How To Avoid Carpet Cleaning Conundrums

Have your kids been running through the house tracking mud and dirt across the carpet? Do you have pets that maybe did not have the cleanest paws when coming back from a trip outdoors? Have you simply just lived in your house for more than a year? Then it is probably time for you to get look into carpet cleaning College Station. But do not just call anyone to do the job. A few factors go into finding the company who can do the job right.

Why Not Clean Them Yourself?
You can rent carpet cleaning machines to do it yourself. This, however, means that you need to move the heavy, cumbersome machine around your house, moving furniture and trying to get the carpets cleaned and free from stains. They usually do not clean as effectively or dry as well as the professional machines.

Look for Companies With Licensed Technicians
Make sure the company you use has licensed technicians who know what they are doing. You also want to find companies that have the experience and trust needed to get your carpets cleaned right.

Decide Which Process You Want
Carpet cleaning is not all the same process. Wet carpet cleaning takes a significant time to dry. Dry treatments allow you to walk on your carpets immediately after treatment. Other treatments use “green” cleaning products. All will work, but you will want to research them to find what works best for your family.

Find Reviews
Ask your neighbors, family, and friends about who they use to clean their carpets. Also consider going further and looking on service review sites and the company’s site to see what other customers have said about their experience.

When it comes to carpet cleaning, do not just go with the cheapest service. Do your research and find the one that works best for your needs and your family.

3 Steps to Achieving a Minimalist Bathroom

Your bathroom sees constant foot traffic. Juggling a full-time job, kids, pets, and a laundry list of to-dos (of which, "laundry" is one) can see you whooshing from bed to bath and out the door. However, a bathroom should be a place where you can pause and enjoy a bit of relaxation. Going for a minimalist bathroom (if going minimalist everywhere else seems insurmountable) can help lend order and organization to an otherwise hectic day.

Here are 3 steps to achieving a minimalist bathroom:

1. Go Linear - Clean lines are refreshing to the eye in the midst of chaos. Most likely, your bathroom already came with these: countertop, cabinetry, the tile work lining your floors and shower walls. However, you can add or subtract lines to make for a more visually appealing space. Consider frameless shower doors West Palm Beach for your next home improvement project; unfettering your shower doors can lend a floating glass effect and because your eye can travel across the panes completely unimpeded, can make the barrier appear invisible and your bathroom seem larger.
    
2. Clear the Counters - Clutter can cause road bumps in your daily life. Allow yourself to be greeted by a sleek bathroom vanity by turning your personal care products into stowaways. By keeping only the essentials in the open (toothbrushes, hand soap, etc.), you have a blank workspace that is both inviting and easy to wipe down and clean. Invest in organizers or re-purpose containers for "his and her" baskets and bath time caddies for the kids; keep these stashed below deck and you can bask in a tidy, functional bathroom during every visit.
    
3. Re-Think Light - Lighting is worth re-tooling because of its impact on the overall ambiance. Consider whether traditional wall sconces and vanity bulbs could be replaced by overhead recessed lighting or an interesting globe chandelier. Decide what would be most flattering or soothing and watch the language of your bathroom change.

Design your bathroom to be a reprieve in your day. Using these ideas, you can achieve a space that will feel like a breath of fresh air.

Next Level Breakfast Recipes

I'm more of a yogurt and granola type, but when Jeffrey sent me this video I couldn't help but enjoy it. I think most of these would be a bit sweet for me, but I love the creativity. It does help that he's using Prairie Farms flavored milks.


Do you have any favorite cereal/milk mixtures?

3 Ways To Keep Outside Activities Safe

While outside activities can take place at any time of the year, they are more common during the summer months. It's a good idea to prepare your yard, your family members and your activities in advance in order to keep your family safe.


Protect From Ticks and Mosquitoes
This is a big one, because not only are these little critters annoying, they can also carry serious diseases. There are many ways that you can protect your family and your yard from ticks and mosquitoes, and the diseases they can bring, even some which are organic mosquito control methods. These can be applied to your yard as a whole or to you and your family. Some of the ones you can put in your yard will be easier to use, especially if you would rather not chase the children around with sprays or lotions.

