Let's Talk About the Stinky

Life smells.  Whether it be dirty laundry, a full dishwasher, or the garbage, smells can sneak up and attack.  That's proved especially true for Jarred and me since we moved into our apartment almost 2 years ago.  We're still learning how to take the garbage out daily and to run the disposal.

I can't control every smell though.  When moving into an apartment, there is a high possibility that it may not smell good.  In our case, the apartment didn't smell  terrible, but there was a lingering smell that told us a previous tenant had smoked inside.  But we've found ways to combat the problem, somewhat. 

I'm really into finding products that will help clear the air or at least mask smells.  Regardless of whether I'm cleaning our clothes or wanting to treat the air in our living room, I've found these items to really help.

1.  Purex Complete Crystals Softener

I found a coupon in Sunday's paper and was intrigued, especially because the advertisement touted the product to keep clothes smelling fresher for longer than a liquid softener.  I actually don't use softener and only use Bounce sheets in the dryer for the smell.  Because of the smokey smell that lingered in our apartment, our clothes and other fabric tend to smell after so long.  If you know a smoker or are one, you know how much the smell permeates everything.  And that's a fact.

I found that if Jarred and I had clothing that just hung up in the closet for months, it would smell smokey.  Of course, we wouldn't realize it until we were out of the apartment.  Embarrassing.  I bought the Purex because I wanted something with a strong scent that would combat stink. 

Pairing the Purex with my Original scented Tide detergent and heavily scented Bounce sheets, Jarred and I have noticeably better smelling clothes compared to just using detergent and a dryer sheet.  With a coupon,  I paid around $3.49 for a bottle of Purex Complete Crystals and it is supposed to last through 32 loads.  I don't think it was a bad price considering one bottle should last me almost 2 or 3 months.  I bought the Fresh Spring Waters scent which is in the blue bottle.  At my local Kroger, they also sold the Lavender Blossom (in purple) but did not have the Tropical Splash (yellow) scent.  I went in knowing I wanted to buy the freshest scent to pair up better with my detergent. 

I'd actually recommend this product.  I'm quite pleased with the results after 4 loads of laundry already.  I'm also thinking that the crystals could also be used as air fresheners too because the scent is fairly strong.  I can see putting some of the product into a glass jar to help scent a room. 


2.  Good Air Candles from Yankee Candle

I love candles, especially the Yankee Candle variety.  I'm not sure they know my name at the store, but they do recognize my face and remember my last purchase.  I went in sometime in the Fall 2010 asking for any product they had for smelly smells.  I told her about our situation and she was very helpful, telling me that a friend of hers was in a similar situation, except the downstairs neighbors smoked like chimneys and the smell would creep into the friend's apartment.

I feel  for her.

Anyway, she talked to me about the Good Air products.  Thought skeptical, I bought a candle of each scent, Just Plain Clean and Just Plain Fresh.  Clean comes in blue and Fresh comes in green.  Both are excellent scents and there is no other way to describe it except for 'clean' and 'fresh'.  Each candle has a core that is either blue or green that melts along with the outer wax of the candle.  That's what eliminates odors.  I went back home and immediately began using them.

They work.

Yes.

Love the scents and even after I blew out the candle, the smell lingers.  It was nice to burn  the candle in the morning for a while, blow it out, leave to run errands, and come home a few hours later to the same scent, almost as if the candle had never been blown out.

The candle has a nice pool and doesn't tunnel.  Maybe I got lucky with my candles, but if you experience tunneling with jar candles, wrap the glass in tin foil for a while.

There are also sprays, votives, and gels available along with the candle.  I know Yankee Candle is up there in price, but these candles were only $9.99.  I only wish the candle was a little bit bigger so it would last longer.  I get a little panicky thinking I'll run out of candle before I can buy more.

3.  Dryer Sheets

I don't have a picture because I just use whatever is on sale.  

I don't just use the sheets for laundry though.  I have tacked up dryer sheets to walls, stuck them in drawers, stuffed one in shoes, etc.  I sneak them wherever I can.  Jarred seems to hate it, but c'mon, the dryer sheets smell  nice and fresh and are a good way to discreetly combat stink.  I also like rubbing a single sheet over my clothes before I head out to make sure I'm smelling super fresh.  You can place one in a car as an air freshener. Works and it's cheaper than buying the car air freshener clips.  Stick one in between clothes to use like drawer sachets.

The possibilities are endless.  Something to think about when there's not much cash to spare but you want everything to smell good!

Chocolate Brownie-Like Cookies

I need a chocolate fix sometimes.  Maybe it's because we don't buy it ever.  But I keep cocoa powder on hand all. the. time.

I wanna make chocolate cake?  Cocoa powder.

I wanna make brownies?  Cocoa powder.

And tonight I wanted to make chocolate cookies.  Voila.  Cocoa powder.

For quick recipes, I usually search the Internet.  It can be hit or miss dealing with online recipes.  But this time, I struck gold.  I mean, if Jarred actually likes it, it's gotta be good.

I found this recipes from The Joy of Baking, but I've changed the recipe slightly.  I mean, who keeps unsalted butter on hand anyway?  Expensive!  Also, I used a medium egg instead of a large and I think it worked just fine.  There's only a slight difference in weight between a medium and large egg anyway.  I also would advise checking your cookies at the 10 minute mark.  Put a toothpick into one of the cookies.  Because though mine looked done on the outside, the inside was still a little wet.  Depends on the oven of course.

The original recipe called for salt, but I like to kill two birds with one stone.  It's called margarine or spread.  Buttery taste and texture and  it's salted.  Done and done.  Cookies don't need to be fancy.  They need to be tasty.  I also would love to try dark brown sugar instead of light.  I normally like dark brown better but I bought light brown last time.  Bummer.  If you've never substituted dark brown sugar for light, you don't know what you're missing.  Rich.  That's all I'll say about that.

And yes, that is imitation vanilla you see.  We're cheap when it comes to food.  But we eat well.  Have you seen our little belly pooches?  I couldn't stomach $6 for vanilla extract when Kroger was selling imitation for 99 cents.  Same with the spread.  $1.88.  Can I taste a difference?  Heck no! 

The recipe as is will not make 24 cookies as stated.  I think I got 17 or 18 cookies.  Though that's all fine and dandy, I feel like that's still a big discrepancy.  And that's considering the recipes says it will make 24 3 inch round cookies.  Of course, those who write recipes are magical and are able to do the impossible with their food.  If you're them, I'm sure you'd have no problem getting 24 cookies.  But for the rest of us, you'll get around 20, at most.

It's still completely delicious.

My batter could be mistaken for brownie mix.  Someone should try making this recipe but pouring the batter into a greased 8x8 dish to make brownies.  Yum.

I will totally make these cookies often.  I always have the ingredients on hand and it takes me roughly 30 minutes start to finish.  I'm tempted to try the recipe as the aforementioned brownie mix.  Seriously.

I'll be back sometime this weekend with more pictures.  Until then, I truly hope everyone has a wonderful Holy Thursday.

Amy Butler Fabrics and Bunting Beginnings

While Lou was at the groomer's this morning, I went over to Mom and Dad's to show off my new camera and get started on my bunting.  Only one of those panned out.

New camera?  Why yes.  We made the plunge to DSLR.  I bought a Canon Rebel t2i and I am really enjoying it so far.  I still have a lot of practice to do with the camera because I can hardly remember anything I learned in my photography classes in college.  So I'm basically a noob all over again.  Yes.  Noob.

The camera was one of the fun things I had mentioned in this post.  I didn't want to say we were getting an investment camera just in case something didn't work out.  We were waiting for our tax return, in other words.

I haven't been able to sit down and read the camera instructions for comprehension yet.  I hope this weekend to be able to do that and get comfortable with the manual features.  For now, I am happy taking photos using the automatic features and flash.

 One of the first pictures taken.  Me.  Dirty Mirror.  Suh-weet camera.  And yes, I'm giving the duck-lips look on purpose.

 Louie pre-haircut.  He's scared of the noise the camera makes, so I had to grab his collar to get this shot.  

Shot of gnome and books in Mom and Dad's living room.  Trying out black and white.

Also at the house, I was greeted by my Amy Butler fabrics I had ordered off Etsy from seller Mimis.  I will most definitely be ordering more Amy Butler very soon because I don't know of anywhere in town I can buy it.  Amy Butler knows fabric.  It's a beautiful thing.  

 Blue fabric is from the Amy Butler LOVE line -- Bliss Bouquet in Teal.  Purple fabric is from the same line and called Water Bouquet in Midnight.

Both these fabrics will be made into pillows for our bed.  Then leftovers will be cherished and made into a bunting or something.  What else?

I really hope Jarred's not opposed to our home looking like it vomited Amy Butler fabric.  But that would be the prettiest barf ever.

Ahem.

I meant to begin cutting out fabric for my bunting this afternoon at the house but got sidetracked.  This weekend I will be working on a new bunting for our bedroom.  I had toyed with the idea of making another tablecloth, but ultimately decided the bedroom needed far more interior decorating help than our table nook.

All I've done tonight is cut out 60 triangles for the bunting.  And that's just one yard of fabric.  I bought 4.  It's going to take awhile, but it's going to be so worth it.  I'm planning on stringing the super-long bunting across the room, back and forth.  I think there will be enough fabric for that.  

I'll be in the works of making the bunting, so I should have the beginnings of a tutorial up sometime this weekend or Monday at the latest.

Until then, happy crafting, happy life, happy thoughts!

Favorite Cleaning Products

I've been trying especially hard nowadays to keep our apartment clean.  I got into such a funk and was mopey and depressed about the state and smell of our home.

We live in an apartment that is not very insulated.  We put up curtains partly to keep utility costs down because we could feel air rushing into the the apartment through gaps in the seal.  Besides for higher heating/cooling costs, we have neighbors that smoke outside.  And that comes in through the window cracks too.  Even though neither Jarred nor I smoke, our clothes, furniture, appliances, and everything smell like stale cigarettes.  I haven't been wanting to spend a small fortune on air fresheners since they can get expensive fast.

When Jarred and I were in NC for Spring Break, I pulled my clothes for the day out of the suitcase.  It stunk.  So did my windbreaker.  Being away from the apartment, I noticed the smell right away.  Gross.  The smell was so rancid, it gave me a headache.  And then I'd had it.  When we got back home, I went to the grocery store and ended up buying a Glade PlugIn and solid air freshener because a stranger gave me a nice coupon they weren't using.  I also got the strongest scent I could, which ended up being Apple Cinnamon.

(Photos courtesy of glade.com)

This stuff works.  I love coming into the apartment and smelling something other than smoke.  It smells nice and I restocked this past Monday. I believe I payed around $5-$6 for the Scented Oil twin refill.  Each once lasts around 2 weeks.  So $6 per month for the Scented Oils.  I don't know how long the solid air freshener will last, but it's holding up well and next week will be going into week 3.

Some people really like hardwood floors.  I think they're a pain, especially with a dog.  But carpet also sucks, so which is the lesser of two evils?  I love my Swiffer WetJet, but honestly, it's expensive.  I hate buying the refills of cleaning pads and solution.  Hate.  It drains the wallet so fast.  Last Sunday I saw an advertisement for Rubbermaid's Reveal Mop.  It's just like the Swiffer, but reusable.  Comes with a microfiber pad and refillable solution bottle.  I found it on sale at Target for around $24 and bought an extra pad for $5.  I used it right when I got home. 

 

(Photo courtesy of amazon.com)

Love. Love. Love.  The pad is much bigger than the Swiffer pad, so it takes me less time to mop.  And there's no batteries that power the squirter, unlike the Swiffer.  The Reveal has a lever you pull and solution squirts onto the floor.  Simple.  I recommend using distilled water because tap water may clog the mop.  I'm surprised that only now have companies come out with greener solutions to cleaning. 

As for all-purpose cleaners, I use Mr. Clean.  Love the Meadows and Rain Febreze scent and can use it for floors, kitchen, and bathroom.  

 (Photo courtesy of mrclean.com)

Since I only have to use a small amount for effective cleaning, I feel like I am saving money by buying this.  We don't really buy name brands except for when it comes to cleaning.  We buy generic dish soap and detergent to cut costs where we can.


I've also learned a few tricks to keep everything smelling good.  I bought a box of fabric softener sheets and hide them everywhere!  I have them tucked in drawers, shoes, and tacked to the walls in our closets.  I'll change them out once the scent it gone.

I'm not good at keeping things clean for very long, but I'm trying.  Maybe that's a good thing about still being in an apartment.  I can hardly keep up with this, so how am I going to keep a house clean?  Something to keep in mind....