PRODUCT REVIEW: Febreeze Sport

a couple months ago, i was asked to try the newest member of the febreze family:

{source}

this product is endorsed by television personality & cincinnati bengals linebacker, dhani jones.  a guy like dhani knows all about the smells associated with leading a very active lifestyle.  if he believes in it, i would certainly believe in it, too.

my family does not participate in nearly as much activity as dhani jones, but we do create our fair share of stinky smells {ha!}.  my husband works in construction.  we have two very active children who are always outside riding their bikes, skateboarding or dancing around.  and, let's not forget about our dogs, too. 

 i've always been a fan of febreze products.  i've used their noticeables, air effects as well as their fabric refreshers.  i was very excited to try this product, however, because i wanted an effective way to make my son's sneakers smell, well, fresh.  washing shoes & stuffing them with dryer sheets only masks a smell for so long.  i'm happy to report that febreze sport extreme odor eliminator did the trick!  even after one use i noticed a difference in the way my son's {stinky} sneakers smelled.

i don't just use this product on shoes.  i spray our throw rugs by the front & back door.  i spray the couch, throw pillows, mattresses and even the kids' backpacks.  i use this item in very much the same way i use the fabric refreshers.  

it works, y'all.  

for more information about febreze sport, click here.

you can also follow febreze sport on twitter.

do you want to try a bottle?
on friday, march 11th, i'll choose three random comments {from this blog post} & reward each with a bottle of febreze sport!

disclaimer:  i was contacted by marketing works, inc. on behalf of febreze.  i was given full-size samples of febreze sport to use & review.  the opinions in this post are my own.

SEEING RED

Why did I get a wild hair up my butt and decide to paint our front door red? Oh, that's right...because I've always wanted a red front door. While the idea seems really spectacular in my mind, the whole process of it has been anything but. I'm currently waiting on the 3rd (uneven) coat to dry. Red paint is a pain in the you-know-where. Don't get me wrong...the color is absolutely gorgeous (Holly Berry by Behr), but the task in itself is frustrating. I mean, even after two coats of primer (the door once was a really deep Hunter Green) the door STILL isn't looking right. I should have known better...I mean, this isn't my first experience with red paint (fortunately, I didn't have the joy of painting that wall red...Adam did, but I got to hear all of the cursing and complaining that resulted because of that red wall...which I've since painted over).

The hubs says not to worry...that after a couple more coats the door will look fine. I suppose I DO need to be more patient and just ease up on my a little too perfect standards and just go with it. I'm sure in the end that the door will look beautiful and will be all that I have envisioned. For now, I'm read to take it off it's hinges and buy a new door from the Home Depot. But, of course, the whole reason for painting the door red was to avoid spending $200 to $600 on a new front door. *le sigh*

Hmmm...maybe I should just take a break from the red and continue painting the trim around the door white. Perhaps a bit of a break will keep me from going insane.

JUST CALL ME ELIZABETH ARDEN

The paint for our front door was purchased last night - HOLLY BERRY by Behr. That's right, I'm painting my front door red. It's a lovely shade of red, too...of course, we chose it out of an exterior paint finish book by Behr while we were at the Home Depot. Go figure. One teeny little paint swatch determined the fate for our front door. I mean, I wanted a red door and Adam agreed it would look nice. While I had six other colors picked out, Holly Berry was it.

So, this weekend, I'll be painting our front door red...stay tuned for pictures!

GEARING UP FOR SPRING...

Old man winter has come and gone in Southeastern Virginia (or has it...I mean, it was freezing cold this morning and the ground was, dare I say, frozen??) and so our yearly yard clean up began a few weekends ago. It started off by getting the patio furniture cleaned off and sweeping the pavers. That led to weeding the flower bed and pruning the different bushes and trees in our backyard. The weeding and pruning led us to basically overhaul our flower beds so we laid down a weed barrier and mulched all of the flower beds in our backyard. It took two yards of mulch, but it was done (yesterday). And, during the process of all of this backyard business, we decided to move around a few plants and will soon start dividing some of the hostas we have back there because they are getting out of control! Oh, and did I mention that we got the garden ready and currently have red onions, rosemary, cauliflower, bok choy and brussel sprouts planted?

