Birthdays and clean dishes #cascadeshiningreviews {giveaway}

We had a great long weekend celebrating Mike and Jimmy’s, our brother in law, birthdays over the weekend. It was the perfect setting to hold the first of two cooking parties to showcase the cleaning power of Cascade Platinum!
This weekend we had a cookout with all kinds of yummy food, including this deliciously rib-sticking mac & cheese goodness (a la Pioneer Women).

It was seriously SO YUM! I think next time I will use two different cheeses for added flavor though.
I digress.
But really, everyone o like it!

Once we stored the leftovers it was time to put Cascade Platinum to the test on this cheesy dish.

We are pretty brand loyal to Cascade, actually, but hadn’t tried the Cascade Platinum product or the Cascade Platinum Rinse Aid until now.  Cascade Platinum is Cascade’s premium product and it works on that tough, stuck on food. But here’s the key – DO NOT PREWASH! Just get rid of any big food chunks and stick the dish in the dishwasher so that it doesn’t block the sprayer or detergent chamber. This was probably the hardest part for me since my mom ingrained the “importance” of the prewash in my head and I rarely put anything in the dishwasher that has food on it. But that’s the difference with Cascade Platinum – it’s designed to break down the stuck-on food with enzymes that are built into the detergent.
I actually had no idea that most dishwashers were made with a built in garbage disposal in the bottom so that any leftover food isn’t just stuck in the machine or pipes, it is literally disposed of!
I did know there was a right way to load a dishwasher though, I am notorious for re-loading things if they aren’t in there right! Any large dishes should usually go in the back of the bottom rack face down so they aren’t blocking the detergent chamber. Long utensils can go through coffee mug handles so they don’t move around and potentially block the sprayer.
While the dishwasher was running we enjoyed the weather with our family and swam for probably the last time this summer. And cake! (excuse the WAY overexposed pool picture!)

I was honestly impressed when I opened the dishwasher, I figured there would still be SOMETHING left on the pan. But I was wrong!

My sisters were surprised too – we come from the same pre-wash mentality after all.

Everyone that came to celebrate the birthdays and clean dishes with us left with Cascade Platinum and Cascade Platinum Rinse Aid to use at home.

I am seriously so surprised and impressed with this product – you NEED to pick this up and try it for yourself. If you do (or have) tried Cascade Platinum. Have an opinion to share? Head over to the Cascade website to leave a short review of Cascade Platinum www.cascadeclean.com/cascade/review and use #cascadeshiningreviews - one reviewer will win a Kitchen Aid Dishwasher!!
If you aren’t convinced by my review to go pick up some Cascade Platinum on your own – we are going to give some away, too!
Giveaway entry: Leave a comment telling me if you are historically a pre-washer or not to enter to win:

· Cascade Platinum
· Cascade Platinum Rinse Aid
· Whisk
· Spatula
· Cheese grater
· Oven mitts

Bonus giveaway entries:
1) Share this post on Facebook and Twitter and leave a comment letting me know you did.
2) Follow Cascade on Twitter and Facebook and leave a comment letting me know you did.
I’m looking forward to continuing to use Cascade Platinum and not pre-washing my dishes!

[[Giveaway is open until 11:59pm September 12th]]

*This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Cascade. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.*

room sharing

 

One of the things that has to happen before the new baby (I am still sort of in shock by this phrase!) arrives is moving Gianna and Aleesia into the same room. A very small room, may I add. We want to do this sooner than later to work out the kinks that I am sure are coming.

I’ve figured out the furniture arrangement for the room, when the time comes and I am sure the closet will be organized appropriately.

But what I haven’t figured out is how we are going to manage bedtime with two girls who have different bedtimes. Aleesia is typically in bed before 7:30 and goes down pretty easily. Gianna is typically stalling to go to bed from 8 until at least 9. She has been stalling even more than usual lately (thank you mr. sunshine for staying out so long, but also we need room darkening shades STAT!) and just generally not wanting to go to bed for.ev.er.

So for anyone who has gone through this before and for anyone who wants to offer their advise, here are my questions:

1. How do you manage bedtime with 2 kids in the same room when one is asleep much earlier than the other. What do I need to say or do to get it through the big one’s head that being quiet is very important when she goes to bed? I’ve already told her that if we have problems at bedtime she will have to go to bed before Aleesia, which she of course didn’t like.
2. What can we do to make the room feel special for Gianna? She says she’s excited about it, but I’m not buying it yet! I might need to post some pictures and get opinions in a different post!

What is with the bedtime stalling, anyway? tonight Gianna told me she couldn’t sleep because she had an itch in her ear! I give her 10 points for creativity on that one, at least!

A glimpse into the crazy

I had someone ask me recently how I kept everything straight that is going on in my life. I said, I have no idea except that I have my trusty Google calendar. Organized by person and color.

If I didn’t have it all in here, I certainly would NEVER EVER be able to manage it all in my head. Or at all, probably.  And sometimes, I don’t have everything in here and chaos ensues. Pretty literally.

As you can see, most days are only displaying 1 or 2 of multiple things going on, and I know that Mike’s full schedule isn’t on here yet. Obviously, I am at work all day Monday – Friday, so I am gone from 7:30ish am – 6ish pm or longer as well.

