moving but weren't sure when so right before Christmas we were supposed to have our last women's night of the semester but instead had a little party! I think this pictures shows clearly that I was thoroughly surprised...
but it doesn't show that right before this I jumped about 6 inches off the ground. Craig knew but was very good about keeping the secret although I do wish he had encouraged me to wear something cuter and fix my hair!

It was the perfect party for me, especially at the still-not-feeling-so-great time as it was nice and casual. We ate some good food, including delicious cake balls made by Amanda.
Then we sat around and talked about everything from our opinions on the end times to farting...oh yes we did! If our husband only knew the conversations we have had at women's times, they would want to start bugging them (for both blackmail and entertainment purposes).

Then we had to open presents of course :-)

I got my first cloth diaper!
And a pouch. Here a friend lent me her baby so we could practice. I still wasn't quite confident if would hold her up (and from the picture, neither was she) but it did!
Then all the girls laid hands on me and prayed for our new baby, our family and our marriage.
I'm gonna miss these girls a lot, but it was wonderful to spend the night rejoicing and relaxing with them.