Bleach Makes Everything Bad Go Away

Bleach is so wonderful. It's the best cleaning product out there, bar none. My mom taught me so many ways to use bleach and it has been an essential weapon during my trials and tribulations of living at chez Carlos.

Before I moved into Carlos' condo, Carlos would never use a liner in his trash cans. This ongoing practice resulted in nasty trash buckets lined with a sludge that resulted from the decay of food material and other waste. Blech. There was no way I was going I was diving into his 13 gallon plastic kitchen trash can to clean it. No matter how many pieces of paper towel and how many bottles of all-purpose cleaner I had. No way. NO. JUST NO!

So what did I do? I took the empty (emphasis on empty) trash can and stood it in the bathtub. I then poured some bleach into it, just enough to cover the worst of the sludge, and let it sit there for about 15 minutes.Then I turned on the shower and let really hot water fill the trashcan. I made sure to open all the windows of the condo, including the bathroom one, because steam that results hot water and bleach is not something you want to be breathing in. In fact, I even went outside for a few minutes while the shower water was filling up the can just to get away from the fumes. Once it the trash can was full, I shut off the shower head and let the trash can sit there for a few hours while the hot water and bleach worked it's magic. I dumped the bleach water and got a sparkling clean trash can in return. No scrubbing, no spraying, no nothing. Thank you bleach!

Warning: Be careful when using bleach! Wash your hands thoroughly afterwards and be careful not to get any on your clothes. If need be, strip yourself of all clothing and wrap yourself in a large white towel or wear a white bathrobe.

Another way I use bleach is to unclog the bathroom sink and tub when it gets to filled with hair and other waste. Somewhat recently both the bathroom sink and tub were clogged and would fill up quickly and drain way too slowly. I don't know about you but I loathe standing water. It's a magnet for bacteria, bugs and the dreaded MOLD! I have little to no patience with standing water. What I used to do to treat clogs was add a couple glugs (yes that's a technical term I use) of bleach to help the water drain. It did help the drain go by faster but it didn't help the clog and the problem would continue. One day, completely by accident, I discovered the solution. After forgetting to help the sink drain with some bleach I went back and found the water had all drained. I looked inside the drain and saw hair, floss, string and other gunk inside. I poured enough bleach into the sink to create a pool reminiscent of what was leftover after I washed my hands. The bleach got to work and the drain burped a few times and the liquid went down. Ever since then, water drains quickly in the sink. I did the same for the tub and after a few belches it's been draining efficiently.

So why didn't I just buy some Draino? It doesn't work! I don't care how much research they've done and how it's advanced over the years. Draino, and similar products, are more money than their worth. After an incident with a tub clog back in my old apartment, I went through about 4 bottles of Draino only to have the tub still filled with standing water for hours upon hours after every shower. I called my mom in distress and her answer to me was Bleach and lots of it. I bought a small bottle of bleach (much cheaper than either of the 4 bottles of Draino I had purchased) and poured the whole thing in. The problem went away just like that!

So when in doubt, bleach! Bleach makes bad things go away. (Warning: Does not work on annoying people, only on annoying household grime and clogs and your laundry whites).

The War Against Mold and Mildew

I'll save you the distress of having to look at a picture of mold or mildew. You'll thank me later.

Mold and mildew. Oh how I hate you so. Before I moved in, Carlos' condo was a total mess. Standing water in the tub, a moth infestation, some light levels of hoarding, dust, hair and mold and mildew. And that's just a general overview! There were a lot more problems but those were the major ones. Carlos has asthma so how he lived in those conditions and survived is beyond my level of understanding.

I got rid of the moths by cleaning the kitchen and removing all of their egg deposits. I made sure that nothing dry (flour, rice, etc.) was exposed. Everything was in clean sealed bags or containers. I placed dry bay leaves in various cupboards to scare them away. The moths disappeared and haven't come back.Carlos had someone fix the drain in the bathtub and there was no more standing water. All the rooms were cleaned of hair, dust and clutter. It seemed like everything bad was fixed. But the mold and mildew still plague me to this day.

The problem with the condo is that it has poor air circulation, is in a shady corner of the complex so there isn't enough sunlight coming in and it is at ground level (mostly above ground). Because we are at ground level, it's not feasible to keep the windows open when we are not at home. It would be way too easy for a burglar to find his or her way in and make off with our valuable goods. So for most of the day the windows are closed.

