Hello Culligan Man!!

Ever since we moved into our home three years ago, we've been meaning to do something about our water.  The former owners of the house had removed a whole house reverse osmosis filtration system prior to foreclosing, and we always felt like we should probably address the issue ourselves, but we just put a small charcoal filter under our kitchen sink and called it good.

Fast forward a few years and a melanoma diagnosis later, and it's safe to say we're I'm more than a little paranoid about the chemicals that are entering our bodies, especially when it comes to our drinking water.  I decided to investigate a bit further, and I called over the experts for a little chat.  Our Culligan Man was 100% prepared to handle the third degree I gave him regarding our drinking water.  In the end, we decided to purchase an under the counter filtration system that not only includes a reverse osmosis filter, but also a special filter to remove specific chemicals that have popped up in our city water thanks to a little chemical waste issue that took place years ago:(.  With our new filtration system, you can't get purer water.  That makes me so happy!!

Since it was installed a few days before my birthday, Bill is calling it my birthday present.  Love it!  Thank you dear.  (He also called our trip to Florida my birthday present since we left a few days after my birthday. And then there was this giraffe that showed up:)....more on that later.  It was pretty much the best birthday ever.)

Back to the water filter.  Here it is taking up an enormous amount of under sink space:

And here's how it looks from above:

The brushed nickel faucet is new (they didn't have an oil rubbed bronze option available....insert sad face here), and from it pours our cleaner than clean water.  We noticed a taste difference immediately, and now our ice cubes are clear!!  (We had it attached to the water line that feeds our freezer ice maker as well.)  Additionally, it's super easy to use the filtered water for rinsing our fruits and veggies and for cooking too.

Now because it wouldn't be practical to attach these filters to every faucet in our house that we might drink water from (bathroom faucets and basement wet bar sink included), I developed an extremely high tech way to distribute 'clean' water throughout the house:).

I found these bottles on clearance at Target for $2.98 each about a month ago, and I stocked up on them:).

I filled up three of them for our basement refrigerator that's in our wet bar:

Here's the bottle we're using in our master bathroom:

For the kids bathroom, I just filled a stainless steel bottle because a glass bottle in a kids bathroom is just asking to get broken.  Lucky is very good about filling a cup for her and Charm after they are done brushing their teeth.  It's like a big sister's duty or something.  It's just one of the 1 million things I love about that girl.

We have had the filter in our house for about two weeks now, and we could not be happier.  Love it.  Love it.  Love it.  It's probably the best house update we've made yet!!

Goodbye Old Water!  Hello Culligan Man:)!!

Organic Cotton Basics!

While doing a little pre-vacation shopping, Bill and I stumbled into an H&M store and checked out the kids basic cotton clothing line.  We were surprised to see that much of the basic line is actually organic cotton, and the prices were very reasonable (especially compared to similar options at Hanna Andersson)!  If you've read this post, you know we always keep our eyes peeled for organic cotton clothing:)!

Here are a few of the pieces that we picked up for Miss Lucky:

This is Lucky's traveling outfit, because it's super comfy for long plane rides!!  The dress was $10 and the leggings were $6.

Here's another comfortable combo that could be used as pajamas or play wear.  The tank tops were $3.50 each and came in a two pack.  The leggings were $6.

And a few for Mister Charm:

The orange striped shirt was $6 and the short sleeve shirts were sold in a two pack for $10.

Please note that not all of these items were 100% cotton.  The leggings contain 5% elastane in addition to 95% organic cotton.  Charm's two short sleeve t-shirts contain 3% viscose in addition to 97% organic cotton.  Lucky's dress and tank tops are 100% organic cotton, along with Charm's orange striped shirt.

I'm probably late to the game on this find, but I thought I'd share anyway:)!!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

P.S. Organic cotton sheets are on sale at Target this week and there is a $5 off $40 Threshold purchase coupon that you could use as well for a super duper awesome deal!!  Also, these poufs are on sale for $30 (down from $50):

And that concludes this random post. 

