Seasonal Decorating Tips
November 13, 2009 by Kathy Zengolewicz
Filed under General Housekeeping and Homemaking, Home Decor, home projects
Are you thinking of redecorating or just freshening up your home for the holidays? I have a few tips that may help. No one has a lot of money to spend at this time of year, so let’s look at some practical solutions available for the least amount of spending cash.
Changing your curtains or getting a new window treatment can completely change the look of a room. It doesn’t matter whether you choose sheer curtains, heavy draperies or a sheer curtain with an over drape. Window treatments express your style and also provide privacy. You can choose anything from a …read more
Give that Bedroom a Face Lift
November 11, 2009 by Kathy Zengolewicz
Filed under Bedroom, Home Decor, Home Making
Do you have a bedroom that is in dire need of change or face lift? If so, I have a few ideas that may help. There never seems to be enough money to do exactly what we want to do, so I tried to keep these ideas as inexpensive as possible.
Hang a quilt on the wall behind your headboard. It’s a simple step that looks great. You don’t have to match the quilt with your bedspread, but do keep the same color scheme.
Mix and match some pillows to brighten up the room. Your décor should express your personality so find a …read more
October Highlights at Keeping the Castle
October 31, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Castle News and Chit Chat, General Housekeeping and Homemaking
It’s the end of another month and so once again I have put together a list of this month’s articles for easy access. I tried putting them into categories, but some of the categories overlapped a little. I hope this helps to find what you need or missed this month.
Food, Cooking, and Holidays:
Cooking with a Little This and That
10 Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Your Last Minute Stop for Halloween Ideas
17 Halloween Cupcake Ideas
20 Pumpkin Inspired Recipes
Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner
30 Fall Inspired Desserts and Treats
Organization and Declutering:
Do You Have an All or Nothing Attitude
Tips to Get Your Organization …read more
Tips to Get Your Organization Started
October 29, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under General Housekeeping and Homemaking, Organizing and Clutter Control
Some people have an all or nothing attitude. They feel that if their house can’t be perfectly clean and organized, then there’s no sense in trying. Rather than taking the clutter one pile at a time, they let it pile up and overwhelm them. As promised, here are some tips for tackling the clutter.
1. Commit to 15 minutes. Set the timer for 15 minutes and commit to work for that amount of time. Give yourself permission to stop working when the timer buzzes. This will help get you started and the time you’re working doesn’t seem so overwhelming. This way …read more
Tips for Completing Dreaded Chores
October 20, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Cleaning, General Housekeeping and Homemaking
There is a pile of ironing sitting in my laundry room. It’s getting bigger and it feels like a huge weight each time I see it seeing there. The problem is, I absolutely cannot stand to iron. I think I would rather clean all of the bathrooms than iron.
Each of us has a certain chore that we just don’t like to do. This has me thinking of some tips to help us accomplish these dreaded chores. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll get to put these tips to use.
1) Reward yourself. Tell yourself that after your chore is completed, you’ll do something nice …read more
How to Keep Your Carpet Smelling Fresh
October 17, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Cleaning, General Housekeeping and Homemaking
If you have carpet in your home, it will take a little work to keep it clean. Here are some tips for keeping your carpet smelling fresh.
1) Take off your shoes when you come into the house. Your shoes have dirt, leaves, and germs from other places you have been.
2) Have your carpets cleaned a few times each year. You can do this yourself if you have a steam cleaner or you can rent a machine for about $30-40 per day. If you’re able to, you can hire a professional to clean the carpets.
3) Keep a rug over high traffic …read more
Links I’m Enjoying
October 13, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Homemaking Blogs and Websites
I’ve been browsing around the internet today. Thought you might enjoy these too. :)
Landlord Ed Peirce refused to evict his tenants. Instead, he got a job. This is a beautiful story of kindness and mercy.
This chicken tenders picadillo sounds yummy and simple. I might give this recipe a try some time soon.
I’ve had fruit pizza before and now I have the recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. The pictures make the pizza look too pretty to eat.
To get educated about tea shopping, check out these 10 healing herbs used in teas.
Some days I can get a lot done and …read more
September Highlights at Keeping the Castle
September 30, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Castle News and Chit Chat, General Housekeeping and Homemaking
Each month, I try to make a list of articles from the month. I don’t include articles with tips that have expired, such as giveaways. My hope is that this will provide you with an easy list/table of contents to the articles from the month and it will help you to see if there’s anything you missed that you would like to read.
Switching Over to Cloth Napkins
Finding a Closet Organization System
10 Ways to Decorate with Gourds & Pumpkins
30 Creative Cake and Cupcake Ideas
5 Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen
My Ongoing Yard Sale Pile
Recipes from Quaker Maid
Crock Pot Shredded Mexican Beef Recipe
Fantastic …read more
5 Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen
September 25, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Organizing and Clutter Control
Kitchens tend to be a dumping ground for everything. We walk in the door and drop our keys, purse, mail, and shopping bags on the counter. We put away the groceries and somewhere in our subconsciousness find it ok to leave the mail there. Next thing we know, we have a few little items scattered throughout the room.
I am guilty of disorganization in my kitchen. I am trying to get better though. Here are a few kitchen organizing tips.
1) Put things away when you’re done using them. If we did this with everything our lives would be so much cleaner …read more
Fantastic Cleaning with Fantastik Cleaner
September 21, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Cleaning, General Housekeeping and Homemaking
It seemed that no matter how careful I was while cooking, I still had issues with food and grease getting stuck to my stove top. I would wipe the stove, let the hot wash rag sit on the stains, add dishwashing liquid, and some other cleaners, but I could not get it cleaned properly. After complaining to my mom about the stuck on grease and food on my stove top, she suggested that I try Fantastik cleaner.
This is a picture of my stove top with the burners removed. Although this picture does not show all of the mess, you can …read more






