Before and After: August 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Cleaning Tip of the Day

Washing your Cabinets

Today when I was on my kitchen floor (I don’t even know why I was on the floor, probably picking up food that my baby was throwing at me, lol) I noticed how gross my cabinets have been looking.

I usually wipe them down weekly or when needed but they were pretty bad today so I got out my Basic H and went to work. I just sprayed on the all-purpose solution and wiped off.

Before:

After:

Basic H2® Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate is naturally derived, supersafe, and superconcentrated formula with a thousand uses.

Basic H² is all you need for thousands of household jobs

Ultraconcentrated – 16 ounces makes up to 48 gallons of super powerful cleaner when mixed with water.

Versatile and powerful cleaner – removes dirt, grease, and grime from any washable surface, inside and out.

Dilute according to directions.

No rinse, no residue, streak-free formula.

Use on any washable surface – indoors or out

Walls, Windows and Mirrors, Countertops, Floors, Appliances, Stoves, Sealed Woodwork, Pots and Pans, Furniture

Clean Credentials

Nontoxic

Natural

Doubly concentrated

Biodegradable Surfactants

How often do you wipe down your cabinets?

What did you clean today?

Bonnie :)

For ordering or more info, please visit my online Shaklee site.

lGetCleanHousehold

Thanks to our two adoptions, I’ve ventured out of the U.S. on two occasions… Kazakhstan and Poland. Both countries enlightened us (including our children) as to how the rest of the world lives. Both trips got me itching for more. I think I was born a natural gypsy. I wouldn’t mind visiting (or even living in) a new location every year or two. Really!

India however, has always been at the top of my list. I figure if we’re going to spend the money traveling abroad, it might as well be to a country that is completely and utterly different than our own.

There’s just something about India that intrigues me. Maybe it’s their food which I could never muster up the effort or know-how to prepare. I find it absolutely mouth watering. Or maybe it’s the way the woman dress in their brightly hued saris and kurtis…always so feminine and beautiful.

Or perhaps the fascination originates from my admiration of their view on families. They stay so tightly knitted together throughout multiple generations. Whatever the case, India is on “my top places to visit before I die” lists.

When I received the new Sundance catalog in the mail today, I was blown away with the splendor of their new line of quilts made by rural Indian woman. The description says it can take up to a week to craft each one. They make it sound like that’s a really long time. Um, it would take me a year to even attempt the construction of one of these beauties.

After oohing and ahhing over each and every one of them, I paused to consider what price they would fetch over in the remote villages they came from.

Yet another reason to make the trip! I’d love to personally deliver the American price to the woman responsible for creating one of them.

I have a hunch it would support her family for a whole year or more. For more info on these quilts, visit Sundance here.

All images courtesy Sundance.

LA MER

Love from Southend... HD from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

I remember as a little kid going to beaches like this on the New Jersey shore. Well, maybe not quite like this.

Fabulously honest camera work, sly editing, set to the tune La Mer by the great chanteur Charles Trénet.

Here's Charles Trénet singing his song himself later in his career. Apparently he wrote the song in 10 minutes in 1943 on toilet paper aboard a train running along the Mediterranean coast.

Bobby Darin did an English-language cover called Beyond the Sea in 1959. Totally different song.

The evolution continued with this video set to Beyond the Sea, sung by Robbie Williams.

Not the same song, except in name. A hypnotic beauty by Nine Inch Nails.

La Mer. from Sinpiggyhead on Vimeo.

An even more hypnotic stop-motion video of the NIN song.

Before there were talkies, Louis Lumière produced this 1895 silent film called La Mer.

La mer, she inspires us.

(Photo of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, from here.)

My Children’s Chore Chart

We are officially starting school this week! I am exciting and nervous at the same time. I have all of our books, materials and schedules ready….so why am I nervous? Because that means I need to kick myself into high gear for the next 9 months, lol!

I love that I am going to home school my kids. We choose to do this for many reasons and I believe that it is right decision for our family at least at this time. We will take it one year at a time. Many people don’t know this, but I was homeschooled for 3 years. I went to public school from Pre-K until 6th grade until my mom decided to home school all of us. I was only homeschooled for 3 years until my mom and dad decided that I would go to high school. My mom continues to home schools my siblings even for high school so I am used to the whole homeschooling lifestyle and have experience with it.

