Hydrogen, Vodka and the Bus

So much to think about today. I finally conquered my fear of the bus here in King County today! I mean, I usually just didn’t go anywhere that wasn’t within walking distance, because I’m afraid to drive with so much traffic, but today I went to Redmond! And I didn’t get lost!
I am now back home, laying in bed trying to get over the head cold I’ve contracted. I have to admit, I am taking DayQuil, probably not so green with all the chemicals or whatever, but it works. Even a cold is helping me on my mission, though. I found, when I went to buy the DayQuil, organic coughdrops!!! So you’re probably saying, “yeah, yeah, what else is new?” But I didn’t know they existed. Or that they were made in America. Or that tasted great and worked! If you didn’t know either, they are called Organix, and they cost about twice as much as the store-brand conventional drops, but they were worth it. I mean, regular cough drops just taste like… I want to say terpentine but I’ve never tasted it. And I didn’t add more unnatural chemicals to my body.

So whenever I get sick though, I clean the bathroom and take a long, hot shower. I know, long hot showers are definitely not eco-friendly. But the steam helps clear your sinuses, and feels good. But back to cleaning the bathroom. I looked up some better ways to do so, and I found on Broomhuggers, a list of homemade, non-toxic cleaners. Since hydrogen peroxide was what I had on hand, I mixed it with a lot of water and used it to clean my john. They list it as a disinfectant, to be used with vinegar as well. I didn’t have vinegar, but the hydrogen peroxide mix seemed to do a fine job on its own, at least whitening (my bathroom is creepily all white).

During my surfing today, I learned of another, common household cleaner: vodka. Yes, vodka. Included in the Top 10 Weird Uses for Vodka, is using it to kill the mold in your shower, and to shine chrome, glass and porcelain. It also is supposed to cure poison ivy. I have yet to try vodka on our shower, but it could use some mold/ mildew control, along with some new caulking altogether.