Pinterest: It’s like everything you ever learned from blogs all in one location. I spend a little bit of time there occasionally, and I’ve pinned a few things I want to try. I’ve even tried a few things I’ve pinned. Not everything works as well as it looks out there, but I have had some successes.

THE SUCCESSES

DIY dishwasher detergent found here. I will call this a success because I do use it when I run out of the stuff I like. It does clump like she says and since we don’t eat rice I don’t have any to put in it to keep it from clumping. So I just stir it up each time. I love using the little gel pacs because they are so easy to grab and toss in. But this works in a pinch so it’s not a bad idea to have it on hand.

Also used her dry washing detergent recipe because using the dry is so much easier than using and storing the liquid that I used to make. I use it all the time so it is very much a success.

Chocolate chip cheeseball. I’ve made this a time or two and I LOVE it. So easy and yummy. I’m pretty much a failure at recipes so if I can make this anyone can.

THE FAILURES

Cleaning your wood floors with tea, seen here. I did this today actually and I couldn’t see any difference at all. Lately, my wood floors are looking very dull. I mop usually with my steam mop, but I’ve wanted something to perk them up and bring back that shine. Tea was not the answer.

Homemade shower cleaner, seen here. I can’t really say this was a failure as a cleaner, it cleaned just as well as what I usually use, but I could not stand the smell! I don’t like the smell of Dawn anyway but when it is mixed with vinegar it was horrible.

Almost as bad as the smell of the laundry room filled with wall to wall puppy diarrhea this morning.

I said almost.

There was no pin on pinterest for cleaning up that disaster.

I checked.

Find me on pinterest if you want to.

Leave your link and I’ll follow you too.

I made the decision to repaint all the areas of my home that had not been repainted since we moved in 8 years ago before Christmas. I dreaded tackling the job. My dining room, kitchen, breakfast area, back entry and living room are a continuous wall. There’s no stopping point so I knew I’d be doing all those rooms. I also wanted to do the entry and my office, possibly even the hallway. I decided on white pretty early even though several people tried to talk me out of it and everyone I told said, “White?” in a horrified tone.

You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was to make a decision on what shade of white. I assumed it would be easy. I was wrong. I went in and chose a color, came home and painted my dining room and hated it. It has a blue undertone and was wrong, wrong, wrong. I chose again, Roman Column from Sherwin Williams and it was right, right, right.

I had three helpers on Saturday and we got three rooms finished. I have lots left to do, but I’ve made a good start.

The red chairs are new (overstocks.com). I wanted something petite so we could squeeze more people around the table. I have three tables in my house and they are all full, overflowing and people eating on the living room chairs every Sunday. Also, I hated my wooden chairs that came with the table after I painted them white. However, I moved them in the living room (bottom picture) and now I like them again.

Ignore the guinea pig cage in the corner. My house will never look like a magazine cover because there will always be messes, pets, and piles of clutter.

I love the way my turquoise dresser looks against the white wall and also the children’s art (and one of Sara Mincy’s paintings) above it.

This is the living room with the Blonde paint that was everywhere. I don’t hate this color, but if I was going to repaint, I wanted a change. This room, hopefully, will soon be white too.

We’ve been in our house eight years and we never poured a sidewalk until now. I can’t believe we waited so long to do it. Well, yes I can, it costs a lot of money. But we paid cash and finally did it, and I love it.

Before, our old white rockers were falling apart, the make-shift rock and brick sidewalk we had done ourselves was a bit of an eyesore and a hazard to guests.

We got some new furniture and recently added some colorful plants and now we love spending time out there. It feels almost like we’ve added another room to the house.

And it’s just as strewn with children’s toys and things as the rest of the rooms.

Saturday I attended a fashion show held at a local church where they asked women with local businesses to come in and set up a booth to display their goods and services. It was a great opportunity for me to get the word out about my photography business. All last week, I was busy getting stuff ready for this event. I had never set up a display table before and didn’t know quite how to go about it. I knew I wanted to do something interesting with my business cards and I love the idea of handmade business cards, so I took some mini moo cards I had made last year and sewed them to a plain Kraft business card.

They still looked kind of uninteresting. Later, I came across something on a blog that showed a picture of a wedding announcement card attached to a seed packet and it gave me an idea to use that with my business cards. I already had little vellum envelopes and I filled them with some zinnia seeds and stamped “zinnia” on the envelope. Then I used twine to tie the card to the packet. I also had some moo stickers I’d made before I got “branded” so they are a different style, but I used them anyway to seal the vellum envelopes (the marketing police will be after me now).

I printed out my current brand on some labels to attach to the back of the card.

Plant the seeds, keep the card.

I displayed my seed packet cards along with my Easter special cards and my regular business postcards in a box from Hobby Lobby.

Then I went around collecting images for display. I got Emily’s black and white pictures and my hair dresser’s standout prints and I had a few from my own stash to use.

I met quite a few people and handed out cards and had a good time. I even met someone who knew me from my blog. That’s always weird and fun.

Emily sells Silpada jewelry and her booth was always hopping.

Luckily I was right next to her and occasionally got some of the overflow.

This is before the update, white kitchen cabinets (Navajo White from Sherwin Williams).

My lower kitchen cabinets were in need of a new paint job after only  year after we moved in. The paint was originally sprayed on, a lacquer, and when water dripped on it, it began to bubble up and peel.

Then, eight years later, kids had added pencil marks and Sharpie drawings to the peeling paint. It was embarrassingly shabby and not in a chic way.

This is after painting the lower cabinets with Dorian Gray from Sherwin Williams.

I love, love, love the color. While we were painting, Emily mentioned that Layla had painted her kitchen cabinets white and gray. I wish my upper cabinets were whiter like hers are, but it probably won’t happen anytime soon. Although, it wasn’t as difficult as I anticipated and, with three of us (cousin, aunt plus me), it only took about 3 hours.

Before painting I sanded the cabinets and wiped them down with Peso.

We used an oil-based paint, which no one in the blog world ever uses so you probably don’t have to.

I’m so glad I did it. Now I wish I could buy new countertops and add a tile backsplash.

One thing at a time though.