So for those that wipe down kitchen cabinets…do you have a favorite wood cleaner? It seems like I never really like the products I use.
CBBBlinker - that would be great if they have the paints in the sample jars! I would make it much easier for me to figure it out. I’ll have to look for those. For the most part I have a color scheme for each room except for my Ds old room. That one I have 3 because I’m not really sure how it is going to look so there that would be very handy. I have 3 different schemes currently for that room. All others I’ve really sort of settled on unless I get either paint or a swatch home and decide – nope it doesn’t work. 
I have clutter. I don’t like it but I have it. H is well a SLOB. I’m more of what I will say it a closet slob. Meaning my closets are a mess but I like everything “put away”. At the same time I refuse to constantly be picking up after him. I let it go until I just can’t deal with it any more and then throw everything in a closet or drawer. Then he gets irritated when he can’t find anything. Recent example. He has a race bag that has been stuffed with clothes since last fall. It was on the floor of my kitchen for WEEKs. I got sick of looking at it and put it up in our bedroom off in a corner. Recently he was complaining that I had put away his endurance team gear and he didn’t know where any of it was. Well I asked if he had looked in his bag. He said yes. Well yes he had looked in the spring race bag but not in the FALL race bag where it all still was.
Second NM’s question–does anyone have a good kitchen cabinet product?
I spot clean, often when I see something as I am bothered until it is gone.
We are so lucky to have an amazing housecleaner every two weeks.
I do have a plan after our trip to enlist her help as well as H’s and do a deep cleaning–esp. the inside of
drawers and wash the woodwork, spot the paint where needed and so on.
I love to purge so have stayed on top of that. Still, there is so much that would go if we were to move to
a smaller place. H loves his stuff but is overall neat. Now our office is the one that we cannot
keep up with as the papers procreate at night…
I find it very difficult to put things away. Believe or not, each time I pick up an object, I start thinking about it and get new ideas and go off in a different direction. In my office (and my home office), my assistant has the job of figuring out what to do with all the stuff. In my house, well, not so good. ShawWife also has a pretty expansive personality/style. We have someone who comes in and cleans (quite well and is honest and nice) but thinks that she should put anything that is out someplace – anyplace – out of sight. About 80% of the time, this is in the nearest drawer or cupboard, whether that makes sense or not (frequently does not). But about 20% of time, it is completely random and might even migrate to another room. We used to hire someone to help organize, but after about 15 years, she has moved on to other things. Our basement is now a disaster (Federal officials will likely declare it so before too long).
I haven’t cleaned walls in my lifetime.
@college_query, I’m sure there are artsy types there (and I find Berkeley charming). But, I think the high prices of real estate are driving/have driven people out the city and probably from Berkeley to Oakland.
Shaw, the first step is RECOGNIZING you have difficulty putting things away 
So you’re on the road to recovery! Now if you could just teach mch he to say those words…
I only seem to get around to washing walls if I’m a) moving or b) painting However, I LOVE powerwashing! If there was a way to powerwash indoors, my house would be much cleaner I do have a steamer and once in a Blue moon will use it.
I think in a past life I was some kind of contessa, because while I enjoy the results of deep cleaning, I just generally seem to think the fairies are going to do it while I sleep… I think my cleaning woman is starting to wonder about me though, because last week I asked her to not clean anything else but to instead deep clean all the wood doors in the house, when usually I have as little to do with instructing her as possible. She admitted to mch who was here for a spell while she was cleaning that she was quite astonished by the number of doors in our deceptively smaller house (and perhaps my interest in having them cleaned, because I think she mistakes my avoidance as disinterest when really its just a coping strategy ;))
So from this its fair to say that I do get spring clean fever…I just tend to delegate it where possible. If I am the one whose going to have to clean it, it will be needling TSP or mineral oil – because although my cleaner has not yet adopted my ways, both produce fast, thorough results with less effort and minimal chemical byproduct/scent.
NM, are your cabinets wood, composite, or painted? Mineral oil is nice for wood, as is lemon oil. A light solution of TSP does wonders for deep cleaning cabinets (light because at full strength it can take the shine off gloss paint or shellac…but its the only thing that truly cuts through grease easily.)
As you might gather, there are kinda old school products, but IMHO they work better than the “cleaning products” on the market. Mineral oil is much greener to use. TSP is nasty but is the real deal – it’s just tri-sodium phosphate. Powerful but simple in terms of ingredients.
As the eldest with four sisters and a working mom, i was way in charge of cooking and cleaning at a young age. I grew up using pure lemon oil on wood, which nets beautiful results. I’m also the type that prefers vinegar and newspaper on glass. This stuff just works better and doesn’t leave crap behind. These modern cleaners with their swiffers and magic erasers and penchant for chemical composite products and paper towels drive me kinda crazy, which is why I try not to interface too much on it all. Eg if I’m not the one doing it, I try to stick to my knitting I realize my preferences are a bit eccentric, although decidedly a little more sustainable/green.
