I know I have talked about this before

But it's worth mentioning again. I love Real Simple magazine. Vicki gave me a subscription for Christmas and the day I run out and find it crumpled in my mailbox is the happiest day of each month.

The reason I am getting so enthusiastic all over again is because I accomplished these two ridiculous feats today, with assistance from this magazine:

1) cooked a gourmet dinner in 13 minutes

2) cleaned my whole house with a few squirts of castille soap, a cup of baking soda, and a little bit of borax.
(I really mean my whole house. Sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, floors, counters, stovetops, you name it. I did it all)

I am ceaselessly impressed with how practical every single bit of information in this little periodical can be. It is literally like a guidebook to life, or at least to being a really great housewife.

This month was especially helpful to me because of the cleaning tips (see above, no. 2). I haven't been able to clean my entire house in 5 months because of baby. It has been Matt's responsibility to clean the bathrooms and the sinks. This is fine, except that it frustrates me each week to clean the whole house and leave something dirty. Also, I don't feel too great about having chemicals in my house that are so toxic I can't breathe them in while pregnant.

This fact, and my desire to be more environmentally friendly, has had me rethinking my cleaning routines. So when this month's big story was about how to clean your house using simple, non-toxic household products, I was pretty thrilled. Between the three things I listed above, a couple lemons, salt, and a bottle of vinegar, you can clean everything in your entire house.

I just like the idea of using natural products, and not having to worry about my baby getting into a bunch of chemicals. Today was kind of a test run to see if this would be doable, and I am pleased with the results (my house smells like an orange tree instead of pine and alcohol).