So, all of this backyard business is my toot for today because we did it. The backyard is ready for the spring weather, cookouts and horseshoe games that are sure to come once it warms up a bit.

I love my man!

Should I feel bad that today is the hubs birthday and he's currently in the laundry room scrubbing the tile and grout?

Nah.

I don't think any woman should feel bad for a man that's actually doing some housework. And, let me clarify that yardwork does not constitute as housework and neither does taking out the trash.

So, on that note...

Happy birthday, honey!

Somebody call the plumber!

Let me preface this story by saying that potty training my son was an ordeal. We switched from regular diapers to cloth diapers around the time he was two in hopes that it might ease the transition and make potty training easier (and, aside from the $$$ start up fees, cloth diapering WAS indeed cheaper than buying disposables). He did well and peeing in the potty became a breeze; however, pooping in the potty was a different story. Let's just say that I had heard all the stories about children holding "it" in and how potty training can sort of "mess" with their feelings of control and security -- yeah, we had THOSE issues. Aidan was not about to poop in the potty...it was his poop after all and no one elses. ANYWAY, after battling for many, many months we finally leaped that hurdle...only to realize that he refused to learn and even try to wipe his own hiney. His reason (and I quote), "I don't want to get poop on my fingers." Gee...thanks...and you think I do? So, here we are, FINALLY at the stage where he wipes his own butt (thank goodness for flushable wipes!) although I still have to spray Shout on the skid marks that are in his Transformer "unnawears"...

Bedtime is at 8:30pm sharp in our house during the school week (Sunday through Thursday) and during the week WITHOUT FAIL either one of the kids is gonna have to go poop right before bedtime. It always happens. Tonight, it was Aidan's turn. OK, no big deal. Poop happens. He'll wipe his own butt and wash his hands when he's finished.

Adam and I were on the couch watching last night's "Top Chef" when Aidan came out of the bathroom to apologize to me for using too much toilet paper.

"Mommy...uh...I forgot and I used too much toilet paper."

"How much is too much?"

"Uh...a whole bunch. A big ball of it. I flooded the bathroom...but I wiped my own butt!"

"You did WHAT?"

"I wiped my own butt!"

"No, no...after you wiped your butt...what's wrong in the bathroom?"

I shot Adam a look.

By this time, Malia ran to the bathroom...I mean, come on, she's not going to pass up the chance to witness something that her brother has done whether it's right or wrong...siblings LIVE for this kind of stuff!

Adam finally gets up off the couch and I'm hot on his heels.

Sure enough, water is swirling dangerously close to the rim of the toilet bowl and there is a big ole wad of T.P. stuck in the toilet. A whole lot of T.P. So much T.P. that I was surprised there was even any left on the roll. Immediately, Aidan chimes, "Don't worry, I'll go get the plunger!"

Oh, geez...here we go, I thought.

After being side-tracked in the living room by a television commercial and a trip back to the bathroom to watch the water swirl in the toilet, he comes back to the bathroom with the plunger (pretty sad that our kids know where to find the plunger, huh...in MY bathroom...don't ask). Adam plunges the toilet a couple times to dislodge the big BALL of toilet paper, I wipe off the seat and Aidan proclaims, "See, it's all fixed now!"

*sigh*

KIDS.

I would so totally take skid marked "unnawears" over a clogged toilet any day (this just made me have flashbacks of the day at work when my daughter clogged the office toilet and there were little turds regurgitating out of the toilet.....but that's a different blog).

Ridiculous

Since I'm home today with sick kids...well, one who is legitimately sick and one who is isn't really...I took the initiative to get the laundry caught up and get all of the folded clothes put away. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for those who know me or for those who are exactly like me, then you know that it's not the process of washing clothes that bothers me -- it's the act of folding the clean clothes and putting them away that I don't find entertaining.

