SED - Day 13 - In Which Teddy Learns Something You All Probably Know Anyway

[teddy_radiator]

We ended up buying a new printer today - Mom offered to let us borrow hers, but it needed cartridges. Price of the cartridges for her old printer? $44.00. Price for a new printer just like our old one, which still had relatively fresh cartridges? $50.  Oh well. At least we didn't have to buy cartridges as well.

We spent the greater part of the day over at Mom's tidying up, mowing the lawn, doing some housework. She's so bloody stubborn and proud - she will still probably call in comeone to do it next time, rather than call us. She insisted on paying us what she would have paid someone to do the work, which was nice, seeing as we had to buy a printer and all.

I learned something really nifty today, which most of  you probably already know anyway. One of mother's problems is that she is between her treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis. She has a very tough version of it; has to take intrvenous treatment at least once a month. Her rheumacologist wants to switch her to a different medicine, which, if Medicare will pay for it, will be much better for her. In the meantime, she's off her usual medication, and it's really hard on her. She can't clean like she'd like, and that's why she wanted to get someone in. One of the worst offenders was her bathtub; I don't ever remember seeing it so dirty - very thick soap scum, etc. She was quite embarassed.

Anyhoo, off I go to Pinterest to find a good solution for the problem. Everyone said the vinegar/dish washing liquid was the best, so I concoted a spray bottle full, 2 parts vinegar to 1 part dish detergent. Man, does that work! I sprayed this on some of the toughest, thickest soap scum I've ever seen, and left it for about 30 minutes. It came off with only the most perfunctory swipe of a brush. I mean, that tub was gleaming. I'm always the last person to try these things, but I'm a believer now.

We're both tired and feeling a little sore, but it's nice to see something improve with a bit of elbow grease. She also paid us in a huge amount of ripe, delicious fresh strawberries, local honey and applesauce. I am dying to bake something with them, but I haven't got a clue what to bake with them. If anyone has a good fresh strawberry recipe, I'm all ears!

Comments

[dragoon811.livejournal.com]

Depending on how many strawberries you have, there's either pie bars or homemade refrigerator jam!! :-D

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

I have losds!

[dragoon811.livejournal.com]

Jam is pretty easy! It's 4-5c of strawberries, 1 and 1/2 c of white sugar, and two Tbs of lemon juice. :)

It's a lot less sugar than store-bought!

You cut up the berries (about raspberry size pieces), then put them in a large pot with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Turn heat to medium-low, and mash the berries a bit with the spoon while stirring. (Or you can use a potato masher. I like to mash 'em.)
When they look a bit juicy, turn the heat to medium-high until it starts to bubble. When the bubbling begins, reduce heat to medium and cook 15 minutes OR until when you tilt the pot it looks like it's starting to set. (Since it's only 1 and 1/2 c of sugar, it can take up to half an hour) Stir occasionally during those 15 minutes, streaking the bottom to keep berries from sticking and/or burning.

When it looks like it's starting to set when you tilt the pot, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Cool, then jar and store in the fridge. :) In a sterile jar, it lasts about 6 weeks.

(And, btw, the jam makes an AMAZING filling for a Victoria sponge cake!)

[hikorichan.livejournal.com]

Chop up the strawberries, drizzle a little of that honey on them, and let them sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Scoop that stuff on vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

[blueartemis07.livejournal.com]

I will have to remember the vinegar and dishwasher stuff.

[kittylefish.livejournal.com]

thanks for the tip re: vinegar and dish soap. my tub was refinished so i'm not allowed to use much of anything to clean it, so it just seems to get grimier every day and nothing has cleaned it to my satisfaction. so i'll try that. i just need to get a spray bottle. *crosses fingers*

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Put strawberries in a bowl.

Eat strawberries.

(Step 1 is optional.)

I always think it's a bit of a sin to put anything on really good strawberries.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

That's just what I ended up doing last night. Perfect recipe.

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

*notes down the recipe* I shall have to remember that!

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip on the vinegar and dish liquid! Paul always cleans the bathroom on cleaning day, and he prefers to use actual chemicals. I, on the other hand, prefer less toxic stuff, even if it doesn't work as well. I'm going to have to try this for the times when I want to take a bath rather than a shower, but hate the idea of having to clean the tub first.

Paul's Aunt Marie is the same way about paying us for doing chores for her that we would gladly do for free. At first, Paul used to fight her about it. But I told him that it's rather rude to do that. You can rebuff it once, but if she insists, it's better not to fight about it and just take it. It probably makes her feel better -- like she's less of a burden, although she isn't one. We do stuff for her because we love her.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

That's just it - my mother is so generous to us, and we like helping her. I mean, I'm not going to lie, the money helps, but I just wanted to help out so she wouldn't have a perfect stranger poking around in her house. I have a sneaking feeling she'll call her anyway, because she hates to be seen by her family as needy.

I was shocked at how well this vinegar/dish detergent combo worked. My household chore for years while I lived at home was the bathroom, and I used all those aggressive cleaning agents, and it still looked dingy after I scrubbed my arms tired. This was bright, bright white, and was literally gleaming. It made me wish I'd done a before and after pic.

[bonsaibetz.livejournal.com]

Man, I get a mix of soap and mineral deposits on my shower glass. I'll have o see if that works better than scrubbing bubbles, which is fine for the light stuff, but can't cut it when it comes to the thicker deposits towards the bottom of the glass.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

This put Scrubbing Bubbles to shame. Mom had tried SB and it wouldn't touch it.

[bonsaibetz.livejournal.com]

Then again, now that I think about it, I do wash my windows with a bucket of water with white vinegar and a drop if liquid dish detergent, so a higher concentration for harder jobs wold make sense...

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

I was so impressed. I mean, this was hard-core deposit - the worst I've ever seen it. I'm kicking myself for not doing before and after photos just to show the results. That tub was blinding white after I was through - and it had been so disgusting I wouldn't have even taken a shower in it, much less sat down and bathed in it.

[stgulik.livejournal.com]

Okay, Pinterest is beginning to prove its worth to me at last. Cleaning tips! Very cool. Also, we're getting ready to take down our old trampoline, so I broke down and consulted Pinterest for uses for the old parts. I learned a lot of neat things you can do with the springs, and I might make a garden trellis out of the poles.

There's nothing better to do with fresh strawberries than to just wash them and eat them. See how much time I've saved you?

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of this!! Definitely going to give it a try. Thanks for the tip, Teddy!