Mold grows the most in the bathroom. Whoever tiled, caulked and painted the bathroom neglected to use anti-mold materials. You can buy anti-mold caulking and paint at any local hardware store. No one informed this person of that valuable fact. The shower is completely tiled and there is a window with a sill that's about a foot deep. The tile, including that flat surface of the sill which collects pools of water, is a magnet for black mold. Oh and how it loves to grow on that. The ceiling paint also has black mold. I have spent countless hours in that bathroom cleaning with hot water, bleach and mold remover. Alas, the mold always comes back with a vengeance sticking to anything it can.

So I developed a full battle plan against the mold (and the pink mildew which grows there too):

1. Open the window after every shower. Even if it's only for an hour or two. This daily practice helps bring in fresh air that will dry the tiles, tub, shower curtain and mat. Mold loves moist environments so the drier I can get the bathroom the better. There are no electrical outlets in our bathroom so a fan (my ideal solution for this problem) is not an option.

2. I invested in a anti-mold/anti-mildew bath mat. I've gone through a couple mats. The first one was a mold magnet and went from clear plastic to almost black. I threw that out. Then I got an anti-mold/anti-mildew bath mat which never collected mold but never dried. EVER! It was always cold, wet and squishy. Finally, I got a white rubber mat which was also anti-mold/anti-mildew. After every shower, we hang it up on the towel rod which is in the shower itself. Bad placement for towels, great for mats. The mat, suspended all day, dries thoroughly.

3. I also invested in an anti-mold/anti-mildew shower curtain liner. Pink mildew was a big problem on the last shower curtain I had. It would grow rampantly and I'd shiver at the thought of the curtain liner touching me. Ick! I switched to the new liner which works for the most part. However, if you scrunch the liner, the space in between the folds won't dry thorough and the pink mildew will grow. So we had to make a regular ritual of spreading open the curtain.

4. Weekly treatment of shower with an Anti-Mold/Mildew spray. Why don't I just do this every day? The spray has a heavy chemical smell and doesn't work on heavy mold growth. With steps 1-3, I keep the mold growth down and the Anti-Mold/Mildew helps remove what's left behind. It's also really good at getting that pink mildew off the curtain. I do this every Sunday and make sure the window is wide open to let some good air in.

Extra tip: I wash all used towels once a week with hot water and detergent and I dry them at the highest heat. After each use, they are spread out to dry on our new towel rack. Folding wet towels and not washing/drying them frequently enough will just be inviting more mold to grow.

I miss the days of having a super clean, always dry, mold-less bathroom. I lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building and always kept the bathroom window open with no fear of a break in. Glorious! A dry bathroom is a happy one.

A Heavy Load Indeed

Carlos is almost one month in to his current semester and already he is feeling overwhelmed. He takes two classes at a community college and works upwards of 60 hours per week. Next week he'll be clocking in at 6 days instead of his average 5. I feel bad for him because he comes home exhausted from being on his feet all day, he can't take some time out during his day to study and he goes to bed really late after studying all night.

I remember the work-school dilemma very well. Back in 2005, I started a graduate program in Writing, Literature and Publishing at a local college. I was working full time and attending classes at night. Each class met once a week for 4 hours. By the time I got home, my mind would be buzzing from the days' activity and brand new information. I had to start taking melatonin supplements so I could go to sleep.  I didn't work 60 hours but I did work a regular 9-5 Monday-Friday schedule with significant commuting time. It was a lot to handle. See that picture on the left? That was my first semesters reading load. The only book I didn't have to read cover-to-cover was that fat Chicago Manual of Style towards the bottom of the stack.

How did I manage to survive graduate school? I'm still not 100% sure. During that time I was in a car accident, developed an ulcer from all the coffee I drank and gained a few other health problems because of all the stress. I fit in homework where I could. I did a lot of writing during my lunch breaks. I read whenever and wherever I could: on the T, in bed, at the library and even on the toilet. I made it out of school with all As, a diploma, a gaggle of new friends and regret. I don't think I really needed a graduate degree. It didn't do much for me career-wise but it is another notch on the belt of life. No one can say I'm just some typical underprivileged Latina with too-tight pants and too many pregnancies. I have a Master's!

