WFMW - Glass shower door cleaner

I have a big shower in my Master Bathroom. I love it. But with big showers comes big glass shower doors. And if you are like me, you have a hard time keeping those silly things clear.

Here's a secret. Spray-n-Wash.

Yep, the laundry pre-treater.

Clean your shower like you normally do. Then spray the glass doors with Spray-n-Wash (the generic kind works, too) and rinse with water. Don't scrub, just rinse. That's all. Your glass will be clear and will stay that way for a long time. Plus, they don't fog up as easily.

It's that easy.

For more easy "Works for Me" tips, head over to Shannon's blog.

Things I Think About (Part 2)

I've blogged before about random things I think about, but that was almost 2 months ago. You can that post here. I've had many more random thoughts since then, so I thought I'd make this a recurring theme. You'll soon find out (if you already haven't) that I am pretty random. I think about some crazy stuff sometimes.

Ok. Part 2. Here goes.

1. Have you noticed that Benjamin Linus (LOST) never blinks? Never. That's just weird.
2. I have an uncanny ability to remember phone numbers and addresses. I can also remember the name of any child I've come in contact with. I can't, however, remember an adult's name. Ever. It's so frustrating.
3. I don't understand people who don't wear seatbelts.
4. I am not a friend with the hot weather we're having right now. I love winter and being able to cover up in warm clothes. Hot weather brings out small clothes. I don't have the body for small clothes.
5. My friend, Erin, is going to the Siesta Fiesta in San Antonio with me. I am so excited I have been doing happy dances for weeks now.
6. There's nothing better than an ice cold glass of milk.
7. I really, really can't wait to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Holler.
8. I think I would be a really good actress if I ever had the guts to try it.
9. One day, my goal is to run a marathon. Guess I'd better start running, huh?
10. I have 51 episodes of Reba (the TV show) recorded on my TiVo. I doubt I'll ever get the time to watch all of them. I never get sick of them, so I doubt I'll delete them in case I get about 3 days solid to watch TV.
11, I'm so much of an optimist it can possibly be labeled a fault.
12. I love Law and Order SVU. I wonder how a person gets cast as a dead person. I mean, I totally could lie still and be dead. I'd love to be on that show.
13. I wonder what it's like to wash windows on a skyscraper.
14. I love interesting houses. I'm tempted every time I see a cool house to knock on the door and ask if I can look around. Dangerous, I know - which is why I haven't done it.
15. I drive around and intentionally get lost just so I can find my way back. I like finding new ways to get places in my city. It's not odd to hear me say, "Ooo, I wonder where that street goes - I'll have to drive down it and figure it out."
16. I ate shrimp one time and got food poisoning because of it. Since then, I have a really hard time eating shrimp. Why can't I have the same experience with chocolate? It would totally solve my weight issues.
17. I'm bribing my 2 1/2 year old daughter with M&Ms to use the potty. Is that bad?
18. My daughter's All-Star softball team is asking each family to raise "x" amount of money for the team. I am quite possible the worst person at asking people for money in the whole world. I would sooo rather just write a check than ask people for money.
19. I never win at any sort of random contest. Ever.
20. I'm so sleepy right now that I'm falling asleep while I'm typing. But I'm too stubborn to stop and go to bed. I'll regret that at 6:30 in the morning.
21. People who misspell contractions make me crazy. It's "y'all." Not "ya'll." "You're" means "you are." It does not mean that something belongs to you. Don't even get me started on "their," "there," & "they're."
22. Last one, I promise. My husband gave me a 55 minute massage for Mother's Day. A friend gave me a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure. I'm looking so forward to a day of pampering that I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.

Ok. My random brain has now shut down. Nite nite, y'all.

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe it. On Sunday, Mary Emma will turn 7. SEVEN. She is my oldest daughter, so it's appropriate that her birthday is on Mother's Day. I can't think of a better person I'd like to share my day with. I actually brought her home from the hospital on Mother's Day. It was the best present I've ever received.

Mary Emma, I love you so much! I love your happiness, the way you want to wear skirts that will stand out when you spin around, the way you love your sisters and Daddy, the way you love Jesus, your prissiness, your love of polka dotted fingernails and toenails, your love of playing softball, your endless Webkin collection and the awesome names you've given them, your sweet spirit, the way you care for other people (even your teachers at school tell me that you are the most caring child they've ever taught - I could bust with pride), your love for unique hair-do's, and your desire to become a country singer and a vet when you grow up. Of course you can do it.

Jesus is so proud of you. Mommy and Daddy smile when we think about you and when you make silly laughing noises in the car. Tait and Camille ADORE you and want to be just like you. The highlight of their day is when you get home from school. You make people smile and you definitely make us smile.

Happy Birthday, my baby girl. I am so proud of you.

Really?

Several years ago, my husband, who travels frequently, decided that it was worth the money to hire a lawn service. Spencer didn't want to spend his Saturdays cutting grass when he was gone so much during the week. We both LOVE spending time with the kids on Saturdays, and it's especially important to him.

Anyway, our lawn service guys have come on Tuesday mornings forever. Then they suddenly switched and started coming on Mondays. Because I wasn't used to being awaken by the lovely sound of a weed eater on a Monday, I was a little aggravated when they came last Monday instead of Tuesday. Also, I have been aggravated for a while with them because the foreman, Mike, hasn't been showing up lately, and the only men who come speak NO English. And I speak No Spanish - besides counting to 10. This is frustrating when you need to ask them to do something new or different.

