JANUARY 2011 COTTAGE OF THE MONTH

What better way to bring in the new year than with surprise number one...

I am beside myself with joy that Jennifer at THE OLD PAINTED COTTAGE has selected my home as the JANUARY 2011 COTTAGE OF THE MONTH!



Here's a sneak peek at my home...







Please head on over to THE OLD PAINTED COTTAGE to see the full story and a look at my home.

Thanks Jennifer, it was fabulous working with you! All the best to everyone in 2011!

Hugs,

Shelley

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New Year, New Plan: Five-a-Month

A friend of mine has a monthly goal section on her blog. She sets her goals and then reports back as things get done, or don't get done. I like that idea. But she has multiple sections and multiple goals under each section, and is vastly more organized about it than I intend to be (I think she's awesome to do it... I just know myself, and I can do organization in small portions. Too much, and I throw it all out.).

So here's the plan:

• Every month, I will start out the month by posting a list of five goals for that month.
• I will try to be specific, or make them measurable in some way.
• At the end of the month, I will report back about how & if I met those five goals.

If you'd like to join me, I welcome that.

By the way, have I shared with you all the beautiful view we have from our balcony? We live on the 12th floor, and very occasionally, we get a morning like this one a few months ago:

Tonight, we saw some great fireworks shows, and didn't pay a nickle! :)

So, anyway, back to the matter at hand, for January 2011, here are my Five-a-Month goals:

1. I will read or listen to Scripture every day.
2. I will visit two neighbors and get back in the groove of speaking Turkish more frequently.
3. I will read one book about pattern making/clothing design (something I've been wanting to learn about, but haven't made time to read the books yet...).
4. I will continue faithfully doing the "No S Diet".
5. I will take the kids to at least one cultural/arts activity (I'm currently trying to decide between an art exhibit and a classical music concert...) during this month.

I'm going to write these out and clip them to my mirror. If you think this sort of system would be helpful for you, please join me. If not, no pressure! For those bloggers who will participate, here's a way to link up to your post and we can all be in this together. (If you don't blog, but still want to participate, feel free to leave your goals in the comments and then report back with me at the end of the month.)

Blessings to you, and Happy New Year 2011! :)

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Get Clean for the New Year and last day for FREE MEMBERSHIP! Plus How to Clean Rust and Hard Water Spots!!!

$3,400 Worth of Products for Under $160!

It all starts with this kit because it contains mostly everything you need to clean your house, your laundry and your dishes! Not only does it come packaged with all the cleaning products, it also comes with all the tools you need to use them.  Three spray bottles, dispenser bottle with dropper tip to mix just drops of these special concentrated cleaners. Even pumps, measuring spoons, cleaning cloths, sponges and a scrubber pad are included. Shaklee has thought about everything but the best part of course are the products!

So let's look at each one:

Shaklee Basic H 2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate

It made 6,900 bottles of Windex before it became double concentrated! Now one 16oz bottle makes 48 gallons of super-safe cleaning power and it is nontoxic to you and the environment!  I showed you more info about it here and showed other ways it is used here.

Shaklee Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Wipes  (not included in starter kit)

Not only are these wipes biodegradable, they are 60% better than Pledge Wipes and streaks less on your windows than Windex Multi-Surface Wipes with Vinegar.  I love using these!

Shaklee Scour Off Heavy-Duty Paste (not included in starter kit)

It cleans burnt-on food in your oven as well as stuck-on messes anywhere in your home.  But the best part about using this great product is that it will not remove the hair in your nose because it is a paste, not a powder, so there is no dust in the air. But it is so powerful that it is used to scrub the boat decks for the Wild Dolphin Project and safe enough to protect our oceans because it too is biodegradable!  To see ways that I used it click here.

Shaklee Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate

If you use the Cascade 45-oz powder to clean your dishes, you will need 2 1/2 45oz boxes of it to even come close to the 48 loads that one 32oz Dish Wash can clean. It is also safe for our environment and you will never need to clean your dishes first before loading them in your dishwasher! I never did like cleaning them twice.  I showed posts about this here.

