As part of my post-graduate ambition I wanted to do my cleanse (nailed it!) and then start finding things to do on Pinterest, such as cleaning tips, household DIY's, hairstyles, and so on. I thought it'd be fun/interesting to do a weekly blog post entitled "Fail or Nailed it?", featuring these Pinterest attempts regardless of how they turn out. Since I tackled three of these this weekend, and two from a few weeks ago, here's our first edition! I know the two of you are SUPER excited.
1. Sparkling Clean Microwave - Nailed it!
My microwave has seen some serious neglect for months now. Just like the rest of my house, which is finally starting to get and stay clean, I had to tackle this disgusting microwave. I didn't have a "before" picture, which is probably for the best considering how disgusted I was each time I'd use it... I don't need the shame of my hideous microwave gracing the internet. So, I found this blog post on Pinterest a few weeks ago, claiming that by steaming a mixture of white vinegar and hot water in the dirty microwave for 10 minutes the "gunk" would loosen and allow for an easy wipe-out. I decided to try it out, and even though it took two attempts (which I blame on the overall disgustingness of my microwave) I totally nailed it!
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| Like brand spankin' new! |
2. Tarnished Jewelry - (almost) Nailed it!
I noticed several weeks ago that a lot of my rings and jewelry chains were terribly tarnished, and I needed a quick and easy way to clean them up. So I followed this blog's advice and sprinkled it all with baking soda and submerged in hot water - again, no "before" pics because I didn't decide to do this "Fail or Nailed It" thing till this morning. I'm classifying this one as an almost win, because while this DID take the tarnish off some of my rings it also left a gunky coat of baking soda on some of them (I'm sure I just didn't rinse them off well enough) and it took the faux silver finish of one of my pendants (luckily it is supposed to look like an antiqued-type pendant, so it's still wearable), but for the most part I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out!
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| One of my worst tarnished pieces, my Black Hills Gold ring looks SOO much better! |
3. Neat and Tidy Drawers - Nailed it!
I have too many t-shirts. One of my plans for this spring is to purge and get rid of a bunch of my juvenile wardrobe. I've been slowly doing this, getting rid of shirts as I buy new, more grown-up stuff. In the meantime I needed a way to get organized, so I found this post, claiming that by folding my t-shirts in a different way I could fit more in my drawers and make my life easier. Following the instructions I nailed this one, too!
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| Now I can see all my tees and quickly pull out whichever I want to wear! |
4. DIY air fresheners - Nailed it!
For those who don't know, I worked for about a year and a half at Bath & Body Works - I started after I was laid off in October 2010 and quit in May last year. While there I used my employee discount to stock up on Wallflowers, one of my favorite products from BBW. Now that I've been away from there for 9 months my supply is dwindling, and I really didn't want to go spend the money on more of them. On top of that, my favorite bedroom fragrance was discontinued (Lavender Chamomile) and I wasn't willing to switch to Lavender Vanilla... it's too sweet-smelling for me. I found this blog, and while their motivation to refill Wallflowers was more for health reasons mine was simply to save money. I bought some essential lavender oil yesterday (which was $10, yikes!) and filled up an empty bulb I had, and viola! I have a lavender-scented bedroom again. Next time, though, less oil and more water... this thing is STRONG!
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| The oil is separating a bit from the water, but it smells oh so good! |
5. Valentine's Day Pretzel Hugs - Nailed it!
I wanted to do something small and simple for Matt for Valentine's Day. We don't usually do much for each other, as V-Day has never been a big deal to us, but I wanted to get him a little something. So I scoured Pinterest for some little gift ideas and found these Pretzel Hugs. Chocolate, pretzels, and M&M's... some of Matt's favorite things! So I ran out to the store and got the three ingredients, along with a little gift box, and whipped them up on a day when the dear hubby was working. Considering it's been three days and they are almost gone, I'm gonna say these were a BIG success!
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| So delicious! |
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| And all that remains... |
5. Stylized Curly Hair - (almost) Nailed it!
I've been visiting Kate's "The Small Things Blog" for awhile now - it started as me searching desperately for some hairstyles. I'd never really learned how to do my hair, other than blow drying it and straightening it... then learning a few years ago that my hair was naturally curly and I could actually style it to make it look good. Now, as my hair gets longer, I'm looking for new ways to style it. I found one of Kate's up-dos on Pinterest, and while that up-do was an EPIC fail (along with the "curl your hair using a flat iron" tutorial!) I went back today to try a simpler one: curling my hair with a curling iron. My hair is RIDICULOUSLY thick, and for this reason my all-over-do took a LONG time... about 45 minutes just to curl it all. Not terribly practical for my life, but I'm hoping that with practice will come speed! I'm saying this one is an "almost" because it's a little flatter and not as perfect as Kate's... but hopefully practice makes perfect!
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| Thanks to the hubby for snagging a quick photo! |
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| And a few hours later after it mellowed a bit. |
And that's it, folks! 5 successes! I gotta say, I'm pretty stoked that everything turned out okay. Next week I hope to clean out my washing machine... but I'll need to find some more inspiration between now and then!
In other news, I completed my application for the Daughters of the American Revolution this afternoon, which is pretty exciting in a very nerdy way. I have a feeling that I won't be super active (as the group seems to be mostly older, conservative women - and there is a religious element to the group that I'm not quite sure about yet) but it's exciting for me to have this connection with my great-grandmother, who was always such an important part of my life. She was a 44-year member of the group so I felt like it was a great way to connect with her, even though she's been gone for almost 7 years now.
Other than that it's been a pretty boring Sunday, as the hubby's out of the house working on Topher Cooks!, his Youtube web series. Since he'll be out till later tonight I've gotta grab some dinner and get some more cleaning done around this place!
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