It was a pretty busy weekend in the Julie-Conservative Boy household. Here's a look at what was accomplished:
- A trip to the library for the following must-reads: Month-by-Month Gardening in Illinois; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver; and Adoptable Dog: Teaching Your Adopted Pet to Obey, Trust, and Love You. Who's excited about this week's reading selection? I sure am.
- Bathroom cleaning, which was done by Conservative Boy for the first time since we moved. He did a swell job except for the fact that I yelled at him for using paper towels rather than the nice pile of cleaning rags in the closet. I felt bad after I yelled when he told me he didn't know that was an option because he'd only ever used paper towels. But now he knows. And I promised to work on not being such a green-nazi. Oh, and he, of course, used the random bottle of Fantastik in the closet rather than my Seventh Generation supplies. I don't think the bathroom has ever smelled that chemical-y (well, at least not until Sunday ... more about that later in this post). When Conservative Boy got done cleaning, he was complaining about being dizzy. And even later, when we were shopping and passed some cleaning supplies, he said he still felt weird. "Hmm," I said, very kindly now that I'd turned over a new leaf and put my green ranting behind me, "I wonder why." He still insists, though, that the green cleaning supplies won't work well. But I'm thinking this might be an easier sell than I originally expected—now that C.B. discovered how terrible the chemicals in normal cleaning supplies are, it's only a matter of time before I convert him. Muahaha. I don't know about you, but I prefer not passing out, coughing uncontrollably, and losing a copious amount of brain cells unnecessarily every time I scrub the shower.
- The purchase of some swell gardening and dog-owning supplies (nope, not spilling the beans yet ... evil, aren't I?)
- Some yard clean-up (man, we have a lot of sticks in our yard!)
- A trip to Ace Hardware, which involved, among other things, the purchase of an aerator for the bathroom faucet so I can reduce the amount of water we use for toothbrushing and other faucet-related duties.
- Some grill fixing (it works on propane now, which means we also were able to have a crowd of basketball fanatics over for some grilling, NCAA tournament watching, and washer throwing Saturday night)
- Bathroom painting. Yep, I painted the bathroom walls white to cover up the dingy, smudged, rather sad-looking paint from before. This new white paint really accentuates our fabulous aqua-color wall tiles and fixtures. Let me tell you. I will say, however, that I made a boo boo that I'm incredibly mad about. I bought my usual Sherwin-Williams Harmony no-VOC paint, and I thought I was getting the low-VOC primer too (had to use primer in this room because I was painting over glossy paint, otherwise I wouldn't have messed with it). But after I started applying the darn primer, I realized it wasn't low-VOC after all. The realization was instant the moment the fumes overtook me. Terrible. But at that point it was too late to return the paint, so I forged on. (Side note: Using regular primer with no-VOC paint is like installing your incredibly eco-friendly flooring with the same chemical-loaded adhesives used for normal flooring. Just stupid.) I suppose the scent would've been even worse had I not followed the primer with no-VOC paint, but I'm still mad because I can just imagine all the chemicals that will be offgassing from the walls for the next five years now. Not happy. Not healthy. And it still stinks—literally.
2 comments:
You have to tell me what you think of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
On the green cleaning front, I've found most products work pretty well (I use a lot of Mrs. Meyers, though I don't know how they stand on the scale of eco-friendliness). The exception is the glass cleaner, it smells wonderful but smudges a lot. I might try using a spray bottle with a better stream. After reading a green cleaning book I also want to try some more DIY solutions with vinegar and baking soda and some room spray with essential oils. I read that you can put a washrag with a drop or two of essential oil in with your dryer balls to get a good smell without using dryer sheets. Is this comment long enough - sheesh!
I got caught up in the dog book so haven't started Animal, Vegetable, Miracle yet but will definitely fill you in. I also have Michael Pollan's newest on hold at the library and am looking forward to that.
I think the Method glass cleaner works pretty well. Next on my list though is to try some homemade cleaners too. Thanks for the tip about the dryer—I'm almost done with a box of dryer sheets and plan on not using anymore so that's good to know!
Post a Comment