Stuff Portrait Friday - Air Freshener

Because Kristine is a cleaning fool this week, she asks: "How do you keep your house smelling good? Is it open windows? Is it Febreeze? A fan? Removing all children from your house thus removing teenage FUNK stank?"

Anyone who knows me or even reads this occasionally knows I am a overly organized person who does the Flylady thing adapted to our family. I do a little bit of cleaning everyday. Once a week I do an hour of a house blessing, I spend 10 minutes doing each of these things: dusting, swiffer the tiled areas, mop the tiled areas, vacuum the carpeted areas, purge magazines and shred junk mail, and change bed sheets. It should only take an hour, but it usually takes about an hour and a half with all the interruptions. Everything else is done on a daily basis that I never really have to stop and spend an entire day cleaning. I wipe down the sink and counter every day after I finish my morning routine. The kids do the wipe down in their bathroom. I still do their toilets, though.

I should mention I use this stuff that came with my vacuum cleaner once a week. The stuff is this moist powder that you sprinkle on the carpets. It magically absorbs any skanky smells. Once it is dry to the touch (about an hour) you can vacuum it up. I know Target carries it.

The other thing I use is this little thingy I blogged about in Feb. Here is a recap of what I wrote:


I went to lunch with a new friend today. I think that is the hardest thing about moving.....having to find, make, and keep friends. This mom has a daughter that goes to Will's school. I have volunteered with her for a few events. Her little girl is always dressed so cute. I mentioned to her that she should sell her daughter's stuff on Ebay. So one afternoon she came over and I showed her how. She suggested we go to lunch sometimes. Since my babysitter comes over on Tuesdays, I suggested a little hole in the wall Thai place I had been wanting to try.

Well, I am so glad I did. We had the greatest time. She brought me this diffuser from Pier 1 called Ember. I was hesitant to even open because I am very picky about smells. I am not a fruity sweet type....this has rich scents of oranges, clove, cinnamon and more. Place the reeds in the glass bottle filled with fragrance and allow it to gently waft through the room. I am so impressed she noticed the couple of candles I had were very fall-ish...if that is a word.
I wanted to take my camera and take a picture of my Thai tea...but with the making-new-friends thing, I wasn't hesitant to bust out the camera and start snapping. Don't want to run her off too quickly. We had such a good lunch. It was 3:30 before any one noticed the time. (We met at 1.) We have already made plans for our next girls lunch at another place.
So here is to new friends.....I have definitely made a lifelong friends at each and every place we have lived.....from big Lawton America to Alaska, out to the beautiful bay of California, to the cornfields of Kansas...So now it is time to do the same here. I am trying to keep a positive outlook about this and things are looking up.