Our Valentine's

So for Valentine's day we went to the anniversary inn on 5th south in Salt Lake City! My in-law's two the kids for the weekend so Brady and I could celebrate. I'm grateful for them and for putting up with my kids for three days!  Brady and got a gift card to Olive Garden for Christmas so we went there first and I have a most delicious Tour of Italy! Brady had Chicken Fettuccine. Olive Garden is so delicious, we left with a great taste in our mouths! After that we went to the hotel to the Twilight Room! I know, crazy but it was beautiful! I really really liked the room and I think now it's one of my faves! We watched New Moon and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There was a even a pillow with Bella and Edward's names on it! I wish I could find my camera to show it but I lost it so I had to go on the website and get some of the pictures. I fell in love with the make-believe window and the high gloss red nightstand! I also loved the bed... I think they wanted to mimic the bed that Edward got for Bella to sleep in his room. First time in 5 years that we have been able to do anything on Valentine's day! 'bout time!

The one on the right is a huge mirror reflecting the painting on the other side of the room! Loved the mirror and the chandelier too!

A sofa that was crying for help!

So today I decided I wanted to try to clean my sofa because it was looking disgusting. I remember that in an episode of an HGTV show, the designer machine-washed two microfiber pillow covers. I wanted to give it a try, after all, the worst that could happen is that it would look clean and not so new... . Style is a choice, clean is not! So I went ahead and googled "wash microfiber covers". I read several comments from women that had excellent results and I got some excellent tips. So this is what I did:


1) Remove the cushion covers and in my case, the filling is just huge rectangles of heavy foam so I didn't have to put tit in bags but if you do have lose filling, put it in separate garbage bags so you know the exact amount that is supposed to go in each cushion.

2) Use regular soap but let it get all diluted in the water before you put the covers in. Fill to large so the covers have space to move around. I washed the first cushion cover in the gentle cycle but then did a load of darks and set the washer to regular wash and forgot to put in back to gentle cycle, so the last two cushion covers were washed in the regular cycle and came out looking great. Your choice!

3)Dry in the lowest heat setting and don't let the cushion covers dry all the way; you want them a tad damp. They will come out looking wrinkly or bubbly so what you need to do is put the filling back in right away so the covers will not lose their shape and so you don't have to iron them out later on.

Your result, or at least mine was a awesome looking couch! It saved me from having to buy a new sofa because I was embarrassed of what mine used to look like. Dear Lay-Z-Boy, I'm sorry for thinking that you needed to be replaced, we still love you!

What do you think?

BEFORE

Yeah, I know gross! This time, I can blame it on my kids! Do you see that huge stain? There were several of those everywhere, maybe not as big, but just as noticeable and all those crumbs are probably chip crumbs. No more eating on the couch!

AFTER 

My kids enjoying the newly cleaned sofa!
HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

Starting Fresh

I decided that I needed a fresh start. I decided that I cant keep up with two blogs so I will try to integrate my life and my favorite things on this blog. I will have to start all over again, but that's OK. I hadn't been doing very good with the other two blogs anyway. I am sorry for the mess that it might cause but I really need to get my life organized and find a place for everything. I will try to be better at it. Maybe with only one blog, I will. Thank you to those good friends that have been following my other blogs. Now you have it easier, you only have to check one, hehehe.