Mackinaw Road Mondays: Attempting A Clean and Cozy Home

Hello and Happy Monday! Welcome to Mackinaw Road Mondays where we cover five topics. I hope this finds you all healthy! This week I’m focused on keeping our home cozy and clean! Or at least doing minor things in an attempt to- haha 😉

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A sweet friend told me last week about how you can force bloom Forsythia’s. The best part is that it’s a totally free thing that you can do while you stay home. I’m not entirely sure that I did this correctly, but I just went out and clipped some stems to bring inside. I split the stems about a quarter of an inch from the bottom, trimmed the buds on the bottom so that there weren’t any buds in the actual water, filled a vase with warm water and placed the buds inside. I move them from our sunny spot in the kitchen in the morning to the mantle at night. Honestly, even if they don’t bloom, I love the branches and buds just as they are!

One way to support small businesses during this time is to shop online. I love The Counting House here in Grand Rapids- there are so many lovely and cozy items to choose from! (You can glimpse past purchases here and here.) You can reach out to the owner through Instagram and she will ship to you! A tea mug and/or canister would be a great gift for a friend or family member who is on the front lines helping during the pandemic.

This isn’t exactly about keeping the house cozy as much as it is keeping me cozy while I attempt a semi-picked up house. I have been living in my road tripper jeggings. Ironic, I know. My particular pair is sold out, but these are similar. I spoke about them in this post, and they have become my homeschool uniform. They are easy to move and relax in (think driveway basketball followed by reading time). I often pair them with my half-zip fleece (you can find a similar one here), which is so warm and perfect for layering.

I don’t think I’ve been so excited to see a box of cleaning supplies show up at our house than I was to see our Grove Collaborative box that I had ordered a few weeks ago. After looking at the obvious online stores, at the grocery store, etc. to find very limited-to-no toilet paper, I thought that I’d give Grove Collaborative a try. I had been wanting to try their service for awhile. Since they already carry so many products I love, now seemed like as good of a time as any to give it a shot. And they had toilet paper! Yay!! Did you know that theirs is made from bamboo, which regenerates after it has been cut and can be cut every 3 months!?! Not only did we get that though, there was also a caddy and a bunch of really good smelling cleaning products. They even had my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s Radish scent. It sounds strange, I know. But I love it. Okay… that just sounded like an infomercial- haha! In case you couldn’t tell, I really do love their products!

We recently purchased a cordless vacuum. Actually, I purchased it for myself for quick daily clean ups. And then everyone wanted to use it! You read that correctly, there were actual arguments about who got to use the cordless vacuum! Well… that phase has quickly passed (lol!), but I do love how easy it is for the kids to use to quickly clean up the dirt that keeps getting tracked in and out of the house during our three daily recesses 😉 (We must have an older version, but you can find what looks to be a newer version here.)

That’s it for now! Time to turn my laptop back over to the kids in the name of education 🙂