I told you a few days ago about the baby shower I went to last weekend. But I DIDN’T tell you about the little top secret device I learned about…

Many of you know that I’m a bit of a cleaning freak, but apparently I have never been let in on the the amazing powers of…the steam mop. Have any of you known about this and not told me?!?  How DARE you!!!  This thing is AWESOME–it’s like a swiffer on steroids!

Luckily, my friend Tess, who hosted the baby shower had one…and she was kind enough to tell me about it, and then even broke it out for me. She’s a regular steam mop saleswoman (seriously…I think she could make millions selling them door to door.)

After you do an initial sweep or dry swiffer,  you fill the mop with water and plug it in to let it heat up:

Then you put a pad on the bottom (these are washable), and when it’s warm you just run it across the floor:

It’s that easy! And it works sooooo well! There was sticky punch all over Tess’s floor and it was cleaned up just like that (picture me snapping here). No chemicals. No fuss. Just steam! (Wouldn’t that be an AWESOME tagline?!? Tess, feel free to use that in your sales pitch.)

It gets Tess’s seal of approval:

Here are a few of the top steam mops on the market: the Haan FS-20, the Bissell 1867-7, and the Shark Steam Mop 53101. Happy cleaning!

And if any steam mop companies out there would like to hire Tess to model YOUR steam mop, you just let me know and I’ll pass the message along to her.

Can we all just think back to yesterday? Remember the post I did about the fabulous touches I made to my guest room. And how I’m soooo amazing and thrifty and I spruced up a room for $25? Well…as my sister Caroline pointed out to me today. I am a big, fat liar! And the evidence of my liar-ness is right there in the post!  Remember this picture:

Well I talked all about the desk. And how it was FREE. But did I ever, even once mention that saucy little chair? Nope. AND…that chair was a craiglist find…for $20. Still pretty cheap, but the fact of the matter is that it nearly doubled the amount I told you yesterday! Yikes. So much for Twenty Dollar Tuesdays!

Frankly though, I really can’t believe I forgot to tell you about this chair, because it really is my favorite thing in that guest room. Like I said, I bought it on craiglist from a little old lady who lived in a trailer. It looked something like this when I bought it:

Dark wood, fancy floral-y seat pad. Not exactly my style. But a quick spray paint job and a new piece of fabric covering the floral pattern and Ta Da!:

I just think it’s so gosh darn cute now! I really do smile almost every time I look at it! And I think it goes with that little desk so nicely. So blog readers, please forgive me for lying to you. And Chair, please forgive me for omitting you. To show my penitence, I’ve written you this limerick:

There once was an ugly brown chair.
That sat in an old lady’s lair.
One lucky day, I took you away.
Now beautiful. (After a spray.)

So sometimes you can’t put $1000 into fixing up a room, sometimes you can’t even afford to put $100 to fix up a room. Sometimes all you have is $20.  But what’s a girl to do to spruce up a bedroom for $20?!?

Well, say you have a cast off piece of furniture from another room…

Use a $5 can of spray pain to transform it into a brand new piece!

Search craigslist for inexpensive pieces of furniture. I scored this end table for $10.00.

And then I used the same paint I used on the desk to give it a fresh look as well. Then I added a lamp I found at Goodwill (for $2.50!) and painted teal. I added a few books in colors that coordinate with the room and a little clock I found at a garage sale for $3.00.

I’d love to invest more money in this room. But it’s our second guest room that we hope to one day make a nursery, so I don’t really think it’s a great plan to invest cash here right now. But these little touches make it more than just a bleh room with a bed in it! Here’s the price breakdown:

Desk: Free (It was a cast off from my Man Cave redecoration.)

Spray Paint: $10.00 (I used two cans)

End Table: $10.00

Lamp: $2.50

Books: Free (I already had these on my bookcase.)

Clock: $3.00

Total: $25.50

Okay, this was a little more than $20, but not much! And I got a whole lotta bang for my buck!!!  What do you think?

I love my Hubby. Dearly. He’s my best friend. My rock. He keeps me sane when I go crazy (which is often). He sticks around even when I decide to redecorate a room at 11:oopm at night. Or when I go into a dressing room with fifty dresses and decide I don’t like any of them. Or watch Real Housewives of New Jersey. Or New York. Or Orange County. He’s pretty awesome.

But sometimes I REALLY don’t understand him. And the number one disagreement in our marriage? I LUUUURVE Peanut Butter. He doesn’t. Seriously. How can someone born and bred in the United States NOT like peanut butter?!?  I’m pretty sure it’s un-American. I’m frankly surprised they even let him in the military with his hatred of Peanut Butter. The man likes peanuts. Just not peanut butter! And definitely not peanut butter with chocolate. He shuns desserts  like these Squirrel Bars or these Peanut Butter Brownie cups and yes, even these Muddy Buddies. I just don’t get it.

Because of this marital difference, my friends are the happy recipients of many peanut butter/ chocolate desserts. This Sunday, my friend Tess hosted a baby shower for my friend Leighanne–this fabulous lady right here:

LOVE her! Leighanne is a fellow peanut butter/ chocolate lover. So I did what any good friend would do..I made her this guy:

This is Martha Stewart’s Peanut Butter tart. And boy was it YUMMY.  I even bought a special tart pan for the occasion (which I’m very excited to use for many other tarts in the future!):

And my favorite part of making this dessert? Shaving the chocolate with a vegetable peeler to make these little garnishes:

Aren’t they fun? These would be a such great addition to all sorts of delicious desserts! So there you have it…I guess my hubby just doesn’t know what he’s missing!

