Pet Love.......can get hairy!

This past Christmas our Miss Kitty was taken with the lights on our Christmas tree. Her favorite thing to do was get underneath and look up into the tree.

Cats, dogs and assorted other critters that we all love can cause some pretty hairy issues in our homes. No one loves their fur-babies more than I love mine, all that white and gray fur! One request I get from my clients is about critter fur and can I help them get it under control. It gets on the sofas, although poopsie isn't allowed on the sofa, on chairs, in the carpet and yep, even on the curtains. Critter fur floats and during the winter when static electricity is present, it clings to everything.

How do I get rid of it, you ask? You don't, unless you get rid of the critter that is loosing it, and we all know you ain't gonna do that. So the answer is, in a word, Control. To do this you're gonna have to do a little extra.

Most homes can get away with one to two vacuums a week, and every other day sweeping the hard floors. But when you have a critter or critters in the home, that is not the case. You're gonna have to vacuum and sweep daily, unless you can learn to live with the floating fur.

For your sofas and other soft surfaces you can vacuum. If that isn't getting all the hair, you can use a lint roller. Should you be an el-cheapo like me, you can use a slightly dampened soft cloth and rub the area lightly in a circular motion to remove the hair. I use a light spray of Fabreeze to wet my cloth, it helps with odor reduction too. Be sure to get down in the creases in the cushions and underneath the cushions.

Todays Tip: When giving your sofa and chairs a good vacuuming, remember to remove and do both sides of the seat cushions and use your crevice tool to get in all the corners of the bottom of the sofa. If you're worried about what you might catch in the vacuum, put a nylon knee high over the crevice tool to catch anything of a size.

Till tomorrow....God Bless~
Kat

Shrinking...it isn't only for clothes anymore.....

The world is getting smaller...or is it just me?  Nope, I'm right, it is shrinking!  I've noticed the candy bars are shorter or slimmer, the potato chip bags are getting shorter. 

Then yesterday a client brought me an empty toilet tissue roll along with a new roll.  "Look at this!" she said, "Do you see the difference?"  I sure did!  The empty roll was at least 1" taller than the new roll of the very same brand of tissue bought only last week.  Now, personally I don't have a real problem with this particular cut back for lack of a better word.  After all, there are less trees cut down for materials, and less pollution caused by the manufacture of the product.  So, this one goes under the heading of  a good reduction. 

Now, the catagory of not so good, the reduction in size of the afore mentioned candy bars.  The reduction doesn't include the price though.  I know I'm not the only one to notice that little detail.  In fact, the price has actually gone up in most cases! 

Point in fact:  My favorite candy bar (which is wrapped in silver cellophane, round and minty fresh, I'm not namin' names!  I'm just sayin'....) was the size of the palm of my hand, now....it is slightly larger than a silver dollar.  That is heartbreaking!  It used to last for one entire mug of hot coffee with french vanilla creamer in it and now...I can barely get it to last for half of the mug!  I feel like standing up and screaming "I've been robbed!", like Sally in "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." 

There is only one way to combat this serious problem!  Go on a candy bar strike!  Don't eat any candy bars until they bring back the real candy bars that we all know and love.  The ones that fit in your hand just right, without having to be labled as "King Size" or "Jumbo".  Which really, if you think about it, if you eat to many of them will result in you being "King Size" or "Jumbo" so maybe we can work this "reduction" around into a good thing!  No.....nah.....I don't think so either.

Today's Tip:  In keeping with being economic and reducing pollutants, ponder on glass cleaner.  The commercial brands, the pretty blue ones, can contain Ammonia, Ethanol, Isopropyl alcohol, and/or Methanol.  These are very serious chemicals and can do harm to us if inhaled or swallowed.  They are expensive too, averaging $1.95 a spray bottle. 

My solution to this product is a mixture of white vinegar and water.  If you just have to have the blue, or are like me and the blue helps you keep it seperate from your other cleaners, you can add blue food coloring.  This cost pennies to make and if you must, you could drink it and come to no harm.  But....why would you drink it?  ewwww..........

