Two Days of Baby

And yes, I feel fine. I'm almost sick of everyone asking. I want to say, "No I feel terrible! I'm dying! Ahhhhdslkgjldfasldkf....." and fall on the floor trailing off incoherently. Granted, I'd be a lot better if I was lounging out in the sun right now, but hey, you can't have everything right?

Oh, and another thing. Everyone thinks I'm nesting. But you all forget one thing - my average everyday no-prego self is psychotically organized and cleanly! So keep that in mind as I tell you about my weekend.

First off, if you weren't in New England over the weekend - shame on you because the weather was an event to behold. 80's and 90's in April - unheard of! And believe me, I'm not complaining. I was lovin it - belly and all. Such weather naturally leads to motivation, especially around the house.

Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning and running errands. (Which I usually do on Saturdays now that Mike works Saturdays - nothing weird there.) One of my big tasks involved tackling mildew in my costume box.

For years I've kept halloween costumes in an old steamer trunk. And for years, the box has spread its smell of mildew to everything I've put inside of it. And now, after my mom complained after borrowing a strawberry shortcake costume, I was finally doing something about it. (You may classify this as nesting - although I've been working on this project for weeks.)

I researched a lot about mildew online before attempting anything. The consensus for clothing was using a cup of vinegar in with the laundry detergent, washing in hot water, drying on high in the dryer, and then setting out in the sun - with repeat cycles as needed. Previous to this weekend, I sent the machine washable items through two wash and dry cycles and one sit out in the sun. The method worked well, although I needed a couple good hot days to really bake off any lingering odors.

Then there was the unwashable items, which brings me to Saturday. In the case of costumes, most of my unwashables included wigs, shoes, and hats. So first thing Saturday morning, I washed the wigs and hats in the sink with a half cup of vinegar. The shoes I sprayed with Tilex mold and mildew killer. Then I left everything outside in the sun to bake for the day.

On Sunday, we were able to put up an actual clothes line and I hung out the machine washed items and again set out the unwashables. By Sunday night I couldn't smell a thing on most items. Some of the unwashables may need another dip in vinegar - but all of the clothes passed my rigorous sniff test. (Oh boy what the neighbors must have thought.... a whole clothes line of halloween costumes - and then me coming by in the evening and sniffing everything as if I were in a Fbreeze commercial!)

And if you're wondering about the box - the one that started this whole mildew problem? Well, unfortunately it can't be saved. I tried washing that too. I tried the Tilex. I set it out in the sun for a week straight. And it still smells. The minute you think you've fixed it - you close the box and it just starts festering in there. Open it just a couple days later and it smells again. If anyone's interested in a smelly trunk, I'll probably have it free on the lawn next weekend.

Ok, returning to the weekend. Sunday morning, I enlisted Mike to help me with another big spring cleaning task I've been wanting to try for months. (See, I've had this on my mind for months, nothing weird here either.)

A while ago, I read a great blog about cleaning your large area rugs at the self serve car wash. And I thought, what a brilliant idea! You just spread the rug in the back of your truck. (Yes, you need one, unless you trust putting the rug on the ground at a car wash - ew no!) And then you wash and rinse it with the car wash pressure washers. Take it home, dry it in the sun, and it'll look as good as new.

Again, I needed to wait for a hot sunny couple of days to try it myself. Plus, we recently acquired a pressure washer - so we could cut out the car wash entirely! And here we were, with a random 80 degree Sunday. Perfect.

We grabbed our large 8.5 x 11 living room rug and draped it over the farmer's porch railing. We wet it first with just the hose to saturate. Then we prepared the soap. Luckily, our pressure washer had a soap mix option, so we just mixed some tide in a bucket with water, put the soap hose in the bucket, and let the machine do the rest. No scrub brush requried!

I had several set in stains that I knew in my heart wouldn't come out... but they did! Mike just got really close with the wand and let that rug have it! Especially the stains. And they all washed right out! I was impressed. Of course our pressure washer isn't your run of the mill Home Depot Joe Homeowner special. This is a high powered professional machine that could probably take off a finger if set to its highest. (For a rug, not quite that much power was needed, but I just have to disclaim myself in case your pressure washer isn't as cool.)

After the soap had been applied, we rinsed throughouly with the pressure washer, and then with the regular hose, and we left it to dry.

It's still out drying today. By the end of yesterday, it was mostly dry except for the bottom. But another day in the sun is always a good thing. I'm curious to see how it smells too. Hopefully like Tide or not at all.

So that was our clean weekend. Today, Mike plans to grab an overseeder machine from work and seed the lawn - which is super green, but patchy. His timing is impecable with rain on the way for Wednesday and then Friday. We've been seeding and re-seeding every year since we lifted the house. It's so hard to get a good lawn back if you've destroyed it completely. Takes time. Maybe this year we'll finally have it.

And I haven't forgotten about my trees for the front yard. Now is the time to plant those too. They'll be expensive, but I really have to do it. Just makes sense. Have a child, plant a tree. It just feels good, right?