Condo Blues

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 429

My husband and I are blessed with the pitter patter of new little feet this week. Meet our energetic house guest Mattis!

Hello. My name is Mattis.  

My husband and I wanted to help our friends by dogsitting but we had a little concern. Lacey still sometimes guards me from other dogs, which is one of the reasons she was rehomed with us. We've  worked on it (and still work on it when necessary) and established some rules ahead of time to set everyone up for success during Mattis' visit. We had a good first night - no guarding from anyone! 

Sunday, June 10, 2018

How to Extend a Downspout the Easy Way

Your local building code my differ but most recommend the water running through the downspouts of your house discharge the water at least six feet away from the house’s foundation. Otherwise, the water can splash back and erode the soil around the downspout where rain water can get in to damage the foundation of your home.

Putting a splash block under each downspout is the easiest way to divert rainwater away from the foundation of your house and fix the problem.  That’s what the builder of my neighborhood did to our houses.

The results are hit and miss because the builder used a one measurement fits all approach and some of our downspouts are too high due to hills in the neighborhood and some of us have soil eroding under their splash blocks like my neighbor’s house shown below.

How to prevent soil erosion and lengthen downspouts the easy way
Pin this tutorial on Pinterest for later and share it with your friends!

Two Easy Ways to Extend an Existing House Downspout

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 428

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!



Tuesday, June 5, 2018

How to Grow Basil Plants From Cuttings

Basil is one of my favorite herbs to grow in my self watering container garden.  It is affordable (especially if you grow basil from seeds,) fairly hardy (since I often forget plants need water to live,) and is the easiest (and cheapest) way to cook with the fancy varieties (opal basil, anyone?) I never see for sale in the grocery store. (Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links for your convenience.)

But the thing I really love about growing basil  is if you have one basil plant, you can use it to propagate the clippings to grow more basil plants!

Yes, really!

How to Propagate Basil Plants


quick and easy way to regrow basil plants from stems

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 427

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!



Sunday, May 27, 2018

How to Repair a Ripped Flag

Last summer, I repaired a rip in an outdoor garden swooper flag a new sewing client flies in front of his business to give it a second year of life. (I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convince.)

I didn’t write a tutorial at the time because I didn’t think there was much of an interest in how to machine darn rips and holes in a garden flag. Based on the number of questions I answered after I did the job it turns out I was wrong.

Luckily, I get a second chance to write a flag repair tutorial because the twin outdoor feather banner has a tear and a hole in the same place where flag sleeve (the part where the flag pole runs though) sits on and pulls against the top of the curved metal pole when the wind blows. The client asked if I would repair Flag 2 like I darned the tear and hole in Flag 1 since Flag 1 is still rip, roaring, and ready to fly.

The blob at the top is the client's attempt at repairing the hole in the flag with hot glue.
 Needless to say it didn't work.

How to Machine Darn a Rips, Tears, and Holes in Fabric

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 426

Whoo hoo! Memorial Day Weekend is here for my US readers which officially kicks off summer - my favorite season! Which also kicks off my second favorite season - Smacking Stuff with Hammers in the Workshop Season.

In other words, I'm celebrating the long holiday weekend do repairs I couldn't do earlier this month due to the rain.

And now, we party!

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!



Thursday, May 17, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 425

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!



Sunday, May 13, 2018

The Everything Guide to Sewing Jersey Knit Sleep Shorts

I need a new pair of summer pajamas for a marching band trip. A cute pair of sleep shorts fits the bill since I will be sharing my hotel room with roommates. An easy thing to buy, right?

Well not if I want a pair of pajama shorts that are long enough to cover my but, otherwise I risk a sleep wedgie. Have you ever been woken up by a sleep short creeper? Trust me, you don't want to if you can help it.

tips for sewing jersey knit fabric

Save this post to Pinterest for later. Share this idea with your friends!  
   

DIY Music Summer Pajama Shorts

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 424

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!





Sunday, May 6, 2018

25 DIY Home Improvements You Can Do in 15 Minutes or Less

When you think of doing home improvement projects to add value to your home, most people immediately think of the big, long, and difficult DIY projects like remodeling a room or landscaping.

While I agree that kitchen and bathrooms sell houses and are super nice to have, it is often at the expense of those little quick and easy home improvement projects that pile up around the house and if done early, can save you the time and expensive needing to do a big, huge DIY project later on down the road.

