How to Get Deodorant off the Wall

Yes, you read that right.  During naptime earlier this week, while the rest of the house was sleeping, my precious son decided to take my stick of deodorant from my bedroom and smear it in several different places in his bedroom.  In his words, they were drawings of "dinosaurs".  Some were just practice ones because they didn't turn out, and then one or two were "good ones".

For me, it meant several really sticky, greasy messes to clean up.  His locations of choice included two places on the wall, the headboard of his bed, the side of his dresser, and the wicker ottoman that sits beside his bed.  Yes, wicker.  So of course, the deodorant was also embedded in the little cracks between the fibre weaves.

How I cleaned it up:

1. Having never had to clean deodorant off of anything before, my immediate reaction was to head to my trusty friend, Google.  Believe it or not, apparently this kind of thing hasn't happened before, or at least, it hasn't happened to anybody who's thought to write about it and share their wisdom with the rest of the world.  The best I could come up with was how to get deodorant stains out of clothing...not really all that helpful.

2. Since Google failed me (*sob* I can't believe it...), and I was left to my own devices, I decided to attempt to tackle the problem using the old tried and true method of vinegar and hot water.  I made sure the water was as hot as I could stand, and I added a significant splash of vinegar to the bucket to make the solution as effective as I possibly could.

3. Then I took a regular kitchen cloth, and Reuben and I went off to the bedroom to do some serious scrubbing.  (His punishment was that he had to stay inside and help me clean up while Daddy and Kaylee went out to play in the sprinkler.  One of these days, he's going to learn he's not allowed to take Mommy's things from Mommy's bedroom.)  So we set to scrubbing with less than stellar results.  Deodorant is extremely greasy, and it didn't take long before my cloth was coated in it.  It was very difficult to rinse off, so that by the time I got to the last and worst section of deodorant-covered wall, it took me quite some time to get it cleaned enough to call our job done.  In the end, it felt like all I was doing was smearing the deodorant around more, and you could still see the greasy outline of my son's "dinosaur" drawing.

4. Talking to my Mum later, she suggested dish soap as a way to cut the grease, so I went back for a second shot at the residue I just couldn't get off with the vinegar and water mixture.  The dish soap seemed to work well, although it took quite a lot of rinsing to get the soap off the wall.  Unfortunately, I think I waited too long to try it because after the wall dried, you can still see a grease stain on the wall, but I couldn't feel anymore residue on my fingers.  It really doesn't help that the paint someone used in that room is the non-glossy stuff, so everything just soaks right down into it right away.  Whoever THAT genius was clearly wasn't thinking when they painted a potential child's bedroom with that kind of paint...

In conclusion, I think dish soap is the answer for getting deodorant off the wall...or any other surface it might happen to have been rubbed on.  Heck, it may even be the solution for getting it out of clothes, although the Google searches generally conclude the vinegar and baking soda option works best. 

I think from now on I'm going to keep my deodorant under lock and key...

Sensational Strawberry Dessert

Given that it's the season of fresh Ontario strawberries, I thought I'd give this recipe from Kraft
a try.  It was amazing.  Really, really amazing.

Ingredients:

4 cups of strawberries
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
8 oreo cookies
2 1/4 cups Cool Whip

Shape a piece of tin foil using the outside of a loaf pan, and then put the piece of shaped foil inside the pan.

Start by mashing two cups of strawberries in a bowl.

Add the sweetened condensed milk and the lemon juice.

Stir in one cup of the Cool Whip.

Pour the mixture into the tin foil mold.

Chop the Oreo cookies into fine pieces.

Add one tablespoon of melted butter and stir.

Sprinkle the cookie crumbs onto the mixture in the loaf pan.

Fold over the extra flaps of tin foil and use it to press the cookie lightly into the bottom of the dessert.  Put into the freezer for at least six hours.  Remove from freezer and invert the dessert onto a serving dish.  Remove the tin foil and spread the rest of the Cool Whip onto it.  Slice the last 2 cups of strawberries and arrange them on the dessert.

Voila, strawberry yummy goodness.  If you don't eat it all in one shot, store the leftovers in the freezer.  Enjoy!

Just life...

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  I had a few transcription files to work on over the weekend, so that's kept me busy, and we also made an impromptu visit to Chatham to see my parents after Tim got home on Saturday afternoon.  I don't think he's been back there since Christmas, so it was a good visit.  The kids always love going to see Grandpa and Grandma.  :)

Life continues on.  Kaylee speaks more and more every day and continues to come out with words we had no idea she knew.  Reuben is, as always, full of energy and seems to be constantly fighting a cough because he just doesn't slow down enough to ever get all the way better.  Tim's work as a driver is the same as always, and we're looking forward to having him around for a few days till he goes back out on the road again after his schedule being weird for the holiday weekend.  We celebrated our sixth anniversary this weekend by going out to dinner while the kids were with my parents, and it was a wonderful evening of looking back and seeing how far we've come.  As I said on Facebook, still young, still in love... (although with two kids, sometimes it's hard to feel so young...)