Last week, I put out a bag of clean, reusable scrap cloths. Cleaning woman chose instead to use a roll of paper towels. This is why I try not to think about it…I get cranky.
At any rate, RochesterMom, I suspect that like cooking, a lot of kids today have never been exposed to the notion of a spring-clean and think that’s maybe what the pioneers did I think that kind of deep cleaning was more popular in the days where financial prudence meant making a paint job last a few decades, etc. I think in the convenience world we live in today, the notion of “preserving” finishes or objects is overtaken by the commercialized notion of obtaining “new”. I also think a world where everyone is working to make ends meet lends itself to the consumerist reward phenom that fuels a penchant for new, which is kinda ironic
Eg in my kitchen facelift this spring while searching vendors at the home show, sales folks seemed horrified that I would redo a kitchen without replacing the cabinets. I explained that while I could comfortably afford cabinets, I was simply unwilling to waste good, solid, albeit very old wood. That there was nothing they could offer me that I couldn’t achieve without land filling or freecycling perfectly good cabinetry. Etc. quite a foreign notion to them.
Very true KMC. My kids grew up with me doing this once a year so they are used to it. I guess I just never realized that it was not the norm. Of course H doesn’t like to paint that often and I’ve been in some houses where they have painted so much (these are houses that are only 30-40 years old) that you can no longer pick out the profiles on the moldings. I like the smell and look of a freshly cleaned room.
H did say that S and DIL are going to have to paint. It really looked nice when we toured the house however the paint job I guess wasn’t the best so maybe it’s good she is just spot cleaning. There was a flat screen TV over the fire place. Yup you guessed it the previous owners didn’t paint behind it so now there is a rectangle a different color over the fireplace. I guess there are similar other issues H indicated. This is all okay as DIL wanted to paint to make the colors more “hers”. This will make it more so I think. Working this morning then off to help them. They seem to be making progress getting everything moved but could use the extra help.
Happy Easter, Passover, or whatever you celebrate. Taking a quick break from kitchen shenanigans. What possessed me to do beef tenderloin w/porcini merlot reduction for 12?..good grief. Its bad enough for six…
This house really was meant for two
Echoing kmc’s sentiments – Happy Easter/Happy Passover to all who celebrate!
My efforts in the kitchen are much less complicated than kmc’s since we go to BIL & SIL’s house tomorrow for Easter dinner. I bring an appetizer and a dessert. H is in charge of the wine.
Monday we’re off to FL for a week. This time around it will most likely be excellent beach weather, i.e. VERY warm. That’s fine; we’re ready for it.
Happy Easter all! I tried to make “Easter bread”, an anise-flavored brioche, for my Dad. I will be attempting that again another day, unfortunately. It didn’t rise much. Oh well, the weather looks great!
I just had to chime in on the wall washing, because my Aunt, a very good housekeeper, would paint when the walls got dingy. I don’t recall ever washing them, maybe we just dusted them down with a damp cloth right before painting. I was surprised that she didn’t wash them. I figured the paint wouldn’t stick to oily kitchen walls, but it did. I do wash my kitchen walls (but not 2X a year), and see that my Dad’s walls are going to need it soon - but he cooks every day in a small kitchen.
I always remember the Easter weekend H and I painted our living/dining room. We skipped being with family that year. It took all three days. They need painting now, and I put it off knowing how much work it is.
Good Morning and Happy Easter / Passover to all who celebrate.
My FIL passed away earlier this week. He hadn’t been in great health, but very sad nonetheless as he really was one of the good guys. I don’t think it’s really hit yet. Lots of logistics getting the 4 of us from 3 different locations in the east to the midwest. We are all here now and D and I are staying at my parents house until Wednesday.
So sorry to hear about your FIL, FallGirl.
Happy Easter/Passover as well. It’s a nice day, so H and are just taking a drive and going out to brunch.
So sorry for your loss FallGirl. Hoping you find some comfort in your memories of good times.
Happy Easter/Passover! We started the morning with the whole family at church service and then back to our house for breakfast quiche, homemade waffles, bacon/sausage, and a yogurt bar. Whew! After lots of fun and games I cooked again and had potato salad, various meat and shrimp kabobs, chopped salad, scalloped gouda potatoes, deviled eggs and lots of fruit. Dessert was an ice cream sundae bar. Yum! All of this was followed by a much needed long neighborhood walk! H and I are now home alone and relaxing! Hoping for a dip in the hot tub later. H drained, cleaned and refilled the tub this week so I am looking forward to a nice soak. Had a great day with the girls.
