I have 10 foot ceilings in the living room of my apartment. The walls looked pretty barren without any pictures, and I came with a total of two pictures to stick on the wall. (Neither of which are up yet, but I have plans for them.) I really wanted to come up with something that would fill up the space, look great, and not cost a lot. So here it was I ended up doing:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I found a stencil design I liked online, scaled it to the size I wanted, and printed it off. I used the printed pages as stencils on colored paper. The pieces were then laid out on a large piece of foam board and mod-podged on. It worked great, except the foam board warped, so the end product was curled. I mod-podged the back and held it down flat with books while it dried and that worked to fix the curling.

I made the large one, and then cut up another couple pieces of foam board to do smaller ones. I made seven panels in all, and it cost me under $30. All the cutting ended up taking a lot of time–a simpler design would have made it a lot faster, but I like how it turned out. As seen in the pictures, my wonderful husband helped with some of the massive amount of cutting. (For a bonus you get to see some pictures of the apartment too.)

I was thinking I’d write about the way I clean. There seems to be a lot of books, columns and other advice on how to keep a clean home. I’ve never found it that hard, just interesting. I’d thought I’d share some of my tips.

Clean up after yourself. Don’t leave the dishes until later or ignore the spill on the couch. Clean up after one project before moving on to another, etc. I can’t imagine getting behind on dishes or anything else for that matter. Not cleaning up after myself is way too much work. For instance: I can wipe off the spill on the stove in about 10 seconds when I do it, or wait until it gets caked on and spend five minutes scrubbing at it. My husband will help with the dishes right after dinner, but he’s not home the next day if I leave them in the sink. Cleaning up after myself also takes very little time (five minutes here and there), and avoids hours of built up work later on.

Be organized. Have a place for everything. Get rid of stuff you don’t use or at least put it out of the way. (We’ve moved a lot and it’s really helped eliminate our junk.) And everyone has piles: the trick is to find a place where the piles are out of the way. I stack stuff on my computer desk, but it’s underneath where no-one can see. Go through everything occasionally too.  I like to organize, although I never stress too much. My drawers can still be cluttered, I just want to know that I can find scissors in there or have a place to put my half-finished sewing project that’s not on the kitchen cabinet.

If you can do those first two things the house stays decently clean. Really, how hard is it to clean up after yourself? Not rocket science there. For organization, it’s also not that hard. If you struggle, just go to somewhere like Ikea to get ideas. Getting rid of stuff helps tons too.

Now for all the other cleaning tasks, I’ve tried two different things and like them both. It just depends on my mood.

Method 1: Besides cleaning up after yourself, do one extra task a day. For me this is usually divided into bathrooms, kitchen, dust/vacuum, and laundry. Sometimes I’ll put in an organizing day, or a day for an extra cleaning task like cleaning carpets.

Method 2: Pick one day and just get everything done. This usually takes up less time total, but more time on the day I do it. I usually get all out of order with the way I do tasks, but it cuts down on the time. For instance, last time I cleaned the kitchen cabinets, dusted, and cleaned bathroom surfaces with a multi-purpose cleaner. Then I swept, vacuumed (which eliminated the use of a dustpan), and finished by mopping. I also cleaned up a few dirty places on the carpet when I was done. I focused on a piece of cleaning equipment instead of a room, which I think saves a lot of time. The broom only comes out once etc.

I still always like new ideas. Even though I don’t struggle much with cleaning I like to read things I come across and always find new ideas. So go ahead share your thoughts on the subject.

My bread worked tonight! I have struggles making it ever since my mixer broke. I gave in today and used half and half regular and whole wheat flour. Unless I get a mixer sometime, I’ll stick to using white flour in addition to whole wheat. I just can’t work the dough enough with whole wheat flour and my bread flops. I also cooked it in four small individually shaped loaves on my pizza stone instead of one big loaf. Peter loves to help and steals pinches of dough while I knead. We had the BYU game on while I made it. I’m glad my bread turned out great, even if BYU didn’t.

Oh and Peter’s cold is almost gone. His mommy and daddy have it now.

