Mrs. Meyer's Giveaway Winner!

Aaaaannnndddd the winner is.....

Alison! I'll get your laundry detergent in the mail tomorrow. Congrats, and I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you, Mrs. Meyer's, for giving me the opportunity to review your new product and to share it with a friend!

Water spots? Negative Ghost Writer.

This weekend, we bought a new (to us) table for our eat in kitchen! We noticed that it had a couple of pretty big water spots on it, but that didn't deter me. I've got a little trick up my sleeve that made them disappear before my eyes!

Check out those white spots. Hot right?

All you do is take an iron and put it on medium heat. Place a thin cloth down over top of the water spot (I used my husband's tshirt...thanks honey!) and press down and move around just like you're ironing the shirt.

I gradually turned the heat up and continued to iron over the spots until they were completely gone. You'll be shocked at how well this works, I guarantee it.



Review and Giveaway: Mrs. Meyer's Laundry Detergent

There are some household chores you just despise, and there are some you really don't mind. For me? Laundry is one that I actually don't mind doing. Well...washing and drying, that is. Folding and putting away? Notsomuch. So I was pretty excited when Mrs. Meyer's gave me the opportunity to review their new 68 load laundry detergent.

I first fell in love with Mrs. Meyer's when I tried the countertop spray in lavender. Favorite thing? It leaves the house smelling heavenly. Fitting, then, that Mrs. Meyer's sent the lavender scented Laundry Detergent. (Note: the detergent is also available in the following scents - Bluebell, Lemon Verbena, and Rosemary)

To give you a bit of background on the {almost} dream house, we use a septic tank. The word septic scared us at first, but upon further research, it's really not that big of a deal as long as you maintain it well. Along with maintaining it well, you need to take a closer look at the cleaning products you use. Certain products can disrupt the natural bacteria in the septic tank and really create some serious problems. The awesome news? Mrs. Meyer's products not only smell AMAZING, but they are septic friendly as well!!

Now to the actual review. You literally use 1 tablespoon of detergent for a full load. As I'm filling the washing machine, I'm thinking psssh. No WAY this gets my sheets clean. Seriously, look at how teeny tiny the cap is compared to what you probably use now. They note that the detergent is remarkably concentrated, hence the need for only 1 tablespoon per load.

I poured it in and let my washer do the dirty work. (Har Har.)

Results? I was worried the hubs would over-rule me using the detergent again due to lavender being a bit girly smelling. BUT, our sheets both smelled and felt clean, and the lavender scent wasn't overwhelming at all. I was really quite pleased. Overall, I really like the detergent. It gets the sheets very clean and leaves it with a very fresh scent! I couldn't find a negative at all. :)

I'd LOVE to share this awesome new product with one of you! In order to enter, leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite chore is. Entries accepted through 11:59PM on 8/22/12. I'll select a winner using Random.org on Thursday, August 23rd and then will send you your own bottle of Mrs. Meyer's laundry detergent to try out!

Giveaway Disclaimer: I received a sample of Mrs. Meyers laundry detergent for a review and giveaway on Project Forever Home, but I am not being compensated for writing or obligated to write anything specific. Winners will be selected randomly using Random.org

The Vegetable Garden

In our previous house, a townhouse, I had a very small garden but still enjoyed growing some vegetables for our family. So when I saw that this house had a good sized garden, I was pretty excited.

I have to tell you, when we came to see the house for the first time...this garden was in ROUGH shape. The previous owner had planted a few things (tomatoes, kale, butternut squash, and pickle cucumbers) but, you know how it is, time gets away from you and the weeds just TAKE OVER. So, I borrowed my mom's tiller to get rid of all the intruders.

My mom used to absolutely rave over how awesome her tiller was, and I honestly just didn't understand...until I used it. Holy CRAP is that thing awesome. In what would've taken me HOURS by hand, I ripped through all the weeds in a matter of about 30-45 minutes. Not only that, but it helped me to form the hills for my fall crops.

Look at that thing rip through the soil.

After I tilled the ground, I added in a couple of bags of peat moss to help create a more fertile soil. 

Next, I planted a very small pumpkin patch. In reading up on fall gardens I learned that pumpkin patches are planted on mounds. Because the garden isn't huge, I only planted 1 mound of pumpkin seeds. If I calculated properly, I should hopefully have some pumpkins just in time for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

3 weeks later... o_O... I finally finished weeding the rest of the garden by hand. Those parts had plants too close together to allow the tiller to do the work for me. It is without further ado that I present the results.

Using the tiller, I was able to create these rows.

This is the beginnings of my son, Nolan's pumpkin patch. We just planted the seeds July 27, so we'll see if we've got some pumpkins by Halloween!

YUMMY butternut squash.

Beefsteak tomatoes. The plant is about finished producing, but it made enough to allow me to can some diced tomatoes.

And finally, some yummy yummy basil. I'll be making some homemade pesto with this for sure!

I'm looking at putting a few fall crops in soon. I live right in between zones 6 and 7, so it's about time to start planting. I've got carrots and I'm contemplating lettuce, although with the abundance of deer we have, I'm not sure that'd be the smartest thing to plant. Have y'all got any fall crop suggestions?

Welcome to our Home!

Well hey there! We searched for a long time, but we've finally found it. Welcome to our {almost} dream home. My husband and I decided to create this blog to document all the renovations we do to this house. The bones are there...it just needs a little work!

I have created a list of all the work we'd like to get done on the house and I'm excited to get started on it all. I'm looking forward to sharing our progress with y'all. For now, here's the before picture of the front.