Pinterest Test Lab: Cleaning the Shower Floor

I totally didn’t mean to announce my new series and then not mention it again for weeks…oops.  Time got away from me!  But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy testing and doing the projects I’ve pinned!  I also want to say that I would love to make this into a linky party where all of you can share things you’ve tested or done from pins on Pinterest!  So I’m thinking next week I will share some more ideas and then at the end of the week you can share yours!  I will make a grab button that you can include on your test lab posts just like I have done above and then join my party!

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Now I’m going to share my dirty little secret…no judging!

We’ve lived in our house for going on 4 years in August.  And the bottom of my shower has been impossible to get clean in all that time!  There’s been a ring of dirt that I couldn’t get off no matter what product I used or how much I scrubbed and scrubbed…and scrubbed…and scrubbed…I’d pretty much given up hope.

THEN one day I came across {this} pin, Marissa, from Finely Ground, gave me just the solution I’d been searching for!  She tested lots of natural remedies and found the answer…

20 Mule Team Borax.

I took a picture of the bottom of my shower after scrubbing half of it with this awesome stuff:

It was amazing!

Now, I will say I still had to scrub…a lot.  But nothing else I’ve ever scrubbed with even made the slightest difference.  Now it’s totally clean and {almost} like new!  So nice to finally get rid of that ring of dirt!

Borax is really cheap {found in the laundry aisle} and can be used for dozens of cleaning duties!   So go get some and start cleaning something!

Sam’s Nursery: A Work in Progress

We finally painted Sam’s bedroom! 

You will probably laugh at me when you see these before and after pictures...because it almost looks like we didn’t paint at all! 

We painted the room a lighter neutral than it already was…so it’s not a huge change!  This before picture does not portray the level of hatred I have for the color it used to be.  To me, the neutral tan that our home was painted when we moved in looked dingy and definitely had shade of pink and mauve in it that drives me crazy.  I’m slowly eradicating it from every inch of my house.

Here’s a better picture that shows the dingy color our house came in:

I plan on painting this hallway the same pretty blue as the loft…I just haven’t gotten to it yet.  Maybe someday we can get rid of those awful boob lights too!

This is what Sam’s room looks like right now:

See? Not a huge change.  But it’s lighter and brighter and a better backdrop for the colors I have planned for this room. 

Since Sam is now sleeping here, it makes it a little tricky to get some things done {like take these pictures}.  But I’ve already started on some projects and can’t wait to get things going in here!  I’ve already started compiling artwork and sewing a cute pennant banner…so more on those soon!

I am a Mom

I am a mom.

Sometimes the world will look down on that title.

"What do you do?"
"I'm a mom"
"oh, that's nice"

I used to try and make it more impressive--like telling them all the things I do besides being just a mom.  "I like to dabble with graphic design" or "I like to blog" I would say.  I would try to tell them things that would keep them interested in talking to me in the conversation.  If I told them I was just a mom and that I stayed home with my kids, the conversation would quickly turn elsewhere.  That was frustrating for me since I like to be part of the conversation, too. 

For a long time I wanted to be more than just a mom.

I worked on making my blog better.  I worked on trying to sell things at boutiques and craft fairs.  I tried to freelance a little in the graphic design world.  Even got some small design jobs that I got paid for.  Mostly, I tried to come up with ideas to be fun and interesting to other people...and then blog about it so my blog would be cool too.   

And then I had Sam.

Now I struggle to do all the things I'd become an expert at.  I struggle to get all my errands done in a week, let alone one day.  I struggle to get the laundry done, the dishes done, the house kept picked up.  I struggle to remember the simplest things.  I can get off the phone and completely forget about something I was supposed to do right when I hung up!  I feel like I was losing my mind!!  It took me over a month to finish a wreath for my front door that I used to be able to get done in a day.  I feel like an Olympic gold medalist when I can get dinner ready by 6:30 or both the kids in bed by 8:00! The only thing I seem to get accomplished some days is getting Sam to take a good nap and actually taking a shower.

I still want to be cool, and interesting, and have a really fun blog for my friends to read.  But I worry about every post that I put up that is just more pictures of Sam...more pictures of my kids!  I worry that I would lose readers if I am not posting at least one new project a week.  I don't want to be someone that just posts about my kids and outings to the aquarium all the time.  I feel like I have more to offer than that.

Then one late late night, I realized that this is what my life just happens to be right now.

I am a mother.
and that is enough.

It is enough to try and be the best mom I can be for my kids.
They take up all my time now, and that is okay!
They need me...a lot!  And that is okay.
It may take me a whole month to do a project.  And that is okay.
I can put up nothing but pictures of my kids on my blog and that is okay.  They are my life right now. 

If Luke needs me to stop folding laundry to read him a book, then I will leave a pile of laundry on the couch to do just that.  He will only be with me for a few short years before I turn him over to the elementary schools during the day.  I know that I will miss having him around when that time comes.  I will miss finding toys in funny places and having him as my little buddy in the shopping cart at stores. 

If I need to spend thirty minutes rocking Sam in a dark room to get him to settle down for a nap, then I will do just that.  I will appreciate the quickly fleeting moments of peace with a snugly baby because I know that they will be gone all too soon.

 If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Right now,
I am a mother.
Right now
I need to be a mother.

There will be time for everything else later.