Tuesday, July 13

Yay Wallpaper for Apartments!!!

I'm so happy with how this came out.  I found this beautiful greek blue for $4.99 a yard. (cha-ching). Then I cut out my Middle eastern window silhouettes. And dunked them into my temporary glue.

Wall-friendly glue:

2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4c. cold water
Mix well then add  
2 c. boiling water
So then I submerged my cutouts in my glue and then squeezed them out. Press the top edge of the design up against the wall and then squeegee down with the side of my hand, pushing out any air bubbles. But ...I really wanted something else. So I added my cute little bird. Voila!


Tuesday, May 18

Wonders of Cleaning: Blood stains, Grease, and Sink drains

Okay so I'm really bad at cleaning, but I'm getting better. There are somethings that are like magic, and therefore more fun to clean than others. My favorite things to clean with are therefore hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and baking soda. 

Hydrogen Peroxide is really good with blood stains. I mean really good. I didn't even have to scrub. I just blotted with a cotton ball, and they were gone. 

Vinegar when mixed with water is really good at getting grease off of the wall behind  my stove. 

And, I needed to unclog my drain, but I couldn't get down far enough with my needlenose pliers, and draino is too expensive. So I pushed two-ish TB of baking soda down the drain, poured in some vinegar and closed the drain with the plug. I waited 15 minutes to let it do its thing, and then flushed the drain with boiling water. Holy cow...so cool. 

Cleaning is definitely the weakest of my household skills. I found that it's much better to do it all in one push than try to get myself start again after I've stopped. And it's much more motivating to pick up a few things to keep it clean, than staring at a dirty room that needs to be cleaned. However, I do the later more often than I do the former unfortunately. 

Tuesday, April 27

Day 2: War of the Worlds and Dishes

Ms. Gillies recommended putting a radio in the kitchen so that you can "listen to an interesting program" while cleaning the dishes and  having cleaned out my refrigerator and needing to clean almost every piece of tupperware I owned, I went on a search for old radio shows. I found all of the original reels from the late 30's for Mecury Theater on the Air, so I listened to the original War of the Worlds broadcast-  all 1 hour and 9 minutes of excellent radio theater.  So cool.

However after the entire US military was defeated by heat rays and the martians had died of bacteria,  my sink disposal smelled awful. So here was my cheap fix.

How to Obliterate Bad Sink Smells
Items Needed:
1/8 c. Dish Soap
Hot Water
1 citrus fruit

1. Fill Sink with hottest water your faucet makes, adding dish soap.
2. Keep hot water flowing as you unstop the sink and run garbage disposal.
3. Drop pieces of citrus peel into garbage disposal 
4. Breath deeply.

Cost total: $0.45

0.12 for 1 oz. of dish soap
0.33 for grapefruit

Friday, April 23

Day 1: How to Keep House


So I've finally emerged from exam week, and this is day one of full-time housewifery. However in the midst of finals, I did manage to get the blog not looking so boring, do some preliminary reading, pick out some plants, and make a self-watering garden (posts and pics will be uploaded soon, don't worry). Since I have no idea how to start this experiment of mine I've decided to structure this thing around  How to Keep House by Mary Davis Gillies--mostly because of the pictures. 

I also like Mary's style. She doesn't try to idealize dish-washing, but she's dignified. She sets out to teach you a profession, not how to attain a particular type of personality. A few of her words on homemaking:

"Women's frustration with housekeeping is really not the work as much as the attitude. It comes down to the fact that the average woman gets tired of being alone; she gets bored with conversations with babies; she needs to master the techniques of keeping house so that she can get it one and out of the way and have time fore refreshing contacts and hobbies."

"The fact that housework can be done in half the time that was needed fifty years ago by no means reduces the respect due homemaking. The advantage of attaining maximum speed in the dispatch of housework is the time gained for other activities. The home is only one of the spheres that affect family and children. The school, community, city government, federal government, and international affairs are factors in family well-being and development and are logically women's concern."

According to Mary homemaking can be boiled down by  a list of "people to be dealt with" and "things that have to be handled". The people a housewife must be concerned with is the family which involves:

  • health and education
  • social life and recreation
  • community activities
  • companionship
The things to be handled:

  • cleaning, care an upkeep of house
  • clothing, its selection and care
  • food, cooking and nutrition
  • finances and purchasing
Okay...well I don't think that leaves much out. At least I won't run out of things to study up on.