So...

All washed clothes has been folded and put away except for my husband's pile because I r-e-f-u-s-e to do it. I feel that putting away his clean laundry is the least he can do. So far, he's got two piles of clean laundry in the bedroom and both are about 2.5' high. Yeah. It's sad.

Anyway...

Earlier this morning I cleaned out my daughter's dresser drawers. Currently, I have two bags full of clothing that I'm hoping to pass along to a friend tonight...I just hope his daughter (who is a year younger than mine) can fit into the clothes. Upon cleaning Malia's dresser drawers, I learned that she has enough clean underwear to last about two months. Yeah. That's a lot of panties. She is also set for the remainder of the winter and should not have any problems once we transition into spring & summer. The girl has clothes...tons of clothes! (I suppose that's my fault, but that's not the point of this blog entry...)

I haven't had the motivation (yet) to get into my son's dresser drawers. I know he's pretty well stocked as far as clothing is concerned. I just don't feel like going into his room to mess with the dresser -- there's only but so much laundry I can take in one day!

With that said, I do have a ginormous pile of boys clothing that I've been needing to list on eBay. I have found that I do better reselling his clothing than I do my daughter's clothing...probably because he's been growing faster than she has been lately...who knows. All I know is that I'm glad that the laundry is pretty much caught up for the moment and that all folded laundry has been put away (or sorta put away in my husband's case).

Now I just need to find the motivation to get dressed and venture out with the kids to the grocery store.......ugh.

It's a home day, but not by choice -

I'm at home today.

I should be working.

I really should be working. However, even though I am afforded the luxury of bringing my children to work with me from time to time, well, let me just say that having kids under foot in the office is not fun whether they are sick or not. Malia stuck it out yesterday -- thank goodness for the sleeping bag, pillow & DVD player that I keep stashed in my office. However, I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with any vomitting spells at the office...she waited until we got home. *sigh*

So, here I am at 8:50am sitting at the computer wondering what the heck I'm going to do today because very rarely am I home during the week. I really don't like missing work (contrary to what some might believe). I suppose today is as good a day as any to just clean. Really clean. Put things away, dust things, fold things, vacuum things, mop things kind of clean.

Yuck.

Just the thought of all that cleaning is making ME feel sick. ;)

Thank you, gas man!

I forgot to ask his name. I wonder if he's still sitting outside the house in his VNG truck?

Anyway...

I called Virginia Natural Gas tonight...their emergency line. I've since realized that what I thought was a gas emergency wasn't such an emergency. But, I'm glad I called and I'm glad I have an answer to our little issue.

We have gas appliances - stove, furnace, water heater. Our stove & furnace are cool...both are relatively young, but our water heater is geriatric. The serial number (and most serial numbers start with the date of manufacture) starts with 98. Yes, our water heater was built in 1998. That doesn't necessarily mean it was installed in 1998, but it still means the damn thing is about 11 years old. I've asked around and the average life span of a water heater is about, oh, 10 years or so. Yeah, our little water heater is a trooper.

But...

I smelled gas. I swear I did. Adam did, too. He actually believed me for a change and didn't think I was nuts! Of course, to smell the gas you have to get riiiiiight on the water heater by the temperature valve. We've had a gas plumber look at the water heater twice -- both times we were told nothing was wrong because the gas pipes weren't leaking...that maybe we were just smelling residual gas that had built up as a result of having to shut off the gas line to the house (we had some work done to the gas line behind our stove during our kitchen reno). Anywho...I still didn't think something was quite right and my biggest fear was having my house:

a) Blow up with us in it
b) Blow up while we were all at work or school
c) Blow up just after I get the laundry all caught up (wouldn't that be a bitch...I know, I know, this is a serious matter and I shouldn't make jokes...people have lost their lives due to natural gas build ups...)

