Monday, January 30, 2012

Cleaning the Dishwasher

Have you ever looked, REALLY looked, at the inside of your dishwasher, right below the bottom rack, near the door? If you are like me, you never have. I have one word - YUCK! You are always cleaning your dishes in the dishwasher, but when was the last time that you cleaned your dishwasher?

I didn't take a picture, but believe me, it was pretty bad, I am surprised we didn't get sick with all the tiny bits of food, grease and soap scum stuck together and were deposited in corners of the dishwasher and in crevices around the door. YUCK! It took cleanser, a small scrub brush, an old toothbrush and a lot of scrubbing to get it clean.

I just ran the rinse cycle to wash all the cleanser away. Next I run the dishwasher empty and place a bowl in the bottom rack with a cup of bleach in it, and will set my dishwasher to run a complete cycle. The bleach will whiten the tub and kill any mold that may be growing it.

Once that is done, I will open the door and place a cup of Vinegar in the bowl, and again set the dishwasher to run a complete cycle.

I just added "clean the dishwasher" to my monthly kitchen cleaning list so this won't happen again!


Suggestion & requests for files always welcome.

See you soon!
Judy
Website

Monday, January 2, 2012

What is luck?

Luck, there is all sorts of luck, good & bad. I think, for the most part, we create our own luck, good or bad, by how we approach life.

Sometimes luck that at first seems bad, in the end turned out to be good luck. That is how I look at my stroke – It was bad luck that I had the stroke, but in the end it changed my life in so many positive ways.

Mike & I quit smoking the day I had the stroke, we had talked about wanting to quit, but we kept putting it off. Life said “You will quit NOW”. Who can argue with that?

It brought my family closer together – from my brothers to the extended family, we are closer now. It brought all the kids closer to each other and I think closer to me too. Heck, even Helen has come a bit closer to me too.

I think that the biggest positive change is how it brought Mike & me closer. I mean we were close, but we were sort of plodding along with no goals ahead of us. Now we have bought a house again, we are making plans for making improvements to it, and generally looking forward.

I’ve come to know that my “email buddies” are very important to me. They are one the reasons that the first thing I wanted to be able to do is use the computer again. Granted, I not only needed to learn to use the computer again, I had to re-learn where the specific letters were – nothing like having to hunt & peck & try to spell at the same time.

I now truly realize how much my “studio” and my “crafty stuff” means to me too. I thought that I lost the ability to create scrapbooks, and that really depressed me because I had not finished my Dad’s memorial album. But again, I wanted to get back my crafts, and a year after the stroke I finished the album and presented it to my Mom & the rest of the family.

I’ve learned just how strong and stubborn I am, how determined I can be to get my life back as close to what it was. Things have changed, I have changed. Some of the things that were important to me before my stroke have become less important. I didn’t think that having a cat and being responsible for it was important, now I have a furry friend that brightens up my day.

So Luck – it is what you make it to be, what you want it to be. Good, bad or indifferent, it exists and it affects our lives.


Suggestion & requests for files always welcome.

See you soon!
Judy
Website