How to clean Marshmallow out of Microfiber

I'm not even sure I want to explain this one. Let's just say, two teenagers and one infant were involved. And thank God the baby didn't choke to death. I loved nannying the baby, but sometimes I was at a loss when it came to the messes we came across at their house due to the teenagers. This is one that Google only got me part way on.

At first, Google told me to use straight up rubbing alcohol, as to avoid water marks. Brilliant! It dries more quickly than water!

Unfortunately, the sticky dried on mess needed more work to melt off, or something. I was just rubbing it around. So I heated the rubbing alcohol in the microwave. Don't do that. It bubbled instantly and smelled up the kitchen, and I'm sure the fumes shortened my life. And the hot rubbing alcohol didn't work either! It cooled instantly when the air hit it on the couch.

Hot soapy water fixes everything. I mixed two drops of dish washing liquid with 1/2 cup boiling water and 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol. The marshmallow melted slightly, pilled up and wiped cleanly away. And some of the old stains on the couch came up too!

Success! Not perfect, but way better than the comparison to the right. And no more marshmallow. Have you ever had a particularly tricky mess to get up?

Making this house my home, too

The first thing you see when you walk in our home is the piano room, which I cleaned up a little bit in an old post and still needs some work. To the left you see the top of the stairs has a railing that had a massive pile of junk on it. 

I swear all the rugs and laundry were clean!

I cleaned it up, and got the piles to their intended destination. In the junk's place, I put two ceramic pots that I made last year and a potted plant from elsewhere in the house. I relish in trashing the ugly fake flowers and decorations that were obviously picked out by my husband's ex wife and little by little I'm claiming this space. I've made the garden my own, and love every minute I spend out there with my new family. After a year and a half of living here, I'm finally starting to make the inside look more like my home.

Starting with the little things. My hand made pottery.

De-Cluttering for a New Year

During a brief spell of unemployment last summer I spent some time observing my neighborhood while I dug in my garden. I noticed that nearly every house got a visit from a lawn service and/or a maid service. Most of them have both. It's not quite a Desperate Housewives neighborhood, but it's close.

"Ohhhhhh!" I thought. "That's why our house is the Addams Family house/yard of the block!" Also, we have foxes.

I thought my suspicions were confirmed when we were invited to a dinner party two doors down. They are very friendly, both work full time and have two small children. Yet their house was impeccable. The next weeks I spied, trying to figure out which maid service they used so that I could beg my husband to keep up with the Jones'. It turns out they were one of the houses that didn't have help. Shit.

We're constantly working on our house, though, especially the outside. The big patches of brown in that back porch photo were from trees that had to be chopped down, and we worked on filling them in with sod this fall. The two bushes by the shed are hopefully the location for new blackberry bushes this spring. We're encouraging the foxes to stick around, however, because they keep the bunny and kitty population under control.

The inside of the house is another story. Yesterday the above mentioned neighbor Dad came over to retrieve his daughter from a play date and I was horrified when I looked at my own home from his perspective. I haven't cleaned up the Christmas mess, we have (clean, I swear!) linens and rugs hanging over our railing. We look like trashy people who moved into a beautiful home and are living beyond our means. We have nice things and take care of it all, but the clutter is unflattering to say the least.

So that's what I did about it.

Oh, do you notice what's way back in the corner of the dining room? Under the adorable oval framed photo of my husband as a toddler?

 That's only what's left of our bumper crop of winter squash. There's another blog post or two!