Leg warmers and neon and spandex, oh my!

So, I mentioned that I threw a "Totally 80's" party this past weekend, right? 

It started off with this invitation that Lover designed. It was girls only, cause, hey, well all need a night away from husbands and kids. 

I made Pac Man cookies. I did see a Pac Man cookie cutter, but who wants to spend $7 on a cookie cutter that I'll never use again? So I just bought a round one for $5 that I know I'll use again, rolled out my dough, cut out the circle, and then used a knife to cut out a wedge for the mouth. The cookie recipe I used was this one, and I used this technique for the icing. It was definitely easier and faster to use this recipe for the icing, but it wasn't as perfect as doing it the other way (with thicker royal icing for the outline, and thinner icing to flood the cookies). But I think it's definitely a technique thing. My last ones were so much prettier than my first ones.

I asked everyone to bring a little something to share. Some brought wine, some brought 2 liters of soda, others brought veggies and fruit platters, others brought chips. My friend Jenny surprised me with the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink. On VINYL. 

I made white sangria. I used one bottle of Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc, half of a 2 liter of Fresca, and chopped up apples, grapes and strawberries. I made the fruit/wine mixture the night before, and then added the Fresca right before the party. I didn't get to partake in any (ya know, the whole pregnant thang) but I heard it was yummy.  

The two gorgeous ladies in this pic, I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Megan is on the left (and won Best Costume!) and blogs over at Miss Madison's Charmed Life. And Julie (on the right) blogs at It's Sew Stinkin' Cute.

And we did a couple of games. Pin the bow on Ms Pac Man (we went on the honor system, no blindfold to mess up our make up and hair), and a music trivia.

The best part? I set up a photobooth, and Julie brought her nice camera and we took pics. It was even more fun when we figured out how to use the remote. 

We took some goofy pics.... 

And some nice group pics...

Even my dog Titan insisted on photo bombing the pics....

The photobooth was so easy to make. 8 pieces of black poster board (2/$1 at Dollar tree) taped together, with neon paint drizzled all over it. If I had to do it over again, I'd do 3 rows of 4, instead of 2 rows of 4. I had to rebuild the sides in photoshop, which took a while.

It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait to do another theme party. Next party's theme? Tacky Prom!

Highs and Lows 1/30/2012

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Lows

• Pregnant = emotional = getting butt hurt over things I have no control over. That's all I'm going to say about that. 

Highs

• My 80's party was awesome! I had ten girlfriends come over, we listened to bad music and played games. Plus I had a photobooth set up, so that was fun! I'll do a post with pics tomorrow. We decided that we need to do these more often. So next party? Tacky Prom. Bust out those horrible shiny, big puffy sleeved prom dresses, ladies!

• Got an appt with the OB doctor that I chose. Apparently she's highly sought after, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get in. She's willing to let me try a VBAC, and she does a sono at every appt. Feb 21st, we'll see our baby! 

• Found a new thrift store that I like. No furniture, and their home stuff is non-existant, but it's big and clean. Some prices are outrageous (like $10 for a pair of jeans?) but I did find a bunch of cute pants for Ava for $1. That girl always needs new pants. 

• Signed up to take some mom's class thing at the church with my friend Erin. It's on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:30 for the next 8 weeks, and they talk about mom issues, parenting, etc. Then we'll do lunch afterwards. Love girl time.  

• Lover won a $25 gift card to the movie theater at his quarterly staff meeting. Combine that with the Red Lobster gift card that my sister in law got me for Christmas, and that sounds like the perfect date night. 

I think that's it. It's been a lazy week. 

VBAC moms, I want to join your club

So, I'm only 4 weeks pregnant, but I'm all about planning ahead. I put up a post on FB yesterday, looking for OB recommendations. When I was first pregnant with Ava, we were going to a place called the OBGYN Place. But I wasn't thrilled with it. They have I think 6 doctors in their practice, and every appointment, you see a different doctor. That way, when you do deliver, whatever doctor is on call is a doctor that you've met at least once before. But I never got a great feeling from that place. Every appt (granted, I only went there until 14 weeks when my Quad 4 screening came back abnormal and I had to start being seen by specialists for Ava's gastroschisis), since it was a new doctor, they would go through your file, ask you a billion questions that you've answered at every appointment before. 

