5 Uses for Flour Sack Cloth Towels

Sometimes when I really stop to think, I can't believe the things that I get excited about these days. Getting married, having kids, owning a home. All these things definitely change a girl.

 Like the hardwood floor vacuum we found on Amazon.

Or finishing folding all the laundry and getting to put the empty baskets back into each room.

Or actually getting dressed and ready for the day before 11 am.

Life has really changed my perspective on what I consider to be pretty awesome. And one silly little thing that I continually enjoy very thoroughly are these flour sack cloth towels.

So much so that I am indeed going to write a post about them. Maybe you will get just as excited and then I won't feel so strange.

The best news about these little lovelies is that they cost about $1 a piece (WalMart), and they have so many uses. Some are pretty duh, but some I have found to be quite fantastic. So here are five things you can do with flour sack cloth towels.

1) You can use them as towels. Obviously. But they are perfect for covering rising bread. Maybe I just think this because my mom always used tea towels to cover rolls, etc. But they are so lightweight and sometimes I think a heavy towel will actually stifle my rising bread. Is that crazy?

2) They are great for cleaning. They are so soft and wipe mirrors so nicely. Another silly thing I love. Really clean mirrors with no streaks and no cleaning rag fuzz.

3) Cloth diapering. They make perfect flat diapers that can be folded into any size. And they are so easy to wash and dry, so they take less energy than bulkier prefold diapers. And I keep a couple in the car as diaper emergency back up. Which will be nice when I have two babies because then I don't need to keep multiple sizes in the car.

4) I cut them into smaller pieces and use them for staining furniture. They are the perfect texture for wiping stain and they're so cheap that I don't mind just throwing away a chunk of a towel after I use it. Then I don't have to worry about washing oily, stain coated rags. I'm not very crafty but I'd imagine they'd have a lot of other "craft" related uses as well.

5) I use them as a "cutting board". I hate when I have to chop nuts or chocolate chips or something and they fly off the board while I'm cutting. But I also hate using my giant cutting board because it's so hard to clean in my sink. So I cut things on the towel. It's also amazing for cutting bread. It contains all the crumbs and then you just shake it out. And when you keep it folded several times it's thick enough to protect your counter.


I hope you've been as inspired as I am by these simple towels. They just might change your life the way they have mine! It's all about the little things, right?

10 Months Old

I made myself a liar and promised pictures in the 9 month post but did not deliver. So here's a quick summary of the past month followed by many, many pictures from the past two!

Our little guy is a crawling maniac and can get from one end of the room to the other in about half a second it seems.
He can stand on his own when properly motivated, and walks holding onto everything. He can pull himself up onto just about anything as well, including our legs constantly.
He loves the sunshine and being outside. Whenever there is sun streaming in through a window onto the floor or the bed he tries to "pick it up" and acts like he is putting it in his mouth to eat. It's so sweet.
He is starting to eat real table food now, and loves to feed himself. The only thing he will even try to drink from a cup is orange juice or grapefruit juice.
He has six little teeth, four on top and two on bottom, and he loves to grind them together. It gives me the chills to hear that awful noise though!!
He absolutely loves to be read to. I thought he liked his books before, but in the last few weeks he has become absolutely obsessed. He will sit for an hour at a time and let me read all his books two or three times over. He gets excited about the same pictures each time, and talks more than any other time when we're reading.
He is just so smart. Every day we just can't believe how smart he is. He is an amazing problem solver, and doesn't let himself get distracted from something that he is working on getting or doing.
He is a joy to be around and all my primary kids adore him. He lets them hold him all through sharing time on Sunday and is just as content as can be.
He plays great with other babies too. We went to La Leche League last week and he was a little hesitant at first to join all the kids on the floor with the toys. But after about two minutes he was hauling across the room and was so excited about all his new friends.
He is 23 pounds now and I think he's about 29" long. I can tell he's really wanting to have his carseat turned to front facing, but we're keeping it rear facing until at least a year and we'll try to go as long as we can after that, but he's just too big!

No man is an island

We have the smallest kitchen in the world. I had dollhouses with more counter space than we have right now. The solution? A portable kitchen island. We ordered it online and waited anxiously for the day of arrival.

This is what we found waiting for us on the porch one day after work



















This is what was inside














These were the rocket scientist instructions














Two hours later it started to resemble something useful














After screwing on hinges, drawer tracks, and spice racks, it's done! And Pip approved.














Beautiful wonderful coveted counter space!!!














A whole dinner prepared on one counter top. All of my dreams have officially come true.

Attempts to decorate a basement

Austin and I live in a very small basement. It's the reality of being poor students. Several weeks ago the word "dungeon" was coming to mind more and more each time I walked through our front door. So I decided to do something to brighten up our humble home.

Wooden letters to remind us to have a little more of this














Some cheery canvases














Empty picture frames always make me happy
















As does our brightly colored bedding














And finally, some wedding pictures up on the wall. Mod podge canvas versions of them.

1) A Pottery Barn House

One habit I have is going through every Pottery Barn magazine that I get (which is a lot because we registered there) and tearing out the pages of things I love. Rooms, curtains, furniture, lighting, etc. I have a huge file with ideas for my house, which I plan to be shabby chic with a little bit of southern country mixed in. This is one of my absolute favorite ideas.
















I picture this next to our mud room, where our kids have their own little spot to keep permission slips and homework and to post their little achievements in school.

This is another of my favorites. I would love to have a dining room this cozy and inviting. I can just imagine sitting around with our cute family on a Saturday morning in our pajamas eating breakfast at this table.














And this is my dream bedroom. I think this is the most incredible color combination. It's like Fall, my favorite season, but so bright and cheery that I would love it year round. I'm in love with the orange accents.