Jan
25
I´ve had requests about posts regarding home keeping. So I thought why not!? I sometimes wonder if writing about such matters makes one easily sound somehow “Stepford wife´ish” giving silly ideas about how to keep your home tidy. But then again I always like to read about great tips and hints to ease my everyday life. I know some are not that interested in such subjects and then for some these are matters of heated discussions ( honestly, I´ve had wonderful conversations about shiny countertops that would bore some of my friends to death). But I will actually try to make this a new fairly regular subject on the blog. If you love reading about people´s housekeeping because you want to read their confessions about how their laundry pile is so high then this series is not for you ( yes yes, mine gets too high sometimes too but I´m not one for taking pictures with my laundry hanging in the background if you know what I mean). I want this to be inspirational and I would love to also learn great new tricks from you in the comments.
But I do have to make a few comments ( or confessions) about tidiness before I start the whole thing. I was asked how I run my household chores so that for example the magazines don´t pile up and everything runs smoothly. I don´t. I mean I don´t do it by myself. My home is definitely not always in absolute spick and spam order but I do like it orderly and clean. It just makes me happy. But I´m fairly sure that without my husband the house would not be quite as nice as it is. So I´m going to share a few very easy tricks that he ( as a very neat and orderly person) has taught me by example.
1. Put everything in it´s place after you have used it. Let´s say clothes. After you used it put it either back to the closet or in the laundry. Don´t leave it lying around on a chair. If you don´t put used clothes that you tend to still wear back in the closet then have a designated space for it but then use it again and don´t let things pile up.
2. Clean as you go. If he spills he wipes up immediately, if he cooks he puts everything in the washer, if there is hand washing he does it right away. It really makes a difference.
3. Do it now, not tomorrow. This is my weak point. If I´m tired, I want to drink my cup of tea and watch something on Netflix so I think I´ll just take that box of Christmas decorations to the attic tomorrow. He does everything right away. It takes 5 minutes and then it´s done. It´s worth it! I´m also a procrastinator when it comes to filling any formal forms ( In Finland for instance those maternity papers for Kela were a nightmare for me) or such. He does it immediately when it comes, it´s done and won´t bother you after that.
4. Recycle immediately. If he´s read a newspaper or a magazine he throws it away ( honestly sometimes too efficiently as I find the newspaper in the paper trash when the girls are out the door with him in the morning and I finally have time for my coffee and reading). But the point here is to not leave that stuff around too long. Take the bottles to the store, the glass and metal to a sorting station ( luckily we have on in our building) etc.
Jan
22
Ice princess
by Sofia - in Good things for kids
The girls started an ice-skating school last week. They were a bit nervous about the first class but are now very excited to go back. I hope the enthusiasm carries until the second class this weekend. Bubble Gum was like a little noodle on her first class but we had not had time to buy them proper skates so I hope with the new ones she can stay up a bit better. Cotton Candy already knows how to skate so she is very eager to learn new things. The thing is she is a bit shy at first and the type of person who is “afraid” to make mistakes. She wants to know how to do everything right. From the moment she got on that ice she pursed her lips and only relaxed them when she got off it. She would have loved to have a friend in her group for encouragement ( the little sister does not cut it as she is used to being her support and not vice versa). Do you have a child like that? And if so, how do you encourage her/him in new situations? And do you talk to the teachers or trainers about it or do you think it´s just a parent´s over protectiveness and thinking that only my child is an individual who needs extra encouragement from them? I am such a worrier when it comes to these things. It´s funny to talk to my friend who´s daughter is the total opposite character. She started downhill ski-ing and the mom had to tell the teacher not to ” baby” her 4 year old as she is very capable and sporty but if you treat her like a baby, she let´s you do everything for her from picking her up every time she falls.
I guess I´m worrying for nothing. At the moment they both seem excited and as we went to buy them the new skates and they saw all the ice-skating outfits at the store they got even more so. We let them choose some covers for their skates and they also chose some furry (!) gloves to wear at practise.
Jan
20
Baby it´s cold outside
by Sofia - in Good things for kids Shopping
I have a little sale hint for you. If you remember, I wrote about some super soft cashmere I bought for the girls last fall. They now have all the leftover stock -20 % at Youngest Fashion. The girls have been wearing those leggings and cardigans ( Bubble Gum has her sister´s old ones) a lot lately as it´s been pretty cold out here. When it was -25 °c our girls had those cashmere outfits and then their warmer winter overalls from Ver De Terre and they were actually very warm when we got home from playing outside for a while. Cotton Candy also has a pair of their merino woollen leggings to wear under her snowsuit in pre-school and has been very warm now. Bubble Gum wears yet again her sisters old merino bodysuit. Poor kid always has hand me downs. But lucky for her she has a bigger sister. I have a brother and trust me, I remember having to wear his old, boy´s long johns ( yes with the front thingie). Seriously mom! Anyway, the merino wool leggings are fantastic too. And made in Finland!
The girls wear warmer hats than these in the photo but I took this while they were in pre-school with said hats. For cold weather shoes they wear Moon Boots. Super warm and dry!
