Because You Want to Clean Your House

Last week I wrote about the guilt I feel about having a less than clean house and I was meet by an overwhelming amount of comments sharing not only my disdain for housework but also the difficulties that I have encountered (i.e. better things to do).  Since, I now know that I am not alone I thought I would share my tips on cleaning.

Top 5 Tips on Cleaning

(or making it feel like cleaning)

1. Spot Clean

Pick a spot in your house, and clean it.  My go to spot to clean is the dining room table.  For some reason, no matter what the rest of my house looks like, if the dining room table is clean - I can deal with the rest.  Of course by clean I mean, shove all the bills into a pretty, ornate box, push the crayons, pencils and paper into the window seat drawer and wipe the table off with Pledge or Murphy's oil soap to make the whole room smell fresh and clean.

2. Do the dishes

I hate doing dishes and I can leave them in the sink, go to bed and not feel bad at all about leaving dirty dishes in the sink.  But, clean dishes make me feel like the rest of the room is clean.  As an added bonus, doing the dishes does help me emotionally.

3. Utilize Your Kids Need to Help

There will come a time when your kids will not want to please you and this is the time to capitalize on it.  Trust me, my seven year old is over the need to please me by cleaning but he does have a fascination with tornadoes. By telling him that there is a tornado in the vacuum and he can manipulate the force within you better believe he jumps at the chance to clean the carpets.

Since Baby is still a little to young to vacuum she does love to mimic me so I use our quality time to fold laundry.  So what the towels aren't perfect.  She is just excited to help.

4.  Invite Your In-laws Over!

Nothing gets me to clean like inviting my Husband's family over, well except for...

5. Host a Party!

Because there is not enough going on in my life right now I decided to host a Tastefully Simple party for three reasons:
1.  I really do love their products.
2.  To have a reason to clean my house
3.  My son is making his first communion in May and I want the discount.

Join my online party here.

What are some of your tips for cleaning (or feeling like you are cleaning)?

Tasty Tuesday: How I Spent My Saturday...

this is what was left of the some dips, beer bread and the awesome Corn and Black Bean Salsa

I love product parties but hate going.  I'm even thinking of a Tupperware party some time soon because I want the Salsa Celebration (btw... any consultants out there feel free to email me).  But, I hate that many of these parties are occasionally overpriced (and you really don't know until you go), the pressure to buy something and, well, I want to have everything.  ugh.

Then there is the actual party.  Don't get me wrong, I love the social factor but I often get a little freaked out wondering who will be there and will I know anyone...  Since I tend to go to the ones where I only know the hostess, the answer is usually no.  Don't know a soul.  So, I spend most of the time introducing and reintroducing myself and if I have a kid with me I get to answer all the same questions in the guise of being polite when really I am happy that I have something to talk about with them at said party.  sigh.

Back to Saturday and my first Tastefully Simple party by Kristi Knox (ID #0091920) who was super cute, very charming and her patience borders sainthood.  The hostess of this party was a good friend from work, Miss B,  in her stunning (new) house, and who had a hard time detaching herself from my baby when it was time to leave... she really will make a great mom.

Anyway... she and her mom prepped all the yummy food the night before and we got to taste it at the party.  Miss B's mom comment that she did not think it would be enough food but there was plenty to go around and to go back for seconds (and thirds and fourths lol).

We sampled a rice soup, a bourbon glaze, several dips including a dessert dip/ball Carrot Cake Crunch Cheese Ball (that I loved), this oats & cranberry bar (that I could not stop eating), chips and bread...  The beer bread is so freakin' good!  There was nothing that we tasted that was just not good.  There were a few that were more of an eh... but nothing tasted bad.

I was really impressed with the quality of ingredients as well.  I am a label reader and I like that I can pronounce all the ingredients.  I also have to say... not really overpriced.  I was imaging much worse when I got the invite but for the quality of ingredients and the ease of "use" very reasonable.

As for what I bought -

The Hoppin' Jalapeno & Bacon Dip - this dip is ridiculous good!  The combo of jalapeno and bacon is always good but the flavor in this dip just dances on your tongue, a literal party in your mouth.  It is not too spicy and the heat comes as a super surprise ending.  Yummy.

It was paired with the Bountiful Beer Bread Mix which are two of my favorite things (beer and bread) and it totally complimented the dip.

Now, when I was going through the catalog, I was not thinking of the bebe's up coming birthday party and I really wish I did because I would have also got the Key Lime Pie cheese ball to go with theses graham cracker pretzel things called Twisty Grahams that I did buy (so tasty).  I was really thinking of how I was going to have the dip and bread for dinner... then it occurred to me, as I was driving home, that I could serve it at the birthday party and everyone would be so impressed.  Then I had the doh moment where I could have bought the other dips.  Sigh.  I am not adding to my order. 

With shipping and tax my order came to around $26 for the three items, which considering how impresses everybody will be with my culinary prowess, is a bargain.