Furminator Giveaway Winner!

Ivy says:

And, we have a winner! I use a randomizer at Randomizer.org to determine the winners of all my giveaways. Let’s take a look at the results:

(Click to make bigger)

The winner is lucky number 46, which is Kaye from Mrs. Nespy’s Frugal World! Congratulations! (I’ll be contacting you for your details, Kaye.)

Thank you to all our participants for making this such a successful giveaway! Stay tuned, we’ll be giving away more fabulous stuff very soon.

Bits And Bobs

Ivy says:

Several things on tap this morning, so you get one of those catch-all posts.

First, a gigantic THANK YOU to all the comments on my “A Side Helping Of Transparency” posts. I am so glad for all the sympathetic and understanding comments. Home Eccers are the very, very best and I love you all.

Second, don’t forget that today is the last day to enter to win your own Furminator! If you have not yet entered, get right on that.

Third, we got a question in our inbox that, while we were researching it, we found a link so thorough that I can’t add to it or take away. Here’s the question: “Have you any tips or suggestions for taking oil and grease stains out of a granite worktop? Much appreciated, thank you.” Here’s the link we found for taking stains out of granite counter tops. Very neat.

Finally, some excellent news! I’ve been asked to speak at Blog Her’s Reach Out tour in Nashville. I’ll be speaking on finding your blogging voice. If you’re in or near Nashville, register today so you can come out and support, I mean, see me. Additionally, Heather and I both plan on attending Converge South in Greensboro, NC. Best of all, that conference is free, so if you’re at all close, plan on attending, it’ll be fab. If none of that floats your boat, Heather will be attending the Blog Her Reach Out tour in Greensboro, NC.

I know, it’s all Mid-South based, but that’s where we’re located. Maybe someday we’ll get someone to finance a Home Ec 101 World Tour and we’ll get to come to a town near all of you Yankees and Westerners and Canadians and all of the rest of you. I can see it now, “Home Ec 101 does Paris.” “Home Ec 101 does Prague.” Come on, sponsors, you know you want to send us around the world!

Anyway, Home Eccers, have a happy Thursday! What’s on your mind today?

Ask The Audience: Your Favorite And Least Favorite Cleaning Product

Ivy says:

It’s a foggy Wednesday morning and my brain’s about as foggy as it is outside. That means it’s time for Ask The Audience!

So, Home Eccers, here’s what is on my mind this morning: What are your favorite and least favorite cleaning products?

Me, I love Bar Keeper’s Friend, baking soda, vinegar and the yummy, yummy smell of laundry detergent!

And I don’t like ammonia. Oh, and bleach. Both have their purposes (although NEVER use ammonia and bleach together, unless you want to die), but both smell so strong, they gag me. There’s also something sinister about furniture polish, although I haven’t determined what it is I don’t like about it.

Now it’s your turn!

Don’t forget to check out our latest giveaway.

A Side Helping Of Transparency

Ivy says:

Hi. My name is Ivy Hogan and I am using anti-depressants. That might not sound like a shocking revelation- after all, I’ve read several posts in recent weeks decrying how many doctors overprescribe anti-depressants, and how, surely, all these people who are on anti-depressants don’t really need them. I, myself, fought being put on anti-depressants for a very long time, partly due to the “you don’t really need them” stigma and partly because I wanted to see if I could get out of this funk myself, because, really, things in my life are hard lately and I thought that these things were the root cause.

And they might be. For the newbies here and for people who don’t know me and don’t know what’s going on in my life, I’ll give you a recap. About five years ago, my dad was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy. Now, for those of you who don’t feel like clicking the link, the long and short of it is that it is a very slow moving kidney disease that has no cure and usually results in kidney failure. 5 years ago when my dad was diagnosed, they estimated that he had already had it for at least 15 years and was getting to the end stages of the disease.

They attempted to treat it with prednisone, but that has resulted in many other problems such as diabetes and cataracts. And, in addition to everything else, because of my dad’s kidneys failing, he has also developed congestive heart failure, gout, and a few other problems I can’t even remember right now. Basically- my dad is dying very slowly right before my very eyes, and there is nothing I can do about it.

On top of everything else, last year on August 31st, my grandma passed away very suddenly. My grandma, who had lived with us for 8 years. My grandma, who I was very close to. Losing her was heartbreaking, and the subsequent cleaning out of all the stuff she had owned piled sadness onto my heart as much as her stuff was being piled into my house.

You might be thinking, “Ivy, that doesn’t make you a candidate for anti-depressants, that makes you a candidate for therapy.” I’d agree, except I talk to a therapist nearly every Friday. He’s been recommending I see my doctor (or a psychiatrist) for antidepressants for 6 months, at least.

So after several incidents where I picked fights with people I dearly love, after sleeping several entire days away, and finally, after overhearing a conversation my kids had about my depression, I talked to my doctor and he prescribed Celexa.