The doctor we ended up seeing after we had to change to Baylor Dallas, I really liked. But being that it's a 70 mile round trip to Dallas and back, I wanted to find a more local doctor. So that's when I put up the FB post. But, of course, all the doctors that were recommended are... at Baylor Dallas. Looks like we're driving out there anyway. 

I've narrowed it down to two doctors. Both were rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Health Grades. One does a sonogram at every appointment, the other does a sono at most appointments. Now, since Ava had her birth defects and we had to monitor it closely, we had sonograms at least once a week for the last 4 months of pregnancy. So, I got a bit spoiled, being able to see her every week. 

So I'm going to call the one who does sonos at every visit (and apparently is a very highly sought after doctor in Dallas) and see if she's accepting new patients. 

The thing that's going to decide between the two officially though is if they are willing to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I really want to try it, and I understand if at the end, it's not possible. I looked up a bit about it yesterday, and since I've only had one and it wasn't medically necessary for me (just a precaution for Ava's gastroschisis) I should be a candidate for it. Of course, I managed to find the small handful of horror stories about the risks. But isn't there a risk to any delivery?

If I end up needing a c-section, then so be it. But I'll be honest, I hated the one I had. It took me FOREVER to heal from it (and I hated having to wake up my husband every time I needed to get up from bed and use the restroom, since I couldn't sit up myself. Those of you who have had a c-section know what pain I'm talking about, ouch). But I felt so removed from the birth of my daughter. I'm laying there, motionless and numb on a table, with a tarp in front of my chest, and everyone in the room knows what is going on except for me. I felt so separated from the whole experience. 

And, not that a c-section isn't a "real" delivery, but I really want my husband to experience a "normal" delivery. One where he's feeding me ice chips, encouraging me to breathe and push, etc. 

So, dear readers, have any of you attempted a VBAC?

High and Lows, 1/23/2012

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Lows

• We are all still hacking and coughing around here. All 5 of us. What. The. Crap. It's been like a month. I was pretty convinced that I have the ebola virus, or bird flu, or the plague, but according to the dr, it's just sinus stuff. He recommended Mucinex, but since we just discovered some lovely news, I get to suffer, medicine free. 

• Had to write a not to nice note to Arielle's teacher. We've been having a lot of problems the past couple of months with Arielle's behavior, and I've talked to her teacher about it. Arielle had a great conduct sheet last week, nothing marked off, so we've been really celebrating it. High fives, hugs, etc. Well, on Friday, I check the sheet, and there are two marks on it for Tuesday. What the crap? I've been signing it every day, I know they weren't there. So I wrote a note saying that it's impossible for me to discipline Arielle for something that happened four days ago, and I would appreciate it if in the future, her conduct sheet is kept up to date. I also had to remind her teacher that I'm STILL waiting on the results of the Connor's test (for ADD) that I sent in back in November. When I talked to her teacher on December 16th at the Christmas party, I mentioned that I sent in the test a month ago, and she said that they were waiting on her to do her part of the test, but she's been busy and will get to it. So I mentioned in the note (sent Jan 17th, so a full month after I talked to her) that I'm still waiting on the results, and voila! I get the results back the next day. Grrrrr. I'm all about appreciating a teacher, and I understand that my kid isn't the only one in your class, but come on lady. 

Highs

• Ya know, the whole I'm pregnant thang. Only 4 weeks along, but holy crap. I'm going to have 4 kids. I think it's still sinking in. We did plan this pregnancy, but dang.

• We played Twister with the girls the other night, and holy cow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We're really trying hard to spend more time with the girls, as a family and one on one. 

