Toothpaste Your Table!

There's nothing more embarrassing to a hostess than a piece of beautiful furniture with its token water stain. As much as we try to cover them with tablecloths, use our coasters, and nag at everyone within reach to "please don't put your glass down there", water stains are inevitable. You may be picking up glasses after a party and just when you're about to flop onto the couch with a sigh of satisfaction...you see it. That one solitary water glass sweating with condensation. Eeek! Your rush over to grab it only to find a beautiful ring of white in its place. Harrumph! You now have a water stain. :(

The same thing happened to me just 2 weekends ago. With the craziness of the move I hadn't been paying attention to what drink or food item had been placed on what. Not until last night that is, when I was preparing the table for our Valentine's Day dinner. Several handsome white rings adorned the table as if to yell, "I belong here." In my head I'm thinking, "NO you don't!" Then I remembered Grandma telling me that if you use toothpaste it'll take the white stains off your table. I grabbed the paste from the bathroom and went to work. With lots of elbow grease, a soft cloth, and a tube of Jason's Sea fresh organic toothpaste, I saw those stains going going and going until they were gone! I was amazed! I'm a believer now! I think you could use any kind of non-gel toothpaste, I just happened to use Jason's because that's what I had. I'm definitely going to use this trick from now on! Thought I'd pass it along to you! :) If you have any fun stain stories, I'd love to hear about them! Happy cleaning!

Love is... KIND

I LOVE celebrations. I absolutely love them! I guess it started when I was young, growing up in a family where Mom and Dad made a big deal out of everything. From birthdays and holidays down to losing a tooth or competing in an event. Celebrating followed us everywhere...and I loved it! That has certainly carried on into my adult life, and those of you who know me well know that I will make an excuse to celebrate just about anything.

So this brings me to yesterday.... Valentine's Day {{{AKA: A Big Deal! ;) }}}. Not a big deal in the sense that I wanted Matthew to bend over backwards for me, but a big deal in the sense that I wanted to celebrate! With the complications revolving around the move to our new home here, we really have not had the time to unpack and get settled as we'd like. My kitchen was still full of boxes that were begging to be unpacked and my dining room table was very much the same story: boxes and more boxes. (I'm still trying to figure out how we managed to fit all our belongings in that apartment!). Anywho, I had already thrown out the idea of making heart-shaped toast and eggs in the morning (yes, I know...kinda dorky- but fun!) and resolved that Matthew and I would get the kitchen cleaned, and as we had already planned...cook a Valentine's dinner together, set a nice table, and enjoy a quiet evening at home. All day we spent cleaning and unpacking...but still the kitchen remained untouched. I was frustrated because I needed to get other things done before I started into the kitchen, but I simply was running out of time! Oh well, I resolved. We'd get some take-out and watch a movie or something. Not exactly as planned, but that was okay. We were tired and didn't feel like cooking anyways. (Expectations dropping). Then an Angel called, "can I bring you a steak dinner tonight? I'll take care of everything and you both can rest." Oh my! How nice! I gladly accepted and thanked God in my heart for sending such a sweet gift! I went about clearing the table and rummaged in boxes to find plates and candles so I could set it.

You know, God didn't have to send me a nice dinner to tell me He loved me, but it's those little things that He does that makes you believe, "God really does care about ME!" He must care that I love celebrating....and boy did we celebrate! YUM!

Glad for the Sadness

You never know how moving to a new home is going to impact you until you do it. For me, it was a little more unexpected than what I had thought... I didn't expect to be sad.

It was Saturday afternoon that we started to make the big move from our little one-bedroom apartment in The Village to our new home in North Dallas. Nice, brown boxes in all shapes and sizes were being moved down the stairs, furniture was being loaded, dollies with boxes piled high were being pulled, and our happy helping movers kept going up and down, up and down the stairs with cheery smiles on their faces until the last box was loaded. I might have been smiling on the outside, but inside there was a big lump settling in my throat. I was sad. Sure, I was glad to be moving to a wonderful new home that would give us more space to do the things we love to do, but on the other hand....I was sad to go. That apartment had been Matthew's and my first home together, it had been the first place I had learned to cook for the two us (or make that burn or undercook!), it had been the place I first learned to keep house, do our budget, and have a party. I had made those white walls into a home...and by living there a year and a half we had created a million little memories for the two of us. I'm not going to be sad long, but for now...I'm glad for the sadness. It means that was home.