Aprons Gone Wild

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

Please go away and come again some other day. I'm sick of you!! I know we need the rain for the lawn and the flowers and all that, but I need some sunshine. The sky is so gloomy and cloudy. Everything outside is wet...the picnic table, the chairs, the grill, the benches. Even the flowers are wet. I brought in a bouquet of lilacs yesterday to put in the guest rooms for our daughter and a friend who were visiting. Had to dry them out with paper towels before I could even arrange them.

We had a wonderful dinner last night. Mashed potatoes, London Broil, baked beans and a big salad. Sometimes, the simplest menu is the best menu. Topped it off with a carrot cake. My stomach still felt full when I woke up this morning.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately and therefore haven't been doing much sewing. So, I'm going to share some cleaning tips. We use a several products here that aren't well known. Three of them have been recommendations by friends who watch the Home Shopping Network and QVC. Since we're all supposedly trying to eliminate use of potentially toxic cleaning products, I can highly recommend "Supercloths." They are made in Italy and are available on QVC or directly on the Internet. Supercloth is an ecological suede like cloth that can be used on any surface from windows to floors. Just wet the cloth with tap water and wipe down the surface. The shammy like quality of the cloth creates a sort of "drag" that not only cleans the surface but dries it to a shine. Supercloths come in sets of 3. I keep one for the bathrooms, one for glass and appliances and one for wood surfaces. They seem to last much longer than the 4 months they claim on the package. Matter of fact, I've kept my original order for several years now, even though I did re-order one more shipment of new ones last fall. You do not need to use any cleaning solutions, sprays or powders with Supercloth. Just tap water and that's it.

My next favorite thing is "Pro Shot Floor Restorer." This stuff will take your wood floors to a new level. I don't know how it works but when our friend Robin comes to clean, I am always in awe when I return home and she has done the floors with Pro Shot. Somehow, it doesn't leave any build-up and it makes your floors absolutely glow. Robin gets Pro Shot on one of the home shopping channels, but I've noticed you can buy it directly online from several sites.

My third favorite thing is my Joy Mangano "Huggable Hangers." These hangers are very thin and have a velvety covering, so nothing slips or slides. Your blouses, shirts, t-tops, even lingerie stays right where you put it. Plus, the thin profile of the hangers doubles the amount of clothing you can put in your closet. Recently, I've seen copies of the original Joy Mangano hangers in stores like Home Goods and TJ Maxx. They aren't quite as well made, but the difference in price makes them well worth the purchase. I've given all our plastic hangers to Goodwill and we now have Huggable Hangers exclusively in our closets. They are that good.

It's still raining. So, I will take my Supercloths and do some cleaning and afterward I'll get out the ironing board and iron some shirts and hang them on my Huggable Hangers. The Pro Shot floor job will have to wait for a nicer day.

Check out our etsy shop at www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com for some really pretty aprons and tops for the summer.