Don't Judge A Toilet By Its Stains

Today's post includes some yuck.  If you don't like yuck, feel free to skip today's post and come back tomorrow for a nice, calm book review.

Or, if you're one of those people who has a cleaning routine for every five minutes of the day, come back tomorrow.  My crazy attempts to be neater might stress you.  :-)

I've been trying to cut out chemicals from my household for a few years now.  Mostly I've focused on the un-natural additives to our food, but having heard about lots of simple cleaning solutions that were frugal to make and worked well, I considered making some.

But then we ran out of a few simple cleaners, and while I was at a local dollar store, I saw similar items.  Since I always bought a scrubbing powder there for my sinks, bathtub, and toilet, I grabbed some toilet bowl cleaner and sanitizing spray made specifically for the bathrooms.

I'll look up those cleaning recipes later, I reasoned.  I don't want to wait any longer (than the few days it had already been) to clean the bathrooms, so I'll look up those recipes soon and get my cleaning supplies made for the next time.

I took my spray and cleanser home and began to use them.  As always, I sprayed and squirted one bathroom, then moved to the other one and applied the solutions to that one.  Returning to the first one, I scrubbed away - sink, bathtub, toilet, just like always.

The difference came when I returned to the kids' bathroom.  There, no matter how hard I scrubbed, the toilet seat looked like this:

I was quite irritated with this orange-y stain.  I couldn't figure out how it could've gotten there unless someone purposely missed their mark, and since it was on top of the seat, this must've been quite intentional.  Logistically speaking, though, the seat would've had to have been down for a long time, and I have two kids, so it's never down for long.

Couldn't figure it out.

I kept squirting and spraying and cleansing and then one day realized that my toilet had Smurfy blue stripes on one side of the bowl.  They're faint in this picture, but they're there - see'em?

That's when it hit me:  no wayward child had gotten creative in the bathroom.  There were no Smurfs using our toilets.  It was the crazy new cleaning supplies.

I promptly threw out what remained of the new cleansers and mixed up my own using a recipe I found on Pinterest.  Basically, for your regular-strength standard household sanitizing spray, mix 1 part water with 1 part vinegar.  It really can't get much easier.  I'm not sure what took me so long.

The kids love this new solution.  Because I know it's safe, I let them take turns at cleaning their bathtub and sink.  What that means is that I turn a kid loose with a sponge and a spray bottle full of liquid loose in the bathroom.  Then I go rescue said bathroom about fifteen minutes later.  They've totally tackled every stray germ, the room is drippy and sparkling, and completely reeks of pickles. 

Yes, this solution will make your room smell of vinegar, but the smell dissipates in minutes, and then you're left with a sanitized area that you  know is clean and safe - for the kids, for the pets, and for your guests.  No more stray germs or chemicals that turn porcelain and plastic funky colors.

So if you come over to our house and see stains in our bathroom, it's not because we're total slobs and never clean - but because we do.  

My new personal creed:  Don't just a book by its cover.  Don't judge a toilet by its stains.  Love the smell of pickles.

Have you ever tried making your own cleaning supplies?  Have a recipe you love?  I'd love to know more about it!

GratiTuesday - A Tiny Twister

Last week a horrific thunderstorm tore through the Eastern states.  Millions were left without power, and trees were down everywhere.  Our little town experienced some power outages and branches could be seen from the streets, but it didn't seem to be too bad - until I drove to my parents' house.  Suddenly, even a few days later, there were work crews out sawing up trees, barns crushed under trees, and branches everywhere.

Being rather shocked at the damage, I was visiting with family at a Sunday School pool party when my dad came walked toward me.  I was helping the kids get situated with their dinner as he handed me his phone and said, "It's your husband."

Wondering what was so important that he called my dad to reach me - we'd been having cell phone issues all day - my husband blurted out, "We had a mini tornado."

He went on to describe the extreme high winds, golf-ball sized hail, and damage our property had experienced during this short, strange storm:

• huge tree limbs that fell from several stories up
• a rain gutter pulled off the house
• a power line downed in the driveway
• a tree in the front yard, split, leaning on power lines
• the compost bin shattered under a limb
• loss of power

I couldn't imagine this kind of damage in our yard, but I was certainly seeing it everywhere else. 