Dress Appropriately
Whether you are engaging in summer or winter outdoor activities, you will want to dress for both the activity and the weather. This means swimsuits and sunblock for summer swimming and heavy coats and boots for building snowmen. Wearing too many heavy layers in the summer can result in heat stroke or heat exhaustion, so can not finding enough shade or water on a hot day.

Have the Right Gear
A big factor in safety is the gear designed to protect you from falls, slips, and bumps. This means well-fitting helmets for riding bikes or scooters, safety tethers for wakeboards and surfing or even GPS locators for skiing. You can find lists of recommended gear, safety or otherwise, for each activity online to know what to pack and what to look for.

When you protect your family from ticks and mosquitoes, dress appropriately for the weather and activity, and have the right safety gear, you can spend more of your time having fun and less time taking care of injuries. With a little research, you can find the best protection for almost any activity you want to do with your family.

Three Tips for Staying Organized During Pregnancy

If you're a woman who's experiencing her first pregnancy, you might experience what many women affectionately call "pregnancy brain" where you forget a lot. There are so many pressing matters to take care of during your pregnancy, and you don't want to accidentally forget to take care of some of the most important tasks. Here are some tips to help you make sure everything is taken care of.

1. Write everything down.
   If you're someone who loves to use a planner or a pretty notepad, carry it in your purse at all times. Just like you wouldn't go anywhere without your car keys, don't go anywhere without your planner. If you prefer to go the digital route, that's totally fine as well. You can opt to use your digital planner or calendar to write down all of your important tasks. There are some apps that will allow you to sync portions of your calendar with your partner or anyone else who's relying on you for certain responsibilities.
    
2. Make time for breaks.
   If you know that a visit to your licensed birth center tampa bay will leave you wanting a nap afterward, don't schedule anything for a few hours after that appointment. Don't overschedule yourself. You'll only end up feeling extremely stressed out, which isn't good for you or your baby. Instead, make time for breaks. It's also great to consider how you feel at any given moment. If you're cleaning the kitchen and feel a bit winded, take a break for a twenty minutes to sit down and take a few deep breaths.
    
3. Work until something is done.
   Even though this tip might seem like the opposite of taking breaks, it's not. Don't be afraid to live your life as a pregnant woman. Yes, it's important to take breaks and be mindful of your health. However, it's okay to still work hard and get things done. If you were already lifting weights and exercising before you got pregnant, don't stop now. With the right recommendations from your birthing professionals, you'll be just fine. Granted, if you run into complications and need to be on bed rest, this is not optional. If you've been cleared by your doctor to move forward, it's okay to work until you've completed a task.

In all honesty, I think these tips could be applied by anyone - whether you're pregnant or not. It's a tough job getting and keeping organized, and any help is welcome.

Or Just Get a Cat

I saw this on Good Morning America this morning - apparently Cow Cuddling is a thing. For only $75 per hour, you too can hug a cow.

"Cows lie down much more than horses," she said. "They get very quiet and soft. Just sitting with them makes people go quiet too."

Hey, my cat gets quiet and soft too. I can sit quietly with her - and it doesn't cost me $75 per hour.

How about you? Wanna cuddle a cow? Or does it make more sense to just cuddle your cat? Or your dog?

Fixing Common Issues in Modern Swimming Pools

Statistics indicate that the United States is home to some 10.5 million swimming pools reserved for private, household use and about 310,000 public swimming pools. People like swimming in pools as compared to other bodies of waters, including streams, lakes, and rivers because the environment is controlled and many times safer. Plus, swimmers can actually see through pools' crystal-clear water, something that they don't get the chance to do when in rivers, ponds, lakes, or streams. Maintaining modern pools takes a little bit of know-how and elbow grease. Check out these common problems with modern pools, as well as how to fix them. 

Green, Dark, Slippery Spots

In most cases, when your pool is faced with green, dark, or slippery spots - including patches that exhibit all three of these characteristics - algae growth is most likely to blame. Get your hands on some calcium hypochlorite and sprinkle a small handful of the calcium hypochlorite crystals directly onto the spots.

Keep in mind that calcium hypochlorite also works for taking algae spots off of wooden decks.

Eyes Hurting While in the Pool? 

Humans obviously don't often open their eyes underwater. As such, when people do allow a body of water to come directly in contact with their eyeballs, they experience weird, one-of-a-kind sensations and are also susceptible to pain or discomfort.

