Ideas on how to clean and organize the home

The Enchanted Home Desk Calendar

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Good Friday Morning,
It’s the beginning of fall break here for our students. I know that our daughter and my step-son are really excited! Honestly, I am too. It’s nice to get these holiday breaks so that you can reset yourself to get your schedule back in-sync. 


At the beginning of the school year we were leaving the house at 7:30 in the morning. Now we have slipped up to 7:40 which is killing us! I’ve got to get it back together. It’s amazing how that 10 minutes is everything. 


In today’s post I wanted to share a recent item that I received last week. I did the pre-sale order for the Enchanted Home Desk Calendar.


And it’s in blue and white of course!

I already have it on my desk at the office and can’t wait to use it in 2020. 
This one happens to be my favorite. She has her signature orchid on top of the table with all of her gorgeous blue and white ginger jars at the bottom. 

And look at December. Isn’t that picturesque? The nutcrackers, the ginger jars, the stockings and fire.
Very nice!

I think that Tina and the artist did a wonderful job with these. They are simple yet still elegant but we should not be surprised. Tina’s Blog is just beautiful and she has wonderful taste. I did not purchase the easel from her. I actually purchased this last year from Inslee. I ordered her desk calendar last year and it came with the gold easel so I was in luck! I did not have to purchase one. 

I hope that you enjoyed this new chic little office find and thank you to everyone who watched my mid-week video on Youtube. I actually had fun filming that one. Have a great weekend!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Toscana

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Bonjour,


And time for a little blue and white find. A few weeks ago, after viewing some wonderful finds at Ann Taylor, my family and I stopped by Sur La Table. 


Remember I talked about this wonderful place when my husband and I took a cooking class there for a date night. Gosh, we really need to do that again, but they had new dinner plates and accessories. 

Aren’t these fab? And they are thick. They don’t feel like discount plates. They look and feel wonderful! These are called the Toscana dinner plates and they come in green and white also. 


There were matching bowls, platters, and mugs. I hope I can catch them on sale the next time we go. I would love to have a few of the plates. I really adore those. 

If you have a Sur La Table near you go and visit it. It is a beautiful store with wonderful accessories and supplies on how to dine well. My husband and I love visiting our store. There are always items we want for home and always classes that we want to try. 

Thanks for reading! 

Au Revoir!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Staying Organized ~ Lists

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Good Morning and welcome to the end of July. Goodness, the end of July. Wow… this evening we have freshman orientation with our daughter Lauren. She is going to be a freshman this year!


She was in fourth grade when I started this blog. Let that sink in….

photo credit Melnychuk Nataliya 



Today I want to talk about lists. Lists, lists, glorious lists! I love writing lists. Don’t you? I write at least two lists every week. I write a grocery/ home list and I review our finance list.

Every week I walk through our entire home and take a look at our toiletries, home supplies, personal needs, pantry, and refrigerator to jot down what we need. 
It helps me to keep track of my home and to make sure that the fridge is stocked and ready for home meals. That I have what I need to keep my home clean and that everyone has what they need to take care of themselves. I recently read a blog post about keeping lists in our lives and found it very inspiring. Shannon gave great ideas and great lists to have handy in our lives. 

One website that I use for great and orderly lists is The Day Designer. This website has great lists and lists for everything! They are free and are emailed to you for printing. 





photo credit Carolyn V. 

I emailed a few to myself this week. I plan on trying the grocery list. I normally just write down what we need and then just mark it off when I have it. I love checking things off. It helps me to complete tasks and to mentally take items off of my list. 


I know that may sound weird but I keep mental lists too. What lists do you have? Do you keep weekly lists? Please share if you do. I would love to hear it.


Thanks for reading!

Canvas Grocery Totes

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Last year I decided to cease from using plastic bags at the grocery store. I don’t know what came over me. I just decided that it was pointless and that I hated bringing those bags home every week when I can just get some canvas ones.

My family and I have also started recycling last year. We use a lot of plastic water bottles and I saw a commercial last year of a huge whale being cut open (after it died) and nothing but plastic bottles fell out of him! I felt horrible! I know I can’t save the world but I am hoping that with us recycling I can at least save one whale. Right?

