Then I had a Eureka moment. There’s a way to give my little girl an independent art station complete with Paints! without destroying my carpet, walls, and everything else.

Oriental Trading and School Box stores both sell hockey puck type watercolor tempera ‘cakes’. Add water, a real paint brush, an easel and a some bright ideas for an art station to rival the masters. The best part? Your preschooler will be able to use it herself and clean up after herself too. Here’s what you need:

• Easel with a roll of paper (Ikea has these for about $30 including paper)
• Hockey puck type paints (around $5-6 for a set of 6 colors)
• Plastic mat for rolling office chairs – put it under your easel to protect your floors, and buy it used at Craigslist to avoid any offgassing from the plastic
• Honey bear, epi bottle, or other small, manageable container for water. Fill with water and use to squirt a few drops on each hockey puck to moisten for painting. That way she doesn’t need a spillable cup of water while painting.
• Craft apron, preferably waterproof
• Roll of paper towels, with holder. Place a paper towel under the paints on the easel for easy clean-up.
• Kid-sized wall shelf to store paints, brushes, markers, stickers, and other craft supplies
• Used mugs or tall cups to organize brushes, markers, and so on and so forth

Now, once you’ve set up the station you need only to teach your child to clean up after himself. Paper towels should be easily accessible, and there should be an extra cup for transport of dirty brushes to and from the nearest sink. Teach your child how to wash out the brushes, and how to squirt a few drops of water onto a paper towel to clean up any paint spilled. If everything has its own place, kids can learn easily how to clean up after themselves. The more independence and responsibility they have, the more likely they are to cooperate on other things.

Over the weekend we washed some items that belonged to the dog. This left my washing machine a little less than pleasant. It also made me think about how long I have had that machine and all that I have washed in it. Not to mention, recent studies have found Ecoli and Salmonella living in the barrels of peoples home laundry units. Ewwww.

I set out to find a way to clean this monster. Having lots of Shaklee products on hand, seeing that we use their products almost exclusivly, I grabbed some Basic G. Basic G is an amazing germ killer. It takes care of everything bleach does but in a much safer manor. I filled my washing machine with HOT water and poured in about 2 tablespoons of Basic G. I let it sit in the barrel for about 20 minutes, used a washcloth to clean where the water couldn’t reach then closed the lid to start the cycle. I peeked in after it had aggitated and the water looked dingy. I found that to be a little disturbing. After the cycle ran through I wiped out the barrel again with a washcloth and some Basic H, although any gentle all purpose cleaner would probably work.

So, how do I know if it worked? Well, other than my washer no longer smelling like wet dog, I could tell by the next load that something was different. We use Free and Clear detergent around here and the laundry always came out of the dryer smelling odd. Not bad, just kind of odd. I thought it was because of the lack of fragrence in my detergent. This time, I pulled out the load and I could smell that the clothes were actually clean. They SMELLED fresh and clean.

The other way I know it has made a difference is that I am notorious for washing clothing at night and forgetting to put them in the dryer. By the morning they are usually sour and need to be rewashed. When this happened yesterday I went to pull the clothes out to smell them and they didn’t stink! They had been in there for 24 hours and there was no wet, sour smell. No need to rewash or rinse! I was truely amazed.

It seems that my cleaning machine wasn’t really getting things that clean after all.

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