Overdoing It

I'm still sick with this cold I've had for 5 days and counting, so blogging will probably continue to be light for a few days.  Today I'll just make a long overdue addition to my product recommendations. 

OxiClean must be the best cleaning product ever.  I mostly use it to spot clean the carpet.  It takes out everything I've tried it on: wine, coffee, cat puke, blueberry.  It's great for laundry, too.

Somewhere in all the moves we made last year, I lost the squirt bottle I had always used for my OxiClean.  (I buy the powder and mix it with water or throw a scoop in the laundry.)   When we arrived at the house we're renting now, I didn't bother getting a new bottle and making any because I was just too overwhelmed to think about cleaning.  The carpet here is already old and stained and I just figured, why bother?

Well, new stains were still happening and the living room carpet was beginning to disturb me.  Yesterday I finally reached my limit and I made some OxiClean in a measuring cup.  I must have spot cleaned 20 stains.  It didn't matter how old they were, every single one came out.  And I didn't have to scrub or rinse.  All I did was put a bit of OxiClean on a paper towel, soak the stain, and then rub it a bit.  The difference in the carpet is amazing, and it's so easy.

I had also purchased a can of Resolve High Traffic cleaner.  It's one of those foams that you spray and then vacuum.  Before I tried the OxiClean I had tried the Resolve and it didn't take out a single stain.  It might have made the carpet a bit cleaner overall, but not in any way that I could discern.  Baking soda is cheaper and probably works just as well.

If you noticed, I did all this work while I was sick.  I had been stuck at home doing nothing for 4 days and Sam was finally back at day care and I felt a bit better.  I did what I always do when recovering from a cold: I overdid it.  Not only did I clean the carpet in two ways (including vacuuming 3 times), I rearranged the furniture.  I hauled a huge bamboo trunk up the stairs and carried a rocking chair down the stairs.  It just felt so good to be able to accomplish something and I couldn't stop myself.  I didn't feel too bad yesterday even after all the work, but today I am much worse.  

I'm sure someday I'll learn to remember that I need to take it easy after a cold, even if I feel better.  I mean, I'm finally wise enough to stop getting a sunburn at the beginning of every single summer before I remember how bad it is and start using sunscreen.  But I still do too many sit ups every time I start a new workout regime.  And I'm writing a much longer post than I had intended, since I really should be resting.  These seem like silly little things that many people do, but this is day-to-day long range thinking, and it's something I'm working on.

In the meantime, I'm going to go rest, eat some soup, drink some OJ (I can finally feel good about that acronym again!), and watch Sesame Street.