Shaklee Dish Wash Concentrate

If you like to wash your dishes at the sink, you will love to do it with our Dish Wash product. It is so concentrated that you only need a few drops to wash a pile of greasy dishes but yet it is like having a hand beauty treatment at the same time! It is 70% more effective on cutting grease than Method and Seventh Generation. Love it! :)

Shaklee Fresh Laundry Concentrated (Liquid)

Not only does this laundry concentrate clean your clothes, but it also works great as a pre-spotter. It not only outperforms leading detergents, it also outperforms big-name spot removers! It is 30% better at removing soil and stains than All Small and Mighty and removes stains even better than Shout and Spray'n Wash!  Read about my sister’s allergy story here and Wedding dress story here.

Shaklee Fresh Laundry Concentrate (Power) (not included in starter kit)

The 5.5 lb box will clean 88 loads which is 43% more loads than the same size Tide Original. Our 14lb box will do 224 loads in case you have a few children living at home! All of Shaklee’s laundry products work for HE appliances too! :)

Shaklee Fresh Laundry Concentrate Fragrance Free (Power) (not included in starter kit)

If you like to have your laundry clean without any fragrance, try our Hypoallergenic Natural cleaner. It will give you the same clean wash without any fragrance added. 

Shaklee Soft Fabric Concentrate (not included in starter kit)

Use only one-third the amount of softener compared to other products such as Downy, without the health risk. It is clean smelling and silky to reduce wrinkles and to take out cling better than what you may be using now.  But it gets even better because Soft Fabric is Nontoxic and a natural softener.

Shaklee Soft Fabric Fragrance free Dryer Sheets

If you like using dryer sheets instead of the liquid, you will love using these sheets. These are really innovative! First they are veggie-based to keep them natural and biodegradable, and then they break into two separate sheets while in the dryer to be sure they do a great job in the balanced distribution!  Plus, you can throw the whole thing in the recycling bin when you finish using them! 

Shaklee Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover

No need to use chlorine to get stains out when you get do it with natural enzymes and active oxygen found in our Nature Bright. It out cleans OxiClean on grass stains by 50% and you can also use it in your clothes to get them really bright.... the "Nature Bright" way!

Shaklee Concentrated Germicide  (not included in starter kit)

On quart of this concentrate makes up to 64 gallons - it's also EPA registered.  Bacteria, fungi, and viruses can wreak havoc on your family's health and safety. Used as directed, Basic-G tackles over 40 of these pesky microbes, including several animal viruses. That makes it an excellent choice for use in the kitchen, bathroom, or pet area.  See more info here.

Shaklee Hand Wash Concentrate (not included in starter kit)

Yes it cleans your hands but it does a whole lot more! It has wheat germ oil to moisturize, soy protein to condition, balm mint and gentian extracts to soothe, and juniper and spruce extracts to energize. After all that cleaning, you deserve a break at the spa hand treatment center, so enjoy it!  Plus, you only need to use a small amount! :)

Of course, I wouldn’t post something without  before and after pictures, lol!

I am going to show you some pictures of things that I cleaned at someone else’s house with one of my favorite products-Scour Off.

 

Do you have hard water stains?

Scour Off gets them right out!

It also does a great job cleaning your sink!  Before…

After!

 

Here is a close up.  Before.

 

After.  This is an old sink and you can see all that brown is gone now.

Another before.

     Another after!

 

Let’s move to the bathroom now!

More water stains…eww!

After…much better.  I did have to rinse the “scour off” off after.

  Let’s get dirty now!  This is a really old plastic toilet cover.

After.  I got most of that gross stuff off.  It looks way better now! :)

Here is behind the seat.  Before.

 

After!  Basic H and G could do this too!

I saved the BEST for last!!! 

Do you have hard rusty water that leaves bad marks on your toilet? 

I found that Scour Off is one of the only things that will get it off.

  

After!!!  AMAZING!  You can just tell they have bad water because it is a little orange.  I have received a lot of great feedback from people loving how Scour Off gets off rust and water marks so I wanted to show you for myself!

  

I hope you agree that saving $3,400 in cleaning products makes perfect sense. But maybe even more important is the fact that by you using them you will also be doing your part in saving our environment.   This is a great time to start using natural cleaners for the new year!

So be sure to order your starter kit today and save your health, your wealth and our environment plus get FREE membership! A membership gets you 15% off all Shaklee products and there are no minimums to keep your membership! :) I suggest adding the other products that I mentioned above because I LOVE them and think you will too! :)  I added it up, if you buy the starter kit plus the extra items (only one laundry concentrate), it comes to a little less than $160 (member’s price) not including S/H and tax.  That is not bad for everything and these products last for a long time! :)

Dec. 31st is the last day for Free Membership!

