Things that Work

This is a random post of just some things that I've tried lately that have proven successful. First on the list: cleaning your washing machine. (told ya it was gonna be random) So a couple weeks ago, I noticed when I was doing a load of laundry, that it smelled like straight-up poo in my house. First I thought there was something up with the drain...like the toilet water was coming into my washing machine or something totally gross like that. We did do all of our own plumbing, after all. I mentioned something to Mitch and when he got home from work, he checked it out and figured that it was the sewage gases coming up through our unfinished master bathroom pipes. Since they weren't being used yet, there was no water in the trap, allowing gas to come up through them. So he poured water down the drains. Nope, not the problem. So I've been washing our clothes pretty much every day having to deal with that issue. I was just waiting for someone to drop by unannounced at our house and I'd welcome them at the door and say, "Hi! Welcome to our house. The house that smells like dump." Thankfully no one showed up. Anyway, you catch my drift (total pun intended), I wasn't liking this new scent of ours, especially since one of my favorite smells in the world is Tide laundry detergent. So as I was on Pinterest last night, I saw this:

How to clean your washing machine

So I totally tried it. And it totally worked. All you need to do is fill up your washing machine with hot water and add 1 quart of bleach to it. Let it agitate for one minute, then turn it off and let it sit for an hour. Turn it back on after an hour and let it run through an entire cycle. After that, fill it up again with hot water, pour 1 quart of white vinegar in there, agitate for 1 min., run through cycle. And that's it. So this morning I ran a load of laundry and guess what I smelled? Tide, baby! Pure, blissful Tide.

#2 on the "it works" list:

This natural deodorant.

A while ago, I asked on my personal FB page if anyone knew of any natural deodorants that actually worked. I tried some deodorants (Tom's of Maine and Alba) but I was sick of smelling like an Amish man who had been working all day in the hot sun. (For those not familiar with the Amish...it's not pleasant. Just take my word for it.) After a few snide remarks from some of my guy friends, another friend of mine suggested this deodorant. (still totally don't care if you're grossed out, Calvin.) You get it at Walmart. It's like $3 and it'll last you a year apparently. So I thought I'd give it a try and I was pleasantly surprised. What works for me is applying this stuff (it's a crystal that you wet and rub on) in the morning and if I need to, I'll use the other deodorants that weren't quite as effective on their own midday/evening. It works for me, folks. Okay enough about stank.

Another thing that's workin' for me are my new kitchen pendant lights. Well they're not necessarily new...I picked them up at the ReStore a while back. Yeah, Mitch wasn't too happy when I told him I bought new lights for over our kitchen island considering he had installed new lights there about seven short months prior. But when you find the perfect lights, you gotta follow your heart, right?

You can view the old pendants here. But seriously, aren't these perfect? And this is what they look like on.

The angels are singing.

They actually light up the kitchen more than the other ones since they shine up on the ceiling. Looking at these pictures reminds me that I need to give you guys an updated tour of the kitchen. We're pretty much done in there:)

Okay, that's all I got. What's workin' for you these days? Have you ever tried cleaning out your washing machine? I never heard of it before, but apparently the stink problem happens quite frequently. A friend of ours just had the same problem and they called a serviceman to their house who cleaned out their pipes. Wish I would have checked Pinterest sooner! They say you should clean your machine at least twice a year. I'll know for next time:)