Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Miracle Clean

When I was recovering from labor with T, I spent my 48 hour hospital stay watching HGTV.  I was completely hooked on home improvement shows and loved all the kitchen they featured with granite counters and stainless steel appliances.  Not long afterward, we did our own kitchen remodel that I wrote about here.

We just finished the kitchen renovation of the apartment we rent out.  We wanted to upgrade our stove, so we planned a little switcheroo, our one-year old stove to the apartment and a new stove for us.  The problem is that after one year, our "stainless" steel stove looked like this:


I've tried several stainless steel cleaners and none of them removed the water stains.  It looked terrible.  I felt horrible sending it over to the new apartment kitchen.  A little research on Google turned up some recommendation for silver polish or Bartender's Keeper, but I was home alone with the girls sleeping upstairs and couldn't go anywhere, so my search continued for something I already had.  And that's when I discovered a recommendation for WD-40.

In disbelief, I tried a tiny area first.  I was completely shocked and in an instant, I had removed all of the water stains from the oven door!


Looks amazing, right?!  Like new, you might say?  I went on to remove the grease that had remained on the control panel as well.  Suffice it to say that when the stove went to the apartment, it fit right in with the new fridge and microwave!


All thanks to my new little friend!...


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Monday Blues

I've noticed these past few months that Mondays are hard days for my girls.  We've just spent the weekend together doing family things: errands, big breakfast, trip to the playground or zoo.  We really make the most of those two days together.

Come Monday, the fun grinds to a halt and we're back in the zone: get up, get dressed, eat up, get your coat on and get out the door.  T seems especially sad on Mondays.  Sometimes she shows it by being thoughtful and drawn inward.  Sometimes, she's outright defiant and pushing every-single-button.  Most times, she just doesn't say goodbye as we drop Daddy off or give me kisses as I leave her at daycare.

Mondays are hard.

Yesterday, she was especially sad.  Knowing that we have a long weekend and a trip home coming up, I thought I would cheer her up with this good news.  She responded well and seemed much happier.  She loves going to Grammie's house and seeing her "friends", aka her cousins.

A few more minutes into our trip, K started to whine and howl.  Being the amazing big sister she is, T tried to comfort her with this, "Don't worry K.  Just a few days of school and then they won't leave us anymore!".

That was the sound of my heart breaking.

I spent a couple more minutes hugging her yesterday morning, and afternoon, and night, and again this morning.  I reminded her how much we love her and that we miss her too during the day.  I also reminded her how much she loves her teacher Ms. Vecky and how much fun she has at daycare.  Maybe all we need is a good long vacation together.  Maybe I just needed a reminder that I have amazing daughters who love their mom and dad so much.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right.