Greener Spring Cleaning: Part 3 (Homemade Floor Cleaners)

Mud season is officially under way here in Michigan and that means plenty of dirt getting tracked in on my linoleum and wood floors. (And occasionally onto the carpet, as well, even though we have a no shoes in the house policy.) These are my current favorite homemade solutions for cleaning all of my floors.

All-Purpose Cleaning Solution: (For Hard Floor Surfaces)

• 2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dish soap (your safest bets are Dawn or something like Seventh Generation)
• 1 teaspoon Borax

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle (one that did not previously contain chemicals!) and shake gently. Using a funnel is helpful when filling your bottle. Optional: Add a few drops of essential oils if you would like a light scent. Label your bottle with the recipe using a permanent marker. Cover the writing with a piece of clear packing tape to prevent it from being wiped away over time.

To mop the floors, add a small amount to your bucket and then fill it with hot water. This solution cleans up all sorts of gunk and it disinfects, too. Personally, I have had no issues using this on our floors, but of course, you may want to test it on a small area before tackling all of your floors.

Now, what about carpet cleaning? If you have kids and pets, you are sure to get an assortment of spots on them. For small messes, I often grab my spray bottle of All-Purpose cleaner and a microfiber cloth. But let's be honest. Most of the messes on my floors aren't small!

For bigger stains, I have successfully used baking soda and vinegar to remove every kid and dog-related bodily fluid that can possibly end up on the carpet. I'm talking blood, vomit, urine, and poop -- completely eradicated with just a couple of simple to use, inexpensive, and totally safe things. To get this nasty business out of your carpet without resorting to commercial carpet cleaners (which are loaded with toxins and do NOT work as well -- Believe me, I've tried a number of them, even the ones that claim to be specifically for pet stains.) follow these steps. This even works on old stains!!

{Urine Stain: BEFORE}

{Urine Stain: AFTER}

Carpet Stain Removal

• baking soda
• vinegar
• water
• clean cloths (microfiber cloths are good for this)

1. First, sop up as much liquid (and solids, if that applies. Ew, I know...) as possible.
2. Next, cover the soiled area with a generous sprinkling of baking soda. Let this set overnight.
3. Vacuum up the baking soda. You will see that this has already absorbed some if not all of the yucky stuff (and hopefully, taken a lot of the smell away, too).
4. Pour undiluted distilled white vinegar over the soiled area. Sit back and let the bubbling action do its thing for a minute or two.
5. Now, grab your microfiber cloth and start scrubbing the carpet. This should get out the remaining grossness.
6. Pour some fresh water over top scrub/mop it up with a second clean cloth.
7. Allow the wet spot to dry. You will be amazed! (However, if it is not as clean as you would like, repeat the above steps.)

{Unknown Set-in Stain: BEFORE}

{Unknown Set-in Stain: AFTER}

Greener Spring Cleaning: Part 1 (Homemade Window Cleaners)

Until very recently, I was using my all-purpose cleaner for pretty much all household cleaning -- from floors to toilets, counter tops to windows, and everything in between. Since learning about another homemade cleaner for windows, I decided to do a trial and figure out which one works best for me. (Note: This in entirely my opinion. Your preferences may be completely different.) This will be the first in a series of posts in which I put some green cleaners to the test. It is that time of year, after all.

Trial #1: All-Purpose Cleaner

• 2 cups water
• 3 Tbs vinegar
• 1 Tbs dish soap
• 1 tsp Borax

Combine in a spray bottle (not one that previously contained chemicals!) and shake gently. I find that a funnel is especially helpful. If you would like a light scent, add a few drops of essential oils such as orange. Be sure the label your bottle and include the recipe for the next time. A black Sharpie works well and I recently discovered that adding a strip of clear packing tape keeps the marker from wiping off over time. Genius!

Conclusion: While it does work for windows and mirrors, it is a tad on the sudsy side which means that it takes more elbow grease to wipe clean.

Trial #2: 50/50 Vinegar/Water

I first tried this when I was reviewing Green Grandma's book, Vinegar Fridays. It's exactly as promised: take an empty spray bottle (Again, use a new one that has not contained chemicals! This is just for your own safety. You can find plastic spray bottles at Dollar Tree.) and add a 50/50 mix of water and distilled white vinegar. A funnel is helpful. You can either spray this directly on your windows or first spray it onto a microfiber cloth to prevent streaking. Don't forget to label your bottle.

