Green Cleaning

I stumbled on a book that I thought would finally give me concise instructions on the cleaning philosophy that I more or less have (unsuccessfully) tried to live by for the last few years. Green Clean (with its water and stain resistant recycled plastic pages) comes close. Time will tell if the suggestions in the book will live up to my expectations. So far, despite my complaints, I'm impressed.

First the pros: incredibly useful recipes for dozens of cleaners, from dish soap to bathroom de-scummer to brass cleaner. Most of the ingredients are easy to come by and mix and have an indefinite shelf life. Many of them use one or a combination of only a few fundamental things: club soda, white vinegar, borax, baking soda, and castile soap. I still haven't found castile soap and had to hunt a little for the borax (I expected it to be at Home Depot, but I found it at a Whole Foods) but everything seems incredibly versatile. The book also recommended Bon Ami for mild abrasion (so whoever suggested that as a solution for my sink should get a prize). So with this growing arsenal, I am ready:

In addition, there's a very thorough stain guide that lists natural ways to remove stains from clothing. Stains are listed alphabetically from Adhesive Tape Residue to Vomit. The authors discuss using acids and alkalines to counteract each other and goes step by step on every kind of nastiness imaginable. I haven't actually tried any treatments yet, but I like having this as a reference next time I spill something.

Now the bad things. My biggest complaint is the essentially useless index. Though the book is laid out well, it would be nice to have an index to turn to when I need to find something. I've searched for things twice now and haven't found what I needed until I started flipping page by page. Next, the authors include a section on plants that actually remove (absorb) harmful chemicals from the air, basically acting as purifiers. However, at least according to this site, all but one of them are toxic to pets (and the other one, spider plants, isn't toxic but does make your cat very high--as we learned from experience--and so will be eaten in a flash if its accessible). The pet section in general was weak, so I guess this is just not a very pet-friendly book. Finally, the book gets a little preachy and repetitive on clean living and eliminating hazardous chemical cleaners from your life, which seems a bit like preaching to the choir. I bought the book, obviously I want to clean green, so just shut up about it already and tell me what I need to do.

That said, I really hope I can use the ideas published in Green Clean to help me keep my house clean without at least what the book claims are the most toxic cleaning supplies: bleach, drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and chlorine-based bathroom cleaners. At the very least, my clothes will thank me--I am sick of getting a tiny splatter of Ajax or Tilex on my shirt only to be left with an ugly bleach spot.

I will pass on any of the tips in the book that I find especially useful and hope that you'll leave me some comments with your favorite "green cleaning" techniques too.

Wild winds wield wicked wallop

We have had (like much of the East Coast) a long spell of hot weather - more than 10 straight days of over 90 degree days. Along with the typical high humidity, it has been very unpleasant summer.

On Sunday, we finally got a break. While watching TV in the early afternoon we noticed it got very dark. Then some extremely violent winds swept through in a few minutes. Branches from our big old trees immediately decided that being on the ground was a good idea. The high winds and loud crashing noises led me to suggest that we mosey down to the basement. RIGHT NOW.

We sat down their for about 15 minutes until the winds died down, hoping our heavy and expensive slate roof tiles would stay intact. After waiting another 30 minutes to make sure the winds did not pick up again, I headed out to check our roof, cars, and yard. When I stepped outside I first was surprised by how cool it was outside. I estimate it dropped from around 100 degrees to 80 degrees in less an hour.

Our roof and cars appear to have escaped the attention large branches. After about an hour of collecting work I had this:

Three branches whose diameter was thicker than my thigh ended up on terra firma. Just small enough so I could corral them to the curb. I was thankful nothing larger came down. I managed to compress it into a smaller bunch on the curb:

Two trash cans are also in the picture. They are just engulfed by the branches. 

The next day (today), when I came home the curb was empty. Our town does have high taxes, but at least we get great service!

Another Trilogy

On this blog, I don't actually try to do things in threes, but it just seems to turn out that way, like here and here. And anyway, three is such a nice, neat little number. So today I have another triplet for you, this time, of companies that have gone out of their way to make us happy with our home-related products. Lately I've been amazed at how willing a store has been to stand by their product and offer us concessions when things have gone wrong. I think it's definitely worth clicking on the "contact us" link on a website and calling or emailing when something doesn't go right. You might not get anywhere, but then again, you might be surprised.

