I can picture a little toddler boy, complete with freckles and a cowlick gazing out this window at a cot sitting on the edge of the porch railing. I love this window.

This room is wonderfully eclectic and I enjoy the bold map and conquering curtains hanging in the window. What intersting choices for a child’s room!

Very elegant. The whimsy of the simple wall mural and the flush purple on the back walls, just so pretty.

This room is full of space to play. So many times you see play rooms with so much furniture there is simply no room to move or to create. Children need space to create.  This is what overwhelms me when I see classrooms at school so FULL of stuff.  I love this room.

Love this, utitlizing simple items for storage. Metal Buckets, Folding cubes and this simple slim shelving would reallly work for a child’s play area. ( I would add labels)

A little work station using cubes.  The little Lego or puzzle builder in your life would love this set up.

Clever, simple shelf about door for light weight essentials. I live in California and we have earthquakes from time to time so anything super heave would be kind of dangerous.

Super sized medicine cabinet!  I love this and I wonder if on the other side is another mirror?

We are on day six of our Simply Super Summer Tidy Clean Home Series!  I hope everyone is having some progress and enjoying the lovely photos.  Day six has landed ona Monday so in addition to you dailies we are doing our 100 club pick up.  And to celebrate this beatiful day I give you Hall and Oates, ” You Make My Dreams Come True”/

Simple Daily Challenge: Set your timer for 10 minutes or less, your choice. Pick the most cluttered room in the house, mine is the living area. Pick up and put away 100 items and yes you can count Legos and Barbie shoes.

When you are finished do a happy mommy dance and reflect on how awesome your are, then do something a bit fun. You totally deserve a tidy home and you totally deserve a bit of fun. We are all winners in the 100-club pick-up.

Come back tomorrow, we are going to shake up the play areas and children’s bedrooms!

What items do you need to store that are diffictult to find spots?

Mine are serving trays…. I have been searching for the best spot in my kitchen for days!

I am in love with the potted plants. Our porch is so tiny!  I wonder if we can squeeze in a couple?

I do adore a crisp white ktichen, and this one is gorgeous.

I love the pop of red in this bath.

Today we are doing just the basics.  I am pretty sure we all have are daily chore list, but this is just a simplified list just in case you need a little boost.  If the day is beautiful you may want to take advantage of the nice weather and do the following along with the daily cleaning.

1. Wipe down front door and light fixtures.
2. Shine the front down window inside and out.
3. Sweep the porch.
4. Add some pretties if time and budget allow.

Daily Cleaning Checklist:

Make bed
Do the dishes
Laundry
Collect and Empty all trash
Wipe down countertop & appliances
Wipe down bathroom surfaces
Sweep / Vacuum  the floor
52 Pick up and put away

Do your dailies and then tackle as much as you can of extras for 15 to 30 minutes or so…. and remember.

You are all rock stars!

This is the Simply Super Tidy Clean Home Series- Each day we are  visiting  a new room cleaning, organizing and tidying until we make it around the whole house.  What a great way to kick off summer!  We will use lots of pictures, music, and other items of inspiration to get through the next few days with as much joy and fun as cleaning house can be.  We are going to make our hearts and homes shine!

This master bedroom has a man friendly feel and I love the little pop of red on the chair being used as an end table.

Sweet little end table by the bath. (This idea might end up in our bath very soon.)

Silver accents and brown walls, another man friendly room. I love th tray with the lamp and flowers but wher would I put all my stuff!

We are on day four of our Simply Super Summer Tidy-Clean House series and today we are jazz dancing out way through the Master Bedroom and Bath. Each day we are  visiting  a new room cleaning, organizing and tidying until we make it around the whole house.  What a great way to kick off summer!  We will use lots of pictures, music, and other items of inspiration to get through the next few days with as much joy and fun as cleaning house can be.  We are going to make our hearts and homes shine!

Master Bedroom and Bathroom Cleaning Checklist

Pick up and put away clutter
Sweep &/or mop
Vacuum furniture & curtains
Dust/wipe down baseboards/moulding
Dust ceiling fan, light fixtures
Clean vanity, tub/shower, & toilet
Change sheets & towels
Clean windows

Do as much as you can for 15 to 30 minutes or just a simply five if that is all the time you have.  Remember zero minutes means zero results and a few minutes is a step in the tidy-clean home direction.

You are all rock stars and don’t you forget it!

Kicking off the challenge for the day with some kitchen eye candy. I adore the bright rug under the work table.

This lucky kitchen owner has a handy desk right in the thick of things. If I had a desk there it would get stacked with clutter!

This looks like a cook’s kitchen. I love the cookbook shelf by the window.

We have FOUR more days of school!  My lists of things to get done before school is out have not been checked off as quickly as I had hoped. Thankfully, my office has been mostly de-cluttered and is ready for that little instant facelift every room need once in a while, fresh paint.

And I am committed, I painted a nice little square on the wall in the middle of the room, so now there is not turning back. I will share all more de-cluttering glory in another post. But for now let me tell you what we are going to enjoy this week.