If your eyes are hurting while swimming, it's most likely that the potential hydrogen level of the pool's water, also known as the pH level, is not where it's supposed to be. Put chlorine in the pool until it measures at a pH level of precisely 7.8. Also, the chlorine residual should range between 0.4 and 0.6 parts per million.

Experiencing Green Water?

If your pool's water is green, you might have to break out the elbow grease and shock, pump, brush, and filter the pool.

Although you have to treat Pool heaters Pittsburgh with care in order for them to work well and last very long, they're worth it. Make sure your chemicals are right and you'll be good to go.

Small-Budget Kitchen Improvements

I think the kitchen is the most important room in the house. That was one of the main selling points for this house and one of the biggest reasons we chose it. Obviously, there were other reasons, but knowing that the kitchen was good just the way it was and that we wouldn't have to (eventually) remodel the whole thing was a big plus.

Of course, if your kitchen is less than ideal, there are some things you can do to update it. Without spending a fortune.

• Decorate - it may seem that your kitchen has enough stuff in it with all the appliances and other items necessary for preparing food, so you may not think about adding more stuff in the form of decor. Start with a few decorations and things that make you happy and see how it boosts your mood. 
• Even something as simple as a nice clock can make a bold statement in your kitchen, while also being functional. PenduLux clocks are a great choice thanks to a wide selection of handmade items to choose from.
• Your kitchen is supposed to be a happy place. If it no longer feels like that, changing the color on the walls may be the perfect antidote. The cheeriness of a new color will rub off on you and make you smile every time you see it. Like the way we changed our kitchen walls from blue to green shortly after we moved in. The green still makes me happy.
• You use dish towels and cloths every day, so why not make them more fun? Buy kitchen linens in bright colors and patterns to help boost your mood and creativity. Even when you're not using them, they'll add a cheery splash of color draped over your drainer or hanging from your oven door.
• Change up Cabinetry - whether or not you have the funds for a full kitchen renovation, making changes to existing cabinetry can be a cheaper option.
• If the bones of your kitchen cabinets are still viable, give them a good cleaning and a fresh paint job. Sometimes a different shade makes a huge change.
• Replace hardware. Even something as simple as a hinge can make your cabinets look instantly more updated.
• If you have the space, tear out a small section of cabinetry and replace it with open shelving. Open shelves can be a lovely spot for displaying hard-to-store things like cake platters.

Kitchen improvements don’t have to be dramatic to create an impact in your home. Invest in the changes to your kitchen that make you happiest.

The most important tip of all is to fill your kitchen with the people you love.
Grandchildren make the best kitchen decoration!

Summer Reading

 

Do you have a plan for your summer reading? I signed up for the summer reading program at the local library, which starts June 1st, but as far as I can tell, it's just about keeping track of how much time I spend reading and then entering to win prizes. I like winning stuff, but I'm horrible at keeping track of my reading time. I just read. Whenever I can squeeze in some time. And I pretty much just read whatever catches my eye - though I am determined to finish Stephen King's Dark Tower series this year (just 2 books to go, and I'm enjoying it just as much this time as I did the first time through).

The main difference between my summer reading and my rest-of-the-year reading is that I need some 'real' books for summer so I can read them outside in the sunshine. The Kindle doesn't do so well in bright sunshine, but for any other time, I like it a lot more than I thought I would.

But what has me thinking about summer reading is this Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge. It looks pretty interesting and a good way to expand your reading horizons - especially good if you tend to read a lot of the same type of books, or books by the same author. I'm not sure if the intent is to check off every prompt on the list, or if you're just supposed to use them as a nudge to try something new.

Me, I'll probably use them as a nudge to try something new. Or I'll approach it from the backside and see how the books I'm already reading anyway fit into the checklist. I'm guessing that it doesn't really matter too much. As long as you're reading.

But, of course, I can't imagine not reading.

The Whole Thing Makes Me Sick

Somehow I got on this email list. I pretty much disagree with everything they send out, or at least the ones I actually read. (I tend to just delete most of the emails) But I do occasionally read them, just to see what they're trying to say. This one I pretty much read with my mouth hanging open. There is just no part of my brain that understands the rabid need so many women have to defend their 'right' to kill their unborn children. How did we even get to such a place?

