Goodbye Christmas!

It's January 16th and our gorgeous Christmas tree is coming down today. 



But - thanks to that good ole' self timer button, we did manage to finally get a picture in front of the tree last night. 


In completely unrelated news, we've been busy here at the Rothenberger casa. I'm a smidge behind with this whole picture-taking and blog-writing thing, but you should be getting some updates soon! Want a hint?


It's a wooderful sight. 


Cheese much? Yes ma'm.


Have a great Monday everyone!

Super Duper Savings - Part 2

Let's talk about detergent.   

As a Christian I feel convicted to be a good steward of what God has given me. So even though seventh generation makes amazing products that clean very well and smell fantastic in the process, they can put my budget over the edge. It costs $6.99 a box, which isn't exactly highway robbery, but it also isn't chum change. Two idioms in one sentence - thankyouverymuch English degree.


So I decided to make my own dishwasher detergent. I'm a bad blogger and took zero pictures. It's pretty self-explanatory though.


In a large bowl combine:

- 1 cup of washing soda

- 1 cup of borax
- 1 cup of Lemi-shine (we have hard water so I found that using a cup really seems to help, but if you have soft water you may only need to use 1/2 cup)

Keep this powdered mixture out on the counter for several days. Every time you pass by, mix it up. I used a potato masher, but you could use a wooden spoon if you don't have a tater masher. This step is very important because it helps prevent the detergent from clumping down the road!

Then, transfer your detergent to a sealed container. Put 1 tablespoon of this goodness in with your dirty dishes and wait for the magic to happen! I also use white vinegar as my rinse aid, which helps make my dishes sparkle!

I have been using this detergent for a while now and I think it works just as well (maybe even better!) as the store bought kinds. My dishes come out so clean and shiny. It's a win for my dishes and a win for my bank account. Bam. Happy cleaning!

Do you have any homemade recipes you'd like to share? Any natural cleaners you like to use? I'd love to hear about them!

ps: read all about super duper savings part one here

pss: image from here

Lighting Upgrades

You know the final walk through you do the day before or day of closing? When you're just checking to see if the sellers were hiding any holes in the walls with artwork or covering any stained floors with rugs? Well, we didn't find any of those tell-tale deceptive signs. . . instead we found a hanging hall light.

Our realtor explained to us that we could ask the sellers to fix this since it was properly secured when we made an offer on the house, but we figured it just needed to be fixed with a few screws so we didn't bother.

Actually I think our exact words were, "Don't worry about it. We can fix it this weekend. It's no big deal."

HA.

We were right in one sense - it wasn't a big deal at all. But did we fix it that weekend? No. We lived with that sucker hanging down for 6 MONTHS.

This view greeted us as we walked down the hall every day. Real classy.

So it's a new year and we decided to do something about this light. At first we were going to spray paint it like we did to our brassy fixtures downstairs, but instead we raised the bar. While perusing the aisles at Home Depot the other day, we found and bought this Hampton Bay track light. At just under $50, it was a little pricier than we would have liked - but it was pretty and we decided to try it anyway.

I love the oil-rubbed bronze color. And I love that we can position the lights to shine where we'd like. The main reason we decided to get this light was because we can highlight our artwork on the walls once we get around to actually hanging it.

See how the light shines right on the wall? We have big plans for that space. Right after we get around to painting the hall. We've had the paint for about 3 months already. . . so if we keep to our previous schedule you should expect to see this finished space in March.

But hey, it is a new year after all . . . so maybe it'll be done in February. :)

PS: When I came home last night Justin was installing another one of these lights in our living room. He replaced the boob light in the top right corner. Now our lighting matches! I'll have to take an updated picture and share that soon, along with the new piece of furniture that lives in this room!

Has anyone else taken a long time to make a simple upgrade? What do you think of our new lights? Any guesses on what new piece of furniture we have?

2012

Happy New Year and welcome 2012!


We brought the new year in with a bang. A good old fashioned skeet shoot. Justin and the boys played with their guns while I shot pictures with my camera. See those flying orange discs in the left corner? There she blows!

The remains of a good time . . . 

How did you usher in the new year? Was anyone else thinking of this guy the whole time you were reading this post? 

Skeeter image from here. 

Ahh Doug Funny. They don't make shows like that anymore. 

PS: Check back tomorrow to see our first project of the new year!