Just leaving work

Long Monday...7-5:30! Listening to THIS song on my drive home.

Gwens Birthday (from Thursday)

Came home sick from work...

...and now I'm cleaning.

I'm Daydreaming of Cleaning

Cleaning Tips

 The best way to dust blinds: Close them, then wipe up and down with an old dryer sheet. It'll create an antistatic barrier that helps prevent dust from building up again.

 The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is your friend. It will cut your cleaning time in half for bathtubs, sinks, countertops, and dirty walls.

 To clean glass and mirrors, use coffee filters, not paper towels. They leave no streaks or lint — and they're cheap.

 Vinegar and water is a great deodorizer for a musty bathroom. Spray your shower down as you're getting out. It really absorbs the odors, and the smell of vinegar goes away in an hour.

 A wet pumice stone will clean a dirty oven faster than any spray-on product.

 Vacuuming bathroom mats is a nightmare. Toss them in the wash every week or two instead.

 To damp-mop wood floors, use plain water or a water-based floor cleaner like Bona. Don't use vinegar. The acid in it will pit your polyurethane finish, can void your warranty, and may reduce shine over time.

 Seventh Generation dish liquid diluted with water is a great nontoxic all-purpose cleanser. Just put two squirts in a spray bottle and fill it with water.

 Our biggest secret weapon? A powdered product called Bar Keepers Friend (amazon.com). We use it on everything. Its active ingredient is rhubarb powder, which really cuts through grit and grime. It cleans glass-top stoves, counters, toilets, porcelain and more. Your sink will never be shinier.

 To clean your microwave oven, microwave a cup of water with some baking soda in it until it's boiling. That eliminates odors and makes it super easy to wipe away all that stuck-on stuff.

 Clean cobwebs with a yardstick covered by a tube sock. That also works for cleaning under stoves and refrigerators.

 Shine your bathroom tiles with lemon oil. It also helps prevent mold and mildew.

 To eliminate that ring in your toilet, drop in a bubbling denture tablet, and leave it for at least 30 minutes or overnight. The stain will come off with just a few swishes of the brush.

What did you eat this V Day?

I ate this...

With these guys...(Annelisa was taking the picture)

Sitting at this gorgeous table...

Honestly, it was a complete surprise.  I wasn't expecting anything so amazing when I got a text from Bailey saying, "come have dinner at my house this Tuesday."  It was EXACTLY what I needed.  I guess it's true what they say that the best things happen when you are least expecting them and when you most need them.  

I confiscated this today...

...from a 6th grade boy...I gave it back to him. I wonder if makayla met him at lunch?

The next time you have 3 hours free...

...and you're okay with crying your eyes out, read this blog:

http://lisajking.blogspot.com/2011/10/icu.html  (I've started you at the beginning of October if you want to read things chronologically)

It makes me so grateful for eternal families and for the strength that God provides us with even in the most trying of times.

This entry is particularly poignant but doesn't completely make sense until you first read about their son Noah in the link above.  http://lisajking.blogspot.com/2012/01/and-then-there-were-four.html