START GOING GREEN AND SAVING GREEN THIS YEAR WITH SHAKLEE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

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I Cleaned Under My Stove

Mondays are my day to wash my floors and on Monday, when I was washing, the sun was hitting my floor just right because I was able to see all the junk under my stove!  It was disgusting!!!   Immediately, I pulled out my oven and had to see what was under there.  I realized that I had not cleaned under there since we painted our kitchen a couple of YEARS ago…Opps!

This is what it looked like.

After I vacuumed and washed it Basic H, it looked like this!!!  YAY!!!!!  It’s glowing again!

This was also disgusting!  EWWW!!  Something must of spilled on the side of the oven onto the side of our cabinet.

 

Again, I just sprayed and wiped with my trusty Organic Basic H and viola!

  

Am I the only one who gets excitement from a clean floor under my oven?

You know a lot of dust gets stored under there and could spread to the rest of the floor. 

Plus, isn’t having things stuck under there a fire hazard?

How often do you clean under your stove?

I challenge you to clean under your stove today and see what it looks like.  It only took less 10 minutes!

Happy Cleaning!

Shaklee is offering FREE LIFETIME SHAKLEE MEMBERSHIPS with a order over $70 (member price) until December 31st.   A Get Clean Starter Kit qualifies! Although, if you get this kit, I would recommend adding Scour Off and Basic G to your order.  A membership gets you 15% off all Shaklee products and there are no minimums to keep your membership! :)

START GOING GREEN AND SAVING GREEN THIS YEAR WITH SHAKLEE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

 

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Adverse Growing Conditions

Looking back on 2010 we did nothing but battle adverse growing conditions.  The problem is battling these types of conditions can be rather difficult.  A dry growing condition can be compensated by extra watering, irrigation and shading but a too wet of a growing condition if difficult to battle.  Raised beds help somewhat but traditional row gardening is at the mercy of the extra moisture. 

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WINTER FLOWERS

Just popping in with a quick post! Thought you might enjoy my winter flowers...



verbena in an old well bucket.


pansies are one of my favs.


sweet alyssum in old terra cotta pots.


pansies and more pansies.


love these pansies in this fab white pot.


what a surprise! more pansies in an old kettle.


luscious lobelia.


bacopa and what else? pansies.


pink pansies.


sweet alyssum on the front patio.

hope you enjoyed the winter flowers! back with a surprise (first of two) soon!

Happy New Year!!

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Like a Newborn Baby...

While listening to 1 Timothy this morning, a phrase I've heard dozens of times stuck out to me:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

When I think back to those early days with a new baby, there is an amazing amount of sweetness, combined with a complete, dependent neediness on the part of the baby. Some of you may remember that I blogged about my nursing experiences with Moses, our most recent son. The first post, describing the first week of nearly non-stop eating, seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people. It is so easy to forget that early neediness, where at times the only thing that satisfies that sweet little person is drinking more milk.

LIKE NEWBORN BABIES

But this morning, it made me think, have I ever been that dependent on the Word of God? And even if there was such a time, am I still growing in my maturity of intake? Because sometimes I stagnate.

If, in real life, I went without food as often as I sometimes go without God's Word, I would not be healthy.

That's a frightening reality. I don't love God's Word enough; I am not dependent enough upon it. Though at times I have spent time and energy eagerly feeding myself on God's Word, at other times, I treat it as dessert, or as a delicacy. In other words, as if it's optional.

One commentary notes:

Reading, studying and assimilating the Word of God is the most essential part of our spiritual life. There will be no sign of spiritual growth unless our spirit is stimulated, formed and built up by this Word.

Do I treat Scripture as essential? There have been many times in my life when I have, but I have to confess that in recent months, I have not treated God's Word as essential. At times, it's been something I've reached for in desperation, but if I am honestly assessing my intake over the past few months, I am spiritually malnourished.

Even if there have been times when I wanted to read 8-12 times a day, those times won't carry me along NOW. I still need to be regularly intaking God's Word. Not just the "milk" meant for spiritual newborns, but chewing through the meat that's available in His Word as well. Just like the classic "busy mom" who has to make sure she's eating healthy and taking care of herself, so that she can more capably love and care for the people in her home, perhaps now more than ever, I need to be feeding myself a healthy "diet" of Scripture.

