How Not to Kill a Hydragena in a Hour

There is so much to be said about the natural beauty of flowers.

I'm always amazed when I look closely at a bloom. 

I think it's a miracle how they open into such a beautiful flower.

Living in the south and dealing with a lot of heat and humidity, hydrangeas don't last very long once they are cut from the flower beds.

I always enjoy looking at them outside my windows, but everytime I have cut them to bring some of their beauty inside, they tend to look shriveled up within a few hours at best. 

When I was setting up my picture for my post about cleaning  the inside of a top load washing machine the other day, I knew I wanted those hydrangeas in my photo.  

After doing some researrch on "How not to Kill a Hydrangea in a Hour", I skeptically decided to give it another try.

Now, try not to get too overwhelmed when I tell you how to do this...

Are you ready....

1.  Boil a pot of water and pour in a cup or small container.

2.  Bring a pitcher of tap water outside and place close to where you will be cutting your flowers.

3.  Cut flowers and place in pitcher.

4.  Bring flowers inside and trim to the height that you want for your arrangement.

5.  Place stems in the boiled water for 30 seconds.

6.  Immediately put flowers in vase filled with room temperature water and arrange.

Pretty tough, huh?  

Haha!

Day 3 and they looked like I had just cut them!

Hope you are having a great Wednesday!

Kim

June Mini Challenge

Last week I talked about taking the month of June off from a BIG monthly challenge and instead maybe doing a couple of mini challenges.

Since hurricane season started this month and there has been a lot of violent weather this past year, I thought it would be good to conduct an "Emergency Preparedness Challenge".

I found a lot of really good tips on the internet and wanted to share a few of them with you here.

Wish I could take credit for this "puppy" but I would be remiss if I didn't share Toni @ A Bowlful of Lemons outstanding work.

resource

She even developed an e-book and printables kit for $10 to help you set up your own Emergency Preparedness Station.

Another site that I found was for my own state of Louisiana. I would recommend searching the internet for your state's guide to preparing for disasters.

Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide

This guide offers great tips on preparation for disasters for family & pets.  It has checklists for supplies and even a Hurricane Tracking Chart and Recovery Assistance.

Lastly, I came across this one from American Red Cross.  If you don't have the time to put an emergency kit together yourself, you may want to consider purchasing something like this for yourself and each family member.

resource

Let's do this!  

Let's get ourselves prepared for emergencies and/or disasters that will hopefully never strike. 

It's kind of like insurance, when you need it, you will really be glad that you had it and if you don't, you will really regret that you didn't.

Are you up for the challenge?

Send me emails/pictures or just comments on this post about what you did to get yourself and your family prepared!

P.S.  In no way, have I been compensated for any of the above recommended products.

Happy Organizing!

Kim

Oops! Someone Got Left Out!

I feel so bad!  With all of the hoopla that took place a couple of months ago in my laundry room, apparently I was neglectful to a very important member of the family.   

And, oh, how she let me know about it!

How could I have done such a thing?

Leaving her out like she wasn't worthy of cleanliness?

Kinda makes me want to wash everything we own once I'm done.

As quickly as my little fingers would type, I googled "How to Clean a Top Load Washing Machine"

One quart bleach with a hot tub of water.

Agitate a few minutes and let sit an hour.

Complete cycle.

One quart white vinegar with a hot tub of water.

Agitate a few minutes and let sit an hour.

Complete cycle.

Seemed simple enough....

Apparently, my washtub doesn't fill all the way up with water to the top of my machine!

That's when a little elbow grease and some good ole Comet went to work!  And oh, happy day!

I'm pretty sure in between when I completed that last rinse cycle, I heard her say something like "ok...you're forgiven....but don't let it happen again!".

Trust me....my dear dear friend....I won't!

Happy Organizing!

Kim

Favorite Things Tuesday

Hi Friends!

Welcome back to Favorite Things Tuesday!

A long time ago.....okay, a verrry long time ago, I took a sewing class in high school that I was sure was going to be an easy "A"!

I mean, after all, I had grown up watching my mom sew for six girls and occasionally, even sewing for my brother.  I even watched my dad jump in and help mom whenever needed!