My husband headed out to the yard the next evening after work to begin cleanup efforts.  The kids and I spent a few more days with my parents and then returned home.  When we did, despite two nights' of hauling away leaves and branches, I found a backyard that I couldn't walk through.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Suddenly I had to climb through my own backyard - the place where the kids usually were running and playing. 

Sideways view of the middle yard

Back of the playset and house

The far reaches of the backyard and shed

The back of the house

The playset area from the front

I first tried to climb through the yard at night. I had to give up and try again the next morning, which is when I took these pictures.  After climbing around and around, I ended up completely amazed, for several reasons:

• The kiddie wading pool blew into the front yard  before the limbs came down.  A large one landed right where it had been placed. 
• A huge limb came down and shattered the compost bin - but didn't even scratch the shed less than a foot away.
• Big branches were leaning on the playset and pushing the swings out, as if trying to go for a ride, but nothing was damaged.
• A limb - rather log-like in appearance to me - came from a height of three or four stories up and knocked off our back gutters - but appears to have done no other damage to the house.
• That big limb that destroyed the gutters?  It landed in the yard on the other side of the fence.  It didn't touch the fence.
• The fence was hemmed in with big branches on both sides but didn't have a single bend - at least, not one that wasn't already there.  :-)
• The flowers and bushes that my husband and I had planted less than 36 hours before were completely intact and branch-free.
• The new deck, with its towering tree shading it, was leaf-covered but weathered the storm without a hitch.
• The power company came within 12 hours and repaired the lines and cut down the damaged part of the tree.  They told us it could be a long time before they'd make it by.
• Nobody was home when this storm hit.
• With the exception of a few missing shingles across the street, we seem to have the worst damage - and nobody was hurt in this storm.

While grateful for the lack of permanent damage and amazed at how God saved our house, we were still rather discouraged.  Having just spent our annual kid-free week working in the yard, it was hard to see this big, new mess created - even if it wasn't permanent.  Our Big Helper even wondered if it would be possible to have it all cleaned up by her next scheduled book club two weeks later.

Enter:  awesome friends and neighbors.  Our two neighbor boys showed up one morning with their four-wheeler and a rope.  They began to lasso logs and haul them away.  My husband broke out the chain saw and chopped the limbs up into manageable sections, and the boys spent a good chunk of their Fourth cleaning up our yard.

With the biggest stuff out of the way, I figured we'd be raking for just ever, when a friend showed up with a rake.  We filled up the kiddie wading pool - the one that was saved! - and let our kids have at it while we earned blisters.  Nearly three hours later, there were piles of branches and lots of clean yard.  

Now, only nine days since the storm, we're about back to normal.  We still have to get the gutters fixed and there are a few branches remaining, but the vast majority of the storm damage has disappeared.

Who would've thought there could be blessings found in a tiny twister?

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan Monday - July 9, 2012

It's VBS week!  For us, that means that the week completely revolves around the Bible School schedule.  It kicked off tonight and continues through Thursday, with a special presentation on Sunday, so we'll be busy beavers.  What we won't be busy doing is cooking, however, because dinner is served every night to the Bible School participants!  With lots of daytime activities and cooler weather - finally! - I'm going to be cooking once, eating-at-least-twice this week since it'll only be my husband and I around the dinner table most of the week.

Breakfasts:
- Breakfast cake, fruit
- scrambled eggs

- yogurt parfaits with fresh fruit and Cinnamon Almond Granola (I realize I say this every week, but it never gets old - love this stuff!)

Lunches will be our usual assortment of sandwiches or leftovers, except on those days when the kids sleep in really, really late, and then we'll grab some fruit and nuts when we get hungry and keep on movin'.

