Boring Post/Cleaning House Part 2/You are an Obsession, You're My Obsession...

I'm certain you've been waiting with baited breath for Round 2 of my Cleaning House series...

Let me just say, my house has never been cleaner. I love this stuff. Last night i made the toilet bowl cleaner. It was like having aromatherapy whilst scrubbing the bowls. Seriously, peppermint soap with added tea tree oil? Divine. And it did a great job. I scrubbed my hardwood floors with the "Momma's Earth Mop" recipe (basically vinegar and water but with added essential oil for scent). Totally did the trick. Doug commented on the pungent vinegar smell (which i actually like because i figure something is getting clean) but that quickly dissipated and left behind the peppermint scent from the oil. I'm a wee bit obsessed with these cleaners right now, so it's possible this is just a sort of honeymoon period and it will tire soon enough. But i don't see myself ever going back to the conventional cleaners out there. These cleaners are super cheap and in my opinion just as effective. And i don't need a gas mask while i'm cleaning! And my boys can help too without fear of chemicals leaching into their bods! It's like a game to make them and use them! Cleaning is actually fun! Anyway. Yes. Obsessed. I've already admitted it.

Now I just need to find out where i can take the remaining toxic cleaners i still have to be disposed of. And then next on my "Going Greener" list is to start recycling again. Recycling was so easy in Maryland and Virginia that there was no reason not to do it. I had a nice deep pull-out garbage thing in my cabinets with trash in the front and recycling behind. And everything was comingled in one bin. Here. Well. At least in my town it's been a pain. Our trash service does it but you have to separate things just so and they only collect every other Thursday and for the first 6 months we were here they continually skipped us and after many phone calls to complain, i gave up. But now Walmart has moved in and while i don't think they're great in a lot of areas, they do have a big recycling collection area (except no one in the area takes glass. What's with that?). So, easy enough. I just need to get a system in the house so it's easy to do. Oh, and i'm slowly whittling away at the junk mail i get. There's a service online that will help take care of it, but for now i'm just calling all the random catalogs i get that i'm not interested in and asking them to stop sending to me. Worked well in MD.

Oh. And in other exciting news. I just got a new checking account with USAA because, well, they rock. I've not liked our local bank--it's totally inconvenient for us. USAA reimburses any ATM/debit fees you incur each month AND i actually scanned, from my home office, two checks that have been sitting in my van since AUGUST and deposited them over the internet. Helloooooo! (ya, ya, you've been doing that forever??! i'm still excited about this!). I didn't have to drag my kids around with me and stand in line to deposit these checks. How awesome is that?

Yawn. Yes, my life is boring. But getting excited over the small stuff has to be good for me, too, right?