Here’s a sample page (and you can download a free sample here):

With a newborn in the house, I’m currently focusing on the Daily Tasks on the right side of the page (laundry, load the dishwasher, etc).  If I get through those and still feel like doing a bit more, I start working through the tasks on the left side of the page, broken down by the day.  The first week of January before Slingshot was born, I completed ALL of the tasks each day, and my house was sparkling clean.  It was amazing how just a few things each day made such a big difference!  The other thing I LOVE about this planner is that I can leave it out for my husband, and he can see exactly what needs to be done each day.  This type of planner makes it easy to delegate tasks to your husband and kids (assuming they’re old enough to help out).

You can also choose to have a Scripture Reading Plan included.  I opted to included it in mine, though I’m doing good if I get the New Testament scriptures read.

This planner is available for download for only $9.  You can print all the weeks out and create your own binder, take them to a copy place and have them spiral bound, or simply print one week at a time.  So flexible!  Definitely worth the $9!

Disclosure: I have not been asked to write this review, nor am I being compensated for it.  This is just a great planner that I’m currently using, and I thought you might like it too!

So all that being said, here’s Slingshot’s room….

We LOVE that giant window and all the light it lets in, but it sure does make it hard to photograph this room!  The photo below shows the little attic door on the left (there is another door on the opposite wall).  We used those as a guide for how tall to make the board and batten, and I’m so glad that we did.  I feel like those little doors are much less of an eyesore and really blend in now.  I am SO pleased with how the board and batten turned out.  The Picky Apple did a fantastic job, don’t you think?

Here’s the other side of the room, that is definitely in need of some wall art….

We bought that train table for The Littlest Apple’s second birthday.  He never really enjoyed playing with it.  His favorite part of playing with it is taking it apart and throwing the tracks on the ground.  We love it too much to get rid of it, but don’t have another place to store it at the moment.  So we’re hoping that Slingshot enjoys it a little more than his big brother!  Luckily, this bedroom is second in size only to our master bedroom, so there is plenty of space for a ginormous train table.

The curtains are my personal favorite, because I made them.  I’ll share more on that in another post!

And here’s the rug I ordered….

The wall art is a big sticking point right now.  We can’t make up our minds, so we decided not to rush it just so we have something up before Slingshot’s arrival (though it IS driving me a little crazy to not have room “finished”).  We want a series of 5 or 6 framed somethings on one wall (prints?  fun fabrics?  art that my husband and I create?), framed in IKEA Ribba frames like these:

I like these Alphabet Prints from Finny & Zook (and I’m keen on these letters later in the alphabet, which might be weird):

We could also use these Pattern Pieces (in lots of different colors) available for free from Sprik Space.

But for now we’re happy with the nursery, and it’s time to move on to cleaning the rest of the house like a crazy woman.  I have SO much to do in the next few days!!

The Walls

In the past, I’ve been the primary painter-of-walls around here, but The Picky Apple has been a tremendous help in getting the nursery ready.

The plan: a darker blue paint on the top half of the walls and a board and batten treatment for the lower walls, painted white.

Here’s an inspiration photo:

from Simply Smithwick via Pinterest

Here’s what our nursery looks like now…

We’ve got to apply one more coat of white paint to the bottom, and then it’s on to the board and batten treatment.  There will be a thick chair rail/molding right where the blue and white paint join up, so there was no need to paint a perfectly straight line there.

Still not sure about this board and batten thing I mentioned?  The Casabella Project, Decor Chick, and The Handmade Home all have great board and batten tutorials that we’re using for guidance.  The trim we picked wound up being the exact same as what was used in the Decor Chick tutorial, so that’s probably closest to how ours will look.

The Furniture and Bedding

Once the board and batten is done (which will be no small task—lots of cuts, painting of wood, nailing/gluing, caulking), we’ll set up the crib, changing table, and rocker (all white) formerly used in The Littlest Apple’s nursery.  We’re re-using the same striped crib bedding, which I still love.

The Rug

I still need to decide on a rug for this room.  With the lower half of the room and all of the furniture white, it’ll be important to bring some color to the floor.  Here are a couple of rugs I’m considering…

Boys’ Rugby Stripe Rug from Pottery Barn Kids

Here’s the same rug with red.  I kind of like the idea of bringing some red into the room, but I don’t want it to be too patriotic looking…

This is another one that caught my eye….definitely a bolder choice, but it could be super cute, especially if we get these star crib sheets in red (we have these sheets in The Littlest Apple’s room and LOVE them).

