NOW CLOSED: GIVEAWAY: $20 CSN Gift Card

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be swingsets, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware!

Now down to the nitty gritty. Here is how to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Tell me how you would spend your $20 at CSN Stores

EXTRA ENTRIES:

* Become a follower of my blog or comment if you already are (1 entry)

* Become a fan of CSN on Facebook (1 entry)

* Follow CSN on Twitter (1 entry)

*Become a follower of my husband's weight loss blog Corporal Porkchop (1 entry)

* Blog about this giveaway and leave me a comment with a link (3 entries)

*Become a fan of Pembroke Lane on Facebook (1 entry)

*Giveaway ends on Monday, January 31, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. and is open to U.S. and Canada only.*

Check out other sweepstakes and giveaways at www.online-sweepstakes.com 

The Hideous Kitchen Floor and How Shaklee Helped It

I can't believe someone would actually choose my kitchen floor when building a house but they did. My house is only 14-15 years old (can't remember which year it was built) and the flooring chose is the same floor that was put into our old church building in the 40's. That should tell you something.

We have a pretty huge rectangular kitchen island but it was placed 1/2 way into the dining room. We have an open floor plan with a huge kitchen, a dining room section and then the living room section. The kitchen island was so far from the kitchen you could not actually use it while cooking. So... one day I was doing something and leaned against the kitchen island and it moved. is slid just a hair but I knew it now could move.


So... my husband and I moved it closer to the kitchen. Unfortunately, it had been in that spot since the house was built. After about 12 years of it being in the same spot it left a nasty residue or something on the linoleum tile. We tried EVERYTHING to get it up and nothing took it out.   If you look closely you can see the rectangle below and to the left of the blue broom at the top of the picture.  See the lovely green racing stripe? It makes a huge square in our kitchen. Why? Who knows.

We even took a butter knife to scrapping it off the night before our daughter's birthday party. That took off some of it but it looked horrible still. See the streaks?  That is where the residue did not come off.

So... my new favorite product (next to my first love my Basic H2) comes in the mail, my Scour Off .  I wanted to use it on my disgusting stove but the floor caught my eye first.

I grabbed my scour off and went a running. By the way, it smells like Twizzlers and I don't know why but I like the smell. I know, I'm strange.

I started on the heaviest and darkest spots. I let the scour off (the pink stuff) sit on the stain or residue for about 20 minutes. Then I came back with my favorite little scrubber and a clean bowl of water.

I dipped the brush in the water and started scrubbing over the scour off in circles and a few lines for decoration. Ha ha!

I dipped the brush in the water and rinsed it a few times. Then I sprayed the spot with my Basic H2 just to be sure :o)

Look at how gross my water looks. Emma said it looked like chocolate milk. Eeeewwww.

A little drying off with my microfiber cloth and this is what I have left. I haven't done the whole thing because it is about 2 feet by 4 feet spot but I am slowing working on it when I have time. Next thing to try my Scour Off on is the stove and microwave.

If you look you can see where we used the knife at the bottom. The lighter spot in the center is where the scour off took the stuff away.

Our Messy House: What it looks like when we DIY

My husband and I have been in full DIY / organization mode lately. We de-cluttered our cleaning supplies and Shaklee-ized our home with our new Shaklee Business. That really got us going!

We knew our house needed some TLC and that we had a project finish list a mile long.

We began working on the living room last month with picture molding HERE and since finishing that area we began to move it straight through to our kitchen. That isn't finished and we have a few things in the kitchen we started and didn't finish.

Plus... our carpets need replacing badly as you can tell from our House Goals 2011 post HERE.

We started shampooing carpets yesterday and moved EVERYTHING but the computer desk and our bed out of the bedroom. We put it all in our hallway and the one table is still there. We have been going through all the stuff that accumulates in our bedroom during a DIY project (ie... every day).  We like to keep the appearance of a neat and tidy home, as does everyone else. So... when we are hosting a get together we move whatever didn't get put away into our room. That is also where laundry goes while we sort and fold.

Luckily, for now, only my pajamas are left on the bed with a few hangers. See the lamp with no shade? My husband broke the lamp so now it barely works. The wall color I love (it looks like caramel icing) but we have no headboard and haven't decided what else to do with our room yet.

BEWARE: the pictures you are about to see were taken on a holiday for 2 public school teachers with 2 small children. :o)

This is first walking into our bedroom. My husband threw his shirt and socks from last night on the chair on top of the box of "stuff" I have yet to go through from last night's shampooing adventure.

Our computer desk isn't normally this messy and looks much better while I sit typing this but again we threw things to organize on top of it. The purple basket holds small things I need to go through while there are random cords we found in the room on top of the desk.

The girls are getting ready to watch Netflix on our Wii. The fire is going and they have toys and blankets EVERYWHERE. For some reason blankets are the toys the girls play with the most.

Here is what the couch looked like from the other angle. See all the blankets? I count at least 6 plus the monkey pillow, a stuffed cheetah, Eryn's coat and the Haba push car.

The kitchen island is the catch all for things we pulled out of our bedroom last night and trash. We have a trash closet near the garage door but we always hang plastic bags and gather all of that up first. So strange.

This is our 6 year old's room. For some reason she can't just get something to wear in the morning but she must try on at least 4 outfits first and then they get thrown on the floor. She has pajamas and a housecoat on the floor followed by a pile of toys and her church shoes from yesterday. The paint cans are mine. We just purchased paint to do the top 1/2 of her room. She is getting faux board and batten at the bottom.

Here is the 3 year old's room complete with 3 year old. She got this tent from my mother and father-in-law for Christmas (Emma has one too) and she loves to play in it. Yup, it's huge and it goes anywhere from her room to the living room. What you don't see? Toys and clothes laying on the larger rocking chair (you can see her small one in the picture).  She also likes to wear certain clothes and will strip in her room and change them herself. She has broken so many hangers it is ridiculous.





Well, there you have it! What our poor house looks like right now.


Will it look this bad tomorrow when we go back to school? Nope!

The plans for today include:

shampooing the carpets in the girls rooms, putting away toys and clothes in both rooms. Putting the tools in the kitchen away in the garage and doing about 4 loads of laundry. The blankets will get folded up and put away.


What will still look like this tomorrow:

The tent will still be up in Eryn's room. The paint will still be sitting in Emma's room (somewhere)



Otherwise the majority of it will be done today. That's my list anyway




Don't forget about the Shaklee Cinch Sampler Kit for FREE this month!

Organizing: Day 12 The Spice Cabinet

I had no idea how many spices I had I just knew they were all in the cabinet. I had a little riser thing but it didn't reach to the end of the cabinet and it bothered me when I still couldn't see them all.

Here is the absolute before picture:

I then took all of the spices out and threw out 2 that were outdated.

Then I pulled out the small rack (see how it leaves SO much room in the cabinet? I wish it fit better.) I then used my Basic H2 and microfiber cloth and wiped it out really well.

Then I installed a new spice organizer I found at Wal-Mart. It is made by Rubbermaid. Here is the box in case you want to pick one up for yourselves. It was $10.

The neat thing about this one is that it does THIS!

Yup! It comes down with the spices in it so you can see what they are. This really helps someone like me who is only 5 foot 3 and can barely reach into some parts of the cabinets anyway.  The last step was to put all the spices back in the organizer in alphabetical order (cuz I'm OCD like that).

All done! What do you think about that? I put my salt and pepper shakers on the right. I gave me just a tiny bit of space since I didn't center the rack inside my cabinet. (bad me)


Don't forget the FREE Shaklee Cinch Sampler Kit special for the month of January!