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    Sunday, October 28, 2007

    Baby Shampoo, New Kitchen Toy and Why Aren't You Voting?

    So maybe I just hadn't posted since I put up the poll, and that's why there aren't more votes, but THANKS to my two IRL friends who have voted so far, and the rest of you - get on it! I can't see anything about your votes, so your vote is anonymous, I promise. So vote irready!

    Let's see...baby shampoo--I dig it more all the time. I was cleaning (time crunch-style) a couple of weeks ago, and while in the shower, reached for the first soap I could find, along with a scrub brush, and I'll be damned if the baby shampoo I used didn't take the ring-around-the-tub RIGHT off. Then, I read recently that it could be used to get a grease spot out of a shirt without harming the shirt b/c it's so gentle, but has some compound in it designed to remove grease/oil (think baby's head that only gets washed twice a week). I thought I might need that piece of info some day, so I filed it in the front folder of my brain. This weekend, however, we found a new and exciting reason to sing the praises of this liquid gold.

    Let me back up. The aforementioned new kitchen toy is a garbage disposal. I know, how behind-the-times is our kitchen? VERY. We're working on it, trust me. In steps, though, and if you'll recall we recently put in a dishwasher...but hadn't yet put in the garbage disposal.

    Saturday morning as I went to clear the sink and load the dishwasher, I became aware of the standing water in both sinks. Drain clogged. Jim-dandy-dee. I made the mistake of mentioning that if we were unable to clear the clog, we'd have to call a plumber...if you know Greg, you know that was enough to make his blood boil, actually saying he was "insulted" that I had even suggested such a thing.

    In the midst of his quiet rant, he was plunging the "snake" down the kitchen sink drain, using his hands to emphasize his points. Suddenly the water gave and began to drain. Greg's initial "Ah ha! There, I told you it'd be..." turned into... "Uh-oh..." as we heard the sound of water hitting the floor...or floorS, more accurately. His forcefulness had broken the drain trap under the sink loose from it's collar and the water gave way because the pipe was now in two pieces under my sink. SOAKING every single item in the cabinet, RUNNING out onto my floor. That was floor #1.

    The worst part is that we STILL had a clog, apparently down in the pipe between the main floor and the basement. So Greg went down to further explore and find out where the clog was.

    He eventually found the clog, and had opened the coupler of that drain downstairs to do so. When it broke loose, the nastiest of the nasty came flowing out of the coupler hole...and out onto my laundry room floor. Like a river of sludge. Gag. Much profanity then flowed from said laundry room. I stayed upstairs for the time being.

    When I say nasty, I should clarify...if you have ever watched a plumber clear drain lines, or if you are folks like us who do our own plumbing, then you know what I'm talking about. If not...picture dirty motor oil mixed with water, dirt, and goo. But mostly it's like dirty motor oil - the stuff that builds up in your pipes is mostly oil-based stuff that doesn't get flushed through. The residue it creates is a BIG NASTY. This drain was direct from our kitchen sink, so all the stuff you pour down your kitchen sink, and rinse off your dishes, all that...on my laundry room floor. (Floor #2, obviously). Thank the LORD that the drain goes down into there (and that there's a floor drain), and not my office or our bedroom, or Greg may have shot himself on the spot.

    That was bad enough, but then he comes upstairs looking like someone just shot the dog. He informs me that, in his panic to find something or other as part of the repair process, he tracked the big nasty goo THROUGH my office to the garage, and back. Four or five softball-sized (or bigger) spots of pure coal black, on my light brown carpet. He just kept saying, "It's bad, Cathy, it's bad." I went down. It was bad.

    He was asking for Resolve. I said "Honey, I don't think Resolve is that good." He then got the LA's Awesome Cleaner that I use for laundry stains. It just smeared it around. And he was using an old toothbrush, and that was not doing much.

    Suddenly the article about the baby shampoo and the grease spot jumped out of the front folder of my brain, and I thought it certainly couldn't hurt to try. At least I knew the baby shampoo wouldn't hurt the carpet, and if it didn't come out the carpet was ruined anyway.

    I applied it VERY liberally to one spot at first, and then scrubbed it in with a scrub brush, and let it sit for just a minute or so. Then I poured water on it, scrubbed it again, and then sucked it up with the shop vac. Lather, rinse, repeat.

    Nothing.

    And by nothing, I mean there was NOTHING left of the stain. Nada. Zip. What in the hell?...

    In disbelief, I quickly began working on the other areas, and could NOT believe that it took every spot of that black nasty grease off my carpet. And this wasn't even the Johnson's baby shampoo - this was cheap, store-brand baby shampoo!

    Greg and I were SO relieved that it came out. I'm looking at it right now, a day and a half later, and I swear to you I cannot tell where the stains were. So I am giving my FIVE-STAR recommendation to baby shampoo. It hasn't failed me yet! Try it out!

    And the garbage disposal (which Greg hopes will help with the drain problem) was installed by noon today. Let's hope the nasty stuff stays where it belongs from now on!

    3 comments:

    Deb said...

    Now I'm officially afraid of baby shampoo.

    I just found out that hydrogen peroxide gets out blood stains. Am I the last person to learn this?

    Anonymous said...

    My aunt the vet only uses baby shampoo on her dogs and the dogs they bathe in the office. It's what I've used for dog shampoo for years. My dogs are my babies so it's fitting.

    Anonymous said...

    I'm filing this away in my brain and hope I can retrieve when I need it.

    Deb, you aren't the last person to know about hydrogen peroxide and blood - evidently I am. Great tip!