Anyone else anxious for warmer temperatures, blue skies….and clothes on the line?

Me! Me! Me! Me!!

But I did put this last few week’s cold temperatures to work too.

One of my favorite household chores, if there is such a thing,  is laundry – and I’ve been saving energy this way ever since we were married  18 ½ years ago.  It’s great for the clothes too, they last so much longer. Believe it or not, we’re still using the towels we got for wedding gifts, and they don’t show much wear at all.  I’ll wager they still have another 20 years in them if I keep drying them on the line instead of in the dryer.

And last week,  the below zero temperatures were perfect for drying the rugs and jeans quickly over the heater vents.

I like to  line dry everything all year long. Only when I fall behind do I put the whites through the dryer. Or those few weeks in the fall and spring when it’s too cold to hang  things outside, but the heat doesn’t kick on enough inside – I’ve been known to use my dryer then.   Like this week. But we’re not complaining.  I was loving those high 40 degree temps this last couple days!  My windows were open!

I’m hopeful for sheets on the line outside by early next week.

This all goes well with the  ecomagination Challenge: Powering Your Home that GE is currently hosting. It’s an open call for fresh thinking on eco-home technology and innovations that can effectively harness renewable energy for the home. I know I have a lot of creative, clever and efficient readers that have some great ideas to share. Now’s the time!

I’ve been known to call myself the manager of our home, as I often liken the process of running it to the job I had managing a store years ago.  So much of what we do as managers of our home is finding ways to make it run more smoothly.  This challenge is about sharing those ideas on a larger scale. Make a difference!

Back to my own little part, to keep up with the laundry and be able to dry things on the racks – I do two loads per day (but not on Sunday)  I dry shirts on hangers in the laundry, pants on the drying rack in the upstairs bathroom, hand towels and the little boy’s trousers on the mitten drying rack (aka: IKEA kitchen towel drying rack – and those dry on there  swell too), and I have another mitten drying  rack in the form of a cord hanging from the ceiling that  I clip the freshly washed dishrags to.

Another bonus is that it all helps add just a little more moisture into our dry winters and helps us cut the energy on our humidifier.

Love that!

Along with the GE ecomagination Challenge, I also have a giveaway that I know you’ll like……

Giveaway Dates: 2/15 – 2/28/2011

Prize: Two $50 GE energy smart LED light bulbs that last 20 years and saves you $85 in energy cost. One given away per week of contest length.

How to win: Share with me what your energy use challenges at home are.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments
• You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

• This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
• Winners will be selected via random draw and will be notified by e-mail
• You’ll have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• The official rules are available here.

The small changes we’re making at home like unplugging unused appliances, washing clothes in cold water, hanging our sheets on the line and carpooling will make a world of difference in the future.

Because I was asked to do exactly that.  Are you curious yet?

My friends over at All Modern, who have a fabulous selection of modern furniture and home accessories, not to mention children’s items and baby gear, from many leading designers – asked me to pick out a gift for one lucky blog reader.  Part of CSN stores, All Modern is just one of over 260 retail sites that offer a diverse array of products from office furniture by Herman Miller to wall sconces by Murray Feiss.

I said Yeah!  I can pick out a gift!!!  I’m on it!!

And then I started looking around….

…… and I was distracted.   Hello, pretty Iittala bowl, you’d go perfectly in my kitchen!  And all your pretty friends would be welcome too!

Or – I bet my sister-in-law Sue would really enjoy this bowl. hee……..

I get distracted easily.

Back to the task at hand……

I felt pretty confident that a fair amount of my readers would benefit and enjoy a cute and functional new messenger diaper bag from Skip Hop ….

…. or some of the wonderful (aren’t those patterns divine?) baby accessories from Dwell Studios.

But that leaves out a large portion of my readers who are past their baby in the house years……

Back to the task,  I was distracted again……

Is that not the cutest money bank ever? I think Santa should bring that one for my Brian – don’t you?

*sigh*

Back to finding something that I think my readers would like……

Wouldn’t this wall sticker from Ferm Living look cool in my little boys room?

Ooops.  But they do have a wonderful selection of wallpaper and stickers for every room!

I pretty much decided that I love all things Ferm LIVING and I felt pretty confident that most of my readers would too……

But I still wasn’t sure it would envelope all of you….. I’ve got readers ages preteen right up to the 80′s and 90′s.  And I want it to be something that each one of you would be interested in.

So maybe something more, more ……

Vasey?  Everyone needs a vase, right – and I happen to love this one.  But then, I thought, if Dina was to win – she would surely pick this one.

Well then – perhaps something even more across the board……

A cheese slicer? This brings me right back to my days in Finland – in fact, a lot of the items on the site do.

After days of searching for just the right gift – I gave up.
I did.

I emailed my friend at Modern Living and I said – this is just too hard.  Is it possible for the winner to pick out their own gift?

And you know what the answer was?

The answer was Yes.

So here’s the deal and the details.

• This particular contest is open to my US Readers only – this is due to shipping tariffs and other international fees – as the gift will be shipped directly from All Modern.
• I will close this drawing next Monday morning – August 10th – when I wake up and get moving
• To enter – choose one single item under $75 from All Modern, and post it in the comments on this entry (linking directly to the item is fine)
• One Winner will be selected using the Random Integer Generator
• One entry per person

And here’s a little shopping tip…….

When I was shopping for a gift, and looking for something under the $75 price point – I found it easiest if I clicked on a category or designer – and then went to that little browse view box there in the middle

And I chose the View By Price: Low-High option, followed by a click of the Go! button.

Handy dandy and orderly in my brain.

So pick out something for yourself
or something for your honey
or knock something off your holiday list
or maybe for an upcoming wedding

or if you’re really struggling – you can pick out something for me, like that bowl on the top …….  just sayin’……..

have fun!!

ps. please return to this page to leave your comment and be entered in the drawing.  Thank you!