Melting Clothes, Daycor Updates, and an Emergency Kit for the One Percent

This week two close friends lost family members, one a mother, the other a brother.   I am so sorry.  Much sympathy to CM (x3) and EP.  Whatever you feel/say/write, I am there with you.  As Anne Lamott wrote, "We are here to see each other through."  

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The past several weeks have been full of minor domestic things gone wrong.  My car (dead battery, replaced by AAA), Jerry's car (brakes), my iPhone (will no longer allow photos to be e-mailed), the boom box in my studio (too much opera lately?).  It's been one thing after another.  But here are two problems we managed to fix ourselves, and I'm passing the remedies along so you, too, can feel thirfty and empowered.

First, toilets.  I know, gross--and a major inconvenience.  Two clogged up several weeks apart, and after a plunger proved to be useless, I googled the problem and came up with this formula.  To my amazement, it worked!  No plumber needed.

•      Pour 1 cup of baking soda and 2 cups of vinegar into the toilet.  This will fizz dramatically.

•      Pour about a half gallon of hot water (the temperature of hot tea) from waist level into the bowl.

•      Let the mixture stand overnight.

•      Flush.

At this point, our toilets were unclogged and functioned perfectly.  Thank-you, WikiHow.

Next up:  a nearly-new Rowenta iron with a plate gummed up with residue from ironing polyester/spandex,  a mess that neither fingernails nor non-abrasive scrubbers could clean up.

Truly magical results

I went back to the internet.  Someone commented that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked, so I tried it.  Voila, no more sticky gunk and no scratches! 

Later I called the Rowenta help line and found out that I should have used the "Synthetics" setting; I had melted the man-made fabric, my bad.  The Magic Eraser treatment was new to him, though. 

Don't they check the internet?

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Following up on my post about trends in  home decor, I was very bucked-up to read in House Beautiful   that white kitchens are back!  Oh, yes!  White counters, appliances, cabinets--once again au courant!  I'm back in style (our kitchen is c. 1999).

Of course, you're more chic if you go with faux-vintage appliances:

I have no idea what these cost, but it's got to be more than your garden variety Whirlpool.

Then I found yet another tarted-up laundry room on a blog:

I'm so missing this gene!  Why would you fill glass-front cabinets with paper towels?   And go to the trouble of papering the walls to look like subway tiles?

Just to give you an idea of my own laundry room and the energy I'm willing to put into its appearance:

Under the house and with a bare light bulb

We ARE thinking of remodeling my bathroom.  Here are my sister and the contractor discussing what can be done:

A 1924 closet turned into a bathroom in the 1960's.  Somewhat better than the laundry room, but with definite issues.

*****

And yet more information on emergency kits.  How about one that includes a monogrammed emergency bag and Earl Grey tea?  All for a mere $375, as documented in the New York Times:

A kit for the one percent.

Scarlett Johansson, who reviewed this kit, said, "If somebody is that concerned with the look of their disaster kit then they're not going to survive the apocalypse.  The zombies are coming for that guy, because he probably tastes like Kobe beef."