When I Take Over My World: On A Clear Day

Partly because I thought that Mountain Home was having an inordinate amount of fog and mostly because Debbie is coming to visit at the end of the week, I decided to tackle washing my outside windows.

I am not a fanatic about having clean windows. In a perfect world, (or when I take over my world, same difference), maybe windows would be dust and streak free. I haven't decided yet. However, in the real world that just isn't possible.

Oh, how I love cleaning supplies. Cleaning supplies are expensive. If it came down to a choice of buying a bottle of a new and exciting cleaning solution or a toy for Roxy, however, I would have to choose in favor of Roxy.

In fact, I have been looking for an excuse to go to town to Harp's. Harps is one of three grocery stores in Mountain Home. Two of those grocery stores, including Harp's, I do not frequent because I just don't like them. Last week I dashed into Harps for some grapes because I didn't feel up to tackling the crazy shoppers at WalMart just for a single item.

It just dawned on me that the shoppers inside WalMart drive as crazy as the people in the Harp's parking lot. One takes their life in their hands when one pulls into the parking lot at Harp's.

Anyway ~

I accidentally on purpose walked down the pet aisle when I was at Harp's and noticed that they had the Hartz DuraPlay ball that I have been looking for to get Roxy. Why I didn't just go ahead and buy it when I was there, I can't say. Maybe because I had already put a couple toys and a couple packages of soup bones in my cart for her. My quick dash into the store just for grapes ended up being three bags of groceries and two boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Anyway ~

I went through a phase where I made my own cleaning solutions. I have made my own soft scrub cleanser, wet wipes (seriously) and tried hydrogen peroxide to clean the shower because 'they' said that it works wonders on soap residue. Don't waste your time or your peroxide, it doesn't work. I have become a bit wiser in my old age and have come to realize that one only needs a couple of good cleaning products to get the job done.

There is one recipe that I will never get rid of. It is a formula to make window cleaner and it is the best that I have ever used. I have no clue where I found it many years ago, but not only can you use it on windows and mirrors, but it can be used as an all-purpose cleaner, too

Buy a gallon jug of water, and pour about one third of it out. If you are thrifty and don't want to waste the water, do what I do: pour it out into a measuring cup. You will need more water anyway to fill the jug back up after the rest of the magic ingredients are in.

To the water jug add:

~ 1 pint of alcohol. The rubbing kind, not the drinking kind.

Though, I do have half gallon of cheap vodka in my craft area. Vodka works great for cleaning brushes. Really, it does.

Anyway ~

~ 2 Tablespoons of non-sudsing ammonia

~ 1 Tablespoon of liquid dish washing detergent. (Not the dish washer kind, the hand washing kind)

Fill the gallon container with water, cover and shake a bit to mix it up. Put into a spray bottle to use.

I have to say it again, it is the best window cleaner that I have ever used.

Armed with a pile of clean rags, a good squeegee, a Sharpee pen, my lip gloss and a table for my supplies, off I went to wash a layer of dirt off the windows and the window screens. The Sharpee was to mark the screens so I didn't get them mixed up. I think the screens were dirtier than the windows. In fact, I ended up having to wash the screens two times to get rid of the river of mud that come off of them.

Invented in 1936 by Ettore Sceccone, the squeegee is not only used in window washing. Fishermen use a long-handled squeegee to get the water, fish scales and innards off of the boat deck. And of course, to push the water off the deck when the boat was washed down. Squeegees are used in screen-printing and photography, to clean blackboards and to control water that accumulates on tennis courts. There is even a squeegee made in a crescent shape that takes the sweat right off of a horse's coat.

Anyway ~

There are three windows in the back and two on the side of the house that I couldn't get to without a ladder. I grabbed the ten foot ladder and managed to clean those windows without injury to my body or any of the windows, even with the wind gusts that were up to twenty-five mile per hour.

I have to say though, if the house weren't in the way, the view of the lake would be pretty nice from up here.