Their argument is that taking away this right to 'manage how many children we have and when we have them' is an outright war on women; it's 'not about abortion' but an attack on a woman's right to choose. Seems to me they've been waging a war on their own babies for years - and that seems far worse on every level. Why don't they exercise that right to choose in a timely manner - before there's another life involved? You want to choose 'when and how many children to have' (which sounds an awful lot like they're using abortion as a birth control method, doesn't it?) then choose. You have every right to choose. But choosing should not involve murder. Stop abdicating your responsibility to choose until 'Oops!' there's a baby you just don't want, and if you kill her before she's born you can go on with your life as if nothing ever happened...

And maybe that's what boggles my mind most of all. Why do these women who so desperately want to 'control their own bodies' only seem to be fighting for the right to kill their babies, while ignoring all the points where they really should be making those choices - don't be having sex with random guys, use birth control... Perhaps if we take baby killing off the table, they'll fight harder for the right to make the choices they should be making.

Anyway, here's the email. All emphasis is theirs.

Dear Anna,

Most women who have abortions are already moms.¹ Being able to manage how many children we have and when we have them has been nothing short of revolutionary — not just for women and mothers, but for our country as a whole. It has helped to narrow the gender pay gap, improved the health of women and their families, and led women toward access to increased economic and political power.

Following on the heels of Georgia², Alabama just passed the nation’s most restrictive reproductive healthcare bill that, if allowed to go forward by the courts, would impose criminal penalties on any doctor who performs an abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest. As moms, we know the lifesaving importance of access to reproductive healthcare for ourselves, and we cannot even begin to imagine the horror of a high schooler who has been raped learning that terminating her pregnancy is a criminal action. Despite these horrors, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey immediately signed the bill into law.³

* Join MomsRising in telling every governor that they must protect access to safe abortions and resist the attack on a woman’s right to decide when and how many children to have — or whether to have children at all — which is nothing short of a war on all of us, including mothers and our daughters.

Across the land, other states like Missouri and Louisiana are considering bills designed to provoke the reversal of Roe versus Wade, which protects a woman’s right to choose under the U.S. Constitution. (In good news, some states like New York are passing protections of a woman’s right to choose in response to the bans.)⁴ Ultimately, it’s up to governors to sign them into law. Signing such anti-choice laws signals a governor’s active participation in the war on women that wants to take away our bodily autonomy and our ability to make our own family planning decisions.

This coordinated effort to take away choice and deny reproductive health care involves states with some of the worst health outcomes for women, including high maternal and infant mortality rates.⁵ Politicians who say they value life should advocate for policies to solve the public health crises that are killing women and newborns, not dismantle women’s health care.

Governors must protect women, moms, and families, and stand firm against the attack on a woman’s right to choose, which is nothing short of a war on women.

Make no mistake, this war on mothers and women is not about reducing abortions. If the goal of those who are passing such severely restrictive laws was to avoid abortion, then they'd be passing access to free birth control, which is proven to lower abortion rates,⁶ not setting lifetime imprisonment laws for doctors who help women in need. What's really happening is a direct attack on women and moms having bodily autonomy, economic freedom, and sovereignty in our lives.

Twenty-five million women — that’s one in three women of reproductive age – now live in states in which abortion under any circumstances could be outlawed if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade.⁷ And this war on women, mothers, and our daughters particularly harms women in low-income families and communities of color, who face more barriers accessing reproductive healthcare.

Lawmakers should not be attacking women, who are half their constituents. Instead, they should be supporting us by passing paid family/medical leave like every other industrialized nation has done, access to health care including birth control, affordable childcare, equal pay, fair treatment of immigrant families, and an end to the mass incarceration that tears too many families apart — and not a rollback of our rights.

Women are the foundations of families, communities, and the economy. Tell governors to protect women and stand firm against the attack on a woman’s right to choose.

Please forward this email to everyone you know who believes in a woman’s equal right to freedom and her own autonomy, and ask them to sign too.

In solidarity,

- Kristin, Monifa, Gloria, Donna, Elyssa, Felicia, Sili, Tina, Casey, Maggie, and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder team

So, apparently, lawmakers should not be attacking women. but women should be allowed to attack the most vulnerable and helpless, killing them with impunity. And they have the nerve to talk about horrors.

Please note, I removed all the links. If you want to support this nonsense, you'll have to look up your own links.