Spontaneous Weekend Visits

Can you believe it's July 1st? How in the world did June slip by so fast? 

That's ok...bring on the fall weather!!

This past weekend my mother-in-law and brother-in-law decided to come down for a spontaneous trip! We love having friends and family visit so we were super excited that they decided to come over!

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When we got official word they were on their way and after a trip to the grocery store, my husband and I went into a cleaning frenzy. He helped, though, really. Now I don't see this as a fault and I know my in-laws and friends won't think less of me if the house isn't spotless (who has time to keep a house 'spotless'?), but when people come over, it is a perfect excuse to clean the house in record time! Works like a charm. I'm a pretty organized and clean person, but the house always looks great seconds before guests arrive! 

They arrived late Friday evening and so we mostly talked and played games. I had to work Saturday morning so everyone else stayed up and hung out when I went to bed early like the old lady I am. Saturday afternoon we all went down to the Farmer's Market to sample and buy local, delicious goodies. We bought eggs and potatoes for a super late breakfast and even bought the most delicious goat cheese from Spring Mill Farm. Sun dried tomato goat cheese is my guilty pleasure...it is to die for!

After the Market and a delicious homemade breakfast (at 2pm?!) we relaxed for a bit but then decided we should go out and enjoy the day. The hot, hot day. We drove down to Peaks View Park and walked the trails and got some sun. It was really nice, but quite hot. We were ready for some AC after a few miles!

Even Kito got to come along! He had a blast!

Don't tell but we even stopped by DQ on the way back for smore's blizzards! 

Sunday we made poppyseed chicken (delicious...recipe post in the works!) and butter! Yes, we made our own butter! It's incredibly easy but I won't give it all away now. I'll try and have that in a post for you all this week! 

All in all in was a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to have them out again!

And to top it off, now that it's July...it's officially my birthday month! This is the first birthday in about 5 years now that the camp we always work isn't happening during my birthday! Not that we don't love working camp, but I'm so excited to actually get to celebrate my birthday this year! It's also my "quarter of a century" birthday as my husband likes to remind me, so we're thinking an awesome celebration is in order! I can hardly wait!

How was your weekend? Do anything fun or productive? What are some awesome birthday ideas? I'm up for cliche´ or unique ideas! 

Till next time,

Catherine

Cleaning Clogged Drains with Vinegar and Baking Soda

I don't know about you, but the fewer chemicals I have in my house, the better. If I can use a natural cleaner over something harsh like bleach, ammonia, or other conventional cleaners, I will. I had heard that vinegar is great on just about anything to clean. You can read one of my first posts where I cleaned mold off of a door with vinegar here and here! The second link has visuals. In addition to being a great mold killer, vinegar, especially paired with baking soda, works wonders. 

I first heard about using vinegar and baking soda to clean pipes/drains on Pinterest. Of course. One of these days I'll come up with something original! Ha. The link to the original pin site is here. 

So if you're like me, your hair seems to constantly clog the drain in the tub/shower. And if you're not fortunate enough to have a garbage disposal, eventually crumbs and bits of food cause a gross buildup in your kitchen sink. You might be ready to reach for the Drano but wait! There's an easier way! 

I have no idea how much Drano costs, but I'm fairly certain that white vinegar and baking soda is cheaper. And, much safer. 

So read on if you want to effectively, cheaply, and safely clean that nasty, backed up drain! 

All you need is:

• Distilled white vinegar
• Baking soda
• Boiling water
• Lemon juice (Optional: I used it to shine the sink) 

And in no time you'll have a sparkling sink and no more standing water! 

 Ok it may be hard to tell because of the quality of the picture but the left side has been cleaned and the right side is still nasty.

Dump a lot of baking soda into your drain. Fill it up if you want! It's fun to watch the reaction.

Then pour in your vinegar. No precise measurement, just pour until it foams nicely.

 Bubble bubble toil and trouble! That pesky junk in the drain shall be no more!

Let the baking soda/vinegar reaction sit for a minute, up to 15 if you want, then pour in a kettle full of boiling water. This will help flush everything down.

I was so excited to see how fast the water drained after I did this! I'll definitely be doing it on all of our drains, especially the tub! Gross. 

I quickly got motivated to give the sink a good scrub down. I sprinkled baking soda all around the sink then scrubbed with a regular sponge. The mild abrasiveness cleaned it really well. I then poured lemon juice on the sponge and wiped down the sink for a lovely shine. 

It may not seem like much, but it's a big difference, I swear! It's not the nicest sink, but it's what we've got! And that was probably the best it's looked since it was installed. The joys of renting. 