And I am doing all right, too.  I've had some good days lately with the kids, being able to enjoy them for who they are and taking pleasure in watching the great joy they get out of life.  And then these are usually followed by extremely challenging days where I spend the entire day praying for patience and struggling not to snap at them for every little thing.  It's the life of a mother I think, and I am ever thankful that I have the Lord to rely on for strength.  He never fails to get me through.

"My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26

Strawberries with White Wine

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting for this one, so here it is, as promised.

Strawberries with White Wine

Ingredients:
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup white wine
vanilla ice cream

The ratios for this can easily be adjusted.  The amounts I used made enough for two servings.




To start, chop up the strawberries into small pieces and place them in a bowl.

Next, sprinkle the sugar over the strawberries.  I didn't end up using the full 1/4 cup because the strawberries were well-coated, and I didn't want them to be too sweet.

Pour the wine over the strawberries.

Cover and let stand in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.  Remove from the fridge about 15-20 minutes before serving as strawberries taste better at room temperature.  Scoop the ice cream into bowls.  Stir the strawberry mixture and use a slotted spoon to put them on the ice cream.

And there you have it!  Strawberries with wine...mmmmmm...

Oh, wait!  I almost forgot the best part.  After you scoop the strawberries out onto the ice cream, run the wine that's left in the bowl through a bit of cheesecloth to strain out the seeds and excess sugar, (yes, excess sugar).  You will be left with a lovely strawberry-coloured dessert wine.  Enjoy!

Progress on the Garden

As promised, to continue my discussion on the progress we've made on our yard, here's some of the progress we've made on the gardens.  Basically, the previous owners of our house did nothing to keep up with the landscaping of the property, and we've been fighting quite the battle with overgrown gardens filled with weeds, shrubs, and other plants that I can't identify, and therefore, don't really want even if they might actually be something nice. 

I'd like to start by refreshing your memory with a picture of the back of our house as we saw it when we went to view the house for the first time.  Take note of the garden behind the garage and in the corner of the house.

They look a little better now.  I've pruned the shrubs behind the garage significantly, and they look much better.  There was also a plant at the front left corner that I moved to a garden at the side of the house. 

And I completely removed the euonymus bush that was in the corner of the house as well as another plant that was growing there, but I don't remember what it was.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with this little corner yet, but the rocks are kind of fun.

The garden along the fence in the backyard still requires much work. I've cleared out about half of it and put in some tomato plants for a friend that is moving soon and has no place to put them.  We also picked up a bunch of annuals, and I've put two of them at the end of the space I cleared out.  There are three sections of peonies, but I think I might cut that down to one.  They are huge plants, and I'm learning that I'm not into huge plants.  Also, the one set is blocking my rose bush, which has actually done rather well, but I haven't been able to enjoy it because of the peonies standing in the way.  I also have a small lilac bush/tree that I'll keep, but there are a few other miscellaneous shrubs and plants that I think I'll just get rid of because everything is just such a mess.  I think it might be easiest to start from scratch.

Also, the one set is blocking my rose bush (seen below), which has actually done rather well, but I haven't been able to enjoy it because of the peonies standing in the way.  I also have a small lilac bush/tree that I'll keep, but there are a few other miscellaneous shrubs and plants that I'll probably get rid of because everything is just such a mess.  I think it might be easiest to start from scratch.

Here's a close up of my barrels.  I've planted herbs in them, and I'm pretty excited to have fresh herbs to use in my cooking.  In the barrel on the left, I have cilantro (aka coriander, which I didn't know), lavender, aloe, and chives.  In the barrel on the right, I planted two kinds of rosemary, parsley, and basil.  I already used some of the basil to make bruschetta on the weekend, and it was lovely.

The last garden I'm going to show you is the one around the big tree in our front yard.  This tree was surrounded by massively overgrown euonymus bushes, which I cleared out with the help of Tim and my dad.  THAT was a chore, let me tell you.  I will never plant euonymus.  Ever.  The rest of the annuals we picked up went in this garden, as well as a hosta that I had in a pot from our old house.  I'm hoping to get more hostas to put in between all the annuals.

And that's the progress we've made on our gardens so far this year.  I haven't shown you the garden along the front or side of the house because we haven't really done anything with those yet.  I'm hoping to do some planning over the winter to figure out what I actually want to put in them.  It's a bit exciting to be able to plan my own gardens, but I can definitely see why the previous owners let it all go so much.  The amount of foliage we have to keep in line is crazy!

