Clean Your Nasty Microfiber: The Easy Way!

Let's get a show of hands:

How many of you have a microfiber couch/chair(s)/ottoman that you thought was going to be SOOO great when you bought it, but is now horribly stained beyond recognition?

I do.

When Tristan and I first moved in together I bought a beige microfiber ottoman to serve as our coffee table.

It saw us though meals, partiess and numerous spilled beverages.

It got so gross I bought a blanket for the sole purpose of covering it.

I tried cleaning it with soap and water and even got a can of Resolve carpet and upholstery cleaner. It left a weird residue and helped very little.
I was just about ready to throw it out.

Cut to 4 years later.

I came across this post on Pinterest from makingtheworldcuter.com and it peaked my interest.

Windex eh???

I got that!

Here's the before picture:

It was so disgusting I couldn't bear to actually take a picture of the whole thing, but I feel like you get the point.

So basically, you just spray your microfiber with Windex ( just so it's damp, not soaking) and scrub, scrub, scrub with a scrub brush.

I worked one square panel at a time.

Then I used a rag-towel to kind of wipe it off.

Then just let it dry.

And I'll be damned...

That towel was white... ewww.

It worked!

I have to admit, I was skeptical. 

But check out the after!

This was a ketchup stain that was at least 4 years old.

GONE!

One final word of advice,

I don't recommend doing this right next to a wall (or mini-blinds... *ahem*) because you will end up with tiny little dirty splatters EVERYWHERE.

We no longer use the ottoman as a coffee table, but when we have parties or gatherings it does come in handy for extra seating and now I can use it, uncovered, without shame.

YAY!!!

November!

First off, I need to say a 

HUGE THANK YOU!

to all my readers.

Your messages, comments, emails, pins and feedback are more appreciated than I can ever hope to express.

My chicken pot pie recipe was way more popular than I ever imagined it would be, so I promise more recipes are to come!

November has started out crazy for us!

"Falling back" from daylight savings time is SERIOUSLY overrated.

Sure you get an extra hour to sleep (if you don't have a baby)

but I'm sitting here writing this at 4pm and it's already almost dark.

Blah!

I have so little motivation to do anything when it's dark outside.

We discovered that shifting Calvin's nap and bed times by a half hour the day before helped a ton with adjusting his schedule.

The other reason I have been so tardy with a new post is that on Tuesday I woke up with really bad vertigo.

The room was spinning so fast I actually blacked-out and fell.

I'm totally fine now. But it was really scary.

I was super lucky I didn't hurt myself on the way down.

The doctor said I most likely had an virus in my inner ear that was messing with my equilibrium.

I visited my chiropractor and got my neck adjusted too, just to cover all my bases, and I'm feeling great now.

Calvin is running amok all over the house these days.

His favorite thing to do right now is grab a book from the book shelf in his room, bring it to you saying "boooo" (which means "book"), then he plops in your lap so you can read it to him.

It's so sweet, you can't say no.

Then he does the same thing over and over again.

He's also really been enjoying sitting in a big box and poking at it with crayons.
It's definitely not "coloring" yet.
Poking is a much better way to describe it, but whatever he's doing, it makes him happy.

I think he's also growing, teething or fighting a cold (or all 3!) right now.

He's been soooo sleepy.

He's slept 12 1/2 hours the last few nights and right now he's up to almost 4 hours of naps today.

He's been happy and eating normally, but his nose is a faucet.

I don't know.

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving!

Eating and family, two of my favorite things!

I'm also raring to go on my holiday shopping list.

We just received Calvin's present which totally put me in the shopping mood... not that I need much motivation to shop.

We ordered this  6' Canvas Teepee (we got ours from zulily.com, but this is the same one) and I can't wait to let him play in it!
I think it's something that he'll enjoy for several years.

So much to do and enjoy right now.
Here's hoping for a happy and healthy holiday season because ready-or-not...
It's here!

Halloween 2013

Happy November!

Pardon my tardiness with the Halloween post, I had to recuperate and work and had various other events to attend.

Anywho.

I thought I'd share what Halloween looked like for us this year.

Get a load of this kid.

 

I know it totally looks photo-shopped, but I swear that Jack-O-Lantern is REAL. 

Isn't that monster costume to die for?!

We bought it last year at Babies-R-Us during their after Halloween sale for $6.95!

A total steal.

The only down-side was that it was so bulky that I had to take the entire thing off him to put him in his car seat. So anytime we had to go somewhere, we had to strip it off him, drive, then put it back on.

Halloween afternoon I loaded up the kiddo so we could visit Tristan at work.

All the office ladies loved our little monster.

Calvin had fun running around the office.

That evening we headed over to Tristan's Brother and Sister-in-Law's house to catch up with the cousins and grandparents and have our Halloween Photo-Op.

I can't tell in Noah is smiling behind his Ninja Turtle mask but I think he is.

We had to get a group shot of all of us in costume.

Then we hit the road again and stopped by my mom's house.

Monster's gotta hydrate too.

We intended to take Calvin to the mall to "Trick-or-Treat" there because it's well-lit, warm, has a nice flat ground and they mostly give out stickers, but we didn't want to re-costume him again.

Tristan and I love group/couples costumes...

OK... I love them and he humors me.

This year we were Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler from our favorite show, The Big Bang Theory.

The best part is that we just bought clothes that we can wear in real life. Just put together differently. Halloween costume AND new wardrobe pieces?!

