As usual, my best laid plans have gone awry. It never fails that as soon as I have a nice long list of to dos, someone gets sick. It is never me, because if I am sick, well… let’s just say I still have to get stuff done. But today was going to be a great day – morning spent straightening and cleaning before the hubs gets home from his travels tonight, lunch with a girlfriend, some fun girly shopping, and I was even looking forward to the rain this evening, because it would mean no soccer practice and we could have a quiet night at home. But thirty minutes in (meaning thirty minutes after the bus had picked up the minions), disaster struck. Child #2 was in the nurse’s office with a bad case of the pukes. Which has apparently been going around the school, because child #1 came home with a note about it, and the school even blasted all the parents with an email about the lovely gastroenteritis that is sweeping the area. It got me thinking about germs, of course, and how to battle them.
Of course, the easiest way would be to saturate every surface in your house with bleach, but really, how practical is that? Using harsh chemicals just doesn’t work for me, as it makes my lungs wheeze, my eyes sting, and my nostrils run a 5K. I have found instead, that vinegar is just as effective a cleaner for most every place in my house (except the toilets, for those I use the harsh toxic stuff). I mostly use the vinegar for cleaning the windows and floors, but it is also great for mirrors, cabinets, and countertops. Not to mention how wonderful it is for my Keurig (also known as my dealer). I decided that I needed a list of all the great things that vinegar can be used for, so I compiled (actually borrowed shamelessly from around the web) a list of my top 10 just for y’all.
Versatile Valiant Vinegar
- Remove the white rings from wooden furniture – To remove white rings left by wet glasses on wood furniture, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil and apply it with a soft cloth while moving with the wood grain. Use another clean, soft cloth to shine it up. To get white water rings off leather furniture, dab them with a sponge soaked in full-strength white vinegar
- Remove soap scum from glass shower doors and surrounds – Rub down shower doors with a sponge soaked in white distilled vinegar to remove soap residue.
- Soothe a bee or jellyfish sting, and take the itch out of mosquito bites – dab the affected area with a cotton ball soaked in white vinegar to calm the sting.
- Vinegar and baking soda will clear a clogged drain – pour baking soda into the drain, followed by vinegar, and your pipes should flow clear.
- To remove chewing gum, rub it with full-strength vinegar.
- To loosen wall paper, spray walls down with full-strength vinegar and let soak. Wall paper will be much easier to remove.
- Make shower heads spray like new – put a cup of warm white vinegar into a gallon sized zip top bag, insert shower head and secure with a rubber band or zip tie (so that the bag is secure on the shower head and the head is in the vinegar). Allow to soak for a couple hours and run the best shower of your life. You can also detach the shower head for this, but why bother?
- Remove stubborn stickers from new glassware, dishes, and decor – Dab vinegar onto stubborn price tags and stickers affixed to glass, plastic, or wood. Scrape the surface clean, then rub the area with more vinegar to remove any sticky residue.
- Banish static cling – add 1/2 cup white vinegar to your wash cycle. Not only will it help with the static, it can help freshen and renew older clothes and towels by removing stubborn odors.
- Use in your steam floor cleaner – freshens and sanitizes both the cleaner and the floor.
The poor sick child is finally asleep, so I guess I better get back to the cleaning. Hubs will be home soon, and I hope he is proud of all the stuff we got accomplished this week, even with the setbacks. Still no madeira wine, but since he will be available to manage the sick one tomorrow I can get to the grocery to find it. In the meantime, enjoy this easy chicken noodle soup that my kids love when they are feeling less than superior (and sometimes when they are perfectly well)! You can make it with a whole raw chicken, or if you need to save time you can do it with a rotisserie chicken.
Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- 8 cups water or 8 cups canned chicken broth
- 1 cup carrot, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 cup celery, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 teaspoons salt (to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (3 1/2 lb) roasting chickens
- 3 cups wide egg noodles, uncooked
DIRECTIONS
1. In 4-1/2 to 6-quart slow-cooker bowl, combine water, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, 4 t salt, 1/2 t pepper.
2. Place whole chicken on top of vegetables.
3. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 8 to 10 hours or on high 4-5 hours. If I were using a rotisserie chicken I would cook on low for 4-5 hours.
4. Transfer chicken to cutting board. Discard bay leaves. Add noodles to slow-cooker; cover with lid and cook (on low or high) 20 minutes.
5. While noodles cook, remove and discard skin, fat and bones from chicken; shred meat.
6. Skim fat from soup and discard. Return chicken to soup to serve.
Enjoy!
The Quirky Kitchenista 