Cleaning

Summer Help

mildlygranola1 Comment

I had the best morning. It was amazing. I’m riding high from the fun I had.

What did I do? I cleaned my house.

Why was that fun? Because my kids weren’t here.

I hired my niece to watch the kids a few hours a week this summer. It was her first day today. I knew it would be great, but I had no idea how fabulous it would be. After she got her we packed up the stroller and swim gear. They walked to the wading pool. I came inside, loaded up a new playlist and got to work cleaning.

The playlist was created by my best friend from high school. We caught up earlier this year when he was back in our hometown visiting from Australia (where he is a professor at Australia National University). He has always been someone who brings me joy. He is funny and kind and full of great information. He excels at pointing me towards new music. It started with mixed tapes, moved to mixed CDs, and very recently moved to a playlist on Spotify. The playlist is filled with enjoyable songs that made cleaning more enjoyable. It also made me feel hip – my usual cleaning music is Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kenny Rogers.

I’m not a person who enjoys cleaning, but without kids underfoot it becomes cathartic. I have never been so pleased with a clean kitchen floor.

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I am sad to report that the floor is no longer spotless. Living with two toddlers and a large dog makes it impossible to keep a floor white for long.

I was so energized from two kid free morning hours I was inspired to create a fun lunch. I hadn’t made English muffin pizzas since college, but we had all of the ingredients in the house. I was reaching in the cheese drawer for some Havarti and discovered a ball of fresh mozzarella I forgot that we had. What resulted is the fanciest English muffin pizzas I’ve ever made.

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In addition to getting a lot done and having some kid free time, I’m thrilled that my kids will have lots of time with their cousin.

I’m probably not going to clean every time she watches them. I’m excited to see all that I can get done with that time. What would you do if you were give two hours without responsibilities?

Sandal Disaster

mildlygranola, , 2 Comments

Just last week I was telling you how much I love my Chacos. They are so comfortable and supportive I wear them every day.

Because I wear them every day they were in the line of spatter when Elliot was puking this weekend. I wiped them off and they looked OK. And then they started to smell. Like puke. All day long I could smell it.

I needed to clean them, but I had no idea how to do it.

National Margarita Day

I did what I always do when I have something I don’t know how to clean. I checked with Jillee. Would you believe she doesn’t have a section for removing puke scent from sandals?

When my Jillee search came up short I decided to try my go to technique when an item of clothing is in need of serious help – OxiClean. I soaked them in a bucket of OxiClean for a few hours and then rinsed them. They came out looking new. I would have taken before pictures so you could see their shocking transformation, but I didn’t know I would be cleaning them until they were covered with vomit, so I opted to skip that step.

I’m sure I’ll be washing my sandals again, but I hope it is never again for the same reason. Now that I know how dirty they were, even before the Elliot incident, I’m pretty grossed out that I was wearing them. I often fail to see the filth on the items I use every day. Please tell me that happens to you too.