Hot Tip Tuesday - Neat Freak Tips!

Hot Tips Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite day to blog!

Last week I blogged about Summer Make up Tips. I was asked to follow up with The Primer I like that is economical. I use Maybeline's primer and the price is somewhere around $8- $9 depending on where you buy it.

The Bronzer I use is Physician's Formula and I paid about $10 for it 3 Years ago! I still have it and it will carry me through this summer as well. So it is extremely economical!

Give them a try!

Ok now on to Todays HOT TIP TUESDAY!

Cleaning is one of my passions and I do it every Friday.

 Tip # 1. Set aside a day that you do not schedule anything else to do. Turn up your favorite music and get to cleaning! My musical pick is 80's pop and today's Country! Some day's I stick a movie in that I have memorized like What About Bob or You've Got Mail, Or any other that I don't really need to see, just hear, and I clean the day away!

Heels, skirt, pearls and apron are optional!!!

Tip #2. This is the time of year when we all find flies in our home! I really hate that! But I found a great way to kill them! Don't laugh..... HAIR SPRAY! It really works! Stops them dead in their tracks! Any hairspray will do the trick. I have yet to try to pre-treat my garbage can with Hairspray to see if it keeps flies away! But a friend did tell me to fill nylon socks with moth balls and hang them inside your outdoor garbage bin and it works as a deterrent for flies. However, the smell of the moth balls works as a deterrent for me!!

Tip #3 This one is my personal Favorite! Its called the ZIP IT!!

You can get it at your local ACE hardware store for about $2.50!

This will make you smile!

I was finding that my drain in the bath tub was running really slow. So I went to ACE to get some Liquid Drano. I asked the older (about 75 year old man) that worked there where I could find the Drano. He asked me what I was using it for. I looked at him rather curiously as if to say, Uh are ya kiddin me? Then I said, for a slow running drain in my bath tub. He fires back with, "well then missy, you want the ZIP IT. Your drain is probably filled with hair and this is all you will need." He was very confident that my problem did not require a harsh chemical treatment.

He shows me this plastic stick with teeth on it and said, "it's $2.50 for this or $11.50 For the Drano. I don't much care what you choose but I'm pretty sure you will find success with this."

So I bought the dumb thing feeling a little sorry for the old man. Walking our of ACE thinking this guy must be loosing his marbles. I know I am because I just bought a stick with teeth on it!!

I get home to my 80's music blaring, and went immediately to the bath tub. Stuck the Zip It down the drain and pulled up half a cat!!! With 3 ladies living in this house the hair volume was unbelievable! I mean that!

I finished cleaning and the tub drained faster than it ever had! It is truly  my favorite cleaning tool that I have! I use it every Friday in the tub and the sink in the bathroom and I never have slow running drains anymore! It is a must have!

That Is Hot Tip Tueday !! Enjoy!

T Minus 12 & Counting!

We are just 12 short days away from our first child, our one and only son, getting married.
I have decided weddings are like an onion. LOTS OF LAYERS! Just when you think you're done planning, there is yet another layer in front of you! There is so much wedding prep to do even for a small wedding of 150 people or less!

My list was growing so rapidly one day so I decided to buy a dry erase calender and spread the list out for each day to have certain tasks to finish. That way I still had part of a day to enjoy a little peace and tranquility. So I divided up the tasks that needed to be done according to urgency.

Thus far the calender is working!

The messes are amazing as well. There is a painting area where everything that needs to be painted is staged and ready! These types of projects are where I could putz and spend way to much time because this is my forte'!

I have painted tiny lanterns that were once white, Black! I have painted the chalkboards you see here and I am now in the process of adding the beading and sunflowers!

The one things I was not prepared for was the space all of the decor' and paper work would take up.

My house is about 1200 sq. ft. and we manage in this small space quite well most of the time. If I could have one wish, it would be to have an extra room to store all of the "THINGS" for the wedding. To keep them in categories and have room to work. But, I don't have this luxury so I make do.

Attempting to keep it all in perspective is my goal. To remember this is a short event. It is not about the things that make it "look" beautiful. It is indeed about the beauty of two lives coming together as one.

The irony here is that when two lives come together as one it can be messy. You bring all that you know to the relationship, he brings all he knows to the relationship and you attempt to find room for it all.

I remember our First Christmas together as a married couple. I was making cookies, MY families Christmas favorites. When my husband asked if I was going to make Peanutbutter Blossoms. I was outraged! Are you serious? My Mom didn't make those. That was not part of my family tradition!

But it was for him and it was important to him. So I learned that day that we needed to figure out what OUR Christmas would be like. What OUR traditions were going to be. A good lesson to learn right away!

 It's a bit like a symphony. Many instruments working together to create a magnificant sound. That is our focus. Not the "things." But rather, the one "thing" that matters most. That is the relationship. In the end, the wedding will be over in about 4-5 hours time. 

It's the lifetime ahead that matters.