Well, I hope you all are having a good week so far...

Asparagus Puffs

I know I'm supposed to be showing you my garden progress today, but my sister Justine and I made Asparagus Puffs last night, and they were delicious.  I'm super excited, so I decided that I'd share this instead.  The garden can wait until tomorrow...  Observe...


Asparagus Puffs

Ingredients:
puff pastry, asparagus, red onion, goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil

Photo Credit: Justine

First, cut the red onion into rings and saute in a saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil until soft.

Photo Credit: Justine

Add 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and stir to coat.  Set aside.

Photo Credit: Justine

Next, unroll the puff pastry and cut into squares.  You can buy puff pastry in the frozen section of the grocery store by all the pre-made crusts.  Use the parchment paper it comes in to line the baking sheet you put the squares on.

Photo Credit: Justine

Spread about 2 tbsp of goat cheese onto the puff pastry, leaving about a 1/2 inch border around the edges.  We did 1 inch because that's what the recipe said, but upon eating the finished product, we determined that less of a border would work just fine.  Also, for the record, goat cheese is hard to spread.

Photo Credit: Justine

Next, break the woody ends off the asparagus, and then cut each stalk in half.  Place on the goat cheese.  (Check out the picture; I don't know how to explain this any better.)

Photo Credit: Justine

Top with a few of the onions that were cooked earlier.

Photo Credit: Justine

Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Photo Credit: Justine

These were amazingly delicious and would make a great appetizer for any dinner party.  We decided that one puff per person is plenty, as we had two each and ended up quite stuffed.  The onions add incredible flavour, although we decided we might sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper next time for a bit of added taste.

For dessert, we had strawberries soaked in white wine, but that's a recipe to share for another day...  (And yes, I'm just going to leave you hanging with that...)

Progress on the Yard

When we first moved into our new house, the yard was a mess.  Actually, the yard is still a mess.  But we are making some slow but significant progress.  Allow me to show you with a few, somewhat not great pictures.  I really wish I'd been better at doing the before and after photos thing.


This is a picture of the back of our house.  If I may direct your attention to the actual yard portion of the picture, you can see a couple of things.  First of all, we're not sure which owner previous to us did this, but there used to be an above-ground pool in this backyard, and when it was removed, they didn't bother to remove all the gravel and plastic sheeting that surrounded it and replace it with something like, I don't know, GRASS.  You will also note that at the back of the garage there is a garden with shrubs that is looking very, very overgrown, and way at the back corner of the house is also another garden that is very overgrown.

 This is the view looking from the deck out to the back of our yard.  Believe it or not, this is actually somewhat of an "after" picture -- okay, more like a "work in progress" picture.  I'll get you an actual "how it looks currently" picture in a minute.  The fence-line of our yard was basically a long row of trees and shrubs.  There was actually a cedar hedge here that had completely overgrown and then died.  Tim could actually rip the stumps out of the ground with little to no effort.  Here, you see my studly husband in action using a chain saw to cut down one of many trees that have been removed from back there.

Here's the "what it looks like now" picture.  Please excuse the toys.  There's still a lot of trees back there, but clearly, we've removed a lot.

Here is a shot of Tim in action again, as well as his friend Tak who gave him a hand for a few days.  At this point, they have removed all the gravel and plastic sheeting from where the pool was, and they rented a roto-tiller for a few hours to plow the area under.  Behind them, you can see our garden along the fence.  This picture was taken early in the spring before anything had much of a chance to grow, but let me assure you, I fight a constant battle to keep the overgrowth at bay.  ...but that's a post for another day...

 

Here's a view from the deck of the area where they are roto-tillering. 

Unfortunately, since they've roto-tillered, we haven't had a chance to plant any grass or make a whole lot of progress, mainly because of this massive pile of brush that came from all the stuff we've chopped down or ripped out of the gardens.

The brush is accompanied by a large dead tree, and we are waiting for the tree guy to come chop down the tree and remove the pile of brush for us.  We called him a couple of weeks ago, and we're starting to get a little anxious for him to come so we can get some more work done.

Anyway, that's the yard progress that we've made so far.  Tomorrow I'll show you the progress I've made on the gardens so far...

On smells in my house...

I got to do something yesterday that I haven't done in absolutely ages: sit alone at a Tim Horton's with nothing but my coffee and a book for company.  It was glorious.  I even had a moment of epiphany as something I was reading made me suddenly stop and think.

You want to know what I was thinking about?

How to make my house smell better.