In the next couple of weeks I thought that I would try to show you all my personal schedules and daily routines. I may have to tweak things after we actually get started on school but I believe the kids and I have better days when we are scheduled. I schedule meals, naps, bed, reading, crafts, etc.

Today I am going to show you our simple kid’s chore chart. This is actually new to us because my kids are still young but I do believe that starting children young with some housework is a great way for them to learn many life skills. Plus, they feel great when they achieve their tasks and let’s face it, it helps me out, lol!

When my kids complete all of their chores they get a star! I know, I can’t believe they still like stars, lol! I am sure I will have to upgrade to something else soon but I am not going to try to mess anything up right now!

Here is the simple chart that we are using. I got it from word office online. You can download it here if you want to use it too!

Kid Chart

Do your kids do chores?

Do you use a children’s chore sheet?

Do you reward them with something?

I hope that you have a great week!

Bonnie :)

Linking to these parties!

Check out the WORLD’S BEST children's vitamins.

(Photo from here.)

SONG

by Thomas James Merton

The bottom of the sea has come
And builded in my noiseless room
The fishes’ and the mermaids’ home,

Whose it is most, most hell to be
Out of the heavy-hanging sea
And in the thin, thin changeable air

Or unroom sleep some other where;
But play their coral violins
Where waters most lock music in:

The bottom of my room, the sea.
Full of voiceless curtaindeep
There mermaid somnambules come sleep
Where fluted half-lights show the way,

And there, there lost orchestras play
And down the many quarterlights come
To the dim mirth of my aquadrome:
The bottom of my sea, the room.

Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D?

Vitamin D has been a hot topic in the news. Recent research studies show that vitamin D - the "sunshine vitamin" - offers a multitude of important benefits including supporting healthy heart function, immune and bone health. Yet, surprisingly, up to 80% of Americans may have insufficient levels.

Are you getting enough Vitamin D?

Get the answer with Vitamin D-ology, a new online quiz developed by Shaklee Scientists.

Based on the answers to 8 simple questions, the Vitamin D quiz will quickly calculate the Shaklee Health Sciences recommended level of Vitamin D. The level of vitamin D supplementation you may need depends on many factors including where you live, time of year, your skin color, how much sun exposure you get each day, your age, if you are overweight, how often you eat fish or vitamin D fortified foods and how often you exercise.

Take the quiz today!

Vita-D₃

Add Some Sunshine to Your Day Vitamin D, also called the “sunshine vitamin,” offers a multitude of health benefits. Our bodies produce it when exposed to the sun, but a majority of people may not be getting enough of it due to geographical location, the time of year, sunscreen use, and skin color. Vita-D₃ is the perfect choice for overall health and well-being. Each easy-to-swallow tablet contains 1,000 IU of high potency vitamin D₃, the most potent form of vitamin D, to help your body thrive.

Studies show this essential nutrient helps:

•Support healthy heart function

•Promote immune system health

•Facilitate healthy cell development

•Maintain strong bones and teeth by increasing calcium absorption

I hope that you have a great weekend!

Did you take the Vitamin D quiz?

What did you get?

Bonnie :)

Several people have asked me the name of this plant sitting on our side table. I hadn't a clue, and the only help I could offer up was that it is very hardy. The only thing I ever do is give it a little drink when it looks thirsty. It's lasted over three years, and in this house, that's saying a lot. I'll never have a gardening blog.

Brooke from Velvet and Linen has come to the rescue! She recently included some plants in a dining room makeover, and lo and behold, they were the same plants as mine! Take a look:

image courtesy: Velvet and Linen

Baby Tears is the name. What an absolutely sweet and suitable name for a delicate plant such as this. Knowing the name makes me love it even more. :) Thanks Brooke!

BIRTHRIGHT

BIRTHRIGHT from Sean Mullens on Vimeo.

Transcendence.

Get Clean Laundry Detergent Story

Today, I want to take a break from organizing to share an awesome testimony from a Shaklee customer.

“My daughter, Sara, wants to wear my 35 year old wedding dress for her September wedding. I
had my doubts as the dress has been sitting in a trunk moved from place to place and was
covered with big brown spots. I thought I needed a specialist who restores old gowns. After
some internet research I send the gown to a specialist about 90 miles from my home in
Greenville, SC. I talked with her when the dress arrived and she thought she would be able to
clean it.