Sending hugs to Fallgirl.
Nm, hope you had a great soak. That’s what we were doing around here after a decadent weekend I hoped if I stayed in long enough I might shrink
So sorry Fallgirl!
Hope everyone had a happy Easter. S and DIL are moved in (finally). They hadn’t really packed so it was pack boxes move them unpack to have the box and repeat. Took about 3 days. They stopped in late yesterday as they were were her family and were going over to get the last few things out of their apartment. They have the week to clean it (thank goodness). H and I stopped over at D’s yesterdays for a couple of hours just to say hi. Everyone will be at our house this Sat for dinner. So my cooking was delayed by a week although I did do augratin potatoes, ham and steamed green beans for H and I for dinner. We will be eating ham for most of the week I think. Snowed here yesterday. Would have looked nice at Christmas - not so nice at Easter. Luckily it didn’t stick.
Good morning all. Fall Girl, so sorry to hear about you FIL but so glad that you were blessed with a good FIL for as long as you had him.
All the talk of cleaning had me cleaning on Saturday. Nothing major- just the worst areas. (Why oh why do I have mold on my shower grout when there is a cleaning lady?)
Yesterday saw 4 of the 5 of us in church (each at a different church). Older D didn’t go but she and her roommates were invited to the home of the one whose family lives out in the suburbs. Sounded fun - the mom is Eastern European so some different foods for D.
We had rain yesterday. I mention this because in the 7 minute phone conversation we had with H’s mom, she asked about our weather three times. The good thing about her Altzheimers (if there is such a thing) is that she is more cheerful than she has ever been. I think FIL is finally looking into some kind of adult day care.
I hope you all had a happy Easter or are having a great Passover. We spent the weekend in Memphis, where my younger sister is adjusting to a move from the northeast. Their Jewish life is very active–kids all attended Hebrew Day Schools. Interesting, there is an Jewish community that has been in Memphis for generations (old money, apparently) and they are apparently not particularly welcoming to newcomers, who tend to be doctors (like my BIL, who is in great demand in Memphis), lawyers (unclear why), and folks associated with Autozone, FedEx or International Paper (the only three large companies in town). So, the newcomers fend for themselves (and welcome newer-comers in). I’ve never known a place where the Jewish community wasn’t welcoming to newcomers and visitors.
My oldest niece is in a secular private school that is apparently pretty good, but the Christians and the Jews self-segregate and the old money/others may also self-segregate. So lots of girl HS clique-iness tied to the self-segregated groups and then cliques within them. She’s a girl who likes to have friends in various groups and finds it a little hard to navigate. One good thing: Being in Memphis should help her college admissions chances. She is a very bright girl – she used to challenge ShawSon in games of strategy (few people do) – and likes math. Coming from DC, she’d probably be a dime a dozen (although the number of Caucasian females who like and are good at math is not large in general). Coming from Memphis, however, she will be a lot rarer and it will help her in college admissions outside the Southeast. Her dad went to one of HYP, so if she does as well as I would expect, she’ll be in the rare slot of Caucasian female from the Bible Belt with great grades and test scores who likes and is good at math (and physics).
Shaw, I hope that works for her. The Caucasian females from my kids’ Bible Belt high school who were admitted into upper tier colleges often got there through sports.
She is also on varsity sports teams. I don’t know how good she is. She is Jewish which is probably negatively correlated with with athletic tablet so she is likely better at math than sports but who knows. I figured legacy plus serious math strength from Bible Belt would be unusual. But to tour point, her sister is an outstanding gymnast. The gymnastics academy(?) apparently keeps bragging about how they get their kids college scholarships.
I am just remembering my D’s class and one particular school, a tier just below HYP. The two admits: 1) the URM with the highest class rank, and 2) a Caucasian female soccer player. #2 in the class, an ORM, was waitlisted, as was a top 5% well rounded Caucasian female.
Edit to add: of course, there are always the really really really bright kids who, despite the building of a well rounded class, the statistics, unwritten quotas, etc. get into the top schools based on their own brightness.
I am very sorry for your loss, Fall Girl. A good father-in-law is a treasure, and I still miss mine. May his memory be a blessing and a comfort.
I’m trying – once again – to find a combination of allergy meds that doesn’t leave me congested, climbing the walls, or falling asleep every time I sit down. It is a challenge, and so far I am only partially successful.
We used to wash walls every spring with a mixture that left my hands all chapped and red when I was growing up. Now the only wall I wash is the one adjacent to the cooktop. However, a more thorough wash of all the kitchen walls and the ceiling would probably be a benefit. Not sure how to get the ceiling. We cook a lot, and it could definitely use it.
Now that spring has sprung, I need a good long visit from the cleaning fairies.