And honestly, I feel good going to the recycling bins and dropping off our bags of bottles, paper, and cans. I feel like we are doing our part to save the world. Is it elegant to recycle? I hope so! But anyway, I wanted to share the lovely canvas totes that I found at T.J. Maxx. 






These were $5.99 each! Great price right? I purchased 3 and I am sorry but I could not find these online. All I found were these on their website. 
They are a great size and I love the illustrations on them!
I had to put them to the test and they passed! I loved having them in the store with me. I think I am hooked on using canvas totes for grocery shopping. 
If you use canvas totes for your grocery shopping let me know in the comments section below. I am very curious. 
Thanks for reading!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)


An Affordable Day Designer

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Last year in June, I shared my new day designer here in the blog and I have been using it religiously every day since.

I love my planner and it does keep me in order. I write everything in it and check it daily. It comes with me to the office just in case something comes up and I need to write it down. Love my planner! But since the year is beginning to wind down on it I went to the website to see about ordering a new one. Then I remember how expensive it was. The original price is $59 and that does not include shipping. It can be pretty pricey.

So I began my internet search trying to figure out if there was another one out there that was comparable but there wasn’t.  I love my day designer and wanted that one. But as fate would have it guess where I found the day designer much cheaper?

Target…. that’s right Target is carrying the day designer! Now it is not as big as the original two that I have but it has everything you need to plan your life. So this past weekend I took a trip to see if my local location had it and they did!

This is the 7×9 planner in floral blush. It has the gold cover ends on it too. A favorite and chic feature that I love. 

And here it is in the floral navy matte. I purchased this one because I already have it on the first print. Can you believe it is only $14.99? My heart just sang when I saw it. 
Very pretty on the inside. 
They also have it in the notebook style if you prefer that. 
Then I looked up and a smaller 5×8 version was available as well. It’s small enough to fit inside a purse. 
And last but certainly not least they had a wall version or desk top version available. The price for this was only $9.99. Outstanding right? 
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to find my favorite planner at Target. The price is just too wonderful to pass up. There are more designs on the website if you are interested. These would also be great birthday presents as well or maybe gifts for future college students. If you have a local Target go and take a peek at them. They are very beautiful!
Enjoy!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)
  

Soft Face Cloths

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It’s amazing… some of the things I had to learn on my own when becoming a woman. My mother was not into beauty products when I was growing up so a lot of what I have learned has been from reading, asking questions, trial and error.

One of those things has been face cloths. When I was growing up we used the same cloth on our face as our bodies. Not a big deal back then but when you are a teenage girl and you realize where that cloth has been….. you don’t really want to put that on your face.

I remember the day I realize this. I had just finished my bath and was about to start washing my face and I picked up that cloth and I was about to wipe my face with it and I said, ohhhh no this is a bad idea. I need to get some separate cloths for my face. I think I might have been in middle school. So I went to the store the next day and purchased some soft cloths for my face. So happy I started doing that.

I just had to replace some of my face cloths. I purchased these last week from T.J. Maxx and they are so soft. The price was excellent too!
Love all the colors and the elephants. Very different!
And look at that fabulous price! Only $2.99 for a soft great face cloth. 
I love using my soft cloths on my face and I actually love shopping for them. With the prices being so good it’s hard not to buy a few. I am sure that many of you have face cloths. If so what’s your favorite brand? Do any of yours have special features? Let me know in the comments section below. 
Have a great week!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Washing my Jewelry

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Along with house purging, flower refreshing and cleaning I have also been organizing my clothing and jewelry. I always try to keep my jewelry nice and clean. I love it when they sparkle but then again what woman doesn’t. 

I pulled a few pieces out to wash last week. 
Honestly, the only thing I do is fill my bathroom sink up with soapy water and let my jewelry sit for a few minutes. You can use dish liquid soap if you want. All of the oils, dirt and hair come right out. 
Love it when everything is sparkly!
I place everything in the soapy water. My earrings….

Pins and brooches….

I rinse everything and just let it dry. 

I then just place everything back in my jewelry box and it’s all ready to wear for the up coming weeks. Keeping your jewelry clean and up to date is just another way of making sure that you are organized and “pulled together” as a woman. 
Take care of your beautiful things. Enjoy your weekend! 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)