• My 80's party is this Saturday! I'm super excited. I've been pinning things on Pinterest, but surprisingly there isn't a lot of ideas on there for 80's parties. I've ordered some things for prizes, making up a music trivia, costumes required. Let's just hope that some people show up! My friends Julie, Megan, and Jenny will be there, and a few others, I'm excited. I found an awesome outfit today at a new thrift store. I just need to have my mom make some alterations, but booyah, it'll be awesome. 

• Found a new show that I'm in love with, it's called Once Upon A Time. Seriously, love it. I like having new shows to watch. Ru Paul's Drag Race starts up again next week, booyah. 

• Arielle's Connors test shows that she has significant markers for ADD. And no, while that might not normally be a high, it's nice to know that I'm not just a shitty parent, and there is something that can be fixed/helped/modified. 

So, I think that's it. 

Coming soon.....

Green Smoothie for Weight Loss?

So, like me, I'm sure that everyone has some sort of health bettering resolution on their New Year's resolution. Weight loss, eating better, whatever. We tend to eat pretty healthy in this family (minus my addiction to Lays Sea Salt & Vinegar chips and Cherry Cokes) but I'm always looking for ways to add more water/fruit/veggies to my diet. 

Have you seen the green smoothie craze on pinterest? I read thru a few of them, and while some people use kale or chard, the general consensus is that spinach is the most tasteless of the "greens". 


So I decided to give it a try. I was a bit hesitant on the whole "let's throw some spinach in a fruit smoothie" thing. So at first, I just put one handful of spinach in my smoothie, and I didn't taste it AT ALL. So I added another handful, and still, nada. 


I've been making these for about a week now, with different fruit combinations. My girls even like drinking these. 


The basic recipe I use is...


2 bananas (it's a great way to use those bananas that are getting too soft to eat)


2 handfuls of spinach


handful of strawberries (I end up using 6-8 medium sized ones)


ice cubes, about 6-8


a cup of milk




If I'm not sharing it with the girls, I'll throw in a half a scoop of my protein powder, which gives it a slight chocolate taste. The protein powder I use is Champion Nutrition Pure Whey Protein powder in chocolate. It's 130 calories per scoop with 26 grams of protein.

I'll also add a spoonful of Metamucil fiber powder to mine. 

Spinach has fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K. Other health benefits of spinach can be found here. For me, I can always use more veggies in my diet, so anything that doesn't take a huge amount of additional effort in my book is a win. 


Some people use orange juice as their liquid, others use water. I never drink milk, so anytime I can add milk to a recipe and not taste it, I'll do it. Other people use almond milk (which is still on my "to try" list) or soy milk. 


You can basically add any fresh fruit that you have on hand (I will say that I tried it with raspberries, and didn't care for it, the raspberries were too over powering).

Now, mine did not turn out as pretty of a green color as the ones pictured on Pinterest. Mine is more of a blah, boring green. (I could have photoshopped it up, but that's not my style). But it's yummy, and easy to make.  I've been doing one for breakfast. I always end up making enough for two big glasses of it. So I'll do one for breakfast, and put it in the fridge until it's time to have it for my morning snack. 


Have you jumped on the green smoothie craze? Are you going to try it? 

Homeless Home Owners

So, here is a little story about my friends Erin and Ryan. I don't mean "friends" like "Oh, I've met them once or twice." We've been friends for 8 years. They've been there for me when I've needed them. They gave me a place for me and my two young girls to stay when Lover and I broke up temporarily and I moved out. Ryan has been there for me with answers to countless questions about my car. Erin is always there for me with a no holds barred, tell it like it is opinion, and I love that. Just good people that you hate to see anything happen to.

We've partied together. 

When Jake and I go up to visit St Louis, they always plan a get together with all of our friends. We always do Dave and Busters, since our kids and all the adults can have fun. 

Ryan surprised Erin for Christmas 2009 with a plane ticket to Dallas. 

I drove up to St Louis to go to their wedding. 