The Hello Goodbye Series: Indoor Fresh Air

Recently, I came across this post by Cassie at Hi Sugarplum and this post by Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick regarding house plants and planters.  I realized soon after reading them, that our house had exactly ZERO house plants!  We used to have house plants, but then we moved and somehow the plants were left in our sun porch and they didn't survive the first winter out there.  They never got replaced.

It quickly became important to me to reintroduce some plants into our home.  Hopefully, some hardy plants that we can keep looking nicely without much maintenance.  My original plan was to start with a couple plants.  I picked up this beauty at Home Depot (with a one year guarantee:)) for $31.50 with a coupon:

It's amazing how much color and richness it adds to the space.  Here is a before picture for reference:

I also purchased this aloe plant at Home Depot for $9 with a coupon.  I remember having an aloe plant in our house growing up, and it has medicinal benefits as well.

I think the paint color in our bathroom should be called brown clay pot.

I was planning on being done with plant purchases for awhile so we could see how we did with these two plants, but then I ended up making a run to Walmart the same day for a planter for the aloe, and I noticed that all house plants were on clearance for 50% off.  I ended up buying a mini forest in one day!  I got this ficus for $6:

And this guy for $6:

I even bought a little bonsai for Lucky's room for $7:

I have to get that tag out.  It feels like it's cemented in the 'soil'.

And then I couldn't pass up a couple $6 orchids:

Gorgeous no?  I've been walking past the orchids at Trader Joe's for months now.  They all call my name and say...take me home, take me home!  Now, I've got some orchid babies of my own:)!

I'm just loving all the greenery, and I especially love knowing that our air is cleaner with our oxygen producing plant friends in the house.  I still have a few succulents on my 'wish list' and maybe a tall money tree or two for our front room and master bedroom, but for now, we have a wonderful start for $70 total.  Not too shabby!

Hello fresh air from our new plants, goodbye to our plant-less house!  Has anyone else been filling their home with plants lately?  Any suggestions for hardy, low maintenance house plants?

The Hello Goodbye Series: Feeling Spicey!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Why do they always fly by so fast?   We've been enjoying some quality time with my brother, better known around here as Uncle D.B.!  We've been working and playing and eating yummy food!  

One thing that we've been especially enjoying is our new spice selection:

Our current spice selection is a huge improvement from our 'before' selection which consisted of a variety of spices, most of which were really, really old since we rarely used them:

To create a new collection, I picked up a new spice every week since February.  I chose Target's organic spices because I like the price ($2.49 per jar, some purchased for $1.99 with coupons), the look and the size (less spice=less likely to hold on to old spices).  And more important than owning a new spice collection, we're actually using spices now that we are eating less processed foods and cooking healthier meals!  Here are some of the meals we've made recently:

Asparagus Pizza

Shrimp and Asparagus Gnocchi

Arugula and Apple Salad

Spinach, Garbanzo Bean and Egg Hash.  

Bleu Cheese and Red Onion Portabella Mushroom Burger

Goodbye to old, out of date spices.  Hello to fresh, organic spices and homemade cooking!

I'm telling you, we've never eaten better:)!!

The Hello Goodbye Series: Skillet Replacement

Look back at this post for more details about the 'Hello Goodbye Series'.  

The focus of this post continues to be the removal of teflon in our kitchen.  Our stainless steel sauce pans have been working out wonderfully, but we needed to find a replacement for our frying pans as well and decided to give cast iron a try.  We purchased a pre-seasoned Lodge cast iron skillet (They are available at Target, and are not terribly expensive costing $18.99 for a 12 inch pan.)

Hello Cast Iron Beauty:

Good Bye Teflon Coated Pan with the wonky handle:

Has anyone else been using cast iron?  Any seasoning tips?  We've been using ours for several weeks now, and we don't have any complaints!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!