Super Star Rug from Pottery Barn Kids

The Curtains

Curtains are a whole ‘nother issue.  This west-facing room has a giant window with an arch above it that lets in LOTS of light.  So we need curtains that are not only decorative but that also block out that light as much as possible when it’s time for Slingshot to sleep.

I’m really drawing a blank on curtains though.  We don’t want white or navy or red.  Burlap or dropcloth curtains could look neat (or a tan twill).  I LOVE the dropcloth curtains in our Master Bedroom.  I’d have to add blackout panels which could be a pain.

Dropcloth curtains in our Master Bedroom

Would patterned curtains be too much or compete with the bedding?  I don’t really have a clear vision for the curtains yet…

Wall Art and Decorative Touches

The plan is to bring in some white frames and colorful prints and accents to offset all the blue and white.  We haven’t really decided on anything, but here are a few things I thought might look neat.

I like these vintage transportation signs…

Wall Art from The Land of Nod

I contemplated painting a dump truck or firetruck for The Littlest Apple’s big boy room.  Something like this might look cute in Slingshot’s nursery as well…

Fire Truck Triptych from Pottery Barn Kids

I’d love to incorporate some prints and quotes.  These prints are available in lots of different colors and with lots of different word-themes:

Inspiration Series by Wallfry @ Etsy

Bright alphabet prints.  I’d put them in white frames, and I’d either do a series, or maybe Slingshot’s initial.  Or the A for Apple print.  I’d love to incorporate an Apple reference somewhere!

Sweet Alphabet Prints from Etsy

And I’d love to make a fabric or felt pennant like this in bright colors….

Pennant Chase Felt Garland from Land of Nod

Any opinions on the rugs?  Thoughts or suggestions on curtains?  I’d love to hear from you!

Behold, my Thankful Banner!

Completed during nap time this afternoon.  And I am so thankful that today was a nap day.  Naps are mostly a thing of the past here, but it was a good day indeed.

This was a super easy, super satisfying project.

Here are the supplies I used:

• 4″ chipboard/cardboard letters-I haven’t jumped on the Cricut/Silhouette bandwagon yet, and this was so much easier than stenciling them all by hand!
• Acrylic paint for painting the chipboard letters- I used Americana Brand in Burnt Orange
• Burlap- I wound up using about 1/2 a yard.  As I mentioned on Facebook, burlap was in short supply today at Hobby Lobby.  I wound up with the last yard of Oyster burlap (an offwhite color) instead of the natural color I intended, but I think I love my banner even more with the Oyster burlap!
• 3 yards of 1 1/2 inch brown wired ribbon
• 2 packages of orange flower embellishments-I found these beauties by the scrapbook/card supplies, but you could easily make your own out of fabric or felt.  If you know how to do that sort of thing.  Which I don’t….yet.
• Hot glue gun-no sewing involved here!!

How I made the banner:

1. First I painted the chipboard letters with my burnt orange paint.

2.  I created a template out of cardstock for the triangle size I wanted for the banner.  Note: be sure to use your widest letter for this (mine was “k”) so you have enough room!

3.  Trace your template on the burlap (I used a fine tip sharpie) and cut out the triangle.  Repeat 8 times.  Cutting burlap is messy business, by the way.  I’m still covered in it.

4.  Once your chipboard letters are dry (and mine were dry by the time I finished cutting the burlap), hot glue the letters to the triangles.  I used an index card (so precise, I know!) to make sure all my letters were the same distance from the bottom point of the triangles.

5.  Then I glued the ribbon across the top.  (I laid it all out first to make sure I had enough ribbon on both ends).

6.  Last of all, I glued on the orange flower embellishments.  I may add some additional embellishments next year, but for this year, I’m happy with the beautiful simplicity of my banner!

One teensy problem.  I had envisioned this banner being hung across my mantle, but it is a bit too long for that.  So I’m still playing around with where I want to display it…

The stairs?

The dining room with the red walls?

The kitchen cabinets?

I love my Thankful banner no matter where I decide to place it!  (And you’ll note that I’m no banner-hanging-expert…I used Scotch tape for these pics until I can get my handy husband to hang it up properly)

Hoping I have time to squeeze in one more kiddie Thanksgiving craft tomorrow….

Finish painting the downstairs: Yup, it’s still not done.  My birthday present this year (at the end of July) was hiring someone to do this for me.  He’s also going to stain our banister.  Yeehaw!  Hoping to have this completed by mid October at the latest.

Playscape construction: Remember how I mentioned that playscape The Littlest Apple got for his birthday?  Construction is underway….

but we’ve still got a long way to go.

one of the many piles of boards taking over our garage

This monster is 12 feet tall and about 27 feet long (and just barely meets our HOA guidelines for size).  My only role in this project is to entertain The Littlest Apple while The Picky Apple (and whoever else he can recruit) gets to work.  This is the main project happening on weekends and evenings around here at the moment.

