The Christmas season officially began in my house on Saturday – just two short days after Thanksgiving. My family has never decorated so early for Christmas, but since one of my daughters just LOVES Christmas, and couldn’t wait to get the Christmas tree up, I just had to oblige the very first day we had some time. My daughter is so looking forward to Christmas that the minute we came home from our Thanksgiving celebration, she donned her felt Santa Christmas hat. Christmas Organization Thanks to some organizing I did just after last Christmas, I was able to get the Christmas tree up Continue reading...
Search Results for: Kitchen
Pampered Chef-Style Chicken Fajita Dinner
I had a Pampered Chef party at my home last Friday, and it was a lot of fun. For the party, a Pampered Chef consultant came over and demonstrated the Pampered Chef's cooking tools and products. For my guests, she made a great chicken fajita recipe in my kitchen’s microwave in only 14 minutes. She used the Pampered Chef deep covered baker to make the dinner recipe. I was quite impressed – the Pampered Chef covered stoneware casserole dish that she used made the chicken nice and juicy – not rubbery, like one would expect from the microwave. I immediately wanted to order the Pampered Chef deep Continue reading...
Cleaning Out the Toy Chests
Ever since my kids were tots, we’ve kept their wooden toy boxes in our living room. The living room, which is only furnished with an upright piano, was the perfect place for them to play in. The plush carpeting was nice for them to play on and cushioned their falls, and the room’s location just off the kitchen made it easy for me to keep an eye on them while I was cooking. But now that my kids are both 9, I am hoping to move the toy chests downstairs into a basement playroom. I would love to turn the living room into more of an adult living space, and furnish it with a small loveseat and a Continue reading...
Beautiful Board and Batten
As a mom, homeowner and blogger, one of my favorite things to do is browse the home improvement, how to and décor projects completed by other mom bloggers. There are some very talented mom bloggers/home improvers out there! I’ve found some board and batten projects completed by other mom bloggers that I’d love to complete in my home – I’ll have to keep you updated on my progress on replicating these projects at my house! These projects completed by some of my favorite mom bloggers are completely awesome, so I thought I’d share them with you all! Simple DIY Board and Batten When it Continue reading...
Freezer and Pantry Meals
One night last week after getting home late from an evening full of my kids' after-school activities, we found that I didn't really have anything to prepare for our family's dinner in the fridge. My kids didn't want to go to the grocery store, so instead of getting calorie-laden (and expensive) take-out food, I decided to prepare our family's meals from what I could find in our pantry. My husband and I had frozen French bread pizzas, and my daughters had boxed mac 'n cheese, one of their all-time favorite meals. To get a little green element in there, I opened up a can of peas. Our Continue reading...
Updated Entry Hall
I should be working on a freelance story I have this week, but the mess in my home’s itsy-bitsy entry hall has just been irking me! My home is almost entirely filled with carpeting. (I would LOVE wood floors, but I know I will never have those, unless I won a home makeover contest or something.) Wood floors are just so beautiful and are much easier to clean! I hate vacuuming and tend to destroy my vacuum cleaners! So in my house, we take our shoes off before coming into the house to keep the carpets clean. I wasn’t used to it at first, but now I like taking my shoes off when entering a Continue reading...
Keeping the Stove Clean
If there’s one thing that drives me crazy about my kitchen, it is how there are spaces between the stove and the countertop. The spaces are just big enough to allow particles of food and spices to slip between the cracks, making it difficult to keep the kitchen clean. I cringe to think about what’s probably accumulated between the stove and my home’s kitchen cabinets! (I am afraid I’ll rip the laminate flooring in my kitchen or cause worse damage if I try to move the stove to clean behind it.) I’ve thought about caulking the space, and have kept a large cutting board over one of the Continue reading...
Pretty Craft Flowers for a Rainy Day
One rainy day a few days ago, my daughters and I broke out the "Growing Gardens" Kiwi Crate that we received in the mail. My kids had a wonderful time! In the crate was enough craft supplies for my kids to create two adorable craft flowers each out of paper cut outs and pipe cleaners. The craft was simple enough that my girls (both 9) were able to create their flowers completely on their own, without any guidance from me. After they made their flowers, they used the colored clay that comes with the kit to decorate the four Kiwi Crate cardboard pots. I was impressed with the pretty designs Continue reading...
Gettting the Most Out of Your Space
I read on Yahoo today that Internet stories on small spaces are becoming more prevalent and more popular. As people struggle to make a living in today's rough economy, I am sure smaller, but more affordable, spaces are more in demand. I watched a video today about Felice Cohen, a woman who makes her living as a professional organizer and lives in a miniscule 90-square-foot apartment. The pluses to her small New York City space are that it is centrally located, is only a block from Central Park, and rents for only $700 a month -- which is a steal for Manhattan. I watched videos today about Continue reading...
The Dish on My New Dishwasher
It’s been quite a busy summer – with the kids out of school, I haven’t been posting as much on MomHomeGuide. But, the kids will be starting up summer camp soon, so check in to read some new posts! It’s been about a week since a new Bosch Ascenta dishwasher from Lowe’s has been installed in our kitchen. I am loving it so far! The dishwasher is super quiet, and to date, it’s working well. I tried using the delay start the other day, and it worked fine. Smaller, More Frequent Loads One possible drawback I’ve found is that the rack space in the dishwasher is much smaller than the Continue reading...