It snowed. I’m actually glad, it was feeling a little too much like spring for still being winter. Although yesterday we spent quite some time outside. Peter adores it. He’ll pull at the front doorknob (I’m glad he can’t open it) or bring me his shoes and socks. Then he cries super lots when we come in. We walked to the library yesterday. I couldn’t keep track of him while I was getting books, but he seemed not to get into any trouble.

Other cool things I did lately:

• Went to my little brother’s basketball game. Almost my whole family was there, which was a lot of fun, but Peter was ready for bed. I spent a lot of the game out in the hall with him. Kinda felt like church.
• Visited my grandparents. My husband was able to share some things he was learning at school about balance with my grandpa. It was cool to see him kind of work as a physical therapist. I think he’s going to do a great job.
• Played at the mall playground. I don’t like the mall, but the playground was lots of fun for Peter. There was a lot of other kids around. He was trying to play peek-a-boo with them and they just stared at him. Very cute.
• Sewed a bunch. I’m actually starting to like it. Except I really need to get my machine fixed.
• Made my own seed starter for $30. These can cost hundreds of dollars. Don’t ever buy one–make your own. And guess what? The seeds came today. I bought them in bulk, so if you want some of the following, I have them:
• Scarlet runner beans: Gorgeous climber with red flowers, also produces beans
• Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed/Pleurisy root): Orange flowers, home to monarch butterflies
• Striped Armenian cucumber: I’m really excited for this. I love Armenians, and this is just a little more exciting.
• Yellow pear tomato: My favorite small tomato. Best eaten warm and right off the vine.
• Leek: I need to get these planted. This is my new crop this year, I’ve never grown or eaten them.
• Great White and Cherokee Purple tomato: An heriloom, organic tomato. I wanted to try some different colored tomatoes out.
• French/Charentais Melon: Another crop to try out.

I am primarily a mommy/homemaker. Here are some reflections about being a housewife:

• I clean up after myself and do one extra chore a day (such as mopping, cleaning the bathroom). I love this because I never have to clean the entire house at once, but it all gets clean. It helps to have a small place too. I never want a big house.
• I try to bake my own bread. The last batch didn’t turn out. I wrecked my mixer while on the pursuit of good bread. But I have also made fluffy, delicious bread. The verdict is still out if I will succeed long term with this quest. Right now it is hindered by the lack of mixer, but I am finding I quite enjoy kneading.
• Don’t get tan carpet. Horrible stuff, it shows all the dirt. I bought resolve high traffic foam to try and clean it up without actually cleaning the carpet. It was not a miracle solution. But it was completely worth the $3. The cleaner lessened the dirt and other stuff visible in the carpet, but didn’t get rid of it. I also realized, upon following the direction for how to maximize the process, that my vacuum bag should have been replaced months ago. It was overly full and affecting my suction.
• I attempt to sew. I more think about it than do it and this is problematic to actually completing projects. But I’m getting better too, however slowly.
• Sometimes I get overwhelmed with how much cleaning there seems to be or I want my house to be a cute as a friends I just visited. I have to remind myself that it really doesn’t matter what my house looks like as long as the people inside are happy.

I sew a little. Lately I’ve been thinking of things to sew. I’ve got quite a list:

• Curtains for Peter’s room
• Curtains for the kitchen
• Gardening apron
• Smallish bags
• Green knit skirt
• New waistband on workout capris
• Mend/quilt quilt

I have three problems:

1. I don’t ever make time to sew
2. Peter and sewing don’t mix
3. I’m a horrible sewer

Well today at the library, I stumbled upon a book about sewing. I feel 300% more able to sew a good project. I also was thinking this book is going to do me no good if I have to turn it back into the library. I hardly ever check out a book that the same day I want to buy it.

I realized I need to cut my fabric more straight, not just willy-nilly. Than I actually need to pin or baste it. I should also pay attention when I am sewing, so I keep the allowance the same and actually sew straight. I also learned how to finish a seam so it looks good and doesn’t fray several different ways, without a serger. Most of all, I need to use the iron more. The author mentioned that you should spend as much time pressing as sewing to get good projects.

After writing all that done, it’s very clear why I am not a good sewer. I rush it through it too much. So next up is the kitchen curtains. Whew, curtains are pretty hard to ruin. Although I did start once and ended up unpicking everything and changed what I was doing.