Testing...
2nd progesterone draw was on Friday. Once again the phlebotomist ignored the directions that she told me to give to her (butterfly in the right arm) and used the regular needle and went into my left. I'm used to her ignoring me at this point since I've had a dozen blood draws from her. As every other time, she lost my vein and had to fish. On Friday my arm was looking pretty banged up, but it doesn't look so bad today. I'm anxious for these results because in theory my doc will make a decision once they are back. I'm just hoping we can get back to TTCAL soon! If all goes well, we could possibly have an August baby which would be hilarious because that would be a 3rd generation August birthday in my immediate family alone (my dad is 1 week before me.) My family has a butt ton of August birthdays, so one more would be cool.
Family...
My sister had my nephew Thursday and I am happy to report he is doing well, as is she. He was smaller then predicted at 8 lbs, 12 oz & 19.5 inches long. Sure he's a big boy, but they were guesstimating him at over 9 pounds! My mom has been texting me a butt ton of pics and he's ADORABLE! I won't be posting any pics since it's rude to post pics of someone else's kid without asking them and I don't want my family to know about this blog just yet. Maybe someday, but not today. For now, it's for me. They were released today and are now at home adjusting. My mom thinks he's going to be a screamer like my sister, but hopefully he'll mellow out. If kids act like you though when you were a kid, I'm stoked because I was an AWESOME baby! I slept...a lot. Not much has changed actually...
Cleaning...
I finally got around to doing my big green cleaning session and I'm here to tell you, I'm NEVER going back. I will admit, shamefully, that I did use windex. Only because I forgot to bookmark the recipe I found and didn't feel like searching for it when I was already cleaning. I did use the general surface cleaner and the floor cleaner and OMG love them! I also used a recipe I found for toilet bowl cleaner. It's baking soda, olive oil & a few drops of essential oil. Worked wonderfully and it makes me feel so much better knowing if my dogs were to sneak a drink they'd be okay. Normally we keep all the lids closed, but sometimes you forget if you are in a hurry or it's the middle of the night.
The surface cleaner was awesome and so simple to make. I will admit it did make everything smell like vinegar when I was wiping them, but once they dried, you couldn't smell the vinegar at all. Even T said he couldn't smell it. I would just spray it on the counter or sink and wipe with a cloth. I also followed it up with a soft dry cloth to prevent the solution from staying on the surface too long. Not that it's horrible and going to eat at your stuff, but vinegar is pretty acidic and considering the essential oil I used was lemon, that's quite a bit going on. So I played it a bit safe.
I also used vinegar in my mopping session and I'm telling you, I'm throwing every other stupid mop OUT! I'll keep my steam mop for those quick "oh shit" moments, but the Clorox and Swiffer wet jet are not allowed in this home. My new mop worked wonderfully and my floors are literally squeaky clean. The floor cleaner is simply hot water, vinegar, baking soda & a few drops of essential oil (lemon again since it's the only one I'll use.) Bit of advice, when you are making the cleaning solution, fill your bucket maybe 1/4 of the way with the hot water, add the baking soda and the vinegar and the essential oils. I'm only saying this because baking soda and vinegar don't play well together so they do that awesome volcano explosion action. Cool to look at, but had I not left my water level low, it would have been messy. After the fizzy dies down fill the rest of the bucket up to about 3/4 full.
I know a lot of people are anti old school mopping, but I'm here to tell you if you do it right it's a million times better than the stupid "quick" mops. Trust me. I'm mad OCD about germs (like actually diagnosed by a medical professional who spent many years studying psychology.) I know a lot of the arguments are you are just using dirty water or takes your floors too long to dry and if those are your arguments, you are mopping wrong. It's easy to do it wrong honestly. My mopping sessions are a crap ton faster with an actual mop & bucket then they are with the Clorox/Swiffer mops. I follow the same patter every time, sweep the floor, do the baseboards then the floor. I always change the water between rooms and even multiple times when mopping large areas like the kitchen. I know some hate pouring the water in their bathtub or sink, but both are always the last to get cleaned in this house so it's no big deal to me. Not to mention, it's water, vinegar, baking soda and some oils, not exactly harsh on the drain.
If you find your floors take too long to dry, then you are using too much water. The goal is to get a good mop that you can squeeze the water out of. Your actual mop head should be damp, not soaking wet. I squeeze mine out a few times so when I have to put elbow grease into it the water doesn't come flowing from the mop. My floors dry really fast and by the time I'm done mopping the next room, the first one is completely dry. I also wear socks when I mop. When your floor is damp the dirt from your feet is going to stick to it like a SOB. It also prevents slipping if you are wearing the right socks. For me, I wear white so I can do the white sock test to see if I missed a spot. Another thing, the mop I got isn't a square mop so I was able to get it into those hard to reach spots behind the toilets with no problems. Using the other crappy ones, or even a square mop I had to rock the old school hands and knees. So I wasn't feeling as sore after this session.
I was successfully able to deep clean the kitchen, all three bathrooms and the foyer in about 45 min from start to finish. Not too shabby, then again I have cleaning down to a science from doing it so much. Next on my agenda is to come up with a good carpet solution for those dirty spots (thank you doggies!) and help with the smells. Eventually all carpet will be removed from my house with the exception of the theater (for sound control), but for now I have to deal with it. Let me tell you, when you have OCD about germs, carpet is the WORST thing to have because it's never really "clean." No matter how good your vacuum is, dirt gets caught in the fibers. I also found a few good tips to help with the air quality in your home, so some plants will be moving in.
All in all I'm really pleased with the transition into green cleaning and now that I've seen the results, I'm really confident this is going to be a permanent change.
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