The Mystery of CFL Bulbs

I have finally found the right CFL Bulbs for my ceiling fans after 4 years of looking. They now have them in dimmable - perfect for the ceiling fans! (regular CFL's dont work in ceiling fans) 4 years ago when we first moved into this house I knew we would have a lot of lights, and I knew it would be most sensible to change a lot of the bulbs to CFL.

But I hate the cold light that they emanate! I've been a big fan of the reveal bulbs until now. I actually took Every.Different.Kind of CFL lightbulb and tried them in the house when we moved in - Daylight, cool white, etc. And they were all too cold looking. But I have finally found one with "warm" light - its SOFT WHITE. I put them in my lamps and they actually emanate a warm light! I'm sure I tried soft white 4 yrs ago, but its so much better now!

So save yourself all the hassle that I went through - SOFT WHITE. You can find the dimmable bulbs at your local Lowe's for 5.98 (although they do sell a name brand one for 14 dollars each - ouch). The other nice thing is that in the living spaces we were able to put two 100watt CFL bulbs in, the limit for ceiling fans is 60watt, so it definitely brightened up the space in our living areas as well as the bedrooms.

Scrapbooking Paper Chore Charts

I hope you all have had a great summer! My kids went back to school today so I'm looking forward to blogging more and working on some projects. It was an eventful summer, my oldest son spent most of his summer in a cast up to his armpit when he broke his arm the day before 4th of July. Completely snapped off both bones in his forearm. Guess he won't be showing off on the swings anymore. :) Needless to say we've had our good share of follow-up appointments with the orthopedic surgeon. He gets the cast off hopefully in 2 more weeks. We also took a trip up to Fresno to visit family and spent 2 weeks in San Diego. I did these chore charts just in time for school to start.

I wanted to use clipboards for some chore charts, but they were all so bland and boring. I wanted something with some pattern. I picked up the clipboards at Office Depot; they came in a 3 pack for $4.99.

I have a stash (like we all do) of 12x12 scrapbook paper. I cut it to size and then took the remnants to fill in the top of the clipboard.

Then I used mod podge on the face of the clipboard and then I brushed it on the top of the paper as well. I chose the polka dots for my 2 younger boys, and my oldest chose the Christmas paper - not what I expected him to pick but hey, its his clipboard.

I hung them up with just a nail, plus I wrote their names on the metal with a sharpie. They get to use those multi-color foil stars that we all had growing up. I found them at the Dollar Tree- not bad for almost 400 stickers.

Here's more of a close-up of their chore chart. I know its hard to see, but I'll name the chores from top to bottom: Make Bed, Dirty Clothes in Hamper, Morning Prayers, Comb Hair, Brush Teeth AM, Light off before school, 30 min Reading, Homework Done, Daily chore: Trash or Dishwasher, Brush teeth PM, Toys put away Before Bedtime, and Prayers before Bed. Along the top is a square for all 7 days of the week.

I created it in Excel, if you want a copy of it so you can personalize your chores as well, send me an email at slcstengel@gmail.com. I'll email you the document. :)