A “normal” week basically goes like this:

Monday: Work, Bradley class, make sure Gianna is with whoever is watching her for the night

Tuesday: Work, Mike works, G has school, Mom takes G to school and her or Mike pick G up

Wed: More of the same, dance for G

Thurs: Work and school for G – usually this is our most “low key” day

Friday: Work, Mike usually has a sporting event to film

Weekend: Madness.

But we don’t usually have a normal week, so add in doctors appointments, meetings, etc. and the whole schedule is up in the air at any point in time.

On top of all that I am planning and/or need to have accomplished before baby girl arrives (in no particular order and probably not all inclusive):

• Christmas and New Years
• My mom’s birthday
• MIL’s birthday
• (step)dad’s birthday
• A very special honorary birthday party and donation event in memory of a special girl
• finishing up the baby stuff (room, shopping, finding a place for everything, organizing)
• organizing our tax documents
• plan my sister’s wedding shower
• getting the invites for said wedding shower printed/ready to mail
• attending a (jewelry) work event one weekend
• spend as much time as possible with G and Mike
• Maternity pictures
• Schedule G for gymnastics and then for swimming when that is over

Also, trying not to worry about how things will be after the baby comes and what will change and all of that because – what does it matter, life changes!?   But I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being a little bit panicked on how exactly we will adapt – I know we will, but my logistical brain is having problems figuring out how it’s all going to go down. 

So, if anyone is finding themselves with some extra time over the next few weeks, come on over, I am sure I have something I could use your help with! 

Also, if you find yourself with extra ice cream, go ahead and bring that over too – I’ll take a break from anything for ice cream right now!

((this is not in any way a whining post, or a post to get attention, or whatever. it’s just something people ask about a lot and also listing out all of the things that need done helps me remember them all!  I would not know what to do with myself if life wasn’t like this, I get bored far too easily and that is not good for anyone!))

((it may be an attempt to get ice cream though, because, seriously, love right now.))

Weekend Rambles

• Zumba was SO FUN! I am excited to go back!
• I had my baseline ultrasound for this cycle on Friday. It was uneventful and Clomid started yesterday. But you know what sucks? The fact that my insurance pays for ZERO % of any of this. 
• It was kind of like, okay, so you started your period – we’ll see you in 2 days and bring your money tree.  Or at least that’s how it felt.  I just wasn’t prepared for the expense of multiple ultrasounds and HcG and Progesterone on top of everything.  It’s okay. Just a surprise.
• I also was not prepared for Gianna to wake up yesterday morning at 4am puking.  That was a terrific way to wake up on a Saturday.
• This is only the 2nd time in her life that she has actually vomited like an adult.  And it was really sad because she was SO confused at what was happening to her.
• I am thankful we do not have carpet. Because getting her to the bathroom or to aim was not happening.
• She must have either had the shortest stomach virus ever or ate something she shouldn’t have, because she was totally fine after she woke up at about 10:30am.
• I had a jewelry show yesterday and I am doing a training show for one of my new jewelers today. I think in the end I will have worked at least one job for 12 or 13 days in a row.  A lot of days I will have worked 2 jobs.  I’m already ready for a nap.
• Gianna went on a surprise pancake date with her Papa this morning, he is seriously her favorite person ever! She was so excited!
• Mike and I have been cleaning (operation organization!) the kitchen and living room – we cleared off the top of the refrigerator, took care of the bookshelf clutter and are working on finally getting out TV mounted on the wall.  We got the wall mount for christmas….
• I want to go shopping
• Because of yesterdays crazy – I was asleep before 9pm. And I slept until about 7:30 this morning – I so badly needed that rest!
• We have a really hard time scheduling time to hang out with our friends because of our crazy schedules and weekends – it kind of sucks.
• Yesterday I moved almost all of the 2T clothes out of Gianna’s drawers and packed it away.  How big my girl is getting. It’s almost unbelievable.
• Speaking of that big girl, I need to make her birthday invites!
• We still can’t decide where or even when to take a vacation this year.  Beach? Disney? Something completely different? May? October? So many things to think about!

Operation Organization

Katherine and Alison inspired me to jump on this opportunity to CLEAN UP MY HOUSE!

so I am jumping on the Operation Organization bandwagon. (a few days late, but still – ON.IT!)

Here’s our hot mess express of a house (I totally SPED through the house, and it was night time, so I didn’t get the outside. or Gianna’s room.  So, ya…here it is.

don’t judge me by the state of my house, okay!

I think I will do some combination of videos/pictures for before/after shots.  But it’s time to get this place in shape!

Intrigued? Want in? 

Here’s the scoop:

Just focus on each of these areas for a week and then post our accomplishments on Sundays. Here's the schedule:

• March 4:
• Kitchen
• Dining Room
• Living Room
• March 11:
• Play Room
• Main Bathroom 
• Linen Closet/Storage Closet
• March 18
• Master Bedroom (beginning – this will require some Ikea wonderfulness to complete)
• Gianna’s Room   (again, beginning because there is a LOT to do here)
• March 25
• Laundry Room
• Half bathroom
• Storage Room
• April 1:
• Front of House
• Backyard
• Anything else you didn't have time to finish up in the previous weeks
• April 8thish (since that’s easter!) [I added this week because I needed it]
• Office

My house is set up a little different (but you just saw it so you know that) so what I am going to focus on is different than what is listed in Katherine’s post – so go with what works for you!  I’ll try to put some organizational tips – and you know I’ll be consulting my BFF Pinterest for some organizational inspiration.

Link up to Katherine (and tell me too so I can check out your house and organizational skillz) and get to it, friends!