Yep.  That was my deep and profound thought.  The first time in ages that I get to sit and think by myself during daylight hours, and the best thing I can come up with is how to change the odor in my house to something more pleasing than cat pee and garbage.

A few solutions came to mind.  First things first, I need to change the cat's litter box and the soiled newspaper from around it.  I don't know why, and we even recently bought her a larger box, but she still has a horrible habit of missing the box when she pees.  Yeah.  Yuck.  (Don't deny it.  You know you said it, too.)

I should probably also start a habit of taking the garbage out more frequently, as in before it becomes so crammed full I can barely get the bag out of the can without ripping it.  Ditto this for my bowl of compost, although I am slightly better at emptying this on time just because the bowl gets full pretty quickly when you have two kids that frequently don't finish all their food.

There's always the standard air freshener options like deodorizing sprays and scented candles, but who wants to be breathing in all those nasty chemicals I'm sure they're chock full of?

I could try some natural air freshening options, like pot pourri or pots of cinnamon sticks boiling on the stove, and maybe I will do some research on some of that later.

And I'm sure it would also help if I toilet trained Kaylee and eliminated her diapers from the garbage mix.  But go figure, she hates the pull-ups I picked up for her last time I got groceries.

Overall, one thing has become glaringly obvious to me.  I am really just not that perfect housewife whose house is always sparkling clean and smelling of sunshine. 

And frankly, I'm okay with that.  (Although I might still try to do something about those nasty smells...)

So many ideas...

There are so many blog post ideas running through my head right now, I don't even know where to start.

I could write about how my garden is doing and about the slow progress we're making on our yardwork.

I could write several posts about life as a trucker's wife and what that means for me.

I could write about dreams, and how disconcerting it is to dream about people from your high school days who you haven't seen in years, and then how completely disoriented you feel after being woken up by your son, who has no idea these people even exist.

I could write pages upon pages about God's everlasting faithfulness and how the simple fact that I have so many blog posts I want to write is further proof of His faithfulness and the way He carries me through each and every day with my sanity intact.

He is so good.  I'm even finding the time to write up some of my posts in advance instead of on the morning I post them.  (Gasp!  It's happening!)

If you'll allow me to just exude some joy for a few moments...  I love that I have so much to say.  I love that my brain is functioning enough to let me actually put into words the millions of things that I think every day.  I love that people are actually reading what I have to say -- although even if they didn't, I would still say it because I love how therapeutic writing has become for me.

God is awesome.  He truly is.  And while I've definitely gotten better at putting into words all the things that are in my heart, I don't think I could ever really explain just how much He is doing for me and how totally and completely I need Him to get me through each day.

"Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever." Psalm 104:1

Thoughts while driving

With Tim gone so much, it's rare that I actually get to be the passenger in the vehicle when I go anywhere.  More often then not, I'm the one driving while dealing with two children in the back seat, and the experience ends up being less than relaxing.

However, this past weekend, my sister Justine and I decided to surprise my dad for Father's Day, so we packed up the kids at 7am into HER car, and I got to sit for four whole blessed hours in a vehicle NOT DRIVING (two hours to my parents', two hours home at the end of the day).  There were still two children in the back that I had to deal with, but when you're not trying to focus on the road at the same time, the experience was significantly more enjoyable.

I actually found myself with some time to ponder while we were on the way home, but it struck me how the way I travel as a passenger has changed so much now that I have kids.  It used to be that I could sit for hours, just looking out the window day-dreaming, or I could sleep for a chunk of time, or I could read for the whole drive.

None of that really happened.  Yes, I still do those things (well, not the sleeping because of the dealing with the children thing), but I'm not doing them for chunks of time anymore; the pattern is a little more disjointed.

How can I explain this better?  Basically, I spent the drive home on Sunday going from one thing to the next, but never focusing on any one thing for a long time.

I'd go from staring out the window day-dreaming to staring out the window writing blog posts in my head.  I'd go from just sitting quietly marveling at all the awesome shades of green God created to chatting with my sister about random things and mental images, and then we'd randomly start singing along with the John Denver CD we had playing -- ah, the good old days.  (And yes, I just admitted that I sing along with John Denver...)  I'd go from feeling melancholy about the passing of time to feeling content and at peace with just being in the moment.

I'd go from enjoying the silence to desperately trying to figure out what book of the 20-some-odd books we had with us my daughter meant when she incessantly yelled, "Cat!" and, "No, no, no, no!" when I'd try to give her the wrong one...

I don't know if it was the constant interruptions from the kids in the back seat, or my brain was just not having a good day with focusing, but it was a weird feeling not to be able to focus on doing any one thing.  I think part of it was just that I wanted to be able to do all of those things, but the two hour drive just wasn't long enough to fit them all in.

I need to be a passenger more often...