Through a recent blogging endeavor I’ve been discovering a lot of really fun new blogs on everything from parenting to design! Today, I thought I’d take the time to share a few of them with you:

a belle, a bean & a chicago dog

LifeKu

Mama’s Losin’ It!

Hooked on Houses

Our Suburban Cottage

Single Infertile Female, Now What?

Crayon Wrangler

New Old School

Remember these?

Or perhaps this?

Or this bad boy?

Or these little little gems?

You see, I have a problem: my pants seem to be shrinking. Or at least I hope that’s what’s happening. But it might possibly also be from the above culprits. I don’t think that’s the case, I think it’s more likely that my pants are shrinking. But just to be safe, I’m going to try to lay off these puppies for awhile. Well…starting on Monday. Because this weekend I’m making this and these (They’re for a baby shower. And Mom-to-be HAS to have these. I can’t say “No” to a pregnant lady!!!).

This picture is of me and The Hubby last month at a friend’s wedding. I laughed when I saw it, because even though we’re posed together, it doesn’t really look like we’re in the same place. It was only because of a funny angle, but honestly it’s kind of how I’ve been feeling these last few weeks!

The Hubby and I have been in the same place but I just don’t feel like I’ve seen him at all…we’re like two ships passing in the night (like that naval reference?). Even though all our guests are gone, we’re still playing catch-up with all the things we’ve been putting off the last few months. We keep joking that we’re just like roommates at this point! I keep hoping we’re going to get a break and find some time to spend together, but we have a Bail (Navy goodbye party) tomorrow night, I have a goodbye dinner Saturday night, and a baby shower Sunday afternoon. It’s not looking good for us this weekend! It just amazes me sometimes that even when my hubby isn’t deployed or off training somewhere we can almost feel far apart! Do your schedule ever make you feel this way?

Rather than showing you something I’ve done for $20 or less today, I’ve decided to share with you a list of some of my favorite thrifty bloggers. They CONSTANTLY amaze me with their drive to decorate on a dime.

1. Nesting Place. First of all The Nester’s motto is “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.” How great is that line? Sometimes when I’m covered from head to toe in spray paint and I feel like a project isn’t going to turn out the way I see it in my head, I just think of The Nester and repeat that little line to myself and breath deeply (unless I’m still spray painting and wearing a mask…and then I hold my breath and say that line to myself).

Nesting Place

2. Centsational Girl. The Centsational Girl is actually a brunette named Kate living in California who loves DIY projects and a good bargin. Need I say more?

Centsational Girl

3. Beneath My Heart. Traci is a mother of four boys and an amazing, thrifty decorator. I especially love her obsession with burlap (Have I mentioned that I had burlap on all the tables at our wedding?).

Beneath My Heart

4. Living with Lindsay. Lindsay’s tagline is “Creating a beautiful home one glue gun burn at a time.” I just love her. She’s getting ready to give birth to her second bebe, and she recently put together a simply beautiful nursery. I hope she doesn’t stop blogging when she goes into labor!

Living with Lindsay

5. Thrifty Decor Chick. This is a fairly new addition to my daily dose of blogs, but I really like her. Just read today’s post about making her bed and you’ll see why!

Thrifty Decor Chick

So there you have it folks, my favorite thrifty bloggers. Who do you follow?

I had a fabulous weekend! The cast of characters:

1. The Rolls. Okay, these aren’t really a character per se, but they were pretty darn delicious, and kicked the weekend off right!

2. The Hubby

3. The Hip Auntie

4. My cousin Charlie aka “The Sauce”

5. Annie Kate or “LMJ” (That stands for “Little Michael Jackson” as we’re pretty sure MJ lives on in her…)

And what did we do this weekend?

THIS!!!

That’s right. Disneyland! And despite the crowds, it was such a fun time!  The hubby and I have gone to Disneyland about once a year since we’ve lived in SoCal, and it’s always been a blast. Each experience has been very different…this one because we went with kiddos! Annie Kate and Charlie had only been on a handful of roller coasters before and were a little nervous about riding any when we arrived at the park.  But by the end of the day they were pros!

My favorite part of Disneyland (well, besides Space Mountain), is the amazing decor they have EVERYWHERE! I love standing in line and looking around at all the little touches. It really is phenomenal!

How about you? What’s YOUR favorite part about Disneyland?

1. I may have just organized my baking cabinet.

2. And my spice cabinet.

3. And my new cookbook cabinet.

4. And I may or may not have just started the dough for Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls. It may or may not be chillin’ in my fridge right now ready to be turned into delicious cinnamon rolls tomorrow morning.

5. My favorite jeans may be a little tight due to the frequent indulgence in foods like Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls.

6. I may not care that my jeans aren’t fitting.

7. Okay, number six is a TOTAL lie.

8. Paul the dog is currently sitting at my feet licking the carpet.

9. Dogs are so weird.

10. Back to number six again though…I purchased eight bars of chocolate today at the grocery store for use in my various baking reciepes.

11. Who do I think I am that I can harbor eight bars of chocolate in my house and not bake something fabulous with them immediately?

12. I need to learn some will power.

13. Must start practicing will power right away.

14. But first I’ll eat some of Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls.

15. Goodnight!