So, I called VNG and they sent a tech out and he arrived around 9:30pm. Bless his heart. If I could hug the man, I would. He checked things out with the little gas leak detector -- it buzzes, whistles and hums depending on the intensity of the leak -- and, sure enough, it went cuckoo around the temperature valve. He did the soap test and then did some snooping. He messed with the valve and then had me put my hand just underneath the valve. When he cut the temperature up, I felt heat. My water heater is leaking heat! Well, not exactly, but basically when the temperature is up and the water heater cuts on, the gas or whatever gets all cranked up and whatever is leaking around the valve is being burned up by the heat. The smell I am smelling is the burned off gas smell and you can see it on the water heater. It forms a very long, light tan triangle on the water heater.

This, friends, is a sign of old age.

The gas man said that everything is fine. It was nothing for him to warrant shutting off the water heater or making us shut off the gas line and evacuate the house -- thank gawd! He did advise that, yes, we'll need to replace the water heater soon (oh, boy), but overall things were ok. One thing he did mention to me was that since we transformed half of the garage into a separate laundry area that we cut off some of the air space for the water heater. Had the room been made smaller, then our problem would have been greater. So, as a temporary fix, I have the door from the laundry room to the garage open to help better ventilate the laundry room.

*whew*

Kitchen pics!

I know...finally. Some more kitchen pictures. Hooray!


Installing the glass mosaic tile...the kind of tile we used were face-mounted tiles, I believe it's what they are called. They were single tiles "glued" to a paper front and once the tiles were pressed into the thin-set mortar you moistened the paper to reveal a 1' x 1' square of mosaic tiles. Adam said it was a pain in the you-know-where. The first wall he did (shown above) gave him the most grief...he cursed out that wall many times that night. It was quite entertaining if I do say so myself. Ha ha ha.



The finished product a day after Adam grouted the tile backsplash. He was so thrilled with how well it turned out. I really like the color of the glass mosaic tile...it matches with the walls in our kitchen beautifully. (I know, I know...the Gizmo can opener has GOT to go, but Adam won't part with the freakin' thing!)



A closer look at the tile. Yes, our family likes carbs...it is one of our most favorite food groups! :)



It's not professionally done -- my husband is a bricklayer by trade people, not a tile installer -- but it still is wonderful nonetheless. I'm so happy!

A view of the backsplash by the stove/micro...I love how the tile sparkles in the new under-the-cabinet lighting Adam installed yesterday. That portion of the kitchen was easy for him to wire. He's installing the remainder of the lighting under the other half of the cabinets tonight....I just heard him call something in the kitchen a "bastard." Something in the installation must not be going as he wanted...

For more kitchen pictures, check out this link: http://stutteringshell.blogspot.com/2009/01/heres-what-i-owe-youwell-sorta.html

All in all, what started out as a garbage disposal gone bad has turned into a really wonderful project. We spent some money we didn't want to spend, but I think the value of what we've done with our kitchen full outweighs the *whispering* credit card bill. Ssssh...spare me the lecture. Besides, it's 6 months no interest...how could you NOT go for it! :)

Here's what I owe you...well, sorta...

Pictures of the kitchen. Stay tuned. I'll upload them either tonight or tomorrow evening.

I promise!

Updated on Monday, January 12th:

See, I made good on my promise...kitchen pictures thus far (as I'm typing & posting this Adam is in the kitchen starting on the glass mosaic tile...I'll have pictures of that soon)...

Ewww...the mess underneath the sink thanks to the ancient garbage disposal...OK, OK, it wasn't ancient, but it was just over 10 years old which, in my opinion, is old for a kitchen appliance. It was nassssssstay underneath the sink.

The kitchen counters BEFORE and minus the old sink. Don't hate me because of my sad looking butcher block wannabe laminate countertops. Come on, people, this house is almost 20 years old! I'm sure those were H-O-T looking countertops back in 1989. (if only you knew what the cabinets used to look like...they were stained a shade of brown not much darker than the countertops...Adam and I painted them back in 2005).