And they drove the long 10 hours to Dallas to come to ours. 

And we've had countless BBQ's and parties at their house. 

See that house in the background in the last pic? That's what this little story is about.

Back in October 2009, they came home and found a horrible smell in their lower level (they live in a bi-level home). They found that the drain pipe for the house's main plumbing had detached from the floor. They had a plumber come out, and the plumber found that the reason the pipe detached from the house is that the ground under the house was MISSING. 

Erin and Ryan contacted the City of Arnold, MO, and the city came out and did their own investigation. The city determined that it "wasn't their problem" and the city's insurance denied the claim. Ryan and Erin then contacted their home owner insurance, who also denied the claim, since it doesn't cover "earth movement or erosion". The mortgage company also does not want to get involved until the Egleston's go into default/foreclosure. 


They have contacted Erin Brockovich, Ellen, Oprah, and two of the TV stations in St Louis. They have also contacted their congressman, state reps and attorney general. They were told it's a local level issue and to start there. None of the city council aldermen will help, due to litigation. The Eglestons did have a short story on the St Louis news back in Feb 2010.

They also have a video on YouTube, showing the things they're dealing with. In the video, they also show a clip of them going to a City Council meeting to speak with the mayor. To me, the mayor seems very unsympathetic, and honestly, comes across like a jerk. 

In the video, it's revealed that the house was built on a human waste lagoon on a pier, and over time, the land has washed away. The city administrator says in the video that there were 29 lagoons in Arnold at one time, and since there are no lagoons now, obviously they were all built on. It's been suggested to Ryan that he find out where the other lagoons are, and to go and talk to those residents to see if they are having the same issues, but somehow, all those records are unavailable, and they cannot find the location of the other lagoons. That should be public record, yet no one can find it? 


So, since October 2009, two and a half long years, the Eglestons have been paying a mortgage on a house that is unfit to live in, and they've been living with family members. They finally have a court date set for September 2012, almost three long years after this all started.

There are a couple of other issues on their street, but the city says the problems are completely separate.

The street is literally caving away, since there is nothing under the asphalt. The city says it's not related.

The city also says that flooding isn't an issue on their street, and again, is not related. 

The blue car is Erin's, and that pic was taken from their front porch. It would be impossible to get out of your driveway with that amount of water in the street. You can't even see the curb, and that area in the distance in the trees is even worse. 

I don't expect anyone to have the magic answer. But a prayer, a word of encouragement or a suggestion would be appreciated.

Love you, Erin and Ry.

Highs and Lows, 1-16-2012

What's up, dear reader? Guess what it's time for.




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Lows

• Lover is still sick. He's been coughing for the past week or two. Loud, racking coughs that make me want to punch him in the head feel so bad for him. He finally made a dr's appt, expecting him to tell him that he had strep or something. His $150 diagnosis? Sinuses. The prescription he gave him? Over the counter Mucinex (tack on another $35). What the hell. At least we now know that he doesn't have strep (or the ebola virus like I kept telling him that he had) but dang, that's an expensive trip. 

• I'm ready to punch Arielle's teacher in the head. We've been working really hard with Arielle's behavior in school (For a while, it seemed like every week, Arielle was coming home with a conduct mark, it was at it's worst in December. I had a talk with her teacher at the Christmas party that we're really working with her on her behavior). So the past week, she's had nothing written on her conduct sheet, so we've been really encouraging and cheering her on. Really celebrating her behavior and the lack of conduct marks. On Friday, we check her folder, and she has two marks for Tuesday. I've signed off on that damn thing every day so I know it wasn't there. How the hell am I supposed to discipline my kid for something she did 4 days ago? Come on lady, we're supposed to be a team. 

