- Before you read anything would you please just go straight and look at Lilla A’s paintbrush fish…. I am loving them and really, really, really wishing we had an ikea that sold cheap paintbrushes in our country. I may have to raid the garage because these are too darling not to make.
- You have to love Giddy Giddy, her miniature pinatas this week simply blew me away!!!
- The Celebrity chef and I are loving the DK Quick Cook App for the iPad… and cooking up a storm… time for some cooking photographs again!!!
- Want to try out an awesome blog that I am so enjoying right now… Read The Long Mile Coffee Project… A family of four and their adventure into Burundi… it reminds me a little of trip to Lesotho – just on a much grander scale!!!
- Loving LMNOP – there’s a new issue out this week and if you are super quick you can download it for just $0.99 That offer closes on Sunday night – so you have to make it snappy!!!
- Meet Me At Mikes tweeted Gudrun Sjordan in the dead of night the other evening… and I was up for ages afterwards just wanting to step into the photography… I clicked on home and literally got lost. – Not ready to close this tag yet!!!
- Awesome Photographs from around the world from the Big Picture: World Population: Where it is thick and where it is thin… Found via Tim Challies’ Weekend A La Carte 11/5.
- This week on Org Junkie’s 52 Weeks we are at Week 44: Shoving Things Behind the Couch is Not Dealing With Your Clutter.
- The Toaster: That is not a bird feeding project… It is the crumb tray from our toaster… and now it is a bird feeding project!!! I tell you the crumb tray is a bit of a joke… it took ages of shaking on the grass before we had our toaster crumb free… shake rattle and roll, yeah… but the tray doesn’t serve it’s purpose at all!!! Who invented a spindly little crumb tray, seriously?
- The microwave: In our house it isn’t an appliance, we use it as the bread bin… so there really wasn’t that much to clean!!!
- My Kitchen Aid Mixer: As one kidlet said in passing: “Oh, It’s white…” Yup, I need to treat this hard worker as the best friend that it is. This is probably the most over worked machine in our home… At least once everyday it is spun around at alarming speed for a number of minutes…spppppiiiiinnnn!!!! Good to see it restored to it original beautiful self!!!
- The Washing Machine: One appliance I would rather not live without… really rather not!!! And I pride myself in emptying the lint trap after every wash… I take that back. Our washer lives with the lid bent folded over… always open waiting for garments… This week a child lifted the lid and … somethings are not bloggable!!! So the washer got its own scrub and it was pure hard work… I guess the dirt off all those clothes has to go somewhere and that isn’t necessarily down the drain.
- The Dishwasher: I have a love/hate with this machine… Everyone says I should love it. But I just don’t. It is far quicker and nicer to wash the dishes by hand. By the time you have rinsed, packed and washed the dishes that didn’t fit and then unpacked and washed the dishes that didn’t come clean… you may as well have spent some time with your kids and washed the dishes from scratch. Really washing dishes is cathartic and better for everyone really. Busy hands are chatting hands and I want to hear what my kids are thinking. Meanwhile the dishwasher was a complete mission to clean… not just the filter, which we do quite often but a whole lot more dismantling… just cleaning about the rubber seal was well more hassle than its worth… Someone tell me why I should delight in this machine – I just don’t get it.
- The Kettle: We hardly ever use ours… Wednesday nights my mom-in-law comes for dinner and has a cup of tea. That’s it really. We just never ever use our kettle.
- The Coffee Machine: We might not use our kettle but we sure use our coffee machine and it is kept pristine!!! We love it so much that I blogged about it!!!
- The Bread Machine: We use this machine at least once a day – every single day… and the main part has dough in it, it is clean and a wipe is enough. But the amount of flour and dough that had sprinkled down the sides of the the machine – day after day after day – just wasn’t funny.
And the se7en+1th Thing: If you feel like organizing!!!
I just about fell on the floor laughing when I read this weeks declutter post… So very funny!!! Meanwhile, I realize that the weeks are ticking by and we are running out of year in our organizing project… So I have settled in and started tackling the bigger projects that were actually top of the list but – ho hum, you now how one puts things off!!!
