Sorry, my oldest son has been playing football for twelve years. Sports references now slip in whether I want them to or not. It’s been one heck of a year, and we are not quite done with everything COVID has to throw at us, but that light at the end of the tunnel is getting …
Ivy says: Now that summer is in full swing, and I usually have more time to get things done because now I have helpers who are normally in school. So, I’m doing a project a week to get my house into shape! You can follow along as I do the projects and do them with …
Ivy says: Yesterday, my mom came over because she had a little time to kill before going to work. There wasn’t any time to clean up because she called me as she turned onto my street. Thanks, mom. “Ah, Ivy,” she said, “Your home is a bastion of cleanliness.” We both laughed because, to be …
Dear Home Ec 101, I need a strong person to help me resolve to get rid of old shoes, belts, purses and scarves, even though I don’t use any of them. Some of the scarves and bags are really nice ones (if a little bit old lady-ish) inherited from my m-i-l. Some I bought in …
Ivy says: Every single morning there is drama in my household. See, we keep our shoes in the hall closet but apparently the closet monster comes to my house every night and either mixes the shoes up and makes them hard to find, or if we’re really lucky the shoe monster comes and hides the …
Ivy says: I come from a very long line of accountants. In addition, I have a close family friend that is an IRS auditor. (Yes, he does have a pocket protector and calculator at his side all the time. No, he doesn’t have a sense of humor that he is aware of.) Because of that, …
Ivy says: Here’s a really good reason to start decluttering your house right now. Eventually, someday, you’re going to die. It’s unpleasant to think about, but it’s one of the only sure things about life- eventually, you’ll die. And when you do, someone you love is going to have to go through your stuff and …
If you’re anything like us (and hey, you might not be, we are strange), you have too many books. Go ahead and admit it, you have more books than you need. (We plead the fifth.) Go through them. Keep the ones you want to read repeatedly, keep the ones you plan on reading in the …
Ivy says: If you haven’t done this already, this weekend would be a great time to go through all the kids’ toys and get rid of anything broken, anything they don’t play with, anything they just have too much of (my daughter had approximately 1,493 stuffed animals before we cleaned out her room), and anything …
Ivy says: My husband usually does the laundry in my household. However, that wasn’t working out for us, and since he had surgery last month, I’ve been taking over the laundry responsibilities. I’ve learned many amusing things while doing the laundry, but the overwhelming thing I have learned is just the fact that we have …