Suppers:

- Spaghetti Bolognese with green beans, watermelon
- Sliced steak, bean, and cheese quesadillas, watermelon
- Grilled sausage and pepper sandwiches, watermelon
- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, jalapeno poppers
- Grilled Pizza, watermelon

Extras:
Since the weather will be cool enough to do just a bit of baking, we might try to make some Caramel Pumpkin Doughnut (Hole) Muffins and some Homemade Poptarts if we can find the time.  :-)

For more Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie.

Crazy Cooking Challenge: World's Easiest Fried Chicken

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When I was a kid my mom used to make fried chicken.  It wasn't like the greasy fried chicken that we saw at picnics every summer, but instead a rich and simple dish that she always served with my favorite foods - mashed potatoes, baked corn, and even simple stuffing.  As I got older, this being my 'welcome home' meal after being away at college or work, and it's still one of my very favorite comfort foods.

Now that I'm a mom myself, I love to cook chicken this way because of it's very simplicity.  It tastes like you've bitten into a roasted chicken, but without the hours of basting or the heat of an oven.  It's faster to prep because there's no egg or buttermilk wash, no crumbs to season or cereal to crunch, and no slippery parts to dip.  Because this dish is part-simmered and part-fried, it comes together fairly quickly - and while it bubbles away on the stove, you can be assembling your potato salad or husking corn or whatever else you need to do.

Added bonus:  Since this chicken is fried in natural ingredients, there's nothing false about it - and it's pretty healthy, too, because you control the amount of fat inside.

Here's how to make your own World's Easiest Fried Chicken:

• chicken parts, whatever you like.  I'm partial to the white meat of the breasts, myself, but any piece will work, even the boneless variety.
• freshly ground pepper
• 1+ c. of water
• a generous sprinkling of poultry seasoning for each piece of chicken
• 3-4 T. butter per 1-2 pounds of chicken

1. Cut the skin off of your chicken pieces.  
2. Place them in a frying pan, bone sides down.
3. Sprinkle each piece generously with pepper and poultry seasoning.
4. Add a cup of water.
5. Cover the chicken and cook over medium heat until the water is nearly gone and the chicken is nearly cooked.  The time this takes depends on the size of your chicken pieces.
6. When the pan is nearly dry, add the butter to the middle and flip the pieces over so that the meatiest sides are down in the butter.
7. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through.
8. Bonus:  If you want to make gravy, when the butter is nearly cooked away, add more water or chicken broth back into the pan and stir to remove the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Slowly stir in your slurry and continue to stir until the desired thickness.  This makes a super rich and yummy gravy!
9. When you first season the chicken, it will look pretty plain - but when it's done, voila! You get this!  Who would want to eat some of that?  Serve with your favorite fried chicken sides. 

What's your favorite way to eat fried chicken?

Food Traditions

Do you have food traditions?

Like always having the same turkey-and -pumpkin-pie on Thanksgiving?  I do, and I'm beginning to realize just how deeply ingrained in me they are.

Yesterday I woke up in a funk.  I felt all disconnected and chalked it up to a middle-of-the-night return from a trip, faced with big storm damage and child's lemonade stand to help prepare.  The day was crazy busy, but I kept thinking of my grandfather.

His birthday was on the Fourth, and he always said with a twinkle in his eye and his Berenstein-Bear smile, that "His birthday was so important that the whole country got the day off to celebrate."  When I was really little, I believed him.

We often gathered at his house for a cookout on his birthday, sometimes with cousins, sometimes not, sometimes just going there for a birthday party that night.  We often watched fireworks from their porch or played with sparklers on the front sidewalk, twirling the glowing metal sticks and eagerly spelling our names with the lights.

I moved away 11 years ago tomorrow, and Pappy was sick by then.  I didn't get to many birthday parties if they were held at that point, and he died a few years ago.  But yesterday I was bothered by the fact that we weren't having a birthday party. The day just didn't feel right - whether we weren't celebrating the Fourth or Pappy's birthday or both, something about our yard-cleanup-and-lemonade-advertising tasks felt wrong.

So while at the grocery store stocking up on a few necessities, the kids and I hit up the ice cream and potato chip aisles.  They were amazed that Mommy would buy both junk foods on the same day, but quickly forgot in the days busyness.

