Sunblock, Pillows and a Waterproof Mattress - Oh My!

I thought it may possibly be selfish to keep these wonders to myself:

Yeah, yeah, we all know, we're supposed to use sunblock everyday. WhaTever, right? Then I read Carmindy's book Crazy Busy Beautiful and thought, hmmm. Ok, FINE. I'll try it one more time.
I found Neutrogena UltraSheer Dry-Touch Sunblock, SPF 30 at Superstore for $14.99 - I LOVES IT! Ultra light, non-shiny finish, fast absorbing, clean feel CHECK! This sunblock feels more like a moisturizer and for someone who breaks out at the thought of using gross-greasy sunscreen this is a goddess-send. For reals.

Need a new pillow? Superstore has PC Gel Fibre Pillows ($19.99 for a standard size) that you can WASH. Bonjour? Enough said, if you have kids, of if you're a drooler (nobody's judging, we've all been there) then you can rest easy at night knowing your pillow has been freshly washed (or dry cleaned for that matter). Oh, and you can re-use the zipper cover/packaging to store bed linen, swim towels over winter, kids clothes, etc! While you're at it grab yourself a PC Luxury Pillow Protector. 100% cotton top cover, soft and washable - oh, and on clearance right now at our Superstore for $3.49. Seriously?

Bodily fluids got ya down (gross right?! haha!) - those of us with kids know that life is messy...it's not your mattresses fault - why should it suffer? Superstore has Quilted Waterproof Mattress Covers for only $29.99 (twin size). Since we're  I'm planning on night-training our daughter sometimes sooner than later I think this purchase will pay for itself in NO time.

SPACE is a Verb

Hey there We Can Do It Wednesday warriors! 

This week I have an anagram to help us in our efforts to organize our home and simplify our lives!

(I can't remember where I read it but it's from somewhere out there...)

SPACE is a Verb. 

• Sort 
• Purge 
• Assign a Home 
• Containerize 
• Equalize (or if something comes in, something goes out)

I've slowly been working on our house and thus far have done: our linen closet, our daughters room, the living/dining room. I still have to tackle our bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen - that and keep up with the maintenance. I'm finding that a few things keep coming up for me in this battle of home organization & purging:

1. If things have a home, they go back to their home after we're done using them and we can find them the next time we need them. Not rocket science I know, better.
2. The less storage space we have the less crap I can jamb into it and the easier it is to purge the stuff we have to the stuff we actually need and use. Best example thus far is our linen closet. I took a chance and removed two shelves so I could fit the vacuum into instead of in the doorless coat closet. Instead, I've put my daughters playdough & colouring stuff in the doorless coat closet in a bookshelf she can reach so she's not asking me to get it 3x/day (which frees me up and is teaching her that her things have a home and they go back home when she's done using them)... I digress... linen closet: so with two shelves I have enough room for the towels & bedding we need instead of a mountain of stuff we don't need. Now, every time I open the linen closet I feel happy at how much less stuff there is rather than stressed at how I'm going to shove what we own into the space we have.
3. Kids crave organization. It may not seem like it when I've got a Tigger stamper imbedded in the sole of my bare foot or - bonjour - there's another patch of playdough mating with my living room rug, but I really believe it to be true. Kid's like organization and order - so why not bring them on board? Hell, it may mean more time for tea and bonbons between laundry loads at 3 pm, right? 

Here's a great book I found at the library filled with tools, tips and advice for people who clutter, people who are married to clutters and how to help your kids from becoming clutters: Stop Clutter from Wrecking Your Family: Organize Your Children, Spouse, and Home by Mike Nelson. I'd suggest reading it 1st before wrapping it up as a gift for your favorite clutter-bug...it's got good information for everyone!

Lastly, I remember listening to CBC's Tapestry one day and the interviewee was discussing life and possessions. It went something like this: "The more things you have the more pulled away from the spiritual life you become because everything starts to take over. Each little thing that we have we have to take care of. It starts to possess some little part of our mind." Now the phrase, "is it worth it?" takes on new meaning for me.

Recycle Your Crayon Bits Into Chunky Wonders

Ever wonder what to do with those old bits of crayons? Why not melt them into a set of cool new technacolour crayon chunks (and I'm not talking about leaving a bag of them on the back dashboard of your dad's 1963 station wagon on a hot day)...

Cute and useful with complete instructions here. Rumour has it bright colours work best...