Cleaning Tip – How to clean the drains *without* using a snake *or* a plumber

Ok, so I am cleaning today…again.

But, this time in preparation for company…Bryan, Jaime, Taylor and Shaye are coming this evening, and Brad, Marline and Tyler are coming Early Sunday morning…and I mean Early LOL.

So, this cleaning tip.

My grandpa was a plumber, and my dad learned at his side…and they didn’t even know this. I learned this from my mom, and she learned this from her mom and her mom learned it from her mom and so on.

What you do is simple. It is cheap as well.

Take about 1/4 C. Baking Soda and pour it in the drain. Any drain. Then pour Vinegar…Apple or White, it doesn’t matter. It just depends on which you prefer for smell. Pour until it bubbles up then stop. when the bubbles go down, pour again. do this until it ceases to bubble up. Then let it sit in the drain for about an hour and then rinse it out. If your drains are still running slow, repeat. If they are still running slow, plunge them. Only then, do you need to go to a snake, and then if that doesn’t work, should you call a plumber. Cause then you have something major. But 9 times out of 10, the vinegar/baking soda and sometimes the plunger will fix the problem relatively simply.

My dad was amazed when I did it. You should have seen his face when I started doing it. Then he was skeptical. but when he saw the after affects of it, he was amazed and sold on the concept. no harsh chemicals. no expensive chemicals. no tools. and no plumbing. just simple cooking ingredients.

try it. you will be amazed.

 

LOL ok, there is my advertisement heheheh

Words That Bug Me…Text Talk

Ok…now I know that Text Talk is not a word…nor a phrase. but it still bugs me. LOL ;)

Text talk has its place. I don’t deny using it myself…sparingly. I use very few things that are text talk. Frankly, I can only understand a few of the phrases. I have had to locate a website that has a of the text talk lists just to see what is said…and frankly…how can you know what is said when a lot of them stands for at least two different things, if not 3 or 4, or more?

Like I said, text talk has its place. Using it in chat rooms is understandable…confusing for people like me, but understandable (which is why I avoid chat rooms ;)

Using it in texts on phones is completely understandable. especially for those that have limited texts or pay for theirs…

but where I draw the line is when it is used in talk, or god forbid, books.

using text talk when you are speaking. O.M.G. (yes, I had to do it). Come on now. I know that people are inherently lazy now. Yes, I know I am insulting people. GET OVER YOURSELVES. get an education. get some class, for gods sake. do you realize how low class it makes you sound 99% of the time when you talk like you are in a chat room?

I know we as a society have reached an all-time low when I read text talk in books. yes, books. I have a favorite series. I am not naming the series, or the author. I have too much respect for her for that., and I doubt very much I have the same readers, or that she reads my blogs LOL. But, when I read text talk as everyday talk in her books, that lowered the quality for me. The stories are fantastic. I absolutely adore the characters, I would love to hang with them and kick some butt with them…but, I would have to break the characters of talking in text talk.

For the most part, my only text talk is LOL or ROFL. I add others here or there, but not many, and not often. And, yes, occasionally, when I am alone and I think something is funny I will think LOL. But I have never been tempted to say it out loud. I have too much respect for my learning to do that.

I was telling my mom the other day that I would have loved to go to school in today’s age with all of the electronics available….but at the same time, I don’t think I would know what I know now if I did. So I am thankful I had to learn everything the hard way…and honestly…I even think I had it too easy in the 80’s and 90’s when I was in school and would have loved to learn in an even earlier time period…of course, I would not have wanted some of the rules and the dress codes…hehe

But, for the most part, with exceptions, yes…add Text Talk to what bugs me. ;)

to-do list

I mentioned in my blog about not a thing written for weeks that I have been working my tail off. Well, here is a list of what I still have to do…and of course, I have help on some of this…

Computer/Office:

• finish fixing music genre’s for iPod
• fix music volume’s on individual song’s (so there is no super low sounds and no but-the-ear drum songs
• find picture of specific cat; fix picture sizes of 4 cat pictures; email them to woman who is including them in her book about cats.
• fix picture size of baby goat and email it to aunt; help her name goat
• put system mechanic pro on all 3 computers
• put adaware on mom and dad’s computers
• do computer maintenance on all three computers
• work on book library; add books that were missed or new to the library
• Organize my section of the office

Pantry (this is a seriously large pantry…walk-in.):

• go through pantry; reorganize and get rid of things no-longer good

Mudroom:

     Medicine cupboards:

• go through medicines; get rid of what is no longer good; organize; put diabetic stuff in my bedroom; put dog stuff on back porch

   Cleaning cupboards:

• go through cleaning supplies; see what is good, what is no good, what is not effective, what we won’t use, etc.; reorganize
• Go through various container’s from gma’s and see what is good/not-good

Misc:

• Gather things up to go to Bryan-Jaime/Brad-Marline
• vacuum (never-ending LOL)
• Dust (again never ending *sigh*)
• scrub 2 walls in my bedroom…something got spilled on them…*scratches head*
• Clean spots on carpet throughout house (Green Machine to the rescue!)
• Work on next month’s budget
• Shop for waterproof bedding for gma
• Take full day-seclude self-WRITE!

 

And there you have it…of course things will be added as I go along and find things that need to be done, or help dad around the place. but this is my definite list of what needs to be done…right away. *sigh* LOL Now, to go chip away at some of it.

The nice thing is, I don’t have to worry about dinner tonight…did a big batch of beef stew yesterday to make pot pie and I had left-over’s so tonight we are having stew…a few minutes before dinner, I will pop in a batch of bisquick biscuit’s and that will be dinner.

now on to the work…

have had strange weather…

…all year long

we really didn’t have a spring. it stayed pretty cold up here. until late June we had fires in our fire place. then it got warm and we had to turn on the air conditioners. Well, here it is mid August, and except for the office, were we have multiple computers, we have shut down the air conditioners and fans because it has cooled right down. We have even had snow in the higher elevations…not too much higher than we are…already.

I can tell it is going to be a cold winter. don’t know how snowy it will be…but cold, definitely. I really don’t think we will have much of a fall either…which is sad, because it is my favorite season.

Strange, strange weather.

Not a word written for weeks…

…unless you count a couple of pages of a short story…but I really don’t count that. Hell, I haven’t really even been able to get in here to blog.

I have many reason’s that I haven’t written. all of them equate to not being able to get to the computer to actually write. I have a few minutes here  or there to pop on Facebook, but not long enough to actually write. For me, to be able to write and actually get in the grove for it to be good writing and not just passable, or *gasp* bad writing, I have to be able to actually sit, not be disturb and be able to sink into it.

But when house cleaning, cooking, taking my turn to sit with grandma, running to doctors, taking care of business, and pain…I have not been able to get the time to actually sit and zone like I need to for writing.

And that is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

I need to take a day, pre-arrange it with the family so that I can take the whole day and do nothing but write…including keeping mother out of the office LOL.

One nice thing…we have a lovely new printer that prints a lot faster than my old one…and the ink is a lot cheaper, and prints a lot more per cartridge. LOL.

For now…I will continue to see where I can try to work in some words here or there. or a blog here or there…