• Ava had her 15 month check up (yes, she just turned 17 months on the 10th). 30 inches tall, 22 lbs 9.5 ounces. But since Ava is still not standing/walking on her own, the dr is going to have ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) come out to the house and evaluate her. She's taken a step or 2, two or three times, but it's definitely not consistent. She walks along furniture, will walk while holding onto a finger, but as soon as you try and pull your hand away, she immediately drops to her knees. That child has never been uneventful. 6 surgeries in her first two months of life, a case of RSV , and emergency surgery 4 days after her first birthday? That girl sure does like to keep us on our toes. 

Highs

• Found a new banana bread recipe. Tried it, loved it, will blog about it. Made a huge loaf for us, and one for my mom and one for the elderly neighbors next door. Makes me feel all June Cleaver. 

• Started working on piecing together my quilt. It's pretty. I heart it. 

• New Meal Monday was a success. I made this recipe. Super easy. I couldn't get the cheese to stick, so I just sprinkled it on top. The whole family loved it (which doesn't always happen).  

• My mom kept the girls on Saturday night. We got a pizza from Pizza Hut, watched some UFC. Good times. 

• I tried a new dress pattern that I bought, and made a dress for a friend's daughter's birthday. I love how it turned out and can't wait to make one for Miss Ava. 

• Finally finished cleaning the house. Oh em gee, the house has been a disaster lately. What is it about organizing that makes the house so darn messy? Lover even gave me a little shout out on FB, and then cooked dinner took us to Five Guys (my FAVORITE place to eat).

Ava totally jacked my drink when we got to Five Guys, but who could say no to that face?

• People are starting to leave feedback after my Etsy Christmas rush. (Buyers, if you buy something on Etsy, and you love it, please leave feedback for your sellers. Sellers live for feedback. You're only as good as your feedback score). Some that have been left lately really melted my heart. I posted a few of them on FB. It was such a nice feeling to know my hard work was appreciated. 

• Arielle had her post last week sickness check up. She's still not 100%, but the dr said she's so much better. Yay!

• My headboard is finally finished. I didn't like where it was going, so I made a few changes and I dig it now.

• I actually have crap to post about, which is awesome! Sometimes I have NOTHING to blog about, and I don't want to be one of those bloggers who sticks a picture in a store bought frame and then posts 48 pictures showing it. I just need to plan out my posts, download the pics, etc. 

• My Soap Scum Killa post has been repinned about 47 bazillion times. That's awesome. 

• I'm planning an Totally 80's party for January 28th, and people are actually RSVPing. I'm excited. I just need to find a candy store that carries vintage candy. OMG, is 80's stuff considered vintage. Am I officially old? 

Dang, that was a pretty darn good week.  

What's up, gorgeous stenciled wall? How you doing?

So, I've hinted once or twice about how we painted our bedroom over Christmas break. I finally took crappy pics this morning. For some reason, I can't get a good pic of it to save my life. Either the pics turned out yellow, or grainy, I dunno. 

I used the large Rabat stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I won a giveaway over at Bella Before and After, and spent my prize credit on this stencil. 

The first step was to paint the wall white, so the negative space of the stencil would be white, and not ugly builders beige. It's not the best "before" pic, I forgot to take a true one, but you can see the white paint and the original paint color. I made sure to get flat paint for the base white color, the paint guy at Home Depot said that you always want the bottom color to be a flat paint. I didn't know that. But it was the cheapest sheen, so woot!

And then it was time to get started (after letting the paint dry for a day). Lover painted the rest of the room (ceiling included) and I tackled the wall. I started at the top, in about the center of the wall. The stencil was really easy to use, I used a lot of painters tape on the edges and between the openings, and just worked my way down the wall. I had to "cheat" every few movements down the wall, since it wouldn't line up exactly. But it said on the Cutting Edge site that it's totally fine to cheat it, just make sure your stencil is level. I also got the clip on stencil level, and truly highly recommend it. 

I'm pretty sure it's required to look like crap when you're doing home improvements. And a black bra under a white shirt makes you uber cool. And a little FYI, if you wear super baggy pants when you're climbing up and down a ladder, be prepared to step on them and accidentally moon your husband once. Or 4 times, whatever. 

