I told my 8 yr old son a couple of days ago that we didn’t have a microwave when I was his age – he assumed that meant that we didn’t have popcorn  OR leftovers “way back when” either.  *Sigh*  That makes me feel a little old, and makes me sure that I need to show him the old fashioned way of making popcorn.  It is hard to beat the convenience of a good microwave, thats for sure.  Good Housekeeping recently did their infamous testing on some new microwave ovens: Putting Microwaves To The Test A plate of cold leftovers was used to test for evenness of heating. The LG 1240 ($179.00) was the top performer, and was also the easiest to use. It has a built-in six-cup coffeemaker with a programmable timer, and... [Read more]

I guess I am not the typical wife / “keeper of the castle:” From IBNLive : The Independent Daily reported that “though women are making advancing economically at a frentic pace, one thing that gives them the ultimate sense of empowerment is to go around the house with a vaccum cleaner – followed by some vigourous cleaning and dusting”The study also calculated that the average woman spends nine years, two months and 25 days of her waking life cleaning and tidying. However, before all the lazy men out there are elated by this bit of news, there is a flip side to the coin. These women also prefer housekeeping to making love. Let me count the ways I disagree with this (they obviously didn’t survey me).  There... [Read more]

‘Tis the season to store your sweaters and wools and other winter clothes to get them out of the way and protect them from bugs and other damage while they aren’t being worn regularly. Carolyn Forte from Good Housekeeping offers these tips to store your clothes without the use of stinky mothballs (via ABC): It’s important to use acid-free cardboard boxes and tissue. By just lightly folding and wrapping in tissue, you can help avoid creases and discoloration. It’s okay to use clear plastic containers too, as long as the lids are snug. Never starch clothes before putting them in storage because starch is like a food to some insects, and they’ll chew right through cotton to get to it. [...] Never put them away in... [Read more]

I have always had an extremely hard time getting motivated to clean – to me it is such unrewarding work because while it looks sooooo great when done, it is soon destroyed by an 8 yr old boy who is a dirt and tiny pebble magnet, an 11 yr old girl who can’t put ANYTHING away, and 2 monster-sized dogs. Very frustrating to me. One of the things that really motivates me is reading about people who love housekeeping though, and one of those many people is a charming kickback from the 1950’s – sort of – Brini Maxwell. Well, let’s just say Brini isn’t your typical housekeeper, but what “she” does, she does with charm and grace and lots of humor.   She has a fantastic and bright and beautiful... [Read more]

I am Christina Jones, and am going to *try* to fill Maricar’s shoes at Keeping the Castle while Maricar is off on maternity leave – her son finally entered the world last weekend, and so she is bonding with him for a little while rather than focusing on keeping her castle for now.  Everyone is doing just great – congratulations Maricar and family!!! Just a bit about me for my first post here – I am a stay at home mother of 2 school aged children and “keeping the castle” has always been a major battle for me.  I am one of those folks who goes back and forth between being highly motivated and highly frustrated at cleaning.  I love home projects, but hate the day-to-day grind of maintenance, and this carries... [Read more]