made of WIN

The new spray bottles arrived & they are awesome!

I'll take pictures this weekend, but for now, I just have to say that these are WAY BETTER than those other pieces of crap I bought.

Squee!

new spray bottles

My new spray bottles shipped! I can't wait until they get here!

I also found some smaller aluminum spray bottles at Dollar Tree, so I might pick up a couple of those and then I'd have 2 different sizes for just about any cleaning solution I could think of!

I'm pretty sure the Dollar Tree ones are 8-10 oz:

I really should have paid more close attention when I was at DT, but I told myslef to wait until the bottles I ordered arrive to see what colors I get.

As soon as they do arrive, I'm sure I'll be mixing up a new batch of cleaning stuff (it's about time anyway) and be running off to DT to pick up some little ones.

I've also been looking over the recipes on the link I mentioned the other day. I think a good homemade laundry spray might be on my list. I'm also seriously considering making my own fabric softener. I really haven't found a laundry detergent recipe that intrigues me enough to give up Seventh Generation, but we'll see...

I'm not dead, yet!

I've been MIA working on a lot of projects lately, including the costumes for a community theatre production of The Philadelphia Story, but I really haven't fallen off the face of the planet!

Thursday, I did a little retail therapy and finally purchased the aluminum spray bottles that I've been obsessing over for weeks. I hope they are as cool as they look- I'd really hate to be disappointed by spray bottles twice!

I also found a really great resource for Green Cleaning at Tip Nut! So many great ideas and all in one place, beautifully organized! How can I not love that?

I've also been working on my own alphabet wall similar to this one that everyone has seen, but I first saw at Project Nursery:

And before everyone jumps to conclusions, I'm not expecting. (although it wouldn't be the end of my world if I were ☺) I'm making this for my office! I big puffy ♥ fonts and typefaces and I thought it would be fun to take that love and show it off!

So far, the most expensive letter has been $5 and the best deal was $1! I already owned a "P" and a "J" and at this point I'm down to needing "A", "D", "H", "O", "U", "Y", "Z" and "&". Joann has a couple of different sizes of button wall decorations like the one above, but I wonder if that's too literal of a copy-cat; hmmm?

I'm putting my own little twist on the project (big surprise, huh?) and I can't wait to finish it up and show it off!

spray bottles

My spray bottles arrived yesterday & frankly, I'm disapointed.

They aren't nearly as nice as I'd hoped, although I'm not sure what type of quaility I was really hoping for at $2 a pop.

They are far more vibrant in color than I'd expected. And they actually hold around 20 oz, not the 16 they are labeled at, which was a nice surprise.They leak a little and the bottles are very light weight plastic. I wrote a review on Amazon and hopefully it's helpful to someone else who is looking for bottles like I was.

Here's the thing: they are manageable. For now.

The ironic this is that now that I've started using them (the bathroom is a whole new kindof clean, but more on that in another post) I found these, also on Amazon:

They are more expensive at $10.79 for the set of 3, but they are aluminum (☺!) and listed as holding 20 oz, which I've learned with the not so great bottles is a perfect size!

If I have any commissions on my check this week from selling packages, I may have to splurge on them and say to hell* with the others!

*recycle or relegate to crafting

I'm goin' to wash that crap right outta my life

I decided upon the spray bottles from Amazon:

Despite the fact that they are only 16 oz, I decided that I really think they are the coolest bottles I've found at the right price. It's really hard to beat $1.99 a piece! I can hardly do that well for the ugly hardware store bottles! Also it's easy enough to half the recipes I've found if I need to, so I'm not worried.

Although I think I only really need 2, I ordered 3 & since the come "assorted" and they make the selection, I'm hoping I either get 3 the same color or 3 different colors, but I'm not holding my breath. I guess I'll just have to see when they arrive.

In the mean time, I'm collecting recipes and other supplies for my cleaning products. I picked up some more Dr Bonner's Almond soap (I ♥ how it smells & it's good for shaving my legs too!) and some clove essential oil. We already have some tea tree oil & a mostly full bottle of some really hideously cheap vodka someone left at our house after a party- it's not fit for consumption, so I'm using it. I'm going to pick up a big box of baking soda, a jug of white vinegar & some lemon juice.

I also scored a sample pack of Seventh Generation's laundry detergent today at Lakewinds, so I'm excited to try that out. It's kinda perfect timing, we're close to needing to purchase more detergent.

who knew?

Who knew it was going to be so hard to find cool-looking, inexpensive spray bottles, that are bigger than 12 oz for my green cleaning project?

I found so really cool ones, but the wholesale site has a huge shipping charge and an up-charge for orders under $50, so although I really like them, I'm hesitant.

I know don't want the standard hardware store spray bottles:

I almost picked some up at Joann yesterday, but the shape wasn't good for labeling and I really want to make labels that include measurements so I can mix up more without having to think too much.

These are from Amazon:

They're 16 oz, so at least they are bigger than a soda can, but they pick the color for you & I'm not too thrilled about that and the reviews are mixed as to the quality. The price is certainly better than the wholesale place.

I could just rinse and wash out my old chemical cleaner bottles, but I've found the spray tops are really hard to get off and if I do get them off it's because they are broken, which doesn't bode well, plus there's the whole how clean can I really get them issue.

What's a girl to do?

I'm in ♥ with

my new phone!

I've finally crossed over to an Android phone and I'm never going back! I'm now the proud owner of a Samsung Vibrant:

I'm now fully immersed in finding apps, looking for a great inexpensive cover for it and figuring out just why the really nice screen protectors are 25 bucks!

I've downloaded a few apps, but it's funny to me to think about some of the crap people have made and that other people have downloaded (& in some cases actually paid for!) I don't know about anyone else, but I don't personally need my phone to be a graphing calculator, but my math impairments do appreciate a good tip calculator that divides also divides the bill between friends in a snap.

Oh! I have to mention that if you're new to Android phones like I am & you haven't texted very much, the Samsung Swype is AWESOME!!!!! I ♥ it! I hate trying to tap out words in a text & Swype lets me slide my finger across the screen from letter to letter and then it either knows what word I'm spelling, or it lists words that might have been what I was Swyping and I can pick- SO EASY!