SCORE!

I'm going to warn you guys now, next year we're totally doing a family costume. 

I'm already planning it.

Muahaha!

We managed to get one more year of no candy out of him.
We handed him a couple pieces but he didn't know what they were so he just threw them on the ground or smushed them in his hand.
I'm considering employing the legend of the "Switch-Witch" on him in the years to come to keep the candy eating to a minimum.

Do any of you have any tricks for keeping your kids from eating 10lbs. of crap every year?
I'd love to hear them.

First Month of ONE

Calvin's been one for a whole month now and the developmental and physical changes that have occurred just since his birthday are amazing.
I swear it all happened over night!

Here's what's new in our world:

He's got another tooth or 2 coming in.

I swear he's grown at least an inch.

He RUNS!

He will hand you something if you ask for it.

He gives kisses when asked (if he feels like it)

He makes a "vroom-vroom" sound when playing with toy cars.

He loves giving High-fives.

He knows how to say and sign "all done" and thinks it's hilarious. (sounds like "aye-daa")
He's really good at dribbling a soccer ball and can take it pretty far (soccer-dribbling, not basketball dribbling)

He can throw a ball with surprising accuracy.

Throwing while running.

Words:

Book

Daddy 

Doggie

Diaper (sounds like "Deeya-pa")

Mama- although most of the time he calls me "daddy" too.

But most of the time he just points at things at says "Dee!"

We're really looking forward to Halloween.

We tried Calvin's costume on him the other night and it we could barely handle the cute.

Tristan and I just put together our costumes too.

Pictures to come!

I've also decided that next year we're doing a family-group costume.

I LOVE group costumes so I'm going to take advantage of Calvin being so young while I can.

Our Trip to Green Bluff

Last week our friends Ashley and Mia from Bend, OR came up for a quick trip home.

We wanted to get the kiddo's together and do something "seasonal" and fun!

So we ventured to Walter's Fruit Ranch at Green Bluff.

We picked pumpkins, played in a sandbox filled with dried sweet peas and tried to communicate with some very funny goats.

Plus there were so many great photo opportunities!

The first patch we went into had a bunch of great toddler-size pumpkins which Calvin kept trying to pick up. He's such a boy.

Seriously, How cute are these two?

Similar plaid shirt, Jeans, Robeez

Then we played in a big box of dried sweet peas. The kids were leery at first, but quickly got into the spirit.

Mia was a fantastic "pea-thrower"

Then we found the patch with the big pumpkins in it and had to take pictures there too.

 

And we made sure to snap some quick Mama-Baby pics before we left. The kids were obviously distracted.

Similar Cardigan and boots

We left with a car full of pumpkins, fresh-pressed apple cider and exhausted toddlers.

We always have so much fun with our friends. 

I'm really hoping we can make it an annual event.

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

I made a killer Chicken Pot Pie last night.

Tristan had two helpings so it must have been really good.

I call it "traditional" because it tastes exactly how you'd want a chicken pot pie to taste. I did however, omit green peas because Tristan (and his entire family) absolutely hate them. Feel free to add peas if you'd like.

I just kind of winged-it based on a bunch of other recipes I found.

Here's what I did:

Check out more of my recipes Here

Fall is in the Air

Fall is in full swing at my house.

I love these sunny days and cooler nights.

Mostly fueled by my love of sweaters, jackets, jeans and boots...

Top it off with pumpkin and cinnamon and apple EVERYTHING and I'm one happy camper.

Room on the Broom

I randomly declared to my husband last week that I want to try and decorate the house for every season.
Nothing crazy.
Mostly just the mantle and front entrance.
I want Calvin to have fun and happy memories of our home.

So I gathered a bunch of apples, bought up some tiny pumpkins, dug out the fall scented candles and made a run to the craft store so I could make some festive fall garland.
I strung together some felt acorns and leaves with some jute (which smells terrible btw) and hung it up with command hooks.

Calvin has been rocking the fall fashions too.

Here's some stuff we're loving right now.

One. Two. Three.Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Warm accessories are vital for the cooler mornings and evenings this time of year. Bonus points if they're ridiculously cute. These moccasins and visor beanies were gifts and we LOVE them!
The puffer vest is definitely on our wish list right now. Vests on babies might possibly be the cutest thing ever.
He's been sporting the long sleeve tee's and onesies everyday. Light enough to play in, but keeps those arms warm. They're perfect.
Footie jammies are my favorite! I like to put Calvin in one piece sleepers because he moves around so much he gets kind of twisted in two-piece PJ's. I also thinks he sleeps much better snuggled in a sleep sack. I'm going to be pissed when he gets too big for these.

And my new favorite fall obsession.
Warm apple cider with a "nip" of fireball.
If you've never tried these together you must!
It's the perfect evening "wind-down" beverage.
You will thank me.

We have more fall activities in the line up this month.
We're going pumpkin picking at Green Bluff with good friends next week and I couldn't be more excited to start some fun traditions with our kids.
And of course, Halloween is coming!
I'm not sure what our game-plan will be. Calvin's never had candy before and I think I'd like to get one more year out of him before he really discovers it.
But, I'd also like to let him trick-or-treat a little.
I'm thinking we'll hit the grandparents houses, and maybe do a little of the mall so he can actually walk.
Thoughts or suggestions are ALWAYS appreciated. What do you think?