My favorite Cleaning Products

Home Made Glass Cleaner (which I use for counters, appliances, & glass)

Home Made Laundry Detergent

& Purex Fabric Softener.  Yes, I know you can use vinegar, but I really prefer Purex.

Scott's Liquid Gold for every day dusting (the BEST for old wood furniture!)

Home Made wood cleaner (for once a month cleaning, a little more oily then the Scott's)

Comet & sos pads - for the sinks and stoves

The Works Toilet Cleaner, and The Works Shower Cleaner, for hard water stains

(Dollar General has their own brand for a few cents less, but I do not think it works as well. )

Iron Out for monthly cleaning of the shower heads, washer, coffee pot,  and if the water system is acting up, the dishes.  I've started using lemon shine in our dishwasher and it is AWSOME.  Not only is is cleaning up the dishwasher, but our glasses are finally truly clean and sparkling!

For the daily floor cleaning..  I admit to loving my swiffer wetjet.  I keep trying various reusable options..  but most often I buy the disposables.  This is the one area I want to work on  - I don't like disposable products and try to avoid them.

(Weekly the floors need to be washed by hand.  Not that I always do, but they NEED to be.) For that I use pinesol.

Bissel vacuum cleaner.  This is one of the cheaper models - but I love it!  I tried a more expensive Pet hair version, and it was just too much of a pain to use. The attachments on this are easy to get to, it cleans well, is light, the cannister holds a lot (this is a farm, with two dogs, several cats, and 4 teenagers in and out. )  My first one lasted me 4 years - a record for any vacuum I have ever owned.  I bought a new one, just like it, recently for $89.

   

Home Made Furniture Polish

I still love scott's liquid gold for every day dusting. Yes, I prefer it to pledge - although I will use pledge in a pinch.  

But for polishing, and scratch cover, this works REALLY well.  Especially on really old dried out wood!

• 2 cups olive oil (use the cheap stuff)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Mix well.  I use one cloth to apply, and a second to buff off.  It is not supposed to store well, but to be honest, I have never stored it for long, so I really do not know.  :-)

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-grass-is-always-greener-in-pasture.html

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


When I looked at this book, I saw the description "On the eve of the United States's entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn't deliver a letter."




At the time it appeared to me that this would be a big, monumental event.  Rereading the description now, I can see that maybe it wasn't even meant to sound that way.  After reading the book, the description seems to sum it all up pretty well...  it really does tell you everything.  There is no surprise, no twist, no big event, and no great story.


That's the other thing I first noticed when looking at this book and adding it to my "to read" pile.  I saw in the back there was a section "the real story" and I assumed, falsely, that this was a book based on a little known real event in history.  Had I read that section first, I could have saved myself a lot of time drudging through this book.  It was based on a few things the author saw that inspired her to write the book.


It was tedious for me to read, and I wish I hadn't wasted so much time on this book.  :-(


View all my reviews

https://amzn.to/37bzev3

Greg Mortenson's book Three Cups Of Tea is a lie??  I really should pay more attention to the news I guess.  I read Three Cups Of Tea.  I loved it.  I was planning to read the sequel this year.  Guess there's no sense in reading THAT now.  I'm so disappointed.  :-(

Three Cups of Deceit

How Greg Mortenson,
Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way

Greg Mortenson has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also not what he appears to be. As acclaimed author Jon Krakauer discovered, Mortenson has not only fabricated substantial parts of his bestselling books Three Cups of Teaand Stones into Schools, but has also misused millions of dollars donated by unsuspecting admirers like Krakauer himself. This is the tragic tale of good intentions gone very wrong.
http://www.byliner.com/

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/reading.html

Paper Flowers

Found the kits at Big Lots last year - they are by Martha Stewart

Now that Meg's room is painted, we finally put them together as accents in her room.  :-) 

The vase of flowers here, and another out of sight on the other side of the tv, were also a Martha Stewart kit, also from Big Lots - we made those last year.  :-)

Men's Thought Boxes

Focus on the Family broadcasts have had two episodes recently about the differences between how men and women think.  the first one, shown above, is more humorous (but so true!) and the second is a bit more expansive.  


http://www.focusonthefamily.com/radio.aspx?ID={5BC2A206-2864-42DC-8F98-5673EEB64280}
"In a discussion based on their book Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti, Bill and Pam Farrel explain how a husband and wife can understand and appreciate one another's differences. "


This really is something I wish I had heard before we got married!  20 years in, I "get" it, but those first few years, when I asked him what he was thinking about and he said "nothing" I really did think he just didn't want to talk to me.  :-)





http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/

There is a goat in my living room

But he's not on the carpet, and not on the furniture (if you do not count the footstool as furniture, which apparently our son does not...) so technically not violating the stated rules.  Note to self - make more specific rules.  :-)


He's outside now, it was just too wet and nasty to put him outside his first day here, so he stayed (HA!) in a dog kennel in our laundry room for the first day, and again overnight last night, just to be sure he's acclimating ok.  He gets a bottle 
twice a day yet.