Grab your tool belts and Do It Yourself Honey! lists. Be prepared to save a ton of money knocking out these quick and easy DIY projects when and where you can.

25 Quick and Easy DIY Home Improvement Projects that Pay Off Big!


Thursday, May 3, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 423

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

How to Naturally Kill Grubs and Japanese Beetles with Milky Spore

When we bought our condo, the builder planted spirea bushes in front of all of the houses in the neighborhood. Those pretty pink flowers were quite attractive – to Japanese beetles and grubs.

Commercial grub killers from the big box store do not work for me which I only tried as a last resort. I was leery of what the 90% OTHER INGREDNETS listed on the ingredients label actually were since they had a warning about not using the stuff around kids, dogs, and fish ponds.

The only thing that worked was using the all natural, people and pet safe organic grub killing combo of Milky Spore powder and Beneficial nematodes in my flowerbeds. (Disclosure: I am including a few big bold affiliate links in this post for your convenience because I couldn’t find any of these items for sale locally and figure you might be in the same boat too.)

Now if I was smart and applied Milky Spore to my grass and lawn when I did the flower bed years ago, the good Milky Spore bacteria would have been fruitful and multiplied in the soil throughout my property by now.

While the flower beds are naturally pest free but I found a grub in the yard recently and where there is one grub there are a dozen or more. Live and learn  should have applied my organic pest killer to the yard too. But my shortsightedness is your gain because I can write you a quick and easy tutorial.

How to Easily Apply Milky Spore to Your Lawn and Garden


Thursday, April 26, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 422

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

How to Make Reusable Zero Waste Makeup Remover Pads

I have a very bad habit of by passing the wash cloth by the bathroom sink at night and not washing the makeup off my face before I go to bed.

Why? Laziness I guess.

The only time I remember to do it at night is when I have leftover disposable face wipes I use when I travel for the convenience.  I try to limit the amount of one time use disposables I use on a regular basis and let’s face it, wash cloths are reusable and paper face wipes are not.

 

How to Sew Super Soft Flannel Cloth Makeup Remover Pads


Sunday, April 22, 2018

7 Recycling Solutions for Small Houses, Condos, and Apartments

When we first moved into our condo my husband and I were looking forward to having room for a recycling center in the kitchen. I had my eye on this double pullout trash and recycling bins for under the kitchen sink but as luck would have it, it was too big for my condo sink cabinet.

I installed a smaller single pullout garbage can similar to this one (mine is discontinued) and I’m glad I did. (I can’t live without the products I mention in this post and believe in them so strongly I’m willing to use my affiliate links to do it!)

Little did I know that using a kitchen trash can smaller than our household recycling bin would be the incentive for my family to eventually start recycling and reducing waste in almost every way we can. In addition to reusing, and refusing, we starting recycling to the max using local businesses and organizations that recycle the items our curbside city recycling program does not.

How do I recycle in a small space while keeping the collection bins accessible and from cluttering up the house? Keep reading and I’ll show you how!
 
 

7 Small Space Recycling Solutions


Let’s take a tour of my small space recycling centers!

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 421

Projects? Show 'em if you got 'em!

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week. 




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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Quick and Easy DIY Non Toxic Carpet Deodorizer

Lacey had a bit of a hair ball problem and spent the day christening every. room. in. the.house. Who knew dogs can projectile vomit?

I do.

My poor girl.

homemade non toxic baking soda carpet refresher
I don't feel so good.


I thoroughly cleaned the incidents with my Bissell SpotClean (I really love this thing and don’t knew where I’d be without it! I can’t recommend it enough and believe in it so strongly I’m willing to use my affiliate links to do it!) 


My priority was making sure Lacey didn’t dehydrate or get worse than pulling out the big Bissell Powerlifter Carpet Cleaner to deep clean the growing number of disaster recovery zones.
Once Lacey kept food down toward the end of the evening, my plan was to thoroughly shampoo all of the carpeting in the house with the Powerlifter to following day.


In the meantime, the former bio hazards on the carpeting were clean but the house still smelled like puke.

How to  Make All Natural Carpet Refresher

Sunday, April 15, 2018

How To Make A Super Cute PopSocket

I lucked out at one of those spin the prize wheel for swag booths at the state fair and won a PopSocket for my phone. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I haven’t put it on my phone because don’t want to be a walking advertisement.

It has been staring at me from the clutter highly organized pile of papers on my desk since this summer, just begging for a makeover.


