keep out

Sometimes this is the only way to get cleaning done!

Reagan makes messes quicker than I can keep up with so this is what we resort to: "I'll clean one room while you mess up that room and then we'll switch, kay?"

Reagan is into everything these days and wants to do EVERYTHING we are doing. I don't think anything makes her more mad than us sitting at the table (eating or playing games) and her not being able to see what we are doing. She will reach both hands up high to grasp the table top and try to lift herself up to see.

Today while cleaning, I mixed Simple Green concentrate with some water and a hilarious memory came back to me. I thought I'd share because I can't help but laugh out loud every time I think of this story:

The summer after my sophomore year of high school I was a life guard at a local pool. What a blast! However, when I was still relatively new at the job I was in charge of closing up, which involved cleaning the bathrooms. The head life guard showed me where all the cleaning supplies were and then took off for the night.
After the pool closed and I locked all the doors I grabbed the soap and started in the girls bathroom. I gingerly poured a thin line of soap leading from the door, down the hallway, into each bathroom stall, the changing stalls, and then out the other end that led into the pool area. I fetched the hose and was just going to power spray the soap around and then down the many drains to make the cement floor beautifully clean. I started spraying and to my horror, instead of the soap washing cleanly away and into the drains, bubbles upon bubbles began forming uncontrollably!!!!! The more I sprayed the worse it got! Soon I was stepping in foam up to the middle of my calves!!! Bubbles were everywhere! Soapy suds covered the entire floor a foot deep and were spilling out both entrances! No matter what I did the BUBBLES.BUBBLES.BUBBLES could not be conquered!
In my hopelessness, I called the manager and told her I disparately needed help. She came back to the pool, walked into the bathroom, and shockingly said, "I only use about this much (using her thumb and her pointer finger to display the tiniest amount) to clean the entire floor!" OOOPPPPPS!!!!!!!!

Hilarious as this story might be it's not atypical of me. Sometimes I feel like Amelia Bedelia!!! Fortunately, I'm learning along the way. And hey, I have great laughs!!!!

Another story to illustrate:

I have really been trying to get into food storage lately and shopping frugally. (using ads, price matching, etc.) So I decided I would start using dry black beans instead of canned, which are a lot less expensive and a great food storage item. I was aware that dried beans needed to be soaked over night before being cooked. Sounded easy enough! So I planned ahead and soaked my beans the night before I was making a delicious Mexican casserole.
I put the many, many ingredients in the casserole, dirtied every dish in the kitchen, and put it in the oven to cook. It looked delicious and Will and I sat down for a nice dinner....
Bite, bite, crunch, crunch. The beans were rock hard! The first one to break the silence was Will, who asked, "Is this peanut casserole?" Ummmmmm...so I guess by "cooking the beans" you are suposed to actually COOK the beans (for hours I might add) before you COOK them in whatever you are making. Well we tried to eat the casserole but we stopped when one of the beans scratched my throat really badly on the way down, which left my throat soar for a week. I think I'll settle for canned beans thank you! Yes, we still eat that casserole but now it is affectionately called Peanut Casserole!