It does smell strongly of vinegar, which some people don't care for. (I didn't either until I started cleaning more and more with vinegar. Now the smell doesn't bother me, but if I set foot in the cleaning product aisle at the grocery store -- Well, that's a whole other thing, let me tell you. I can feel my eyes and lungs being assaulted by all of the nasty chemical concoctions contained in that aisle and it scares me that I used to clean with that stuff!)

Conclusion: In general, this works very nicely on windows and mirrors. It is very cheap to make and completely safe. You don't have to worry about it coming in contact with your skin. It's not harmful if swallowed, so it is safe to use and store near children. (Always nice to know even though I wouldn't recommend consuming this as it isn't really all that delicious, but as a mama I know these things happen...) The only word of caution is to avoid getting it in your eyes since vinegar does sting a bit. (I learned this during my no 'pooing days.)

{Homemade Window Cleaner}

Trial #3: Homemade Window Cleaner

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1 Tbs vinegar

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle. (As always, use a new bottle, one that did not contain chemicals!) Don't forget to label your bottle and include the recipe. Use with microfiber cloths for cleaning windows and mirrors.

Conclusion: This solution that I recently learned about at a MOPS meeting is definitely safer than store-bought window cleaners and it works very well. In fact, I actually preferred it over the 50/50 water/vinegar solution in terms of streak-free shine and quick drying power. My main concern that makes me hesitant to name it my new favorite is the alcohol. Obviously, this is not a child-safe ingredient and it has to be stored up high away from little hands. It also has an unpleasant smell. Although, to be fair, it dissipates quickly and I tolerate when we dye rice and pasta.

So, What's the Verdict?
In deciding which window cleaning solution is best for you and your family, you just have to weigh whether or not it is worth it to include the alcohol. For now, I will continue to use this homemade window cleaner since I made an entire batch. It does work great and I just have to remember to store it in a safe place. Whether or not I will make this again, I just can't say at this point...

The 50/50 vinegar and water mix also does a good job at cleaning up all those hand prints and dog nose smudges! And I have no qualms about using it anywhere, anytime, around anybody in my family.

Sorry, if you wanted a definitive answer, you won't find it in this post. The only thing I can say for certain is that you should really consider ditching store-bought window cleaning products if you are still using them. They definitely are not worth the cost!

Notes on Where to Buy:

• My microfiber cloths came in a package of 24 and cost about $12 when I bought them several years back at Sam's Club. I hear you can also get them at Dollar Tree.
• The spray bottle in the photo came from Dollar Tree. It's one of the nicer ones I have bought, so that would be the first place I would recommend looking if you need to buy spray bottles. They had them with three different sprayers: pink, blue, and green, so of course, I bought one of each. Another source of good quality and pretty spray bottles is IKEA. If you are less picky about quality, I have also found some in the impulse section of Target and Michaels craft store.
• I buy my vinegar in 1 gallon jugs from Kroger and use it for tons of stuff. If you aren't familiar with where to find it, try the baking/spice aisle. I hear you can also get 2-gallon jugs at Sam's Club, but I have not personally looked there. That might be a bit big for me to work with!
• As you can tell from the label, the rubbing alcohol came from Meijer. You should be able to find this in the first aid section of any grocery store or pharmacy. I had purchased a small bottle just for dying rice and pasta, but if I continue to use it for cleaning, I will probably look for a larger bottle that may be a better value. (And, I know I've said this already, but please keep alcohol away from children!)
• If you are interested in making the all-purpose green cleaner mentioned first and are wondering where to get Borax, try the laundry aisle of Meijer or Walmart. It comes in a white box and the common brand is 20 Mule Team.

Alien Invasion?

Last spring, this tree (I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, exactly.) was damaged by another tree that fell onto it during a storm.

While checking out the damage, we discovered these strange growths all over the tree. They are hard and dark brown with dimples on them, which remind me of brains, in a way. I figured it was some weird tree disease, but I couldn't find anything online to determine what it was, and since the tree was doing well, we did nothing.

A few days ago, we noticed that the growths had gotten larger and they had sprouted horns. I thought this was odd, but didn't get a photo. Now, I wish I had because things got really, really weird after that. Two nights ago, we had a large thunder/hail storm. Yesterday evening, while playing outside, I noticed something from across the yard: the tree looked really different. The growths had transformed into BIG bright orange blobs. Upon closer inspection, this is what we found.

These things had transformed overnight into HUGE alien beings with long gelatinous tendrils in a garish shade of orange. I was afraid to touch them, but I had to find out more... For example, how big had they gotten? I went back inside and grabbed a ruler. The anemone-like things were about 2 inches wide and 2 inches long and really, really creepy looking.