In the beginning, I just worked in rows. But then I'd run into the problem of the paint being wet while I moved onto the next one. So eventually I just bounced around, making sure it was lined up and level each time.

And voila!

The color we used was "Silver Drop" by Behr. I didn't want a gray that was blueish or yellowish. This is just a pretty, medium gray. I was worried that an all gray room would feel cold or institutional, but it's lovely and inviting. 

Thanks Cutting Edge for making a super awesome product! I'd love to try out some of their other stencils, they make such a huge impact. 4 days worth of work for an eye catching accent wall? Score. 




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High and Lows, 1/9/2012

I am actually writing this post on Sunday night, getting it ready to post on Monday morning like it's supposed to. Yay for keeping up with my New Year's resolution! (so far).






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As always, we're starting off with lows. 

Lows

• Jasmin has had a cough off and on for the past 2 or 3 weeks, so when Ava started having a cough and runny nose last week, I didn't think twice about it. Arielle told me on Thursday morning that she was coughing and didn't feel good, I took her temp, and when she didn't have one, I sent her off to school (I'm not a mean mom, she had been playing on her DSi for the past half hour, so I figured if she was really that sick, she'd be in bed). So I sent her off to school. I get a call ten minutes after school starts, and it's the nurse, telling me that Arielle is wheezing and I need to come get her. I call the dr and make all three girls an appt for Friday morning. Figure that Jasmin had been sick, and Ava had a cold, I might as well bring them all in. The verdict? Ava had an ear infection, Arielle had an upper respiratory infection, and Jasmin (the one who I wasn't even going to bring in since she was fine) had freaking strep. Oh. Em. Gee. Thankfully they're all doing better (the dr treated them all for strep as a preventative) but talk about these kids keeping you on your toes. 

• I got a few nasty cuts on the nailhead trim while we were working on our headboard. What the crap is it with me hurting myself on projects lately? I guess it's like my father in law says. "The project isn't finished until somebody bleeds." It's on the underside of my left index finger between the two middle knuckles on your finger (does that make sense?) but it hurts to move my finger. Blah.  

• Freaking Dexter. We finally finished the season, and oh em gee. I have to wait how long until it comes back on? 

• My headboard project isn't turning out how I planned it in my head. I was planning all black, thick foam with a nailhead trim. But the trim looks cheap (even thought I spent $30 on it) and I'm afraid that it'll be bubbly since it only has the nail holes every 5th head. Ugh. I've seen some plain headboards on pinterest, so I'm trying to wrap my head around just keeping it plain. I dunno, maybe the wall is so busy that a plain headboard will be good? Crap.

• My house looks like a bomb went off. I'm in the middle of re-organizing everything, and I think the rule is that if you're trying to organize, the area you're organizing must look messier than it's ever been, and make you think that you should have just shoved all the crap back in the drawer. What's wrong with having 4 junk drawers? Geez.

Highs

• Worked on our new bedroom headboard. While I'm not sure the direction it's going in, it was SO FREAKING nice to do a project for me. Hubby helped me, and it was great to spend time with him, doing something for our house.

• Had a great night with the family on Saturday. Took them all to Red Lobster. The service sucked, but it was such an enjoyable time. My "difficult" child (Arielle) has been such a joy to be around.

• I got a new blender (yes, the things you get excited about as an adult). I want to try the green smoothies I keep reading about on Pinterest. So we hit up Costco and got a bunch of spinach and fruits. 

• My sister in law has decided to be serious about working out and eating right, and started blogging every day about it. I'm so stinkin' proud of her for making that decision to not be unhappy anymore. Plus, she's planning a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding, how neat is that? I see amazing things in her future. 

• I found a new show that I love called Renovation Realities. Basically it's people who have little to no experience with renovation, taking on projects like ripping out a kitchen and updating it. And of course, they always think they'll be able to finish in 4 days or something. 

• I'm trying to get the house organized. So I spent some time making labels yesterday. I figure if it's pretty, I'll want to use it, right? 