After two months I called again and she had bad news for me. The spots were not coming out
and she was afraid she would damage the fabric if she tried other methods. So I paid her $100
and got the gown back in the same shape I sent it to her. I have used the soak the impossible
solution many times and decided to give it a try. I had nothing to lose. I soaked the dress in
sections as there is a lot of fabric in a wedding dress.

After two days of soaking each section,all of the spots came out and the dress was completely clean although wrinkled. I took it to my local dry cleaner. They steamed it and the dress is like new. It fits beautifully and Sara is thrilled.”

Thanks to Nancy for sharing this with us!

SOAK THE IMPOSSIBLE:

1/4 cup Shaklee's Get Clean Laundry Concentrate
1/4 cup Nature Bright Laundry Booster

Mix in a pail of hot water. Add your soiled items and let soak up to 5 days!

Try it. It is amazing and completely safe even for fabrics which are not supposed to be washed
like the wedding gown!

Do you have a Shaklee Testimony?

Email me at DonahueWellness@Hotmail.com

and I will feature your story (and blog if you have one!)

Have a great day!

Bonnie

Fresh Laundry Concentrate (Liquid) HE Compatible

Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover

AUGUST WITH MONK SEALS

August / Agosto from Rafa Herrero on Vimeo.

This lovely short film is an example of what I like about the new world we're living in. A filmmaker gets to make his or her own film. That's all. There's no one telling him or her what should go into it or be left out of it.

Consequently, the ecosystem of online videos is slowly evolving to include these uniquely quiet and powerful voices.

Which turns out to be a perfect compliment for this film's subject: monk seals. In particular, Mediterranean monk seals, Monachus monachus (Greek monachos: solitary; Latin monachus: monk). The Mediterranean monk seals in this film live far from the Mediterranean on the Atlantic coast of Mauritania, in the region around Cap Blanc, known in Arabic as Ras Nouadhibou. They've survived here against all odds thanks to nearly inaccessible caves—some have entrances only underwater—in inaccessible cliffs on unpeopled coastlines.

This range map from Wikimedia Commons shows the surviving colonies of Mediterranean monk seals, including Cap Blanc in the lower left.

This species was well known to the people of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean. In his Historia Animālium, Aristotle wrote extensively about wildlife. But he struggled to understand what seals were all about:

The seal is a kind of imperfect or crippled quadruped; for just behind the shoulder-blade its front feet are placed, resembling hands, like the front paws of the bear; for they are furnished with five toes, and each of the toes has three flexions and a nail of inconsiderable size. The hind feet are also furnished with five toes; in their flexions and nails they resemble the front feet, and in shape they resemble a fish's tail.

Aristotle, btw, thought women were deformed men.

The Sierra Club Handbook of Seals and Sirenians says that even in recent times in Athos—a self-governed monastic state in Greece accessible only by boat—monks used the skins of monk seals to make belts.

Today the Mediterranean monk seal is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. It's one of the rarest mammals on Earth with less than 500 living individuals. The largest surviving colony had been found, though not easily, in the citadel of the Mauritanian caves. But these holdouts from monks and men were hard hit by a die-off in 1997 that killed 200 of 300 seals. No one's sure why. Maybe a virus. Maybe a toxic algal bloom. They've slowly recovered to about 130 today. Yet the die-off may have reduced their genetic diversity by some 12 percent, to a point where they can't reproduce fast enough to overcome random events that effect survival. The IUCN notes impressive efforts to save the Mediterranean monk seal:

However, all of the actions have been insufficient to change the overall declining trend of this species. Most conservation initiatives occur only on paper and do not translate into real and effective conservation action in the field. As a consequence, most of the small subpopulations that survived three decades ago, when conservation of the species was already identified as being a priority, are now extinct. Today, human encroachment of haul-out habitat, adverse interactions with fisheries and impoverished genetic variability are the main threats affecting the species. Unless there is urgent action, the extinction risk of the species is high.

(Photo from Arkive.)

The soundtrack of the film is fascinating. Surely these seals were the Sirens who tried to lure sailors to wreck and ruin? Jason and the Argonauts would have died if Orpheus had not been along on the voyage. Hearing the Sirens' songs, Orpheus drew his lyre, played his own exquisite music, and prevented the Argonauts from jumping overboard and drowning. Maybe that's where we get the phrase drowned out.

The Siren, by John William Waterhouse, circa 1900, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

How to Organize a File Cabinet System

Since I am on a totally organizing frenzy, I thought I would show you how I organize my files.

I have an easy 3 step process.

Step 1.

Kitchen Drawer

I put all mail, bills, paper and receipts in my bill drawer that I keep in my kitchen. I love using a drawer so I don’t have to look and see any papers around the house. The only paper that I want to see are my schedules are pictures that the kids drew me. Everything else in ugly and stressful!

Step 2.

File in System #1

I go through everything in the drawer. (This usually happens once a week so things don’t get out of control.) I empty the drawer and place the papers into piles. Then I pay all the bills online and take care of anything that needs to be done. After that, I file everything into the correct file in my cabinet. I do this right away so I know what I paid.

I have every file labeled accordingly to it’s subject.

The labels really keep things looking clean and organized!

This is my first filing system. (Cute, huh?)

2010 08 25_8724

Step 3.

File in System #2

At the end on the year, I go through my files and get ready for tax season. Everything else gets shredded or goes into my file cabinet in the basement (system #2) for 3 years or until I don’t need it anymore. I also keep a file for every appliance, manual, etc.

7 TIPS FOR KEEPING AN ORGANIZED SYSTEM

1. Shred and recycle when possible.- Do you really need to keep everything?

2. Use a filing system that makes other office chores easier, not harder.- use something simple that works for you.

3. Think before you file.- file logically

5. Keep your “first” filing system close and convenient.- Mine is on my main level.

6. File as you go.- I try to file once a week.

7. Be specific with files- That makes it easier to find something later

How do you organize your files?

Are they organized?

Do you use a system?

Please check out the review and giveaway on Funky Junk Interiors Blog.

I hope that you have a great day!

Bonnie :)

P.S. If you are having problems with my button, please be patient. I upgraded to Pro Photobucket yesterday and they still did NOT fix this. I already emailed them twice and still no luck. Sorry about this!

A home is only as beautiful as the harmony within it. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to live in a shack where peace abounds than in a mansion with discord. And so would our children, I’m sure of it.

Some things we try to practice here (never perfectly but always striving):

Everyone gives a cheerful "good morning" with a smile. It starts the day off right.

"A merry heart does good like a medicine." Laugh together. Take pleasure!

Show consideration by saying please and thank you and I’m sorry. Simple courtesies are often neglected with those closest to us.

When we are tempted to raise our voice, lower it instead. “The sweetness of lips increases learning” and “A gentle answer turns away wrath.”. Good ones to commit to memory. Recite as needed. (even if it's 100 times a day!)

When someone is speaking to us, look them in the eye and give full attention. So much communication can be lost because we don’t truly listen.

Encourage praise amongst siblings… “Do you see how sweetly Caleb is playing with his sister? He is always so patient with her, don’t you think?”

But more importantly, model praise with our spouse. Little ones are watching and always learning. From us!

And this rounds it all out: "Pleasant words are like the honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones." And ultimately... health to our homes.

References:

Proverbs 17:22
Proverbs 16:21
Proverbs 15:1
Proverbs 16:24

TYPEWRITER MUSIC MOVIE

Quad Time from The Joy of Box on Vimeo.

If I were to collect anything it would be old typewriters.

That's what it would be.

If I were to collect anything.

The First Thing You See

One thing I always try to keep in mind while decorating is the initial impression upon entering a room.

I was enthused at the thought of our vintage inspired hook being one of the focal points of the bathroom. The lines provide a visual interest all on their own.

But when those lines are covered up with a heap of hanging damp towels? Not so much.

The hook looks much happier in its new home here:

I decided that bath towels will hang on the back of the door instead. With something like this:

Which would still allow some of the hooks to show, since there are so many of them.

And on the wall, I played switcheroo with our enameled container. It used to be a towel holder.

but now serves as a sweet little flower box instead.

A much improved first impression.

I’m thinking a new subdued look for fall and winter is in order, but for now we’re enjoying the summery burst of colors.

THANK YOU, TINIEST PHOTOSYNTHESIZERS

(Picoplankton, viewed by epifluorescence. Image by Daniel Vaulot, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Amazingly, scientists only discovered the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on Earth—the genus Prochlorococcus—in 1986. Before then, we lacked the tools to see them.

These tiniest of plants are members of the picoplankton, the drifting marine life measuring between 0.2 and 2 microns (one micron = 1 millionth of a meter).

Prochlorococcus make up for their indescribably minute size with their abundance. As many as 100 million individual plants can share a single liter of seawater. As far as we currently understand things, these are the most abundant lifeforms on Earth, with many octillions (10²⁷) of individuals inhabiting the deep blue home and producing as much as 20 percent of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Without them, our terrestrial world would be a dead zone.

(Image by Daniel Vaulot, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Prochlorococcus make a living in temperate waters as well as in the nutrient-poor oceans of the tropics. In the image above you can see the vertical distribution of all picoplankton in the Pacific Ocean at 16° South, with Prochlorococcus reaching far higher densities than their cohorts.

These invisible photosynthesizers are far too small to be studied in situ with ordinary microscopes. Instead, they're counted and collated with the aid of some interesting technologies designed to view fluorescence and phosphorescence rather than reflection and absorption. They're also parsed with some of the incredible tools of molecular biology.

The images (above), taken by flow cytometry, show an analysis of three kinds of picoplankton as characterized by the pigments of their chlorophyll .

An individual Prochlorococcus marinus, as seen through an electron microsope, published by the Marine Picocyanobacteria Genome Project.

(The Station Biologique de Roscoff. Photo by Daniel Vaulot, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

Many of the images and much of the information on Prochlorococcus that's posted online (and almost everything appearing in this post) comes from the Station Biologique de Roscoff in Brittany. What a spectacular-looking place to work.

The images posted here are authored by biological oceanographer Daniel Vaulot—aka Dr. Picocyanobacteria (okay, I made that up)—from the Station Biologique de Roscoff.

Other researchers have authored a new study just published in PNAS revealing two new clades of Prochlorococcus adapted to iron-depleted environments in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. From the abstract:

The two uncharacterized clades ... are genetically distinct from each other and other high-light Prochlorococcus isolates and likely define a previously unrecognized ecotype. Our detailed genomic analysis indicates that these clades comprise organisms that are adapted to iron-depleted environments by reducing their iron quota through the loss of several iron-containing proteins that likely function as electron sinks in the photosynthetic pathway in other Prochlorococcus clades from high-light environments. The presence and inferred physiology of these clades may explain why Prochlorococcus populations from iron-depleted regions do not respond to iron fertilization experiments and further expand our understanding of how phytoplankton adapt to variations in nutrient availability in the ocean.

In other words, dumping tons of fertilizer into the nutrient-poor parts of the ocean to stimulate plankton growth and thereby offset our carbon emissions doesn't work. The little workhorses living there are already photosynthesizing overtime and thriving in the absence of nutrients we think life needs to survive.

The PNAS paper:

Characterization of Prochlorococcus clades from iron-depleted oceanic regions. Douglas B. Rusch, et al. PNAS. Published online before print August 23, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1009513107.

How I Organize my Crafts

2010 08 23_8566

I really wish that I had a craft/school room in my house but for now there just isn’t the room.

I thought, “What am I supposed to with all of our crafts?”

I decided to make some of our kitchen’s butler pantry into a craft pantry. We do most of our crafts in the kitchen anyway. I used an upper and lower cabinet to store all of our stuff. I wasn’t actually sure how I was going to store so many things in such a little space. I thought the only way was to use bins.

I looked around at different stores for the right ones and I finally found some at Wal-Mart. They fit into the cabinets perfectly and they were the cheapest too! (Why do bins cost so much anyway?)

When I was at the store, I purchased a TON of different bins because I wasn’t sure how many and what sizes I would need. I just returned to extra.

After, I fit everything in how I wanted to, I made labels for each bin. I used address labels and love how it turned out!

2010 08 23_8569

I love that the kids can see through the bins!

Now everything has a spot and I can just take out one bin at a time.

I even saved a spot for easy access to some books, coloring books and color wonder/explosion books.

This is the lower cabinet. On the top shelf, I have a bin for each child with their own school/activity books. They love having their own bin. At the beginning of the day, I just have to bring out 2 bins and the kids always know where keep their stuff.