weekending

one of my new favorite sites lately: www.howtocleanstuff.net

(showerman - from howtocleanstuff.net)

yeah, it sounds lame, but it has been a lifesaver for me lately. I've been trying to get the hard water deposits off of my shower curtain (last weekend I tried putting it on the washing machine with bleach  and a few towels and that didn't work, so i needed to try something else this weekend). I found myself on my hands and knees on top of the dang thing squirting it with vinegar and scrubbing it down with a sponge. and that seemed to do the trick. lovely.

i also made a paste of 2 parts baking soda and one part water and applied it to the hard water deposits (i think they're lime deposits) on my sink faucet and let it sit for a few hours and then scrubbed it off with a scrubby sponge. that worked partly-well.

i wonder how often we will have to do this. my dog's bowl has a few rings or white water deposits, our ice machine no longer works (my hypothesis is that the deposits have completely clogged the ice-maker... gross), our shower head still seems to be working well, and so does our brand new washing machine. I'm hoping that only 6 more months in this house will not ruin my nice appliances. and i'm hoping that i will only be in my undies on my hands and knees scrubbing away my sorrows with vinegar and muscle grease only once more. maybe the next place we live will have one of those hard water things that attaches to your pipes, where you put salt into it. maybe that will set us free.

(not my picture - some one who is obviously skiing the utah backcountry)

went skiing in some "fresh pow" Saturday. I was excited. As I'm re-learning to ski this winter, this was my first time in some deep new powder. and i didn't like it much. i've been hearing about people loving the powder - and that is what Utah is known for - "the greatest snow on earth" (ie:awesome powder). it was difficult to ski in powder. I still ski too slow to be able to breeze through that beautiful stuff - i kept getting stuck and falling over.

but any day in the mountains is a good day. we had a lot of fun and even though the parking lot was more crowded than we've ever seen it, we still never had to wait in any lines at the lifts. i love Snowbasin.

Thanks for all your feedback once again! I like all the ideas for sewing crafts. I actually decided upon making some sanitary napkins (going paper-less in 2010!!!), inspired by a conversation i had with a good girlfriend a few months ago (thanks Colie!). But once I brought my idea to my husband, I was eagerly/desperately/adamantly/ encouraged NOT to make them. Dooney just about vomits simply thinking about it. So... I've decided to make a duvet cover for our bed instead. I am going to start this project, but I'm not sure how far I'll get before I will need some serious guidance. I have really wanted a flannel duvet cover to put on our comforter in the winter - make the bed a bit more cozy. I've been wanting this one from Eddie Bauer for the past few years and finally decided to just make my own. The fabric cost me about $40 - I got a few yards of different flannels for the top and then i buzzed on over to the local thrift store to get a flannel sheet for the bottom (and found matching pillow cases!!)

I have saved all of your ideas in my "sewing ideas" folder so i can return to them later.

Landon has asked me to post more pictures from our hut trip in CO a few weeks ago, so expect that this week. I also think that a "things i'm loving lately" post is past due.

Hope you have a wonderful week, friends!