Toy organization, decluttering and relocation: the current playroom will soon be Slingshot’s nursery.  So ALL (or at least most) of the toys need to be sorted and relocated.  The Littlest Apple’s Room isn’t huge, but he has ample storage space under his bed and there is room for the Expedit unit (either the one we already own, picture below-from a few years ago) or a new one.  I’m not even going to show you a picture of the current playroom.  It’s a disaster!  We’ll also need some type of organization for The Littlest Apple’s growing collection of dress up clothes and accessories.  Perhaps his very own Dress Up Storage Bin or something similar built in to his closet.

Bookshelves for The Littlest Apple’s room- I’ve had this project on my To Do List forever!  The Littlest Apple’s book collection is out of control, and I’d really like a new way to display his books so he can find his favorites more easily.  This will also free up some additional storage space where his old book shelf used to be.

from Raising Olives

Slingshot’s Nursery- Once we get all the toys moved out of the current playroom, it’ll be time to get Slingshot’s nursery ready!  We’re using the same bedding, crib (pictured below), changing table, and rocker, from The Littlest Apple’s old nursery, but in a new room (The Littlest Apple’s bed can’t be moved from his room without taking the frame off the door, so it’s staying put!).  I need to decide how I want to paint the walls this time around.  I LOVED the simple stripes in The Littlest Apple’s nursery, but we may do something different this time around.  Subtle horizontal stripes?  Wainscotting?  One solid color?  Not sure yet, but the clock’s ticking!

And it’s May 25.

That gives you a pretty good idea of where I stand on my One Little Word for 2011.

I’m behind.

I’ve fallen off the house cleaning wagon.

This happens with lots of long term goals, doesn’t it?  You start out strong.  Things go well for a few months.  Then things get busy, life gets in the way, and next thing you know, that goal has fallen off of your daily radar.

Well I’m taking action!

I’ll be getting back on track starting this weekend, so keep an eye out for a new JUNE Cleaning Calendar popping up sometime in the next few days.

Since The Littlest Apple is out of school for summer and we’re still adjusting to our new summer routines, my cleaning calendar may be changing a bit.  But I’ll still have my Dailies, Weeklies, and Zone Cleaning to work with.  I’m excited to dive back in and start checking off that little list again!

Last year I started reading about other bloggers who regularly make their own yogurt, and decided to give it a try.  There are many methods out there that don’t require any special equipment.  If you’re not quite ready to splurge on a yogurt maker (though you can get one for around $40), here are a few homemade yogurt recipes to try first:

Make Your Own Yogurt (and Cream Cheese) @ Heavenly Homemakers

Homemade Yogurt, the Easy Way @ Kitchen Stewardship

Homemade Yogurt: Crockpot Style @ Finding My Niche

Making Homemade Yogurt @ Keeper of the Home

I decided to splurge on a yogurt maker (using a gift card), and I LOVE it!! This is the one I’ve got:

This yogurt maker is available from Amazon or King Arthur Flour for around $40.

I love the little glass jars and just how easy it is to make yogurt with this!!  The recipes I tried previously seemed a little fussy, but I’ve had nothing but success with this little appliance.

How to make yogurt:

Bring 4 cups of milk to a boil.  Then mix 1 glass jar of store bought or previously made yogurt (6 oz) with the milk until smooth.  Then divide the mixture evenly between all 7 jars, place in the yogurt maker without the jar lids and cover with the large plastic lid.  Set the timer for 9-11 hours (varies depending on what percent fat milk you use and how thick you want your yogurt) and let it cook!  Once the yogurt is finished cooking, you refrigerate it for at least 3 hours before eating.  This yogurt has wonderful texture and firmness, but to make it even more Greek-like, you simply strain the yogurt overnight through cheesecloth to get rid of the excess liquid (which is actually whey).

I haven’t tried adding flavoring or fruit add ins just yet since I enjoy plain yogurt, but this is definitely something I plan to experiment with in the future.  Maybe some honey and vanilla, maybe some blueberries or strawberries.  I’ve also seen some recipes for savory yogurt with basil or pesto that can be used as a sandwich spread.  With my next batch, I’m planning to freeze some for delicious frozen yogurt….mmmm!

Have you tried making your own yogurt?  What was your experience like?

I planted daisies, begonias, petunias, salvia, and marigolds.  I’m hopeful that I can water them enough (and not too much) and that we’ve got the right amount of sun and shade in the spot where they are planted.

Waiting to be planted….