I didn't.

After the lemonade stand was closed, the fireworks viewed, and hot, sweaty people returned home, I broke out the leftover lemonade-stand cupcakes and the ice cream carton.  I filled bowls with Moose Tracks and potato chips - just the way that Meme and I used to eat it - and the Big Helper eagerly added chocolate syrup and stirred it up, just the way that I used to do.

We ate chocolate cupcakes - with white icing instead of Pappy's favorite peanut butter - and talked about how much he would've liked the Big Helper's lemonade stand efforts; about how creative and hard working he was, having two side jobs of his own creation when his children were small.  My Little Man wanted to know about his hunting abilities and what sorts of foods he liked to eat, and so we talked about all sorts of strange details until it was very late.

Snuggled into bed later, the Big Helper wanted to know more and had lots of questions.  Some I knew the answers to, others I didn't, but it was fun to share my memories of a special man whom they won't remember.

After talking about Pappy and having wayyyy too much birthday party, I felt much better.  That's what was missing all day - that long-held tradition of honoring my grandfather as we honored our country.

So while we don't have family nearby to picnic and celebrate Indendence Day with here, I think we'll have a new tradition: a birthday party celebration, complete with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream and salty potato chips.  Once a year won't hurt us - and it can certainly help us make some wonderful memories.

And important food traditions.

GratiTuesday - Creative Project Time

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Recently our playgroup went to Marbles Museum in Raleigh.  It's a really amazing museum for kids, but it's also a really hectic place for adults.  Trying to keep track of your children among so many others is seriously challenging.

We must've hit it just right, however, because the museum was filled with fewer people than I had ever seen. It was much easier than usual to keep track of our kids, and when they were involved with their play and each other, some of us moms even had a chance to talk while we watched them.

But the very best part of the day came in the afternoon - after the IMAX documentary and lunch in the courtyard.  

After zipping around from exhibit to exhibit all day, my two found the perfect areas for them:  the Super Large Legos and the Make-and-Race-Your-Own-Car.

We spent at least two, perhaps closer to three, hours in these two exhibits.  Because they were right next to each other with a low dividing wall, I could stand there in the middle and watch them both.  Friends were also enthralled with these two areas, and the kids played happily together.

For HOURS.

Sometimes life seems so broken up.  Everything feels compartmentalized, and we rush from one thing to another.  It feels hard to find those big blocks of time that I love, when you can really dig down into a project and accomplish something.

We found it that day, and it was great.

My Big Helper built a kid-sized castle out of blocks - with multiple rooms - and then proceeded to play house in it with one of the other kids.

My Little Man raced cars over and over, eventually learning how to fix them when they crashed and beginning to piece parts together for his own.  After arriving at home, he rediscovered his own K'Nex and Legos and worked hard on his own car.

Our summer is filling up with activities fast, but I think we'll be saying 'no' to some more of them now.  Not because the playdates and field trips aren't fun - they are - but I don't want all of our days to be broken up.

We need some time at home, time to be bored, time to create, time to dig in our heels and explore something fully.

How about you?  Anything you need a chunk of time for?

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan Monday - July 2, 2012

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So last week my husband surprised me with several date nights out (since the kids were away, we had this flexibility) and we also spent lots of time working in the yard and new flowerbeds.  Translation:  we didn't eat all the meals I had planned, so they're getting bumped up to this week.

We're also spending part of the week away, and I'm not sure what the plan is for that portion of the week yet.  Guess we'll be figuring it out when the time comes.

So here's my partial, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants meal plan for this week:

Dinners:

• Fish, baked potato, green beans, watermelon
• Dinner out while traveling
• Hamburgers, baked beans, corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, cupcakes
• Philly cheesesteak-stuffed peppers for us and stuffed tomatoes for the kids - with salad
• Mom's fried chicken, grilled potato wedges, steamed broccoli, fruit
• Leftovers
• Dinner at church with VBS

With the extreme heat that we're currently experiencing, I don't think I'll be doing any baking this week, but perhaps we could make some ice cream??

What are you cooking up this week?

For More Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie!