Style Lush

How to Clean Your Thermos Funtainer Straw

By Beth

So, did everybody else run right out and buy Thermos funtainers for your kids after Emily wrote about them over the summer. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm hoping I'm not also the only one who let the top half of the straw, the part that bends when you close the top, get a little, well, disgusting. In my defense, one straw is still just fine, but the other one is frankly embarrassing.

I tried jamming a q-tip in there, and it didn't get all the disgusting whatever out. So I went to buy a replacement straw, but to do that you have to actually call Thermos customer service.  Come on people, this is 2012, I don't speak to my own husband on the phone and I have no interest in buying things that way.

I clearly had to turn to eBay instead, but first I tried one last-ditch effort, and it worked!  I carefully put a wooden toothpick through the straw to hold it straight and open, and then I boiled it for three minutes, then I immediately jammed another q-tip in there and swished it around, and viola!  I just saved myself $9 on ebay AND a ridiculous phone call to Thermos.

I would lobby for a Mom of the Year title, if not for the memory of how I let my child use a nasty, filthy straw for who knows how long before I noticed.  So nevermind about my award.

Hair Dryer as Flat Iron

By Beth

My hair is problematic.  I won't go into the details (yet again), but it takes significant amounts of hair product and ages with a blow dryer and round brush to get it just how I want it, which is straight.  Since spending half an hour on my hair rarely makes it onto my daily priority list, I generally run around town in a nasty mom-ponytail, which makes me feel like a slob.

But I have a new trick!  I blow dry my totally-dry hair with a round brush and a high-powered blow dryer with one of those condenser things on the end.

And it works!  I mean, it isn't the world's most perfect hair, but it is done and it is decent and in five minutes or less I can have my hair done with no ponytail holder in sight.

Now, this works for me only if I have not previously styled my hair, as in it has been washed and air dryed, even slept in.  And I have to have no product in my hair other than my usual straightening shampoo and conditioner.  But it works for me, I swear it does.

I'm curious, has anyone else every tried this?  Does it work for you?

Photo credit: Amazon.com

Wall Decals: Once you Start you Can't Stop

By Beth

My husband and I are finally getting around to doing something about our bedroom. You see, when we moved into our house we had a two-year-old and I was pregnant, and shortly after that we had a two-year-old and a newborn. While we managed to get the rest of the house redone to our tastes (it started as what I can only call Country Brass, which is fine, to be sure, but not my style), our bedroom has been largely ignored for over four years now.

Our main stumbling block was what to hang over the bed. We needed something large, since we have a king-sized bed, and since the way the room is set up we really felt a single piece on that wall was the only way to go. But we didn't want to spend a ton of money on something, because we are 1) cheap, and 2) prone to changing our minds. We finally settled on this:

We love it. It is the Swirling Tree with Leaves Falling from Dali Decals. It cost a very reasonable $75, and I had a $50 Groupon so it only cost us $50. The tree itself came in three pieces and then all the leaves are put up separately, which seemed a little daunting at first, but my husband and I got the main tree up in about 15 easy minutes.  We even let the kids (now 6 and 3) assist with putting up the leaves. The process is simple, even sort of fun, and when we want something new we can peel this one off and start over. My next goal is a much larger one for my dining room.

One word to the wise, start with a fresh coat of paint. We didn't do that ourselves and now all the little marks and dings are glaring and the touch-up job is going to be a pain. (If only I could do it with Photoshop like I did with the picture.)

(Photo credit: me)

Lands' End PolarThin Insulator Parka

By Beth

I bought myself a badly-needed new coat this year and have been hating it. You see, we have had a balmy winter so far, so balmy that my family spent most of New Years' Day climbing rocks along the Potomac River in light jackets. I have been roasting in my new coat, ripping it off and fanning myself and mopping sweat from my forehead. And then two days after New Years' it did not once get warmer than 27 degrees and the wind chill was abysmal.

And now, how do I love my new coat, let me count the ways. Well, ok, really just one way. My face is freezing, my feet are on the verge of frostbite, but everything between my chin and my sit-upon is toasty warm and comfortable. The coat is thin, not the least bit bulky, not a bit of Michelin Man about it, but so, so warm. It is Lands' End's warmest coat, rated -20 to 0, and after this week I believe them. The best part? As of this writing, they are on sale for $39.99 (although checking my email I got mine for $39.94, so if you are a bargain hunter be sure to hold out for those extra 5 cents).

The other awesome thing about this coat? If you, like me, initially order the wrong size and call Lands' End to ask about an exchange, do you know what will happen? An actual live person will answer the phone, almost immediately, and that actual live person will ship you the correct size for free. And then you can just return the wrong size to your local Sears. Awesome.

Photo credit: landsend.com

Next Year's Grandparent Gift

By Beth

Do you have kids? Do your kids have doting grandparents? Then you need to be handing out "Our Year in Pictures" photo books next Christmas. I did it for the first time last year and got a copy for each set of grandparents and the one great-grandmother who was still able to recognize members of her own family and they all demanded that I give them the exact same thing every year from then on.

Well, not the exact same thing, obviously, they wanted updated pictures, but you know what I mean.  

There are lots of places that have great online software for making gorgeous photo books and you can get really fancy and elegant and crafty, but since I'm me I always go for the $24.99 one from Costco. You upload your pictures, design your pages, place your order, and then pick it up a couple of days later at your local warehouse store. The design options aren't top-of-the-line, but the price and convenience are right for me.

I'm telling you this now because for the past two years I have left my photobook creating to the last possible minute and then spent three solid, sleepless days and nights getting them ordered in time for the holidays. So, in addition to recommending photo books, I am recommending that you join me in my resolution to upload and arrange pictures every single month, so when December rolls around all I have to do is load the last few shots and click "Order."  

(Image credit: Costco.com)

Make Your House Cleaner in Five Disgusting Minutes

By Beth

First off, let me assure you that there will be no picture with this post. I actually did take a picture of the process I am about to recommend to you, but am not cruel enough to inflict it upon all you nice people. I am about to tell you how to make your house much, much cleaner. It is a simple tip, it takes only a few minutes to complete, and it is absolutely disgusting. But worth it, I promise. I wouldn't make you do something disgusting for no pay-off.

Step one: Get your vacuum cleaner , a plastic trash bag and a pair of scissors.
Step two: Lie the vacuum cleaner down on the floor with the bottom part on top of the trash bag. 
Step three: Take a deep breath, and then check out the amount of hair and pet fur and bits of string and dust and dirt and let's not think too closely about what all else wrapped around the rotating brush of your vacuum cleaner.
Step four: Carefully cut through all that nasty stuff and pull it out of your vacuum and roll it all up in the trash bag.
Step five: Vacuum, my friend!  Vacuum like the wind!  And marvel at how well you vacuum works now.

Nasty, but worth it.  

Method Laundry Detergent

By Beth

My family takes a beach vacation every year -- grandparents, parents, kids, in-laws, the whole gang. We all contribute a variety of the odds and ends that we need to get through a week, and this year my sister-in-law was responsible for laundry detergent. She brought along Method Laundry Detergent Free & Clear on the grounds that it was the smallest bottle in the store and therefore easiest to pack.

I am not even a little ashamed to admit that when it was time to leave the beach house, I stole what was left of the laundry detergent from my sister-in-law. Sure, at the time I blamed it on the whole "packing an entire house in 20 minutes to flee the advancing hurricane" thing, but I never returned it, so it was stolen. I was sold on this product at the beach when I piled eight damp, mildewed, stinking towels into the washing machine and removed them 45 minutes later smelling like ... nothing at all.

I've continued to use it ever since. It cleans, it de-smellifies, it even solved that slightly-musty-towel-odor thing that plagues so many HE washers, including mine. I am so fond of this detergent that I haven't bothered to finish the half-full tub of the previous stuff I used, and I am a hard core finish-what-you-open person.

Wow, 200 words about laundry detergent. Maybe I need to get out more?

(Style Lush is a long-time fan of Method, with Hillary's leather wipes post this week and general product endorsement post this summer!)

(Photo credit: Amazon.com)

Rag Curls

By Beth

My daughter and I are reading the Little House books, and when we came to the first mention of rag curls, my daughter became obsessed with having them. I had never done rag curls before, but I figured if Ma Ingalls could manage it on the prairie, I could probably figure it out. I mean, Ma Ingalls didn't even have access to YouTube.  

So, after watching a couple of helpful internet videos, I chopped up an old t-shirt, sprayed down my daughter's waist-length hair, rubbed in some curl enhancer, and did this:

The next morning, we pulled the rags, and had this:

I clearly wrapped a lot more tightly in the front, so the bit by her face was super tight ringlets and the back was mostly just wavy, but not bad for my first attempt, if I do say so myself.

And now I have pioneer visions of rag rolling her hair on Christmas Eve and spending Christmas morning snapping high-definition pictures of a head full of ringlets with the DSLR. Ok, I guess my pioneer visions only go so far, but how cute would Christmas morning ringlets be? Very cute, very cute indeed.

(That pink thing in her hair is a hair wrap left over from this summer's beach vacation. Just in case you were wondering.)

(Photo credit: little ol' me)

Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Shampoo and Conditioner

by Beth

When I recently read Emily's post about her success with the Garnier Fructis Blow Dry Perfector and Flat Iron Perfector, I ran myself straight out to Target and bought both of them.  And I was totally meh about it.  The flat iron stuff made my just-washed hair look totally greasy.  I'm sure that I was just doing it wrong and a lesson or two from Emily would straighten me right out (pun entirely intended).  But the blow dry stuff was promising enough that the next time I was at Target (you know, the next day) I bought the shampoo and the conditioner.

Do you hear that?  The angels singing?  They are singing people, loud and long.

This stuff is a revelation.  I swear on a stack of flat-irons, that the combination of the shampoo, conditioner, Blow Dry Perfector, and a five minute blow-dry with a round brush takes the hair I have hated all my adult life and makes it soft, smooth, straight, frizz-free, and keeps it that way for at least two days, should I not exactly get around to washing my hair again on day 2.

The second best part is that it is cheap, I regularly see it on sale but even full price comes in south of $4 a bottle.  Which makes it easy for me to buy a hundred bottles of each as insurance should they ever stop making it in my lifetime.  If you're a fellow member of the Wanky Hair Club, you need to try this stuff.

{Photo credit: Amazon.com}

Long Sleeve Dresses for Little Girls

By Beth

I have a six-year-old who refuses to wear pants. It is all dresses and skirts all the time around here, although she will consent to wear (mis-matched, naturally) leggings or tights under her dress. This isn't really a problem, except that it is getting along toward winter in my part of the country and long sleeved dresses that I find even remotely acceptable are just darned hard to find.

Enter Land's End, and the Girls' Long Sleeve Smocked Ruffle Bottom Dress.

I bought it in five colors, and between the sale price and the coupon code I found online I got them for $8 each. Now, these are t-shirt weight dresses, not meant to see anybody through a winter gale, but since they are going with leggings and a sweater anyway they are perfect for my kid. They are also light enough to see us well into Spring with bike shorts underneath. My blossoming diva especially loves that they are solid colors, the better to accessorize, of course.

(Photo credit: landsend.com)