Each day we are going to visit a room in our house and give it 15 to 30 minutes of lovely tidying and cleaning. This will make our home shine for the weekend and glow in anticipation of a wonderful summer. Look for random posts of inspiration through the week because there is nothing more motivating than beautiful photographs and an occasional dance song to get us motivated to make some home magic. But for NOW!

It is Monday! And we are fighting crime, clutter crime. Get you garbage bag ready and a basket or box and get ready to fight clutter.Why? Because we busy moms deserve to have a tidy home and we deserve to walk to the coffee pot in the morning without stepping on those blasted Legos or tripping on Light Sabers. Our goal is 100 items in 10 minutes!  It is a pretty heftly goal, but it is really kind of fun trying to put away that much clutter in 10 simple minutes!  READY, SET, GO!

Step in Time, Step in Time!

If the father or father figure in your life is lucky enough to have a Man Cave or even just a man corner here are a list of 10 fun items that would be wonderful for Father’s Day this year.

I asked my husband about a couple of things he would like in his man cave. Some where doable- the man gave tin sign and some where ridiculous – a television the size of our guest bathroom. However, a man is aloud to dream, right?

Being a father helps me be more responsible… you see more things than you’ve ever seen.

  

 I adore shopping for gifts on Amazon utilizing the Amazon Prime Membership. You can get FREE two day shipping on so many items.  And for busy moms trying to shop for Father’s Day while juggling 100 responsibilites per hour this is a real help.  Check out the perfect Vintage Tin Sign for the father who hangs out in the garage tinkering, watching the game or re-breaking his old fixer upper truck.

My husband would love to  enjoy a ultra cold icy beer while his little guy has a frosty rootbeer in this excellent Beer Mugon those special occasion when they ar e watching their favorite sports team gain yet another victory on the Super Enormous Flat Screen TV of their Dreams.  Every time I think about the size of TV screens available now I am in awe. It is almot like being right there in the thick of the game. ( In my case, walking through the house with the HGTV personalities)

My husband’s Samsung dream screen….. Well, I reckon if you are going to dream you may as well drem 75 to 80 inches of super awesomeness!  It is truly mind boggling that the same place I order shampoo and grain free dog food sells a 75 inch screen that would probably make my husband the happiest man alive. haha  I hope he can settle for a couple of movies and a can of Diet Coke.  My husband has been enjoying watching old manly type movies with my youngest son. Just last night Johnny watched Indiana Jones for the first time.  I can imagine at any moment he will walk in and ask for some Indiano Jones Legos. (ugh!)

I thought a couple of boxed sets of classics would be a nice and sensible gift for his dad this father’s day.

I am thinking Rocky is more for sharing with Johnny and the The Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins / The Dark Knight / The Dark Knight Rises)
for when he has a chance to just catch up on movies when Johnny is in bed. They are truly a dynamic duo especially when it comes to Star Wars and light saber battles.

One thing both my boys like that drive me crazy that really would make a nice Father’s Day gift is a big box of Retro Candy. My husband is a candy hoarder. I think he has a real problem but he stays naturally thin which I think is the most unfair thing in the world.

My husband’s favorite candy in the world is Nerds.  He stashes them in his sock drawer and in the night stand. I think he may have a sack hidden in the back of his closet as well. I would take photos, but I am really not sure how stoked he will be about the Star Wars picture above.

Now this is the perfect gift for a Man Cave.  A mini fridge just big enough to hold salsa, soda, Diet Coke and a couple of good beers. I think this actually might be the gift I buy this year along with some candy. I am going to poke around upstairs to see if he has a little space for a mini-fridge. The only quirk is he loves to drink his diet coke over ice. I am not seeing an icemaker here so that may take out the fun. (Don’t you love this,  I am virtually shopping while I am blogging.)

Many of you may have heard my husband’s music on this blog. He is a pretty darn good song writer and played for several years with a band called August Burning
in the Orange County and Los Angeles area. He is still writing and I thought some music gifts would be kind of cool this father’s day.   However, he beat me to the punch on the music stool and bought one himself at the local guitar shop.  But I was thinking this Orange Ampis pretty retro and cool looking. I have no earthly idea if it sounds good but it certainly looks as if it can make some noise.

Well,  no matter what I decide for this Father’s Day I sure have had fun shopping on Amazon.  Who knew 30 years ago that 80 percent of my shopping would be online! I hope you all find the best gifts you can for that special Dad in your life! I would love to hear what treasures you have found.

Today  I am challenging myself and you guys the clearing and shining five flat surfaces. The most noticeable ones in the house in my humble mom opinion.

We will start with the simplest and move to the grungiest.

Let’s Get Started:

Grab you tools for general surface, glass and wood and some rags or microfiber towels. Whatever you use to clean with and that is handy.

Now declutter and shine the Five below:

1. Any table in the entry way.
2. The top of the washer and dryer
3. The Guest Bathroom
4. One other bathroom if you have one.
5. The Kitchen Counters.

When you are finished you will be amazed at the difference. But here is the catch. It is Saturday and everyone is busy with the sporting events and other family activities. So for each of the surfaces I would suggest setting your timer for 2 minutes for the first four and 5 minutes for the kitchen.

Ready, Set, Go!