This is just an open confession, I suppose. It could serve as well as a word of encouragement for any other moms out there who have been doing what I've been doing-- shuffling along through spiritual life without that regular, dependent, eager intake of God's Word. Let's get back to it. Let's keep on diving deeper into Scripture. Let's chew on the difficult parts and delight in the sweet portions.

Anything you'd like to share or add?

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Shaklee Dish Wash Review

Hi everyone! I hope that you all had a great Christmas!!! :)  I had a wonderful time with my family.  We went sledding, drank eggnog, ate popcorn, watched movies, opened presents, played games, visited my mom’s and my husband’s grandma’s house.  We had a great time! 

I also forgot to mention that I am skipping my Twice Owned Tuesday party this week…but I will be back next week with my queens!

Today, I wanted to share this Shaklee review that Leah from Flawlessly Human wrote from her experience using Shaklee products.

Leah is a newer blogger that loves her family,  decorating, cleaning, saving money and cooking.  This is what she wrote…

Product review: Shaklee

In my ever expanding Greening I finally bit the bullet decided to try Shaklee products.

I received my package today and I don't know what's making me more excited, new green cleaning products or the fact that I'm using one of Oprah’s favorite things. heehee

I ordered the Get Clean Starter Kit.

This statement sold me:

You'd have to spend more than $3,400* to get the same amount of clean found in the Get Clean^® Starter Kit!

And when you purchase the Get Clean Starter Kit you also make a positive impact on the planet:

Keep (49 kilograms) 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills

Eliminate 113 kilograms (248 pounds) of greenhouse gases

The first thing I used was the Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate.

I'm in LOVE!!!!

No funky smell.

No residue.

Sparkling clean dishes out of a dishwasher I had written off as a piece.

I've been hand washing nearly everything - but no more!

Check out these results.

Before Fork on the left was washed in dishwasher using other dishwasher detergents.

Fork on right is after Shaklee Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate.

There's a huge difference in the shine and residue left behind.

The difference for me is night and day!

I'm totally impressed!

I'm loving the products so much I've decided to become a member.

I was considering becoming a Norwex rep but their products are so expensive and I'm not that happy with the products I've purchased from them.

Shaklee is relatively inexpensive. The products smell great and if Oprah backs the product how can you go wrong?

I'm no longer afraid to put a fork in my mouth from my dishwasher.

I couldn't be happier with the results.

She also wants to add…

I also need to mention that I have VERY hard water and I haven't been able to get ANYTHING else to work but this. It's a huge relief!

Doesn’t her dishes look sparkling clean?

Thank you Leah for writing this!

I am glad that you LOVE Get Clean products as much as I do.

Please visit her blog and tell her how great her dishes looks!

I know I don’t write about Shaklee dish concentrate liquid and powder but I LOVE them!!!! :)

For washing dishes in the sink…A few drops clean your greasy dishes, and this fresh-scented formula is soft on hands.  Seriously….I ONLY need a drop!

For automatic dishwashers… This natural and biodegradable  formula dissolves quickly to release cleaning agents early in the wash cycle.  This stuff does not suds up and leave a residue, which is great!!!  I NEVER have to wash a dish before I put it in the dishwasher and I NEVER use toxic chemicals to get my dishes clean.  Yippee! :)

I LOVE THIS STUFF…they are my life savers because I can save time on washing dishes: no-prewashing or re-washing!!!!! 

Plus they are natural and half the price of Seventh Generation! 

If you use the right amount of powder, it costs you less than 20 cents a load.  I actually use about half that because it still works and I am cheap, lol!

If you love Shaklee and want to be featured please let me know.

(I did not ask  Leah to write this or compensate her in anyway.  She is a satisfied customer!)

If you also want to get clean with safe, natural products that actually work and save you money,  email me for more ways to save at DonahueWellness@hotmail.com.

If you liked what you saw and and are thinking about investing in some of your own Get Clean products.  Here is link to my website.   Shaklee is offering FREE LIFETIME SHAKLEE MEMBERSHIPS with a order over $70 (member price) until December 31st.   A Get Clean Starter Kit qualifies! Although, if you get this kit, I would recommend adding Scour Off and Basic G to your order.  A membership gets you 15% off all Shaklee products and there are no minimums to keep your membership! :)

START GOING GREEN AND SAVING GREEN THIS YEAR WITH SHAKLEE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

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