Category / shampoo

Closet with hanging shirts, shoe rack, storage bins, and step stool in a bedroom
by Kelly Mattei

New Apartment? You Might Need These

New apartment? You might need these…

My daughter is moving into a new apartment. She had an apartment in college, but this is her first apartment post-college, and she’ll be in New York, where space is limited. She is excited, and so am I, but there are some things we decided she would need that she didn’t need at a college apartment.

  • Countertop nugget ice maker. The refrigerator in her new apartment doesn’t have an ice maker, and ice trays take too long to actually make ice. Therefore, we got her a countertop nugget ice maker. It makes ice in 5-7 minutes, and it’s pretty compact, so it doesn’t take up a lot of counter space. It would be great in any apartment or at the bar in any home, if you don’t have a built-in ice maker. Or maybe you just like nugget ice in your beverages? Purchase here.
  • Windowless Portable Air Cooler. Running an air conditioner can be expensive. I know that for sure, because our power bill quadruples in July and August in North Carolina. Even New York summers are hot, so I got a windowless portable air cooler for her room. She is accustomed to sleeping in our cold house at night, so she can run the air cooler at night to keep the power bill from escalating. The one we got doesn’t require a window tube, hence the word “windowless,” and it’s supposed to drop the temperature anywhere from 5 degrees to 16 degrees in a small room. We got here from Amazon here.
  • Shoe racks. A friend gave us her daughter’s stackable wood shoe racks to put in the bottom of a closet. Before, when our daughter was in college, she had an over-the-door shoe hanger but didn’t use it like she should have. Because she likes to keep the shoes in the bottom of her closet, I’m hoping this will work better. Purchase some similar to the ones we have here.
  • Towel/linens storage. In her college apartment, she had plenty of room and had her own bathroom. Towels could be stored there, and linens could be stored in her huge walk-in closet. Fast forward to her NY apartment, and she is sharing a bathroom with a roommate and has a much smaller closet. Therefore, she needs a place to store those items. We opted for a wicker hamper that will fit inside one end of her closet. She will actually have two hampers: one for dirty laundry and another for the towels/linens…one at each end of the closet. We found a great deal on Amazon here.
  • Tension closet rod. Because she has only one closet, and it it only has one long bar in it, we decided to purchase a tension closet rod, so she will be able to hang more clothes, even if it’s just a lower rod for hanging pants. That will free up some space on the other rod. We found a great one on Amazon. You can see it and purchase here.
  • Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtains. These are great for so many reasons. First, the obvious: they block sunlight when you don’t want it. But also, they block some noise and provide some level of insulation, trapping air between the curtain and the window to help maintain desired temperature in the room. We are big fans of blackout curtains, and my daughter loved the ones she had in her college apartment. Unfortunately, they are too long for her new apartment, so we ordered new ones. We need to just cover the window, because the air conditioning unit is below the window, and we definitely don’t want to cover that! We purchased these.
  • Clothes Drying rack. Some clothes just don’t need to go in the dryer: workout clothes, cottons, etc. And some clothes can be handwashed in the sink and hung to dry…like underwear, swimsuits, and lightweight blouses. Therefore, we got our girl a drying rack. There are different kinds. Some people prefer the tripod version while others prefer the standard ones. Get a tripod drying rack from Amazon here. Or get a standard, folding drying rack here.
  • Folding step stool. Because our daughter is only about 5’5″, we knew she would need a step stool to reach the upper shelf in her closet. Therefore, we got her a folding step stool. It will come in handy when she needs to stack sweaters or whatever she wants to put up there. Purchase here.

We will be moving her into the apartment in two days. I’m sure, as we go, I will come up with more items we need, and I will share with you!

***As an Amazon affiliate, I receive commission on items purchased through my links.***

Mermaid with green hair and scaled tail swimming over coral reef with various fish
by Kelly Mattei

Birthday Trip Souvenir

Birthday Trip Souvenir

I returned home yesterday from a lovely week in the Bahamas with my family. We had a great time celebrating my husband’s 60th birthday. 60! It’s hard to believe, but he is, indeed, 60 years old…or young, however you want to look at it.

I might be the only one from the trip who brought home a souvenir…green hair. Yes, you read it right…green hair.

While we were there, we swam in the Sea of Abaco. We swam in pools. We visited different islands. We rode in the boat. We ate too much. We stayed up late at night talking, drinking, and laughing. And on Thursday before we returned home on Saturday, I spent some time swimming in a pool at a resort on one of the islands. We all swam in it, but I’m the only one who came home with green hair.

Frankly, if anyone had to come home with green hair, I’m glad it was me. My 22-yr-old daughter would have been horrified. Let it be me. At 58 (I’ll be 59 Wednesday!), I didn’t really care all that much that my hair had a green tint. In fact, I was a little amused by what I called my “mermaid hair.”

However, no matter what you call it, it is not attractive. It was mostly on the ends and in one section of my hair. I say “was,” because I have already remedied the situation. I searched all over the internet for the best solution, and I read that ketchup is the way to go. My brother dates a lovely woman who is a hairdresser, so I confirmed it with her before I saturated my hair in cheap ketchup from Publix. The red color and acid in the ketchup is supposed to counteract the green color from the copper/chlorine. This afternoon, I got to work. I put on a button-up shirt I was willing to part with, and I saturated my hair in ketchup and waited 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I washed my hair.

As soon as I realized I had green hair, I placed an order on Amazon for a special shampoo called Malibu C Swimmers Wellness Clarifying Shampoo for Chlorine and Hair Build Up, and that’s what I used to remove the ketchup from my hair. Just as I had been told, it worked. So if you ever find yourself or your child in a similar predicament, I highly recommend ketchup, followed by the Malibu C shampoo.

If you’d like to keep it on hand this summer when your kids are spending lots of time in swimming pools, you can get it from Amazon here. I purchased the large bottle, because we have a pool at home, and since I wash my hair regularly anyway, I might as well use this fantastic shampoo. It smells great and made my hair super soft.

Next time I go to the Bahamas, I hope I will return with a better souvenir.

***As an Amazon associate, I earn commissions for items purchased through my links.***