Tuesday Tantrum - Bathroom Cleaner

I clean my bathroom for only three reasons:


1. I am having guests


2. The leg hair has accumulated to the point where I can draw my finger through it and make a distinct happy face.

3. It smells like ass in there.




So when I do finally decide to invest the 10 minutes it takes to clean up the mess, I want a bathroom cleaner that works and leaves my Pooping Palace smelling shiny and fresh.


I've tried a number of bathroom cleaners and I have yet to find one that I could endorse as a former small "c" celebrity who has fallen that far and was never famous enough to have her own infomercial about a waffle iron (Vickie Lawrence, I'm talking about YOU).


Brian uses Scrubbing Bubbles, which to me smells like a haunted hospital, and not in a good way.

 He swears by it (he cleans his own private bathroom where he makes shameful things). I have tried but to me the only way I can describe the smell, is the smell of frustration: Not quite clean enough.


Vim has such a jaunty name, but let's be honest, it's just really cheap skin moisturizer. 

Cleaners should not be in a cream form. It will not cut through grease and leg hair and dog skid marks. And it, too, smells like failure.


In an effort to be eco-friendly I recently tried a product called Mrs. Meyers Lavender Bathroom Cleaner. 

This stuff literally made me hack. For several hours. The stuff is seriously toxic. I did an google search and I am not alone in this experience. How can something that purports to be eco-friendly cause such a severe reaction? The smell lingers and even if I was in the next room, I would cough from it. It did clean well, I'll give it that, which makes me wonder even further about its claims of being environmentally friendly. Maybe they added extra coughing extract.


Mr Clean is the smell I'm looking for and does the job, but it's not going to save the dolphins.


Vinegar might clean fine, but it smells like, well, vinegar, and isn't that the smell we're trying to cover up. I mean everyone's urine smells like vinegar, right? And asparagus.


So my search will continue. Any tips are welcome. Has to smell good and clean well and not kill dolphins.

I'm still looking for you Mr. Goodcleansmellsaveplanetbar. But until then, I am NOT going to clean the bathroom. It's a matter of principle.

Karen's and My Secret Dance to Streetheart's Teenage Rage.

God Bless Can Con. 


Can Con is this government rule thing in Canada that radio stations have to ensure that 30-40% of the music they play is composed, performed or produced by Canadians (they have a ratio system that is boring and I won't outline it here. You can find out about it here if you are that bored.).


Because of this quota, I was exposed to a lot of music growing up that I might have missed and would have become a total Donny and Marie flunky. Happily, I was more into Canadian bands like Loverboy, April Wine, Luba and Streetheart. I never was a Rush fan. Sorry. I know. Kinda makes me a horrible Canadian. But as we know, listening to Rush only leads to online gaming. And we know how that story turns out, don't we.


When we were teenagers, Karen and I used to love the Canadian band Streetheart. You might recall in a previous post how Karen could make me do pretty much anything, from dragging her around by her ankles because she was too lazy to walk, to chasing rabbits all summer, to waiting for hours while she argued with her boyfriend about nothing. Usually she promised me a popsicle.


Well, there was one time when I convinced Karen that it was a good idea to do something I wanted us to do and that we needed to   choreograph a dance to the Streetheart song, Teenage Rage. I present it here for you viewing pleasure and my humiliation. 

Please recall that I looked like this:

We would perform this sensual dance for no one. We'd be in my parents' basement each of us standing on one of the two couches we had down there. 


What we thought we looked like:

What we actually looked like:

We'd start off with a hank of yarn for a fake microphone, but would soon abandon the prop in order to better tell the story of Teenage Rage through the elegant medium of dance. We'd jump off the couches and the dance would ensue.

Did you note the super literal dance interpretation of the lyrics?


Did you note the wrist rubbing move that really ties the whole piece together?


I really need a haircut, holy crap.


Ya. Me and Karen. We knew how to have fun.

Foodie Friday - Sweet Potato Corn and Kale Soup

Because my husband has the most efficient circulatory and digestive systems of all human beings ever, he is always warm and frequently poops. 

The poops part is not important here, but I thought I hadn't mentioned poops in awhile. So...


Poops.


Anyway, he's always warm and I am always cold. As soon as he toddles off to work on his bike (10 miles there, 10 miles back), I turn off the air conditioning and stick my feet into my coffee cup in an effort to regain feeling in them.
So it was that on the hottest day of the year, a record breaker as it happens, I thought it would be a great idea to make a lovely warming soup.


I riffed on a recipe by Kathy Patalsky over at Lunch Box Bunch . Her original recipe is here! It's chock full of vitamins and deliciousness. You'll feel healthier for eating it and you'll actually become a better person. Probably even a movie star.





Roasted Sweet Potato and Corn Soup with Kale.

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.

1 C fresh, boiled corn cut off of the cob

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp tumeric

good grinding fresh black pepper*   

1 small onion, chopped

4 C vegetable broth

1/2 C nutritional yeast (optional, but good if you're veggie as it has its of important nutrients!!)

2 C chopped kale (I chopped mine in a food processor to get it nice and minced)

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place cubed and peeled potatoes in a bowl with the boiled, de-cobbed corn and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle tumeric and black pepper*, and toss to coat evenly.

Bake on a foil lined pan for about 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes and corn are soft and golden.

Meanwhile, place onion, broth, nutritional yeast in a sauce pan. When potatoes and corn are done, add these to the sauce pan and blend with an immersion blender (can be done in batches with a regular blender). Add kale and heat until kale is nicely wilted, but still fresh and green looking. Add salt to taste.

Makes about 6 Cups

Enjoy!

(I use tumeric and black pepper because of this study, although I don't endorse animal testing at all!!! There was no need to use animals in this study as they had human volunteers!)

Nutritional Info Per 1 Cup.

	Nutrition Facts   6 Servings Amount Per Serving   Calories 175.9   Total Fat 2.7 g       Saturated Fat 0.5 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g       Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g   Cholesterol 0.0 mg   Sodium 426.1 mg   Potassium 736.8 mg   Total Carbohydrate 31.1 g       Dietary Fiber 7.4 g       Sugars 9.0 g   Protein 9.5 g   Vitamin A 132.5 %   Vitamin B-12 88.7 %   Vitamin B-6 325.1 %   Vitamin C 34.7 %   Vitamin D 0.0 %   Vitamin E 3.0 %   Calcium 5.6 %   Copper 8.8 %   Folate 45.3 %   Iron 8.1 %   Magnesium 8.3 %   Manganese 17.3 %   Niacin 190.2 %   Pantothenic Acid     9.0 %   Phosphorus     15.5 %   Riboflavin 379.6 %   Selenium 22.3 %   Thiamin 432.2 %   Zinc 15.8 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.