And this bedroom fit for a princess?! Amazing! Again a window seat and rich, crushed rose velvet. Divine, indeed!

But a while ago, on another one of those crafty blog things that I read, I saw someone actually clean a porcelain sink. I mean, it was gorgeous. Spotless. Like it was completely brand new. And I wanted it! Only problem was, I forgot what blog I read it on and what toxic concoction they used to make it so sparkly. **major sad face**

FF to today. I was at Target getting a mouthpiece for me to sleep in (I've been having wicked headaches... I think because I'm grining my teeth. I've been a little stressed lately, to say the least, and my body is telling me to chill out!), and I came across this:

Bar Keepers Friend. Now, this may be old news to some of you late-night establishment savvy people. I, however, have never been a bar keeper. In fact, I think I've only been to one or two bars my entire life. And neither of those visits included inquiring about the bar keeper's cleaning habits. So I've never heard of this stuff. The label says that it will polish porcelain, so I figured I'd give it a shot. So, I took it home, and before I even changed out of my work clothes (which, ok I admit, weren't that fancy--today was jean day) I had sprinkled this stuff on the sink. I let it sit for a few minutes while I boiled the mouthguard and shaped it to my teeth. (Only problem is, I don't think I did it right... boo.) After I had finished that, I went to work scrubbing my sink. I have to tell ya, I was skeptical. I mean, just take a look at the before picture of my sink:

And this was even after I cleaned it with my weaksauce, environmentally friendly kitchen cleaning spray. Meaning, this is the cleanest its been in the two years we've lived here. Can you see what I'm dealing with here, folks? Do you see why I've been hating this thing?!? So like I said, I sprinkled the stuff on and let it sit. Now, keep in mind, this stuff is probably highly toxic. Don't eat it, drink it, or otherwise consume it. It is, afterall, cleaning away embedded metal stains on porcelain. But there are some things that vinegar and vodka alone cannot handle. And this sink is one of those things. The directions say to only let it sit for a minute, but by the time I was finished with my mouthguard, it's been more like 5 minutes. SO, I grabbed a washcloth and began to scrub with all my might. After about 10 minutes of the 'scrub n rinse' routine, I stood back and admired my work. It. was. beautiful. I love this stuff!!! Just see for yourself:

GORGEOUS, no? There are even a few spots that I could probably spend a little more time on to get it even WHITER. Did you hear that?! WHITER!!!!!! I'm a Southern girl at heart and I LOVE my whites to be really white so this is fantastic! In fact, I find myself sneaking a peek at my white sink every time I walk into the kitchen now!! Let's review one more time:

Its seems to be ATR (all the rage) these days, and I keep reading it over and over on all these crafty home blogs I read: simplify. simplify, simplify, simplify. Hm. Sounds like a great idea. Over the past six years Sean and I have been married, we've accumulated a lot of crap. And actually, some of the crap we still have is crap that we should have thrown away before we ever joined our hands in marriage. But at the time, I couldn't bear to part with them (photos, journals, trinkets, frames, CRAP) so we've just kept it all. And moved said crap more than 7 times. Hm. Friends, its time to decrapify. I've read all the blogs about how to do it, tips on where to put things, what to do with it to get rid of it, etc.... but the bottom line is, I just need to start tossing stuff.

In college, I would clean my entire dorm room before I could effectively study. Nowadays, I just get stressed out if the house is a mess for too long. And I've reached that point. Too much crap. So now here is the big question: to garage sale or not. Keep in mind, California is hot in the summertime. Its hot in the Fall and in the Spring, too. But especially the summer. So would it really be worth it? Even just $50 made at a garage sale would be more than we started with.... but again, would it really be worth it?

What are your thoughts? Is a small amount of money, say under $100 really worth days worth of sorting and setting up, then sitting out and sweating, followed by cleaning up and dumping? Or should I just get it over with and give it all to Goodwill?

PS- I apologize for the overuse of the word crap. But if you looked inside my cabinets and drawers, I promise, that'd be the mildest word for the masses accumulating there. :-)