1. The first is a pet odor remover called Anti-Icky Poo that saved me a few years ago when one of our cats peed in my brand new car on the way to the vet. It has active bacteria and enzymes that eat away at the residue and actually remove the horrible horrible odor. Last October, one cat had an "accident" (at least that's what we're calling it, in the hopes that it wasn't deliberate) on our new blue rug. We applied Anti-Icky Poo--the same bottle we had kept for 4 years since the car incident. We thought it had worked but as our house started to warm up this spring, we started smelling pee again. So we removed the rug and the rug pad to the breeze-way and reapplied a large quantity of the stuff. It didn't work (we already knew from experience that standard stain/odor removers like Resolve don't do anything). Since Anti-Icky Poo contains living organisms, we figured that they had died and that the stuff was inactive, but we couldn't find an expiration date anywhere on the bottle. D called the company to ask and the woman explained that it was supposed to last for at least 5 years, and that since it had only been 4, they would take responsibility and send us a new bottle free of charge. Not only did they send us a new bottle, but they sent us a whole jug (the original, old stuff is on the left and the new one is on the right). Not bad, considering we spend $10 on this stuff 4 years ago. And even better--this time it actually worked!

2. The next success story is from Casabella, which makes a microfiber duster that we love. I accidentally snapped it in two when trying to shake out some of the water the first time I cleaned it. After sending a photo to Casabella, they sent us a new duster that was even better than the first, with an extension to reach above book shelves and clean lamps and ceiling fans!

3. Last is some impressive customer service from Crate and Barrel, after we noticed a deep split in our dining room table. We called the store we ordered it from (I think having ordered from a store instead of online gave us an edge, since we could talk to them instead of the random 1-800 people) and emailed them a photo of the crack. They agreed immediately to replace the table and scheduled delivery within the week. About a week later, we had a completely new table. I have no idea what would have happened if they did not stock the same model anymore, but hopefully we won't ever have to find out. The seams between the wood on our new table look a lot tighter than on the old one.

I'm really impressed that so many of these companies have been willing to stand by their products, even in a few cases (the cleaner and the duster) where it would have been easy to just tell us to suck it up and buy a new one. It cost us very little time and effort and we ended up with something that worked. Sometimes it's worth it to talk to someone and ask if there's anything they can do!

Fun in the Bedroom

Now, now, this is still a family-friend blog. Get your minds out of the gutter! I wanted to show you two things we've done to the bedroom this weekend.

First, we finally installed our wall vinyl! I have to admit that it was much harder than I thought and it wasn't until we were at least a half hour into the application when I had a "duh" moment and realized that I totally could have painted a branch and some birds onto the wall with no problem. But the vinyl is removable, if we decide we want to redecorate our room again soon, so that's nicer than paint, I guess. The problem was that the vinyl didn't really stick to the wall as we were pulling it from it's clear layer, even though we had washed the wall and let it dry. So we had to use a combination of a pocket knife and a flex blade made for spackling. There are no pictures because we were too busy holding up and cutting through huge swathes of plastic. I think the end product looks nice. We also scattered a few more bird vinyls around the bedroom.

Our second addition is this beautiful vanity that we found at a flea market on July 4. The colors look made for our room. I realized after we bought it, however, that it might not be practical, since I usually put my make-up on (when I put make-up on at all) standing up and in five minutes. I also have my make-up very organized and laid out so that I can see everything. That won't be possible with this piece, since the drawers are narrow and deep.

I'm now on a quest for drawer organizers to fit, since my old ones are too wide. The internal drawer dimensions are 7.75x13.25. I know this because I spent about an hour thoroughly scrubbing the gunky bottoms and laying down a layer of contact paper.

I think it's a big improvement to see pretty green flowers instead of ink, dried nail polish, and something that endlessly bled orange.

I will have to replace the chair at some point, too. It fits perfectly, but the wire feet are too strangely shaped to cover so we can adequately protect the floor. Right now we have them in little felt-bottomed bowls (made for that purpose), but they are slightly too big and they fall out easily when I try to push the chair in and out.

Summer in the USA

Thanks to D's family, we have joined the ranks of most suburban Americans and are now the happy owners of a grill! In this rare look at our back patio (our backyard is a mess, so I try not to photograph it too often), D and his brother are prepping it for its first BBQ.

 I was not familiar with this contraption they used, a chimney to concentrate the heat of the charcoals to get them lit and ready to grill more quickly. What they didn't know is that apparently using the chimney is not compatible with closing the lid, since the heat is so much more intense. So after its first hour in use, our grill ended up looking like this:

Not a pretty picture. D pointed out that now we will feel less bad keeping it out in the rain, having already destroyed its pretty looks. It's still perfectly functional and last night we enjoyed a lovely traditional Fourth of July cook-out:

And now we know what not to do if we ever upgrade to a nicer grill. I don't think we will switch to gas though--I love the smoky smell of something grilled on charcoal.

Another creature in our yard was enjoying a feast yesterday evening too. Our new butterfly bush, courtesy of my parents, has already flowered and at least one butterfly has discovered it. I hope it spreads the word: