A Product That Doesn't Stink ... Rather Quite the Opposite!

Can I just say that I have a sensitive nose?  I have always had a sensitive nose which is both a blessing and a curse:  A blessing when I walk into the local grocery store and they've just taken the day's batch of fresh, hot Italian bread out of the oven - a smell that can make your mouth water in seconds flat!   A curse when I find myself crammed into a car with a bunch of faux zombies on their way back from a zombie walk - have you ever gotten a whiff of the sweaty shambling undead after they've lurched their way around town for several hours?  Not good let me tell you!

Recently I came across a product that I can only say that I wish I had with me after Amanda's last zombie walk down in Asbury Park, New Jersey where we were lucky to find a bathroom where she could wash off a bit of the make-up, fake blood, and accumulated sweat from the day before climbing into the car to make the 4-hour drive back to Connecticut.  Even though she tried, the kid still had a lingering smell of what Vincent Price called  "the funk of forty thousand years" but it was the best we could do at the time.  Now, if she'd had QwikShower Gym Class Wipes with her, it would have been a lot easier to take care of all of that funk and made the ride back to Connecticut a lot more pleasant but alas, I didn't know about QwikShower back then!

If you haven't heard of them, I've got to say that these wipes are seriously cool and probably the next best thing since unlimited texting when it comes to teenagers!  Developed by Harvey Metro, a father of three boys who grew tired of having his own olfactory senses assaulted after his three sons would pile into his vehicle along with a good number of their friends after sports practice, QwikShower wipes are large, moist, single-use disposable cloths with a subtle “teenager-approved” scent that were designed to offer an easy, convenient and economical way to help kids get clean and eliminate embarrassing grime and body odor - without the time it takes for a shower or the potential embarrassment of showering in front of one's peers (come on now, I'm sure we all remember gym class no matter how long ago it may or may not have been!)

I was recently sent a free sample of these amazing wipes and  I was going to have Jamie give them a try for me but that kid takes more showers than several people put together so instead I had Amanda give it a go up at Montserrat and waited for her to come back with a verdict. With seven housemates to share two bathrooms with, I had the feeling that she wasn't hitting the shower anywhere near as often as her sister was and I was right. The verdict came back as two thumbs up for convenience and effectiveness both along with a request to "send more!" So, guess what Amanda might just find in her stocking here in a couple of weeks? And perhaps she'll even save a few for her next zombie walk!

Disclaimer: I received free samples of QwikShower Gym Class Wipes to try out with my family. No compensation was received other than the free product and all opinions are my own - or Amanda's!  If you'd like more information about QwikShower Wipes visit http://www.qwikshower.com/.

196 Unread Posts = Guilt

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You have no idea how much blogging has become a part of your life until you take a few days off to catch up on housecleaning and work and all that fun (?) stuff. You don't realize it fully until you open your Google Reader or Bloglines or whatever feed you might use and find that you have 196 unread posts staring back at you, looking at you with that glare of disdain that the cat always gives you when you've had the nerve to go out and leave him or her home alone all day with nothing but a bowl of kibble and water.

As I looked in dismay at those 196 unread posts I felt both guilty and uncomfortable, much like I used to with the cat, but I just had neither the time or the energy to go through and read them all so I skimmed, I commented on a couple that really caught me eye, and then I deleted the rest. I sincerely apologize for not having had the time to read posts that so much effort were put into creating but if I were to try to read them all, I'd still be reading when it was time to go back to work tomorrow morning!

Somehow I am going to have to figure out how to better balance work, home, and blogging because trust me, I don't want to have to spend a whole day cleaning like I did this past Saturday because I am still sore from the effort. Now how pathetic is that? Obviously things had gotten so out of hand that it took a semi-Herculean effort to get it back under control and now I need to be sure to keep on top of it and not let it get that bad again - ever. Apparently it's not a good idea for my back to do that sort of thing too often because I don't think a person should still be so achy two days after cleaning!

Unfortunately, staying on top of things may mean that it cuts into my blogging time a little bit as I've found that the house, not surprisingly, doesn't clean itself and Amanda apparently has no ambitions to be a professional maid or housekeeper so I can't expect her to perfect her skills here at home. She certainly has that teenage-sloppiness down to a real art, though!

I wish I was able to be a full-time blogger but unfortunately I don't have anyone offering to pay me my current salary to do that so it's going to have to be a part-time thing that I'm going to get behind on from time to time to time. Or, I could just continue to devote hours upon hours to all things blog but I would have to ask some of you to come over here and do my housework for me so that I don't end up living in squalor and disarray again!

Any volunteers?

Lots of Cleaning = No Blogging

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I took a day off from blogging today to do some much needed cleaning here at my humble abode as it was beyond cluttered and messy as far as I was concerned. Amanda could happily live in squalor and think nothing of it but I can only handle it for so long and then something needs to be done. So, while the daughter was off frolicking at The Big E with Jason, Amy, and Cate I was here practically chained to the vacuum cleaner!

Amanda left to go "play" around 9:30 and even though I had started picking up a few odds and ends around the house before she had even left, I didn't start cleaning in earnest until after she had left on her way to clam cakes, baked potatoes, and other Fair-type delicacies. At that point I launched a full-scale attack on the living room followed by a charge upon the dining room before I finished up with a full-scale assault on the kitchen. In between the major battles, I fought minor skirmishes with the laundry and Amanda's bedroom, too. The battle has been won but I definitely feel like I just spent the day in the trenches!

I had hoped to mow the lawn and clean the rims on the wheels of my car, too, but I never got to outside tasks as it seems that the time just flew while I was cleaning the inside. I couldn't believe it was after 2:00 when I glanced at the clock while filling the bucket and grabbing the mop to do the kitchen floor. It seemed like I had just started, how could I have been over four hours into the project already? And I have a small house to boot! I guess this is what happens when you get so absorbed in blogging that you forget that you have a house to keep clean around you!

My friend Paula called around 4:15 or so to firm up our plans for the evening which entailed a dinner out at a local restaurant that I had a gift certificate for. We settled on 6:00 to meet which we figured gave us both plenty of time to finish up what we were doing, hit the shower, and get to the restaurant. Personally, I could have happily stayed in the shower for hours on end but that wasn't part of the plan. Rats!

Meanwhile, fun times at The Big E were wrapping up and Amanda was on her way home to grab clothes and plushie supplies as she had been invited to spend the night at Cate's again. I got to hear about all the great stuff they saw at the fair - a miniature horse, a display of cbu mailboxes (yeah, okay, I had to work that in somewhere!), cheese from New Hampshire, lobsters from Maine, jerky made from ostrich, deer, and buffalo ... the list went on and on. She brought home treasures, too - a piece of papyrus with her name spelled out in hieroglyphics, a pan flute, incense, and a slingshot ... a slingshot?? Why on earth did Amanda buy a slingshot? I don't think I want to know!

She also had a bag of deep-fried Oreos for me and proceeded to eat one herself and get powdered sugar all over the floor I spent a good part of the day cleaning! AUGH!! I told her to go eat the thing over the sink before I beat her with the broom (ah yes, there's goes my nomination for "Mother of the Year" yet again)! Apparently she had an absolutely wonderful time and didn't drive Jason and Amy too crazy as they were willing to keep her overnight again. I've not decided if they are Saints or gluttons for punishment!

Shortly after she left again, I met up with Paula and we had a lovely delayed birthday get-together where I actually tried fried calamari for the very first time and found it to be quite tasty after all. I think I was just afraid of the whole oh-my-gosh-I'm-eating-squid thing but it appears my fears were for naught! I also had a delicious drink called a "Frozen Alligator" which was a Pina Colada blended with Creme de Menthe and Creme de Cocoa. YUMMY!! It was nice to have a chance and get caught-up as I hadn't seen Paula since before Jamie left in July. She's been pretty busy getting settled into her new school year at Grasso Tech as well as working a part-time job and she was definitely up for a break, too!

So, now it's time for me to call it a day and none too soon as I am hideously sore and still can't breath through my nose despite having taken both an allergy pill and a separate Sudafed on top of it. I feel like the vacuum cleaner blew up in my face or something!


Hope everyone else had a wonderful Saturday doing something more fun than cleaning!