Buggy is going to be one!

I know, it's crazy right? But it's true. Buggy will be turning 1 next month!
*passes out*

It seriously feels like just yesterday I was puking my guts up everyday, eating only carrot sticks, and feeling a little person squirm around in my innards. Its hard to believe a year has already gone by.

So, you know what that means. PARTY TIME!

And to get the party started off the right way, I, of course, had to make super duper cute invitations. But, alas, what picture to use for the invitation? So I decided to toss Buggy's actual birthday outfit (not her party outfit- that will be a surprise for the guests) on and run her outside for a quick photo session. She performed phenomenally in front of the camera and I got some amazingly adorable shots, but one in particular for her invitations.

Oh and the coup de gras? Her invitation:

Floor refinishing 101

So, as some of you know, we just recently purchased our first home. It had awesome old hardwood floors, and we knew when we purchased it that with a little elbow grease, them bad boys could really shine! So, we decided to have them refinished.

Then, we found out that it would cost between $3000-$4000 to have them professionally refinished. Now, the hubster is a super duper do it yourselfer, so he decided that he could do them. Of course, he's never done anything like that before, but hey, how hard could it really be? After a looong discussion and him explaining that it's really very simple; just sand, stain and poly and your done, I agreed to let him and my father in law do the floors. He assured me it would take 2 weeks, tops.

They started the week after Easter.

And just finished yesterday.

That's right folks, almost 2 months! Definitely not as quick as he made it sound at the beginning. However, there is only so much that you can do on the weekends and weeknights only. And only one to two people doing them, so I guess it wasn't that big a deal. We don't have a time limit to be in the new house, so why not take as long as it takes, right?

And I have to admit they look fabulous. I'm so proud of my hubster. He's a fantastic guy, and not a shabby floor refinisher either! Need proof?

When we bought our house. I loved the floors then. They weren't that bad...

In hindsight, I can see how bad they were originally. And the photos really don't do them justice. They looked worse in person. Lots of dark stains, cuts, scratches and blemishes. Not so hot.

Then, he sanded. I actually was able to help sand one day, but most of the time I had to be at home with Buggy so she didn't breathe in the sawdust.

I actually contemplated just putting a poly on the unstained wood, because I liked the bare feel. It was bright and light and airy. The hubster stained a closet with the stain we had chosen to see how we felt about it, and well, we loved it. So, he went with it, and stained and poly-ed. I have to admit, I am in love with our new floors.

We also didn't have transitions between the different floors in the house. Basically we have a tiled entryway, but there wasn't a threshold between the tile and wood. There was just an unfinished drop off edge to the tile. That definitely won't do with a little Buggy running around the house, so my father in law made us custom transitions. How pretty are these? Awesome, yes?

All in all, I'm super duper happy with our floors. It took For.EVAH. But, totally totally worth it. I'd love to hear what you think!

Editing to add that we only spent right around $700 for this project. So we saved AT LEAST $2300 by doing them ourselves.

Boogie Wipes Winner!

Boogie on down! Congrats to comment number 15!

aka

MUNGEE'S MA!

Email me in the next 2 days, so you can recieve your Boogie Wipes.

Congrats to you and thanks to everyone who entered!

PR: How do you make a tissue dance?

You put a little boogie in it!

And if your kid is anything like my Buggy, that’s not easy to do. Seriously, you come within ten feet of Buggy’s nose with a tissue and she shrieks and flails about like Pinocchio without his strings to hold him down.

However, that all changed a little over a month ago when I discovered the amazing, fabulous invention called Boogie Wipes. They are little wipes made of pillow-y goodness and soaked in a saline solution. So, basically, they are saline drops, but in a tissue form. These suckers not only moisten the crusty dry snot on Buggy’s face, but they also seem to pull any boogies from inside her nose out as well. It’s almost like they have little boogie magnets or something. Genius! Plus, they come in a variety of scents; fresh scent, menthol, and grape!

Sure, Buggy still flails about, because hey, what kid loves having their nose cleaned? These make the job quicker, which is all I can ask.

So, in honor of the dry summer weather and allergies, the makers of Boogie Wipes have graciously offered one of my readers not one, but TWO, packs of Boogie Wipes in any fragrance they want.

Want some Boogie Wipes? Entering is easy!

Mandatory Entry:

1. You must comment below with your email address. This is one entry.

Additional Entries:

2. “Like” The Mommy Logs on Facebook

3. Follow my blog.

4. “Like” Boogie Wipes on Facebook

5. Follow Boogie Wipes on Twitter.

For each additional entry, please make a separate comment. The winner will be chosen using random.org on Saturday, May 15th. All entries must be entered by Saturday, May 15th at noon.

Alright, get Boogie-ing!

Cleaning Challenge #2

I'll let you in on a secret.One which I'm highly embarrassed to even admit. I'm not a tidy person. Honestly, I have an issue with cleaning, always have. I just never want to do it. However, I'm trying to change this about myself. I consider myself a perfectionist in most aspects of my life. Unfortunately, keeping a tidy home is not one of them. Combine that with my bachelor pad style husband, and well, we end up needing some help.

I used to keep the house pretty clean, but once I was knocked on my butt with the swine flu, things went to hell. I've found it difficult to get back in the habit again. Plus with working on our new house, which we hope to be in soon, cleaning has kind of been put on the back burner...

I started doing these cleaning challenges in hopes of uplifting my lacking cleaning abilities. It's really helped.

Today, I tackled the bathroom. Here's the before. I want to warn you though, it was bad...

See, I told you. YIKES!

Like I said, I haven't gotten back into the swing of things, and the husband is still stuck in his bachelor ways.

We had toiletries all over the counters from our last shopping trip that just hadn't made it into the closet. Magazines all over the place. Powder EVERYWHERE.

Even an empty air freshener. 

It was simply chaotic and a mess. I'm actually quite embarrassed to show it to you. But hey, I pride myself on my honesty and want to show that not everyone's home stays neat as a pin all the time. Hopefully, one day, mine will though.

So anyway, the challenge. I gave myself 30 minutes to clean this place up.

Starting time: 4:25.

I started by grabbing a large trash bag, and throwing most of the magazines away. Then I put the new toiletry items in the linen closet and wiped down the counters with disinfectant. I dusted everything. Used some cleaner and scrubbed the sink, faucet and toothbrush cup.

Then, I moved over to the toilet and disinfected it. Wiped it all down, scrubbed the bowl and replaced the bowl cleaner in the tank. Wiped down the trashcan and cleaned out the hidden magazine rack (oh yes, there were more!)

The tub was clean, since we use it all the time and bathe Buggy in there. So I just straightened the shower curtain there. 

Then I took a wet rag and scrubbed the floors to get the powder residue off the floor. I hate dirty floors.  

I even changed the air freshener out. Yay

Ending time 5:05. I spent more than 30 minutes on it, but honestly, an extra 10 minutes was nothing compared to the results.

*Contented sigh*

Much better!

...now, on to tackle some laundry by hand since our washer is broken. That will be an experience.