I think that's it. Today's agenda is clean. And clean. And clean. Anyone want to come and help? I have cookies.

Dawn + Vinegar = Soap Scum KILLA

So, you might remember this post from a while back. And if you do, you'll remember that I cannot stand soap scum. Like, it actually bothers me. I hate that we have this gorgeous bathroom, and all I can see is the soap scum that threatens to take over. And God help me if hubby and I are in the shower together (hey, we're in a water shortage) and I accidentally touch the walls. Ugh, gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

I've tried it all. Kaboom. 409. Every bottle that promises to get rid of the soap scum. And I'm left disappointed every. single. time. 

So when I saw this post on pinterest, I was a bit skeptical. Magic in a bottle? Yeah, okay. But I figure, what did I have to lose? So the next time I went to Walmart, I figure I could drop $3 on a bottle of Dawn and a spray bottle. We already had a huge bottle of white vinegar, thanks to Lover cleaning his stinky Vibrams (those weird 5 toe shoe things that make him look like he has swamp creature feet).

My oldest daughter asked me if I bought the Dawn just because it had a penguin on it (I collect penguins). 

So it's pretty simple. Heat up some vinegar (I used a cup of vinegar and nuked it for 2 minutes). Then pour it in your spray bottle, add an equal amount of blue Dawn (the website comments were pretty specific about getting the blue kind), shake gently, and voila! 

Again, that's a one to one ratio of white vinegar to blue Dawn. I measured out a cup of each originally, but only used about half of my bottle. So next time I'll just do a half cup of each. The whole point is that the white vinegar is heated up, and while I haven't used it with it being room temperature and don't know if it'd work just as well, I'd rather just make it fresh each time. Especially if it's going to give me super clean results.



Here is what we're dealing with. Gross, right? You can't tell me you'd want to touch that in the shower either. EWWWWW. 

Do you know how hard it is to take a pic of soap scum? I finally figured out that I had to place the camera on the door and face it down with the flash on. 

Isn't that gross? I know I already said that, but man. Ewww. 

So the website said that you can spray it on and leave it overnight for tough stains. But have you ever tried to spray on a cleaner on a vertical surface? What's the first thing that happens? It all slides down. BUT, with the vinegar Dawn spray, it's a bit thicker, almost like a watery gel, and it stayed on the glass where I sprayed it. Yeah, a few places dripped, but it was staying. Holy crap. 

I let it sit for 2 hours, came back in with a sponge and some warm water, and wiped it off. And holy crap. 

Yes, that is an unedited (except for the watermark, obviously) photo of the same area. And that isn't soap scum at the bottom, it's the reflection of the shower floor (you can see the drain). Isn't that crazy? Lover came in to see it when he got home from work, and he said "Holy crap, it looks freaking new!". It totally shocked me when I walked in the bathroom this morning when hubs was taking a shower. Usually it looks like he's standing behind a frosted glass door where all you can see is his head. But this morning, it was completely clear. Like brand spanking new.

So if your nemesis is soap scum, give it a shot. It'll cost ya under $5 even if you have to buy everything, which is cheaper than the other cleaners that aren't working. I will warn you that it stinks to high heaven and I'd recommend putting on the bathroom vent. But for results like these, it was worth it for me.

No, I'm not getting paid to post this. I wish I was! But ya know, Dawn making people, feel free to send a big ole check my way.

Update! I did have a nice reader send me this. Thanks Herb! "Today, I called P&G - NO ammonia or ammonia producing ingredients in Dawn Blue.  I also asked was there a difference between Original Blue Dawn, Dawn Original Scent & Dawn Ultra Original Scent.  The P&G person said Original Blue Dawn is referred to as Non Ultra (not concentrated) while Dawn Ultra (2X) Blue Original Scent is concentrated.  The non Ultra is hard to find so most of the folks in your blog comments that complain the mix is too soapy are probably using Ultra & need to halve the Dawn."

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