Nesting

Today, I have mastered the art of bed rest nesting ... spend hours on www.marthastewart.com getting cleaning tips.  I am a huge Martha fan especially post prison (she is just a little more down to Earth / human).  I've learned a lot of great things from her website over the years and my desire to clean today made me go straight to her site and do additional research.  Here are some things I have learned that I consider invaluable:

• Cleaning Windows - Throw out your windex especially if you have a dog that loves to get their nose right up to the window to try and smell the UPS man.  Windex does NOTHING for dog snot and I am sure little kid sticky fingers!  
• Get a small pail or big bowl
• Fill it with 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of hot water.  Vinegar is cheap so buy the big jug and store it with your cleaning supplies
• Using a washcloth or sponge wash the window - no elbow grease needed thanks to the vinegar
• Martha recommends using a squeegee which I have also found to be very helpful and an inexpensive purchase.  Starting at an upper corner, draw down the pane from top to bottom using the squeegee.  Overlap strokes and wipe the rubber edge after each stroke.  Touch up edges with a paper towel.  No squeegee then paper towels work just as well.
• See Martha's technique in this video
• *Fun Fact I learned today on Martha's site: to clean/disinfect kid's bath toys - fill a bucket with 1/2 cup of vinegar for 1 gallon of warm water; soak toys for 10 minutes; then rub gently with sponge and let dry.  
• Votive Cleaner - My love of candles leaves me with lots of burned votives and a break-your-finger-nails-scraping situation at the end.  Martha taught me that all you have to do to clean out your glass votive containers is just freeze the containers and voila out pops your candle remains (no scraping / cursing needed).  
• Carryall Apron - This is something I thought was such a great idea.  Right now I just lug my bucket full of cleaning supplies upstairs and all around the house.  Martha recommends just taking a plain white kitchen apron:
• Turn up the bottom 12 to 18 inches to create storage compartments.
• Determine pocket widths by using the size of your cleaning supplies as guides.
• Stitch vertically using a sewing machine.
• Martha's Checklist - I LOVE these and have even downloaded them and made minor adjustments (for example, exclude the cleaning of the library since we don't have one)
• 6 Things to do everyday
• Weekly Cleaning Checklist
• Monthly Cleaning Checklist
• Seasonal Cleaning Checklist

Martha sure does make me want to clean, be more green, and cook better food.  Who inspires/motivates you?

~ Courtney