Brett told me that I shouldn't have even touched the things because I may now have an alien being growing inside of me. (I'm not going to lie. I wondered the same thing myself, but curiosity won out.) Plus, it will lead to some really interesting blog posts if it turns out that I am incubating an alien baby.) So, I picked one of the globs off the tree. Aren't I brave? I had to get a closer look... This is totally gross by the way. I brushed up against a tentacle and some slime got on my skin. (And, yes, I briefly panicked that I had just absorbed alien DNA before laughing at myself and wiping it off. We'll just call this a close encounter of the squishy kind.)

Some research led to this new knowledge: we have a tree, probably a juniper or cedar of some sort, and it is sick with a really, really weird disease (okay, that wasn't a surprise at all) called cedar-apple rust disease. (This year it was helpful to be able to Google "weird orange growth on tree" instead of just "brown growth on tree." Apparently, that turns up much more relevant and helpful stuff.) We don't have any actual apple trees in our yard or in the neighborhood, at least none that I am aware of, but we do have a crab apple tree. I am fond of the crab apple tree since it has pretty flowers in the spring and the blue birds enjoy eating the fruit during the winter, which we can watch from our kitchen window. For the time being, our cedar/juniper/whatever-it-is tree is thriving. It's even bigger than last year, so I see no reason to do much of anything except maybe cut off the brown thingies should they continue to emerge. The gelatinous masses have "melted" since yesterday, so I am hopeful they will dissolve completely and I won't have to touch them again. (Really, I can't be too careful when it comes to the possibility of incubating an extraterrestrial, you know?) See here how the tentacle thingies have been "reabsorbed" into the glob. (And notice how I have such amazing technical and scientific jargon to toss around? I'm not just a pretty face, you know.)

I know the orange Jell-o growths are disgusting and ugly, but the tree is at the back of the property line so we don't go over by it all that much. I am thinking of just letting it be, and honestly, I am wondering what the next stage will be, if there is one. However, if this weird symbiotic disease starts to affect the health of the crab apple tree I may need to do something about it. Fingers crossed that I don't have to do anything besides sit back and watch our tree growths evolve. (And wonder how long alien offspring take to incubate...)

Redemption

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I ran over Logan's tricycle? Well, the new wheel came, and Brett eventually got it put on. (It turns out that Radio Flyer wheels are especially tricky to remove.) Anyway, he was happy about that, but once he saw what I came home with today, I knew I was completely forgiven. Yes, Mama scored a sweet "new" ride on a virtual garage sale site: a Cars bike! And best of all, I only paid $10, so it was practically the deal of the century. (Unlike those Craigslist sellers that were asking obscene amounts of money like $60 for similar bikes.) Actually, I was prepared to pay the lady $15 which was the amount she had originally said. I thought was a good deal since it was exactly what I wanted, in good condition, and it had training wheels included. (After a quick trip to Walmart, I learned that the training wheels alone would have run me $15 brand new.) Then, when I met up with her today, she only wanted $10. I told her that was a steal and she said she didn't care because she just wanted someone to enjoy the bike. Believe me, he will enjoy this bike, and I am so happy to watch.

{Checking out the new bike while Daddy adds air to the tires}

{He couldn't wait to hop on!}

{One ridiculously happy boy saying, "Pedal, pedal, pedal" and "Go, Lightning McQueen!" Maybe I should paint a lightning bolt and number 95 on his helmet...}

Call of the Wild

We have a recent, unwelcome guest at our house, whom Brett and I have nicknamed "Woody." (And don't let the fact that we named him fool you into thinking we enjoy having him around; he's really a bit of a pest and we wish he would just go away.) Early last week, the noise started. At the time I thought was a metallic grinding coming from the basement and it scared me to go down there because I wasn't sure what I would find (or how expensive it would be to fix). Once I got downstairs, I realized it wasn't mechanical at all, but more of a rhythmic rat-a-tat-tat that was occasionally followed by what sounded like frantic chirping. Oh, great, I thought. We have an animal caught in the duct work. As I listened more, I decided that it had to be a woodpecker, and although the sound carried down to the basement, it was coming from up high. I hoped this would be a temporary annoyance, since I figured he was looking for food, and he would leave once he realized we had no bugs in any metal things on top of the house (or at least none that I am aware of).

While I was traveling with my parents to Minnesota for my sister-in-law's baby shower, Brett sent me the following text message which made me laugh: "Tennis ball 1 Woodpecker 0 until he comes back." I explained to my parents how this woodpecker kept coming back and we laughed about how dumb he was. The joke's on us though. It would seem that our feathered guest isn't leaving anytime soon. After talking to his parents about a similar experience they had, Brett learned that "Woody" isn't looking for food at all, but rather, he is looking for a mate. Oh great, I thought. He's going to be with us all spring unless he happens to get lucky enough to find a girlfriend, and then maybe they will honeymoon elsewhere. (I don't even want to think about the alternative being that he will find true love and before you know it, we'll have a whole family of woodpeckers knocking on the house.)

I actually haven't seen "Woody," but Brett has chased him off a few times by hurling a tennis ball in his general direction. He even reports that the bird actually knows what is coming when he sees him and now flies off as soon as he pulls him arm back to aim the ball. It seems like he should get the message and find somewhere else to look for love, but apparently, woodpeckers are a bit territorial. Brett may need to update his statistics since he actually slipped off the deck and hurt himself while trying to chase "Woody" away yesterday morning. (Unfortunately, I am still working on the removing the grass and dirt stains from his nice lavender work shirt; it may also be listed as a casualty of the war against "Woody.")

As frustrating as it is to have a resident woodpecker, I am starting to think more along the lines of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." So, if anyone has a Barry White CD I can borrow, it may just help one lonely bird in his quest for love. And if this relieves us of our unwanted house guest, "Woody" will not be the only one to thank you.

Rockin' Foot Print Robins

After coming across this photo on Pinterest, I was looking forward to making some cute foot print robins with my two favorite little people. Although, the robin happens to be our state bird, I think of it more as the first sign of spring. With this gorgeous weather, we've been seeing tons of robins lately, and it seems like a perfect early spring project.

{Rockin' Robins by Mia, Age 5 and Logan, Age 2 1/2 (with help from Mama)}

Materials:

• paper
• brown paint
• red paint
• Styrofoam tray to hold paint
• paintbrushes
• newspaper to protect work surface
• orange or yellow marker
• black marker

Optional Materials:

• glue 
• wiggly eye
• feathers
• black puffy paint

Directions:

1. Protect work surface with newspaper. (Tip: I found it's easiest to do this on the floor and have the child sit in a chair until you are ready to make the foot print.) Paint your child's foot brown. Lay your paper on top of the newspaper. Then help your child make a foot print on the paper. Let the paint dry.
2. Fill in the robin's breast with red paint. (This is the instep area of the foot print.) Older kids can do this themselves.
3. Draw a beak and legs with an orange or yellow marker. (The head of the robin is the heel of the foot print.)
4. Add an eye. Mia chose to do this with black marker. Logan used a wiggly eye. (The bird looks perpetually surprised now, perhaps because the wiggly eye is a bit large for the size of the bird's head.) You could also use black puffy paint for the eye as Mia did with her blue jay.
5. If you like, you can also add a feather for the robin's wing. Mia did this later when she decided to create a foot print cardinal. She also made a blue jay with a white feather breast and blue feather tuft on its head. If you like making these foot print robins (or blue jays and cardinals like Mia did) you may also like foot print ducks. What other birds can you come up with?

{Cardinal by Mia, Age 5}

{Blue Jay by Mia, Age 5}

Signs of Spring

I think we can finally say that spring has arrived! Here are some of the signs of spring that I have noticed in the past week, in no particular order:

• Logan has eaten sand, dirt, sidewalk chalk, and rabbit droppings. (Fortunately, he decided that the last one wasn't edible and spit it out almost immediately.)
• Mia has been playing with various bugs, including a caterpillar of some sort. (I think it is destined to be something less lovely than a butterfly.)
• Mia knelt on an anthill while studying the grape hyacinths. Thankfully, I noticed quickly and she only had a few ants in the cuff of her jeans.
• Mia found the first dandelion in the yard. She was absolutely thrilled to find a "flower."
• Logan got the first scraped knee of the season. If he even noticed it, he showed no sign.
• The farmer kitty-corner from us has a brand new baby llama born the day before yesterday.
• Spiders are coming out of the woodwork, apparently. All I know is that they keep appearing in the house, and the kids are playing with them.
• The battle against grass stains has officially begun!
• Since it finally got a bit warmer, the kids are wearing a mish-mash of clothing sizes -- whatever I could dig out from storage. And it's apparent that I need to do some shopping since they have grown.
• The rainstorm from a few nights ago pelted the crocuses and they are pretty much done. The good news is that the tulip leaves are well on their way.
• The people across the street are getting a new roof. I don't know if it has anything to do with the recent rainstorm or possibly just that they needed a new roof and have just gotten their tax return.
• There are little buds on some of the trees in our yard!