So what's the solution for Carlos? I think his free time is very precious and he needs to manage it well in order to make it through the semester. Time management is tres difficile. I was never good at it. Fear of failure kept me in check. I hope Carlos can find something that works for him and I know I'm willing to help.

September 11th, 2011

This is a picture that I took back in 1991. I was 10 years old and my mom and I were in New York visiting family friends. Not sure which tower this was but I remember taking pictures of all the major New York sites while we past.

Do you remember where you were September 11th, 2001? I remember driving at night on the highway on September 10th, 2001 and I was listening to the radio. It might have been NPR or some other news radio and the correspondent talking mentioned Osama Bin Laden. He claimed that George W. Bush had no interest in finding him. Then the next day, I woke up, had my breakfast and watched as my dad took my dog out for his morning walk. I was going to start my first semester at Northeastern University in just over a week so I was enjoying my last days of summer. I logged onto America Online and I saw an incredible image in the welcome screen. It was of the two towers with smoke billowing out of them.

I told my dad, I called my mom who was at work and I watched the TV in horror. I remember watching one of the news shows and they were talking to someone at the Pentagon. I heard a big boom. It was the plane that hit the building. I couldn't believe what was happening. I was speechless as I watched both towers fall. It seemed unreal. Totally unreal.

You couldn't escape 9/11 even after the day had passed. I have been scared of flying ever since. This coming from someone who had been flying since she was 20 days old. Even almost crashing into the Atlantic Ocean during a flight at the age of 8 (we ended up safely landing in the Azores) didn't scar me like watching the events of 9/11. It didn't help my fear of heights too.

Let us never forget what happened that day. I know I won't.

Young Me #3

Before I met my Carlos, I was very close with another Carlos. A young Columbian boy from my apartment complex in Natick. We didn't always get along. He was kind of a brat and if I'm honest, I was one too. Here Carlos and I are having fun at his birthday party and in an inflatable pool.

Posh Frock Friday - Cheer Me Up Edition

Posh Frock Friday is a sort-of-meme run by  Kate of Scathingly Brilliant.

I've been a bit down lately. Finances, future goals, health issues, wedding planning all seem to weigh me down emotionally. One of the ways I've been cheering myself up is by wearing posh frocks and experimenting with hairdos. 

In our present culture very few people do hairdos anymore. It's all about the haircut. You go to a hair salon, invest in a good haircut and it's like having a permanent hairdo on your head at all times. I can't do haircuts. Nothing really works on me. Bangs don't work at any length because my hair is naturally very curly and frizzy. I have three types of hair (European, African and Arabic). It doesn't want to lay flat ever, especially on my forehead. I can't do any haircuts that require the hair to be super straight to look good. I can't do layers because it'll look like I'm wearing a mullet. Stylish haircuts are just not for me. However, I can do stylish hairdos. My hair loves to be braided, twisted, pinned and styled. Hairdos break up the roundness of my head and face and give some structure to my look. Plus they are fun to do. I used to do french braids on my friends in high school all the time. On one friend I even did a french braid that looked like a big question mark with a scrunchie at the end that served as a dot. Looking back at pictures of my mother when she was my age, she always had impeccable hairdos. She had at one time been a professional hair dresser and passed down her natural talent to me. So now, I'm cheering myself up with some hairdos!

 

Not sure if you can see but this is a traditional rope that wraps around the head. The secret to this rope is to work it like a french braid AND to make sure you twist the two strands of hair in one direction but twist them together in another. The tension between the two alternate twists is what holds the twist together. Also, alternating makes it look like a rope.

 

Skirt - Lord & Taylor

Top - Lord & Taylor

Cardigan - H&M

Earrings - Forever 21

If you want to learn how to do this hairdo, watch Lilith Moon's tutorial. She doesn't mention the alternating twisting style in this one so make note of it. Otherwise it won't look right on your head.

Old Polaroids #1

I'm almost done with my family photo scanning project. It was a lot of fun going down memory lane. Some of my favorites have to be these wonderful old Polaroids, most of them taken in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Natick, Massachusetts. Enjoy!

Never tape pictures! Never ever put tape on pictures! EVER!