A Gray Day

July 2, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 7 Comments

The day has finally come to choose the new paint color for my office!!

I decided to take the plunge and revamp my office after a rep for Dutch Boy paints contacted me a few weeks ago about trying out a sample of their Refresh paint line – woohoo!!  That was just the kick in the pants I needed to get me going!  I’m extra excited to be trying this paint line because it’s zero-VOC so I won’t be hurting my body or the environment when I use it {big props to Dutch Boy for that!}.

I’ve decided to go with gray walls {see this post}, but now the hard part – what shade??  After much deliberation I narrowed it down to four choices, and I think I finally picked a winner.

Route 66 in a flat finish – it’s a gray with a fair bit of brown in it so it should look dynamite next to the beige carpet and wood desk that I already have in the room.

I can’t wait to start the transformation!  Seriously, my office is in such a state that I can’t even bring myself to show you a pic right now – no joking.  I’m excited to take the first step into turning it into an office that I truly love to spend time in.  Hopefully I’ll have my new paint in a few weeks!

Do you have any room revamps on the horizon?  Or maybe you’ve just finished one!!  Fill us in on the details, or maybe send it in to Show Off Your Space!

Those Little Buggers

April 22, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 3 Comments

It was kind of pitiful – my cute hubby went outside to water our new sod last night and came back in covered with mosquito bites.  It’s official – those nasty little buggers are here.

Ever since we set up our little oasis on our covered patio, we’ve been dreading the day that the mosquitoes arrived.  We’ve also been hatching nasty plans to kill all of them.  And researching various methods of whacking them (or at least encouraging them to bite someone else).

Those Little Buggers

In honor of Earth Day, here are some of the funnier (yet probably totally ineffective) means of killing / deterring mosquitoes in an “earth-friendly manner” that I’ve found:

  • Listerine. The word on the street is that Listerine can be sprayed around your house from a spray bottle, and the active ingredient in Listerine, eucalyptol, kills these little mosquitoes.

Those Little Buggers

  • Laser guns.  I’m totally serious.  Apparently scientists are developing a laser gun that will “toast millions of mosquitoes in a few minutes.”  Awesome.  Too bad they probably won’t be available to the general public.

Those Little Buggers

  • Fabric softener sheets.  Just rub these sheets on yourself or tuck a few in your pockets and you’ll be bug-free (in theory).

Those Little Buggers

  • Liquid dish soap.  Sprayed around your yard, liquid dish soap is supposed to attract mosquitoes with its lemony-scent and then kill them dead.

Those Little Buggers

  • Vick’s Vapo-Rub.  Cedarleaf oil, an active ingredient in Vick’s Vapo-Rub, is a natural mosquito-repellant.

Those Little Buggers

  • Citronella.  This one actually works (although I still seem to get bitten even when I’m holding one of these candles).

Those Little Buggers

It’s no shocker, Snopes has called into question the effectiveness of Listerine and liquid dish detergent in repelling and killing mosquitoes.  No worries, I’m banking on that laser gun – hey, CNN reported it!!

Do you have any tried and true ways of killing mosquitoes while still keeping Mother Earth happy?  How are you celebrating Earth Day today?  Let’s hear about it!

Images courtesy of Target, Vicks and Bounce .

Related Posts with Thumbnails