What are some of your favorite cleaning methods? Do you like to go all out with the strongest grade stuff available or do you like to use the not-so-harsh natural versions?

Till next time,
Catherine

Random thoughts...

Some random thoughts of the day:

• I have the best cat. He purrs and sits on my lap while I clip all his nails. He also meows a lot. Ok he doesn't think he's meowing...he thinks he's talking to us.
• I am super excited to start watching the Scarlett miniseries that is based on the book Scarlett, sequel to Gone With The Wind. The actors who play Rhett and Scarlett are no Vivien Leigh and no Clark Gable but it is a great book that needed to be turned into a movie or TV show! My husband can tell you...the entire time I was reading Scarlett I kept saying "This book needs to be made into a TV show! It would probably suck without Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable but it needs to be done!" Lo and behold...someone did in 1994! Only 3 years after Alexandra Ripley wrote Scarlett!
• How did Miss Frizzle teach science with a MAGIC school bus?
• I want need a dresser so badly. Why are they so difficult to find??
• I desperately miss riding horses. Gotta find a barn here in Lynchburg.
• Has anyone ever heard of a little wooden toy called a hootie stick? You're probably from the Richmond area if you have! I'll probably have to elaborate more on that later. 
• Lastly...what am I doing on the computer?? We have a friend staying with us for a few days so I need to get my butt in gear and do some cleaning! 

Feeling some random thoughts lately? There are so many but I forget to write them down! How about you?

Till next time,

Catherine

Vinegar Part Deux

I rolled up my sleeves and scrubbed like there was no tomorrow! What am I saying? If there was no tomorrow, scrubbing is this last thing I'd be worried about!

Well I scrubbed like a mad [wo]man! I got our shed door as clean as can be! With some vinegar, baking soda, and a Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaner it is just about as clean as the day it was installed. Trust me, it didn't become this nasty on MY watch. It was like this when we moved in!

I already scrubbed across on the top left for a little comparison of how bad it was!

I started by scrubbing the top with just vinegar .

Then did the tall left section with just vinegar and the tall right section with vinegar and baking soda. You can't tell much here, but check the next photo!

The baking soda helped a lot! 

Next, I broke out my Seventh Generation Disinfecting Multi-Surface Cleaner. It sounded quite appropriate for getting mold off a door! And it was! It has a lot of awesome essential oils like thyme, oregano, citronella, and lemongrass that are great at disinfecting surfaces NATURALLY! No chemicals, woohoo! This cleaner worked really well, but when I added the baking soda, it boosted both the vinegar and the cleaner because it added an abrasive material to really scrub out the stains. 

A quick rinse with the hose and it's white again!

There you have it, folks! A clean door! Granted, it's not pristine, but I think that's ok considering it's probably never had a scrub like this! Don't mind the rotting frame on the bottom...ugh. I couldn't quite reach the top of the frame so my husband will get that honor when he gets home from work! If you're wondering what I scrubbed with, I actually only used paper towels. We don't have many rags and they were all dirty so I used paper towels instead. I normally prefer to use rags instead of wasting paper towels. I think an old sponge or a soft bristled scrub brush would work well too, especially in the grooves of the door. 

What's your favorite trick with vinegar? Do you save the outside messy work for your husband or do you get down and dirty too?

Till next time,

Catherine

Vinegar Is Tough on Mold!

Yikes! First time I missed a day at blogging! Sorry, guys! I'll just have to write two today.

I've been seeing a lot of pins on Pinterest about using vinegar and vinegar/baking soda combos to clean all sorts of things around the house. Last night I finally tried it out! While my husband was on the patio spray painting a handmade helmet for a movie that he and some friends are making, I couldn't stop looking at the nasty mold on our back door! I've been saying for forever that I need to clean it but I just never get around to it. So finally, enough was enough and I grabbed some paper towels and a bottle of white vinegar and went to town. It cleaned up the mess in no time! I didn't get before and after pictures, but I still have to do our shed door, which is worse so I'll try to get those today and share. Simply vinegar and a paper towel. Who knew!

There were a couple of tough spots so I wet some paper towels with vinegar and sprinkled a little baking soda on top then scrubbed a little more and it worked like a charm! I absolutely love finding cheap, non toxic, natural versions of cleaners for my house! I don't want to be breathing in chemicals and my animals to be breathing them in either. Or God forbid one of them get into something toxic!

What's your favorite household cleaner? What do you like to use on any nasty mold stains? Do you prefer to go with the natural or conventional cleaners?

Till next time,
Catherine