The night I filled the prescription I was at my mom and dad’s house, and Dad and I went to the store. On the way, I told him about my new prescription. “Thank God,” he said. “I’ve been watching your normal sparkle drain out of you for nearly a year now and I was about to say something to you. Did you know Mr. Ivy had even called me about your depression?”

See, I think with clinical depression, the person who is depressed is often the last to really know. Everyone else sees it, but they don’t want to bring it up to you for fear of making you angry or more depressed. Dad went on to tell me several things that I really needed to hear. First, he told me that it runs in my family. He talked about how, when he was a kid, my grandma would be fine for a few years, but then would lock herself into her bedroom for months and even sometimes years at a time. What was she doing? Sleeping, mainly, he said. She cried a lot too.

This reminded me of when I was a kid and my dad would spend a bunch of time in his bedroom, sleeping or just staring at the television. This just stopped when I was in high school. I asked him what was the difference, why it stopped and he simply said, “That’s when Prozac came on the market.” Ah-hah. One of my life’s mysteries explained.

I told him about how many people in my life had been telling me to just snap out of it, or that I needed to get my act together, or that I needed to start thinking positively. And my very favorite- my mom told me if I cleaned my house, I would be much happier. Because we all know, a clean house is totally the key to sanity.

Then my dad told me something that may have been one of the most important things I needed to hear: the people telling me to snap out of it, or think positively or clean my house do NOT understand what being clinically depressed is like. These people are well meaning, but because they cannot comprehend that all the positive thinking and spotless houses in the world are not going to cheer me up, are making me feel worse. What I needed to do was just what I did. Go to the doctor and find an anti-depressant that works for me.

I’m writing this for you Home Eccers that do understand. For those of you who may or may not have problems in your life, but still feel hopeless. For those of you who, all you want to do is sleep. And for those of you who think it’s probably better for everyone else if you vanished off the face of the planet. Have you been there? Are you there now?

I’ve been on the Celexa for 3 weeks now. People have been telling me they’re so glad to see my “voice” back. Mr. Ivy grabbed me and hugged me hard yesterday and said he had missed me immensely. My oldest son said, “What, you’re laughing? I didn’t know you knew how to do that anymore.” Things are getting back on track.

If you’ve been feeling hopeless or anything similar, I cannot urge you enough to pick up the phone and call your doctor for an appointment to talk to them about getting the right medicine to help you. Also, do not discount the amazing benefits of talk therapy. I’ve always said everyone should have a therapist. They’re like having friends you can tell everything to with the bonus of being absolutely sure they’re never going to spread gossip about you. Plus, you don’t have to deal with their problems. Therapists have their own therapists for that.

Be well, Home Eccers. I’m getting there, myself.

Don’t forget to check out our latest giveaway.

5 Things You Probably Need To Clean

Ivy says:

When I worked as a professional maid, sometimes the boss would come into a house we had just cleaned and would do what she called “the white glove test.” She’d wear a white pair of gloves and check areas we were supposed to have cleaned, and if so much as a smudge appeared on the famed white gloves, we’d get marked down.

There were 5 places she called “hot spots”- these were the places she would most likely find that we had missed. These are those places.

1. The top of the refrigerator- Oooh, I’ve seen some nasty refrigerator tops in my time. Normally they’re fairly close to the stovetop, so the dust on top of the refrigerator gets mixed in with grease and it’s just a nasty, heinous mess. Also, people like to store stuff on top of the refrigerator, so now your stuff is greasy and dusty. Go ahead and start making the top of your refrigerator a regular part of your kitchen cleaning routine. If you do it at least once a week, it won’t be bad at all.

2. The tops of door frames, and the tops of anything hanging on a wall- I have a confession to make. Because this was something my bosses at the cleaning service were SO snotty about these particular items, it was years before I was able to go into someone’s house and not run my finger on the top of their door frames. Talk about conditioning. When you’re dusting, don’t forget the tops of door frames, the tops of picture frames, the top of your doorbell box, your smoke detectors, your thermostat, and anything else that hangs on your wall.

3. The back sides of your faucets- This is something that is easy to miss. When I make the kids clean the kitchen or the bathroom, they miss this every time. One would think that being busted on this myriad times would make them remember, but one would be wrong. It can get pretty funky back there, so don’t forget to clean behind the faucets.

4. Underneath and behind appliances that sit on the counter- When I was at my mom and dad’s house on Sunday, my dad’s coffee maker decided to flood. We quickly pulled everything out and started mopping up. Behind the coffee maker was actually pretty clean, but behind the microwave- eww. I know it’s a pain to pull larger appliances like that out, but be sure to clean under there every once in awhile.

5. Toilet paper holders- When I worked at the cleaning service, this was something I got marked down on a few times. Toilet paper leaves dust on the sides of the holder, and it needs to be dusted off. This is something that would have never occurred to me to clean if I hadn’t ever worked at the cleaning service, but there it is. Clean your toilet paper holders, yo!

Now, I know these items are all really fussy things to clean. You could go the rest of your life not dusting your door frames and be just fine. But if you’re looking to get your house completely spotless, don’t forget these items!

Don’t forget to check out our latest giveaway.

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