make good with wood: haan fs20

i have struggled to find a way to clean our hardwood floors since we moved.  the swiffer and it's compadres just seem like i am running a dirty diaper or maxi pad over my floors.  the traditional mop and bucket routine felt like trying to bathe in the river with soap.  sloshing dirty water around on the floor just didn't seem sanitary....ewwww. 

maybe it's just my neuroses. scratch that.  i am sure it is my neuroses but i needed to find an alternative to cleaning the floors....STAT! 

so i started looking in to steam mops and stumbled upon the haan fs20.  i looked at bissell, shark and some other contenders but ultimately it was the haan that won me over.  it received glowing reviews on the amazon, home depot and walmart websites too.  some of it's competitors were not so lucky to receive a medal in olympics of floor cleaning. 

it is not available in any stores around my way so i ordered it from walmart.  with tax and 97cent shipping, the haan cost me only $86 and arrived only 3 days after i ordered it.  it arrived yesterday and i was so excited to try it.  my haan fs20 did not disappoint!!

it was a snap to put together.  a small stick vac approximately the same size as the swiffer.  it packs a powerful punch though and steams at 200 plus degrees!  this is not for the faint of heart...ha!  it boasts the ability to clean and sanitize without the use of chemicals.  makes me love it even more.  it took about 5 minutes to assemble and about 2 or 3 minutes for the water to heat up and another maybe 10 minutes to clean the floors. 

in under 20 minutes, i had cleaned and sanitized my floors.  i would eat off my floors now because they are so clean.  my uggs actually emitted a tiny little squeak when walking on the floors....like the old school gym when i was little and the hardwoods had the crap waxed out of them.  that kind of squeak. 

the haan fs20 did not disappoint.  it was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

hello fall

nice to meet you!  with your to cool for school blustery chilled wind.  i love you.  please come back soon.  i am feeling underwhelmed by the massive heat waves and sticky air.  you have been a very nice intermission today.  please enjoy the rest of the show!

winds are a-whipping!

dropcloth slipcovers

we are still plugging away at drywall.  just a few thousand more nails to go.  i am sure of it. 

in the meantime, i have been obsessing over slipcovering the couch.  we have a 2 piece sectional.  it's green.  it has served us well for many years.  it was one of the first purchases papa smurf and i made together when we moved in many moons ago. it's really comfortable.  i won't lie.  in fact, papa and i can each lay down on our couch while watching a movie.  it makes for a very homey couch for snuggling on rainy days or watching freshly fallen snow while sipping cocoa. 

however, it is green.  i don't really like it.  i want a new couch.  i can't justify spending the money on a new couch.  there are about 95 bajillion other things to do with our money than buy a new couch.  oh...the thought has crossed my mind though.  several times. 

instead of a new couch, i settled on some $10 dropcloths from home depot and a $2 bottle of bleach!

somehow, i though that it was entirely possible to transform my 2 piece green monster into a svelte little baby like this!!

restoration house

i will sip some tea while bleaching and trying to locate my sewing machine which has gone m.i.a.  in fact, i'm really not quite sure that i ever had a sewing machine or knew how to sew in the first place.  wish me luck.  other bloggers make sewing slipcovers look so darn easy!

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

god bless america

small victories

we have been moving along at a snail's pace all summer long with the drywall.  did I ever mention that all 3 bedrooms need to be drywalled....top to bottom?  they are swathed in broken down and beaten up plaster.  covered in wood paneling and tile.  blech. 

here's what i've learned so far about drywall: it's heavy.  really heavy even when you think it's not.  i dropped it on my toe.  i know it's heavy.  also, it breaks....easily.  don't drop it.  don't smash it into something...like a wall.  it will crumble into a fine powder.  then you will have to save your drywall by cutting off your broken pieces.  pain in the arse.

we are currently hanging drywall on the ceilings. 

this is an upside down picture for some reason.  even though it is not saved this way in my files.  scratches head. anyhoo, we stared out with tiled ceilings. we ripped all of the tiles down when we first arrived back in the spring.  we have been living with plaster and lathe ceilings now for quite some time. 

we have drywalled 2 of the 3 bedroom ceilings so far.  we picked up ultra light 1/2 inch panels for the ceiling at home depot and lowes.  each panel runs around $7.  once the remaining ceiling and all walls are complete we will hire someone to come in and tape.  it's a job that we are not comfortable in doing lest we make it look like a 4 year old playdoh party.

we were able to get the job done on the cheap.

pliers to pull out staples.  we already owned these so they were clearly free!

$5 ladder picked up at town yardsale in may.

another already owned item....drillgun used to hang the drywall.

lucky for us, we scored a $15 bucket of drywall screws at a yardsale.  they retail for aorund $70 in the store!!

tsquare. scored for $2 at a yardsale! cuts 90 degree angles in drywall. indispensable.

we spent $22 plus the cost of drywall. not too shabby. here's to hoping that we can hang drywall tomorrow :)

rest in peace kitty

sad start to the holiday weekend.  i left work early yesterday afternoon to take my very sick cat to the vet.  i knew what was coming.  instead of the obvious, i asked dr. bell if he could save my kitty.  unfortunately he could not.  cancer came on like guns a blazin' and took my 7 year old kitty down for the count.  she was a trooper all summer long while her papa and i spoon fed her and tried a million medications on her.  it was her time to retire and go to kitty heaven.  she is sorely missed today.  rest in peace my beautiful little puffington. 

xoxo,
mama and papa

turn the town teal

ovarian cancer awareness month kicks off today!!  turn your town teal in honor of all the women you love!  i celebrate this month in memory of the greatest woman i've ever had the pleasure of knowing....my mama.