Kathy's Glass Cleaner Recipe:What You Need:

•White vinegar

•Water

•A spray bottle

*Optional: 2 to 4 drops of Blue food coloring

What You Do:
Fill the spray bottle with equal parts vinegar and water. Then, use as you would any other glass cleaner.

God Bless~

Kat

                                                                                                                                    

The Change...........

I've changed my blog title.....for me who doesn't like change (or so a former boss once said of me) that is a momentus thing.  I have been all over the spectrum with my posting.  But from now on, I'm going to focus on what I do. 

Just what do I do, you ask?  Well, I'm what is commonly known as a "Cleaning Lady", but I perfer to be called a "Personal Assistant with focus on domestic".  So there.

The idea hit me last night when my husband was telling me about his day at jury duty.  They asked all sorts of questions including a few about me.  My name, age and employment status.  My husband told them I was a "Personal Assistant with focus on Senior/Elderly Care".  Which is just fine with me. 

It is really hard to define just what I do, do.  I used to have a slogan on my business card that read, "Services tailored to fit your requirements".  I tailor my services to the client, their lifestyle and schedules.  No two clients are alike.  For some I simply clean the house, 1 to 4 times a month.  Some I walk the dog(s), cook light meals, start supper, do laundry, what ever.  It helps keep my job from being boring I promise you that! 

Now, all that being said, there are a few things I don't do. 

1.  No babysitting.  I've done my share of that.  I keep my grandchildren on occasion, but that is it.  Lucky for me, most of my clients are older and have no children at home. 

2.  No yard work.  I'm no gardener, I kill plants.  They just go ahead and die when they see me coming....poor things. 

3.  And this one is most important, if you cannot be pleased, if you are just plain OC and expect me to be as well, Goodbye.  It won't work out.  Most of the time it only takes a couple of visits to find that we are ill matched. 

I don't know if there is anyone reading my blog but if there is, everyday I'm going to give you, gentle reader, a tip of the day, so to speak.  Most of them will be from my experiences and some will be those that I've learned from others.  I hope that they will help you.  I wish I'd had a resource like me when I was starting out.

Todays Tip:

One of the hardest things to sort and match are ladies knee highs and panty hose.  Espeically the navy and black ones.  I've devised an easy way to tell the black from the blue.  I carry a small flash light in my kit.  Turn it on and put the hose/knee high over the light and tada!  You can tell the color. 

Blessings, till tomorrow...........
Kat
 

Mama said, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." ..or lack thereof.

Good Morning!

I hope this finds all of you doing wonderful this morning. My study was about how people responded to John the Baptist. Remember how strange he acted and looked to them? Many of them responded to the exterior, not the message that he brought.

It seems that I must be having some difficulty in that area as examples of why we shouldn't are brought to my attention almost on a daily basis recently. God seems to be reminding me of this "beam in my eye". I don't realize I'm doing it.....maybe that is why it is being brought to my attention?

Recently, Doug and a fellow chapter member were confronted by a woman in a small country store recently while out on a charity ride. She found their appearence offensive and told them so in a very harsh manner. Keep in mind that Doug and his riding buddy were dressed in black leather with lots of pins and patches on their vest. Black riding gloves and heavy boots. Doug has a long ponytail. Both wore doorags/hats after removing their helmets. They were dressed for riding not impressing.

Doug or his riding companion, didn't take the low road and go right back at her as some of us might have done. Doug listened in a polite manner to her and then simply asked her what would she have done if John the Baptist had come to visit "her" church. Then he asked God's blessing on her and turned away to leave. Further down the road, he and his riding companion pulled over and prayed for this lady and her "blindness".

Then yesterday during my study time I'd finished my Bible reading and picked up my CMA Heartbeat Magazine. What should be in this months issue but an article about a man that had misjudged a biker by how he looked and not what was inside. You see, he looked like Doug and is companion! Bikers have that "look", sort of scary and unpredictable.

Oh to be "read" correctly and by our actions rather than the way the "world" reads us, by our designer clothes, our bank accounts or the car we drive.

Father God, please help me to keep my eyes on You in the people I meet and serve! Do not allow me to revert to my flesh and judge people buy the surface or my standards.

In His service by His Grace~

Kat