All of my neighbors used to use Mike's lawn service. Then one by one, they have been switching to Joey's lawn service. I didn't fully understand it, because Mike's guys have been doing a pretty good job.

Until Monday.

When I witnessed, with my own eyes, one of Mike's guys mow around the newspaper lying in the grass. Around it. Didn't pick it up and mow the grass under it. Really? Come on.

I've been trying to make sense of that in my head. I guess he thought that newspapers have a special power that automatically makes the grass under them as short as the newly mowed grass around them. Or that newspapers can magically levitate so he can mow under them without touching them. Ugh.

Needless to say, we're now with Joey's lawn service. Duh.

Total Praise

Ok, I was riding down the road tonight heading to get Jim-n-Nick's takeout and I plugged in the iPod. Avalon's Total Praise came on. If you haven't heard this song, STOP NOW and go listen to it. iTunes, your local Christian bookstore, borrow the CD from someone, whatever. Just go find it. It's by far the greatest praise song ever. I don't have a sunroof, or my hands woulda been raised out of it. So instead, I just rolled down my window and raised my hand out.

Yes, I did.

It's that good.

What are your favorite praise songs? I would love to hear from you so I can go listen to the ones I haven't heard.

PS - I also think that pretty much anything Travis Cottrell sings would make the "best praise song" list. And Darlene Zschech. Whoa, that chick can sing.

PPS - If Darlene Zschech happens to read this blog (yeah, ok, right), please don't take offense to the word chick. It's a term of endearment from me.

PPPS - If Travis happens to read this blog (again, yeah, ok) I'd like to book you to sing at my daughters' weddings. They're only 7, 2, and 18 months old, but I'm pretty sure you'll still be in the plans when they do get married. You know, when they're 54.

Um.....

Nope. Can't think of anything to blog about right now. Just thought I'd jump on here and say hey, though. I've noticed that my stat counter is really going up, which means a lot of people are reading this blog! That's WAAAAYYYY cool to me. I thought only about 4 people read it. So I'm thrilled that people are reading!
Leave me a comment and let me know who you are! I'd love to know you. I like friends.

PS, an exterminator who specializes in mice is on his way to my house. Holler. And I promise not to use the glue boards. Cross my heart.

M-I-C-K-E-Y-----M-O-U-S-E (Updated again)

UPDATE AGAIN - 12 now. Gross, smelly, dead rodents. Twelve.
UPDATE - we're up to 7 mice now. SEVEN. Lord give me strength.

We moved into our current house almost 2 years ago. It's probably the house we'll retire in. We love it. It has plenty of room, the schools here are top notch, the neighborhood is great, and our neighbors are fantastic. Seriously couldn't ask for anything better.

Until about 3 weeks ago.

When Mickey Mouse and his large extended family moved in.

His large, dead, smelly family moved in.

Our house has a finished basement that has a media room, Spencer's office, a guest bedroom, and a guest bathroom in it. The garage is also down there. It has a dropped ceiling (you know, one of those ceilings with the ceiling tiles in it). Between the dropped ceiling and the underside of the floor above it is what we are now referring to as the "House of Death" for mice. It is not welcoming. There isn't a Motel 6 slogan saying "We'll leave the light on for ya." There aren't little mice slumber parties happening there. It's all death.

And guess what?

When a mouse dies in your house, it STINKS.

And don't even THINK that they can possibly be accommodating to their human hosts (aka, us) and die in a well ventilated, easy to get to place.

Nooooooo. They have to die in a 4 inch space between a wall where the only way to get to their dead, smelly selves is to cut said wall. And they die in pairs. Which doubles the smellyness. And we haven't had dead mice just once. We've had them TWICE. In a 2 week span. We've had to cut 2 walls. We've had to remove 4 (if you notices the updates at the beginning of this post, you'll see that we're up to 12 mice now. Gross.) dead, smelly, decomposing mice carcasses from our walls. We have used the kitchen tongs to get them because THIS CHICK ISN'T ABOUT TO TOUCH A MOUSE CARCASS WITH HER HANDS.

No ma'am, I'm not.

And we've now thrown 2 pairs of tongs away with the smelly mice carcasses. Because if you think I'm gonna use the same tongs to remove dead mice and to serve a nice salad, you are craaazy, my friend.

And did you catch the part where I said they die in pairs? 2 of them together. Can you imagine that mouse conversation as they've trapped themselves in the place of death? It probably went something like this....

"Craaaaaap, George. I told you that jumping into this hole was a bad idea. Didn't you hear about what happened to Vinny and Louis last week? Those human people threw them away in a ziploc bag after they jumped into a hole just like this one. Mom warned us about dark deep holes and you JUST wouldn't listen, would you? Way to go, George."

The exterminator wants to place those horrific glue traps around to catch them. Have you seen those things? The poor mice run on the glue traps and get stuck. They they lay there for days until they die. Stuck to glue. Isn't there a law against doing stuff like that to animals? Or do mice fall into another "humans can be cruel to them without criminal consequences" category? I HATE those things, so I won't let the exterminator put them out. I just can't handle the thought.

However, if any more mice decide to take their eternal nap in my house, I will pull out the glue traps. I'll get over being sad for them and wanting to protect them from the glue. Yes I will.

Maybe.