I love it! But as can sometime occur with older pieces, it had a bit of a hiccup a few weeks ago. One of the doors that opens up came off it’s hinges. Basically the screw holding the hinge on was loose, because the hole in the wood had become too big. I wasn’t really sure what to do about it. I was nervous about putting in a bigger screw, as I was afraid it might split the wood, so I headed over to Home Depot to see if someone could help me! And sure enough, I got just the answer I was looking for!

I put a drop of wood glue in the hole and put three or four toothpicks in the hole, snapping them so they were flush with the top of the hole. Once the glue dried, I simply screwed in the screw, and voila! The screws now had something to grip onto. Pretty neat, eh? And as we already had toothpicks and wood glue on hand, this fix was FREE! Yeah!

Well, it’s been sitting on my desk for awhile. I know you’re not supposed to throw them away, so I was doing so research the other day about where to take it, and I found this awesome site. They send you a prepaid envelope, you send in your phone and you’re not only rid of your old (and in my case broken phone), but they mail you a check for it! I got $20 for my phone , even though it was completely broken (I’d have gotten $40 if I hadn’t tried to play Doctor Frankenstein)! So if you have an old iphone stashed somewhere, it’s definitely worth checking out!

So I came up with my own way of storing paint that has thus far proven to be a pretty good system, if I do say so myself.

I have a bunch of these twist and lock containers by Ziploc. They’re cheap, the lids twist on so they get a nice good seal, and they’re the perfect size!

Pour any leftover paint you have into the container, and cover with a piece of plastic wrap, yup, the kind from your kitchen. Make sure that the plastic wrap is all the way pressed down onto the paint–this is key. It’s the paint interacting with air that makes it get icky.

Twist on the lid (right over the plastic wrap) and then tear off any plastic wrap from the outside if you want to go for that neat and tidy look (which, of course, I do ).

On the outside, in permanent marker, I write:

• The room where I used the paint
• The brand
• The color
• The finish
• All the information from the little printed out label they put on the top of the paint can after they mix it. That way, if I ever have to go buy more, I can give them the color numbers (in case they no longer carry the color “Shooting Star”).

And that, my friends, is that.

Anyway, the Hubby and I both enjoy cooking, and so a few years ago we decided it was time to invest in some nice pots and pans. We were pretty happy with the few pieces of Calphalon we already owned, so decided to go in that direction. Knowing there are several “levels” of Calphalon, we started to do some research to find out which Calphalon line was the best, ready to drop $1000 or so on nice pots and pans that would last us many years.

Needless to say, we were VERY surprised when we read on Consumer Reports that the best brand was Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand, which is quite similar to the Calphalon brand and actually holds up better in the long run. The kicker? It’s a fraction of the price of the Calphalon line!

For a “discounted price” at  Williams-Sonoma, you can buy this 15-piece set for $949 (suggested retail price is $1675).

OR you could get this 15-piece set from Costco for $159!

We were floored. But Consumer Reports gave it the thumbs up, so we headed over to Costco and picked up the set. That was over two years ago, and I couldn’t be happier. The Costco pans look like they did the day we brought them home (while the Calphalon pieces we own have already started to wear a bit), and they are so easy to clean, which I LOVE.

So, what are you waiting for?!? Go buy some up right now–you won’t regret it!

Well Censational Girl (if you don’t follow her, start now!) published a list of Spray Paint FAQs yesterday that is the most thorough explanation of spray painting I’ve ever read. So if you have an itch to spray paint, or if you think you might ever get the itch to spray paint, bookmark her post now!

My friend Mamaku posted a haiku yesterday about her chickens (and their cannibalistic habits, yikes!), so I’ve had eggs on the brain. With all these eggy thoughts, I decided I HAD to tell you a tip my friend Autumn shared with me last week about eggs: how do you tell if an egg is fresh or not (without looking at the expiration date on the carton)?

Submerge your questionable egg in water. If it is fresh, it will lay on the bottom; if it’s a week or so it will lay on the bottom but bob a bit; if it’s a few weeks old, it will balance on it’s end. But if it’s a BAD EGG, it will float!

Why does this work? Well, there is a small air pocket in the large end of an egg. As an egg ages, it looses moisture and carbon dioxide shrinking the eggy insides and increasing the size of the air space. Of course, the more air there is, the more it floats! Pretty neat, eh?

So just remember: never eat a floating egg!

Remember when I had this great secret for storing spices with you last week, but then I needed to take a break to put my head in a vice? Well, it’s your LUCKY day, because I’m going to share that secret with you now that my head is no longer going to explode!

So I had a problem…in the spice cabinet next to the stove, I keep a lot of our sauces: Soy Sauce, Pam, Olive Oil, etc. The problem was that these sauces and spices only fit on the highest shelf, and I had to take some of them out in order to get to the sauces in the rear. I needed a lazy susan, but all the ones I found were $15.00 and up! Yikes! Sooooo I raided my kitchen cabinets and found the bottom of a springform pan. And….TA DA:

It has been great! It works just like the lazy susan would and it was F-R-E-E! Yippee!

Do you have any organization or decoration tips? I’d love to feature them! Send me your tip and if possible at picture at ThisAmericanWife {at} Yahoo {Dot} Com!

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.

All you ladies out there…how do you store your jewelry? I have tried a number of ways and have ultimately settled on a few organization tubs in my top dresser drawer.  But I’ve tried a number of methods, and the one thing I’ve stuck with through all the various methods is the everyday jewelry dish. Let’s face it, about 1/4 of the time I wear the same jewelry: pearl earrings, the watch my hubby gave me a few years ago, and a silver and pearl bracelet. Because I wear these items so frequently, I set a dish on top of my dresser and store these pieces.  That way, they don’t end up just sitting out! Do you have any fun ways to organize YOUR jewelry?

The thought of a lucious bouquet of roses or peonies or snap dragons, sets my heart aflutter. I just love coming home to a full bouquet sitting on my kitchen table!

But sometimes I want something a little simpler (and cheaper!). And that’s when I go for the cheapest flowers I can find in the grocery store plopped into bud vases or bottles or whatever I can find. Something like this:

(Photo courtesy of Jena D Events)

Or this:

(Photo from Country Living)

Or any of these from Ms. Stewart:

Or this one from Centsational Girl:

Don’t you just love this look?!?  And the best part? You can get away with only buying a small bouquet (there’s usually a $3.99 one a my grocery store!). What do you all think?