Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day will be here before you know it.

 

Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day will be here before you know it. If you have kids, chances are you have been prepping for a bit. Class parties, valentines for the class, teacher gifts, valentines for their other friends. It feels never ending. I have been lucky enough to not be in charge of class parties. So grateful to the moms that take on the class parties! Get them a little Thank you card or treat because we all know that is so much work.

Lets talk flower vases! To extend the life of the flowers, I am sure you will be receiving them this year. A clean vase is the best foundation. I recommend cleaning with dish soap and a bottle brush. I know sometimes you can’t quite get down there even with a bottle brush. I suggest add a handful of rice. I know its odd but add it with you soap and a little bit of water and swirl around until clean. Works like a charm. Now, what you use to keep your flowers fresh there is always a debate there and it depends where they come from. Lets say store bought. I always use the packet that comes with, but I always trim them at a 45 degree angle and cut out any extra leaves. I’ve heard add a aspirin or sugar, even bleach, whatever works for you.

Now to cleaning! With all the snow and ice, salt, comes mud. Which means floors will need cleaning. My first suggestion is to not deep clean until the mud outside is dry. You don’t eat Oreos and brush your teeth? Right! Basic clean, vacuum and sweep the salt to keep it from going everywhere. Then when you are ready to mop or clean the carpet. Vinegar is going to be your best friend here. A 1 part vinegar to 10 part water mixture to get the salt residue out. I would suggest using this for both wood and carpet. Mop or use your carpet cleaner, you may have to do multiple passes, make sure you raise cleaning after.

**For future floor saving purposes. When there is snow and ice like this, I always put towels by the door for shoes and swap them out each day. It’s the most effective way I have come up with. We have wood floors now, but when we had carpet it was such a soggy mess. I would put multiple towels down to help keep things dry and from the salt getting everywhere. The mess can’t be helped, kids and pets going in and out multiple times a day. Happy kids with great snow day memories, make the struggle worth it.

With all snow, ice, and cold and now temps are back in the 60s. Allergens will be high, which means lots of dusting. Gotta love Oklahoma weather right. I recommend tracking your area’s air quality, it helps let me know when to run the air purifier and when to vacuum even if I don’t think it needs to be done, I try to dust a little extra these days. It has helped my son’s allergies and asthma quite a bit.

Join us March 11th, when we will talk about springing into spring and hopping into Easter.