She would sit at that sewing machine for hours and make it look like the machine practically ran itself.

Easy "A", right?

Not so much!

My final project for that class was a pair of shorts that I was certain were going to bring my average up and I wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment of anything less than an "A" in Sewing 101.

Wrong!

Let's just say the shorts were never worn by me or any other human being.  I don't even think they made it out of the classroom that day.  In fact, they found their resting place in the garbage can right after I received my not-so-good grade.

Recently, I received a sewing machine from one of my dear sisters, at which time, I graciously accepted it .


"It's a great machine",  she said...."you're going to love it".

"I'm sure I am", I said....as I tucked it away in the back of a closet thinking maybe one day (a long time from now) I would pull it out and face my fears!


I didn't think it was going to be quite so soon!  But, when I was unable to find pillows that were the colors of coral that I was looking for, I knew the day had come!

I reluctantly pulled the machine out, along with the manual and the "Sewing for Dummies" book that she sent (maybe she had a hunch).

I had no idea what I was doing or how I was going to sew pillow covers.

But....I've never been one to shy away from challenges and I knew this would be no different.

Thank goodness for Pinterest....

and Jackie at Teal & Lime.

I think she must have been sitting in my sewing class that day and knew sometime down the road, I would need a step by step video on how to make envelope pillow covers.

By far, the easiest thing I have ever sewn.  I think it took me less than 30 minutes to sew two pillow covers.  

Of course, that was after it took me about 30 minutes to reintroduce myself to my sewing machine.

Nonetheless, I did it!  

I faced my fears and made my pillow covers!

And, I couldn't be happier with them.

Not saying I'm ready to open an Etsy shop for pillow covers, but Jackie, Teal & Lime, and my new pillow covers are just "A Few of My Favorite Things"!

Thanks Jackie!

Happy Organizing!

Kim

Home Office Reveal

So excited to finally share my Home Office Makeover with you and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!



This is a reminder of my inspirational picture that I shared with you here.

Traditional Home Office by Mckinney Interior Designer JDS DESIGNS

I love the soft classic look of her space and I made it my own by adding a touch of coral sporatically throughout the room.



The pillow covers were made in about 30 minutes from a super easy tutorial that I found here on Pinterest.

I brought coral in on this side of the room by adding knobs, file folders, and basket liners from the same fabric as one of the pillows.  The folders were made using the same method that I used in a previous post here.

White spray paint covered the original black framing of the pegboard, bulletin board and two of my favorite things - the gifts from my daughters for Mother's Day many years ago.

Thanks to Melissa at The Inspired Room, I learned a super easy way to paint stripes without having bleed through of the colors.  Click here to check out the trick (and to meet her awesome buds, Jack & Lily), trust me, you will fall in love! 

 I changed out the items that I had in my cabinet and added the jar filled with gumballs on top!

One of the things that I loved that she did was the stenciling on the top of her table. 

I know everyone loves Before & Afters, so here are a few for you to enjoy!

I hope you have enjoyed my Home Office Makeover as much as I am enjoying living in it!!!!

Now, I want to hear what everyone else was up to last month and pictures please, of your Home Office Space! 

Since we are almost halfway into June, I thought it would be a good month to take a break from BIG challenges and maybe work on a couple of smaller ones!

I will be sharing one of those with you later this week!

Happy Organizing!

Kim

linking up to A Bowlful of Lemons, Kathe With an E

As Promised!

Sometimes I hear people say "I don't know where the weekend went"...

in fact...

I even hear myself say that sometimes.

But today, I can say "I know right where the weekend went".

Baseball...

baseball...

and more baseball.

My husband has made a true fan out of me!



However.....



I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about all of those projects I have back at the house.


I know I promised you a sneak peek at what's been going on in my home office so, albeit a small one, (kind of more of a tease really)....

Ta dah!

I was able to run a couple of errands and pick up some great deals and I can't wait to share them all with you soon!


Hope you are having a great Monday!

Kim

p.s.  The light fixture is almost hung!  Woo hoo!!!