This evening, I brought in the first the first gardenia bloom from the backyard.  So fragrant!  I love gardenia!

The Littlest Apple and I also enjoyed the first strawberry from my square foot garden.  We’ve had a baby bunny in our backyard munching on strawberries, but I bunny-proofed, and now we’re enjoying the first fruits of the season.  That one little strawberry we had was delicious.  Perfectly ripe and sweeter than any store-bought strawberry I’ve had recently.  Just perfect.  I can’t wait to enjoy more!

Still on my to-do list for spring planting: lavender (didn’t make it through the winter), basil, blueberries, peppers, jasmine, moonflower, 4 o’clocks, and evening primrose.  I’m also hoping to build (okay, ask my husband to build) The Littlest Apple his very own square foot garden.  Then he can dig, plant, and scoop dirt to his little heart’s content.

What kind of spring planting are you doing?

I spend tons of time in the kitchen, but I just wasn’t seeing just how dirty they were!  Yes, I saw them, but I wasn’t really SEEING them.  I see the fingerprints on the fridge, the clutter on the counters, and the crumbs on the stovetop, but the cabinets?  I don’t usually give them a second thought.  As result, they rarely get wiped down.

So as a result, I’ve been walking around my kitchen, blind to the fact that my beautiful cabinets really look like this:

See all those spots and drips and dust?  Yikes!

I was more than a little leery about cleaning my cabinets this week.  The last time I wiped them down (and I’m going to plea the 5th on when exactly that occurred!), I used some disposable wood cleaner cloths that left them looking very streaky (and The Picky Apple was NOT happy about it!).  As a result, I had to go back and wipe them down again to get rid of the streaks.

So I went in to this round of cabinet cleaning with a bit of trepidation.  I decided to give one my new favorite products a try, Shaklee’s Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate.  This is such a versatile, cost effective product, and maybe I’ll talk about it in more detail sometime soon.  I’m not receiving any kind of kickbacks for saying that, I just really love the stuff.  (Though if you sell Shaklee and are interested in sponsoring The Picky Apple, let me know!!)  If you remember, I used Basic H2 for cleaning my bathroom mirrors.  For cleaning my kitchen cabinets, I used the All Purpose Solution, which is just 1/4 tsp H2 mixed with 16 oz. water.

It took me about 30-45 minutes to thoroughly wipe down my cabinets (23 in all) and drawer fronts and really get all of those yucky spots off.  I have no idea what it all was.  Milk explosion?  Blender explosion?  Grease from cooking?  Spills from baking?  Probably a little bit of everything.

But the H2 did the trick, and left my cabinets looking clean without any streaks:

So much better, don’t you think?

Now on to my refrigerator coils, another neglected task…..

How often do you wipe down your kitchen cabinets?  Have you really taken a close look at them lately?

My husband built the Dress Up Storage Bin (inspired by Ana White, but customized for our needs).  After building a bed, this was a fairly simple project for him, but it still took about 10 hours of his time.  I am SO PROUD of him and THANKFUL for his willingness to help out!  I did the painting–all 4 coats (gotta love white paint)!  The costumes (or funds to purchase costumes) were generously donated by the AMAZING group of parents from our class.  At one point before Spring Break, I was a little nervous about how this was all going to come together, but in the end we had a Class Auction Basket valued at OVER $800!!  (This is our first year at this preschool, but apparently the auction is a Big Deal).

The storage bin contains FIFTEEN costumes: knight, construction worker, pirate, veterinarian, chef, firefighter, Batman, Superman, Robin, Fancy Nancy, ladybug, cowgirl, ballerina, princess, fairy.

There are some accessories hidden in the storage underneath the costume.  This space will be just perfect for shoes and other big accessories like shields, swords, etc.

The baskets up top are milkcrates from Target.  One of the crates contains more costume accessories (shoes, jewelry, wands, crowns).  Another crate contains TEN books that coordinate with TEN of the costumes.

The last crate contains THREE puppets (pig, cat, and crocodile-though I honestly thought the crocodile was a dragon when I bought it!).  If you turn the Bin around, it doubles as a Puppet Theater.  I hand-sewed the curtains myself with fabric from Hobby Lobby after my attempt at no-sew curtains flopped.  It was my first time sewing curtains, and they aren’t perfect, but I’d say they look pretty cute!

I am ECSTATIC about how this project turned out and glad to have it over with (it’s been a major source of stress since January).  I can’t wait to see how much money is raised on Auction Night.  If you’re local and interested, let me know in the comments and I’ll email you with details about the auction.

Now back to the house painting and Easter crafts!!

I’m sharing this post with….