Let’s do it!

Easy Custom DIY PopSocket for Your Phone!


Thursday, April 12, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 420

Projects? Show 'em if you got 'em!

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week. 



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Sunday, April 8, 2018

How to Replace a Lamp Socket That Will Not Light

There are many things a women likes to hear from her husband.

“I love you.”

“Let’s get ice cream!”

“I bought you diamonds! Here are those cutting blades you wanted.”

are a few.

However, “Honey, were those lamps you gave me for Christmas expensive?” is not one of them.

My husband accidentally yanked the pull chain out of the socket when he turned off a lamp in our bedroom. He tried reattaching the pull chain. After several failed attempts, he couldn’t reattach it. He thought a new lamp was in our future.

Until I answered his question with, “Your lamps are hand-crafted stained glass imported from Ireland.”

In other words, expensive.

But easily repaired for under $5.00. I just needed to replace the lamp socket.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 419

Hi everyone! Many of you asked how my family is doing after Tuesday's tornado in the Columbus, Ohio area. I'm happy to report that all my area of the city got was wind, rain, and a tornado watch. Basically a small helping of first world problems of a few light flickers and slow internet the following day which is absolutely nothing to complain about especially when storm took down power lines and poles and it may take up to 5 days to repair. Been there. Done that. It stunk on ice.

Which given that the weather went from the icy forties's to the warm seventies and back to the icy thirties it's no wonder we had such a severe storm. I'm coping with Lacy snuggles, hot chocolate, and DIY projects.

Projects? Show 'em if you got 'em!

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week. 



Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin
Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL





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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing! 




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Sunday, April 1, 2018

Recycled Crafts: How to Make Bottle Cap Ladybug Party Favors

At my home renaissance festival, children bring little trinkets like shiny stones, marbles, and the like to trade with the performers. 

Last season I made do with vase filler stones. This season, I’d rather not add something so heavy to the already heavy basket I carry during the show.  I need around 300 party favors, I want something somewhat period, and if I could use this as a stash bust project, my craft room would be ever so grateful.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 418

Let's get this party started!

Time to link up and share your fantastic craft and DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, and ideas! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week. 



Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin
Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst
Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL


If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing! 



And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

8 Zero Waste Lies

If you are trying to be a Zero Waste or Trash Fee home you try to reduce the need to use the landfill by refusing, reducing, reusing, repairing, recycling, and donating your household waste to get your output to as close to zero as you can.

There are some in Internet Land who show you how they do it with Pinterest perfect photos of bamboo toothbrushes like these, stylishly minimalist rooms (you can learn about the minimalism movement here), and  haughtily looking down their nose at people who  – gasp! – follow low waste practices because their primary goal is to pay off bills, live within their means, or save money, with environmental concerns coming in a close second or even lower down the list.

Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.

8 Truths of Trash Free and Zero Waste Living

In my over 10 years of blogging about green living and doing it in one form or another for even longer, I know there are some truths to Zero Waste Living and I also know that the reality is not always what you see in those Pinterest perfect Zero Waste Kitchens either.


8 Truths of Trash Free and Zero Waste Living
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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Friday Favorites Linky Party 417

How did you celebrate Saint Patrick's Day? I got up waaaaay too early in the morning to help my favorite pub break in their eye popping grill and serve up green eggs and ham!

Well, the event was advertised as green eggs and ham because it was St. Patrick's Day and all but the look weirded out Head Chef C and Sous Chef Lisa. We stuck to food au naturale.


A post shared by Lisa (@condoblues) on


Let's get this party started!

Sunday, March 18, 2018

The Easiest DIY Laundry Stain Remover You Will Ever Make!

After my allergy test revealed a lovely grid of red dots indicating I’m allergic to even more annoying things than I realized, I got a ton of information from the doctor about things I can change around the house to help me deal with the unpleasantness.

That’s how I ended up with a giant jug of unscented high efficiency laundry detergent that makes my front loading washing machine stink.

Reek, actually.

I can’t return it. I don’t want to use it as laundry detergent but I CAN use it to make a quick, cheap, and effective laundry stain remover spray. Which is fortunate because I’ve been crying in my oatmeal ever since they discontinued the plant based version of my all time favorite stain fighting spot remover Shout.

How to Make Two Ingredient Laundry Stain Remover Spray


best DIY 2 ingredient laundry stain remover spray
Pin this post and share my nontoxic homemade cleaning magic with your friends!