I had this idea at the beginning of the year… that after years of putting things off I would slip into a routine of scrubbing and by now it would be well established and our house would, at this stage in the year, be sparkling in the Summer sunshine. Well summer has been slow in arriving, and routines have settled in, but they aren’t cleaning routines at all… more like “lingering in bed with piles of picture books and coffee on a Saturday morning” kind of routines. See routines are so important, but scrubbing has to be done and this week I took on the appliances. I know everyone else has sparkling appliances that you clean every single day, but not us. The only thing in our house that we clean every single day is the toilet – 5 boys, say no more.
Turns out appliances, the unsung heroes of our home, are not that easy to clean – seriously it took some hectic scrubbing and dismantling – do designers not think about cleaning their products. Usually they get a bit of a wipe and as long as they look sparkly I am happy with them. But as I suspected, I discovered, that if you dig beneath the surface of your appliances you do so at your peril…
Here you go Se7en + Appliances that wanted cleaning!!!
And the se7en + 1th…
Now that we have been keeping our oven clean with a weekly swipe since we did a massive oven clean a couple of weeks back I have become more aware that all our loyal appliances need more attention. Tell me I am not the only one that gives a quick wipe and hopes these trusty appliances will keep themselves going. We definitely need a system where we routinely attack our appliances with a bit of elbow grease. Now that they all look like new maybe I will be more inspired to keep them that way!!!
That’s us!!! Have a great week…
Love your blog — love all the resources & ideas & lists you generously provide.
Am honored that my mini pinata made this list. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
xoxo
I am so happy you liked our herrings! I bet you can find some old wooden paintbrushes to use for this project! I like you cleaning the kitchen post, it so reminds me of our kitchen… Apart from using the microowen as a bread bin, or having a dish washer;)
What can I say Teri, Those… Pinatas were simply adorable!!! Just too cute for words!!!
Lilla A, So glad you stopped by!!! CAn you tell I love those little fish!!! Definitely going on a hunt to find old paintbrushes!!! And trust me you never ever need a dishwasher… they take up space and are just as much work as a sink… but no fun, no bubbles!!! Hope you all have a fun week!!!
I know my little man would agree with you on the dish washer matter, I am not so sure…;) Did you know that a lot of people nowadays install 2 dishwashers beside eachother in the kitchen, one is always dirty, the other clean, and you dont have to empty it and pack the cupboards?! Pretty smart if you ask me. But, I havent tryed it… Maybe it just sounds good.
No Lilla A!!! Really!!! Now I have heard it all… my kiddo that does the drying thinks that that is a good idea!!! Can’t believe it!!! Unfortunately we would need two massive ones and “there’s no counter high enough!!!” Meantime I am quite happy to wash and thinking of putting our dish washer away in the garage, along with the tumble dryer that we never ever use!!! Even in the middle of winter we have been able to get our laundry dry… though it can get tricky ducking and diving under clotheslines between the book cases!!! Hope you have a fun week and may your little one play with many bubbles!!!
Good job on cleaning! I don’t like cleaning the inside of the oven. It’s easy but have I done it cuz it’s automatic? NO! But I will as it needs it and holiday baking is coming! Enjoy reading your posts! Take care and have a blessed week. Remember God’s mercies are new every morning!
Hi Becky, You are such an encourager!!! I love it when you stop by and leave a comment!!! The inside of the oven s seriously the pits above all jobs!!! Thank you so much stopping by and I hope you have a great week!!!
I sort of agree with you on the dishwasher. I am on my fifth dishwasher in 12 years of marriage. This one is the one that causes me to disagree. The first four were horrible and needed too much pre-rinsing and checking afterward to see if they had done the job. But number5. We purchased it from some friends who were remodeling their kitchen. It needs very little pre-rinsing- just enough to take off the large chunks and acidic stuff like tomatoes. The dishes are always clean although I must admit that post checking was necessary when I tried a different brand of dishwasher detergent recently (I’ve been looking for one that is more environmentally friendly, some are better than others in that category.) Just recently I’ve been working on giving my appliances the attention they deserve. It does take time, but each week they look a little better and take less time to clean!
Hi Rikki, I must say that I definitely need to give my appliances a lot more attention!!! And as for dishwashers… well this is only our first and if we ever buy one again I will do a lot more research before I buy one – like ask all my readers what they use and why they love/hate it!!! So glad you have one thats working for you!!! Have a good week!!!