Laying out the granite tile to make sure that everything fits and all necessary cuts are made before Adam puts down any grout. The darker tiles are wet from being cut with the tile saw.

The granite bullnose edge just to give an idea of what it all looks like when it comes together. By this time Adam had one whole side of the kitchen countertops installed, re-did the plumbing underneath the sink, installed the new garbage disposal, new sink and new faucet.

Tweaking the plumbing underneath the sink...it's still a mess in that cabinet. I refuse to clean unless I can get the whole kitchen cleaned...looks like it's not happening any time soon considering that Adam is still laying tile. Oh, darn.

Adam is wrasslin' with something up under the sink. Don't ask me what it was or why he was doing it. I was just taking pictures like I was on vacation. :-)

One side done! Well, not quite...the grout and granite still needs to be sealed. The only appliance Adam has allowed on the countertop so far is the Keurig coffeemaker. I think he loves it more than he loves me. *sigh*

Grouting the other countertop...we debated quite a bit on whether or not we should have lowered that bar area that Adam is standing next to. Adam now wishes that we lowered it. It's bad enough that we have a small kitchen...what makes it even worse is that there is so much wasted space (as was evident when we ripped out the old counters) and that bar area does not get used at all..........but now that it's "new & improved" it just might. Adam's gonna need to raise the pot rack, too.

The only "tacky" portion of the tile job thus far as far as I'm concerned is the very end of the bar. We were short ONE (yes, one) bullnose edge. Rather than pay another $25 for one (yep...they were $25/each...ouch) Adam decided to make the cut pieces work. Thankfully, all of the pieces he had were the same size and it fit perfectly. You don't really notice it when you're in the kitchen.

Laying out the glass mosaic tile was tonight's project...I think the color I chose was spot on and I cannot wait to see it on the wall and finished. Adam chose a grout color to match the new countertop.

The color of the glass tile is "Glass Sky." I think it's so darned pretty. As for an update on the current happenings in the kitchen, Adam has one wall of glass tile up and he's removing the paper backing. I'll snap a few photos and add them momentarily.
So, now that the new countertops are installed and the backsplash is going up, Adam and I are now rethinking our cabinet color. The sandy color worked with the old countertops, but we're thinking a really light gray would be best for the cabinets now. It wouldn't clash with our beachy themed kitchen and it would coordinate well with the granite counters. That's gonna be another weekend project in a few weeks.......I think.

Honey, I just found out...

I don't know about you, but those are famous last words in our household. It doesn't matter who says it, Adam and I both know that when those five words are spoken the news following is either going to be absolutely wonderful or really, really crappy. I guess in this case the news is wonderful for Adam and semi-crappy for me.

Adam found out today that he's fishing in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout this weekend. Adam and I would both like to take this opportunity to thank his father for NOT telling Adam that he was entered into a fishing tournament. Adam only found out because the girl handling the registration and such called him today to confirm. Well, golly gee...I guess I know what is NOT going to happen this weekend...yep, that's right...the kitchen won't get finished.

Of course, Adam says to me today that the kitchen would not have gotten finished this weekend even if he wasn't fishing. Here I was thinking Rockfish season was over and done with...well, that was fishing in the bay and not the freakin' ocean.

Ah, well...I suppose the good news is that Adam is fishing on Friday which means that he'll be able to work on the kitchen Saturday. BUT, knowing my dear, sweet husband there will be some other fishing related excuse come Saturday. This is why, my friends, I find this news to be semi-crappy.

Kitchen progress

So, it's now been four whole days since I've had a working kitchen sink. It's starting to get kind of annoying. While I'm thankful that everything else in our kitchen is still accessible and working, it really is difficult to work in a kitchen without a sink. Before, we were still able to at least run the dishwasher but Adam turned off the water supply to the kitchen last night because he had to redo the plumbing underneath the sink in order to accomodate the deeper sink and the new garbage disposal. *sigh*

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I just want my kitchen back!

I suppose, however, that this kitchen renovation is going a lot smoother than originally planned. And, just knowing that we can get this done and NOT have to worry about the kids (since they are with my parents) has been quite a big help, too. I couldn't even imagine taking on such a project if the kids were at home. They practically live in our kitchen!

Anyway, Adam and I went to The Tile Shop yesterday at Lynnhaven. We brought a piece of our existing granite tile in order to find a suitable match for it. Also, we needed to find three 12"x12" tiles to closely match the granite tile because Adam found out that he was 3 tiles short to complete the job in the kitchen. We had agreed that our "bar" area would just have ceramic tile since there wasn't enough granite to cover it as well. Well, upon entering the store, we were greeted by Jason who helped us out with everything. The best thing we heard yesterday was, "We have that exact tile here in the store!" Adam and I couldn't believe our ears! Seriously?! The Tile Store had our tile? Sure enough...they did! It wasn't from the same run number (duh!) but Jason told us that the granite we had was probably some of the most popular...or was it the most common (I dunno)...but, irregardless...they had our tile! This meant that we didn't have to use ceramic for our bar area...hooray! And, to make things better, they also had matching end-pieces and corners! Hot diggity dog!

While at the store, we also chose our glass mosaic tile for the backsplash. It wasn't the color I had originally fallen in love with online, but I think it's going to look beautiful just the same. The color worries me just slightly since our kitchen walls are painted a turquoise blue color (it's "Embellished Blue" by Behr), but the eat-in portion of our kitchen has a darker blue colored ragged onto the walls (a la moi!) called "Surfer" (also, by Behr). So, I think it will be fine. The glass tile I saw online was actually MUCH, MUCH lighter in person and would not have worked at all. Adam chose a coordinating mortar color (something to go with the granite and also the mosaic tile) and then Jason totalled up our purchase. A good portion of our purchase will be shipped to the store on Wednesday so our kitchen will be complete by next weekend!

I've taken a few pictures here and there and I'll get those posted soon. I'm just excited that we're actually doing something substantial to our tiny kitchen. Maybe I'll even spend more time cooking in it once it's finished....ha ha ha, yeah right, who am I kidding?!

Another year...another dollar...

So, what big plans do I have today with my sweetie? Well, let's see...last night before we headed out for dinner (we had Mexican...mmm) we ran the dishwasher. As Adam went to get the dishwasher detergent out of the cabinet he noticed that there was a leak underneath our sink. Grrrrreat. The garbage disposal had a hole in it and, well, I think you can imagine what the cabinet space beneath our kitchen sink looked like. Ew.

Thank goodness New Year's day isn't like Christmas day and stores are all open and ready for shoppers. We made a trip to the Home Depot and bought a new garbage disposal. We upgraded from 1/2 HP to 3/4 HP...don't ask me what that means. I'm just excited about getting a new garbage disposal. I don't know the life span of one, but the one we're replacing is original to the house and our house was built in the late 1980s, so.....

Well, while at the Home Depot we also bought a new sink and a new fixture for the sink. Adam had his eye on a very pretty black enamel sink, but I talked him out of it and we settled on a $99 stainless steel sink that gives us a bit more room since it's 8" deep (our current sink is only 6" deep).

So, Adam's in the kitchen as I type this. He already took out the bottom of the cabinet...MDF and water don't have the best of relationships...and he's replacing it with some plywood. If the "OW!" I just heard means anything, then he must be wresting with the garbage disposal right now...you know, getting the old one off. I'm supposed to be helping. Ha ha ha.

This is all quite exciting although it was money that neither of us really wanted to spend, but I think this has motivated us now to replace our kitchen countertops and I think we may start that project this weekend and take advantage of the time since our children will not be at home (allowing us more time to spend working and getting the project done faster). We have some granite tile in the garage...or maybe it's marble...that we plan on using as our new countertop. I am envisioning a glass tile backsplash that runs from the counter to the bottom of the upper cabinets, but we'll see about that. After all, this kitchen renovation is on a tight budget...a really tight budget.