Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Home Again...

~Home Sweet Home...
~Well...the time finally came. We headed back home last weekend. Weather on the space coast was still beautiful, but we could feel the heat looming. Once we had to close the doors and windows and run the noisy air conditioning, we were outa there! Packing up, cleaning, all that stuff was exhausting. Not sure what's wrong with us that we cart so much stuff back and forth every year.
~This trip we only stopped one night before we hit hubby's sister's house in NY. It was a long drive the first day. No stopping here and there like we usually do. Not sure why, but that is what we decided.
~The space coast skies were active this winter. We saw 4 or 5 launches including two shuttles. It's heartening to see how many folks still line the beaches, even in the middle of the night, to see the space center do its thing.
This year was special because it's the end of the shuttle program. A lot of mixed feelings about that. But...I won't get political.
~I decided to sew up one more apron before we leave. It's called Chocolate and Teal (pictured here) and has just a touch of old fashioned cotton at the bib and pocket edges. Check out the details at
http://www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com/
~As I began the task of packing up and cleaning before we left, I couldn't help but think about how different people live differently. I have a few friends whose homes are always "company ready." Anyone can walk in at any time unexpectedly and their abodes look just as they do when they're expecting guests. Nothing is ever out of place. There's never anything lying around to give an indication as to what they've been doing. It's a mystery to me. These friends are not idle folks who do nothing all day long. Nor are they people who can be seen fussing around, cleaning all the time. Matter of fact, I've never seen any of them cleaning, sweeping, wiping, etc. On the other hand, I have a damp cloth permanently attached to my hand all the time. And there's always a bottle of Windex in sight at our house 24/7. I just don't get it.
~Neither hubby or I are particularly fussy but I'm more interested in things being neat and clean than he is. At least in the so called, "public rooms" that someone stopping by on short notice would likely see. I try to keep things in order and dust free for the most part. But when I look at our bedroom and private bath area, I feel as though we are living in a college dormitory. Towels hanging on hooks, hair dryer hanging over a mirror, shampoos and hair products out in the open on the dresser. Hubby always has his allergy spray, Rolaids and eye drops out in broad daylight on his night stand. I always have tissues and a back scratcher lying on mine. There are often newly ironed clothes hanging on hangers over the bedroom door. I hate putting them in the closet for fear my nice ironing job will be for naught when they get squished in between all the other clothes. The bottom of our closet has piles of shoes in no particular order. And hubby's baseball caps surround the window that looks out onto our back yard. If that doesn't say 'college dorm', I don't know what does.
~Our TV area off the kitchen looks nice now that it's been remodeled. But the little coffee table in front of the sofa always sports a coffee cup, a pen and paper, a napkin left over from breakfast or lunch, and a few magazines in no particular order. The pillows on the sofa and chair are always smushed and flattened speaking loud and clear about the recent occupant. The tv remotes can be found just about anywhere; all depends on who used them and for what. Our living room stays pretty neat. That is, unless one of us decides to go in there and read or make a phone call. Then the quilted throw on the sofa gets pulled off one way or the other. Those pillows get smushed too and the coffee table ends up with an empty dish of nut remnants. And where there are nuts, there is always a glass...empty probably, but in full view.
~I'm not stupid. I realize that the mere act of living creates upheaval. And...I don't want to be one of those people who is constantly worrying about things being perfect. But I just don't understand how the folks who have achieved constant order do it! I know that it's partly a matter of putting things away on the spot. We are very guilty of the "I'll do it later" mentality But still...you'd think that "everyone" would leave some evidence lying around here and there. Not so with some of our closest friends. It's like magic. Maybe it is magic?
I think I'll dwell on that for a while.

~Be sure to check out our online shop at www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com to check out the details of Chocolate and Teal.

~We have some really interesting aprons this year with unusual trims and patterns. Once we get settled back here at the Cape, I hope to add more tops and blouses to our Tops Gone Wild line.

Friday, June 5, 2009

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.