Category: motherhood

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Tips and Tricks: Polishing Silver

On Christmas Day, we were expecting company to arrive in two hours. Stacks of clean china and rows of shining crystal sat on the dining room table, ready to be used. I had forgotten one thing, however. The silver wasn’t polished! I went to my folder for household tips, which is not kept in my file cabinet, but on Pinterest–of course! The directions read:

To polish silver: Wash items, then place on aluminum foil in the bottom of a pot. Add a baking-soda solution (ΒΌ cup soda, a few teaspoons salt, 1 quart boiling water) and cover for a few seconds. The result? A chemical reaction that gets the black off the gravy boat.

tarnished silver

I dutifully boiled water in my kettle, poured it into a measuring cup, and added a quarter cup baking soda.

Ed and I literally jumped back as the baking soda and water EXPLODED. Thankfully, the cup was sitting on the stove and no one had been holding it! I quickly dumped the remaining water into the pan, added some salt and the silverware, and then tried to soak up the mess with towels.

This trick did get the tarnish off of my silver. However, I found that it worked best when the silver was completely immersed in the water. I also had a super clean and shiny stove top after that baking soda explosion.

silverware

Steps to follow for shiny silverware:

1. Line a pot with aluminum foil.
2. Add a quarter cup baking soda and a few teaspoons of salt.
3. Place washed silver at bottom of pot.
4. Pour a quart of boiling water into the pot to submerge the silver.
5. You’re ready to set the table!

So, share with us: What tip have you tried that has gone horribly wrong?

Tips and Tricks Tuesday

The original link for this tip is as follows: Baking soda for polishing silver. Check out the linky at Milk & Cuddles for more tips and DIY projects!

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Nothing Like the Sun

Copernicus had it all wrong. Obviously, I am the center of the universe.

embroidered sun

What else would explain my eight year old daughter climbing into the middle of our huge, king sized bed, and squishing her body so completely next to mine that I am in danger of plummeting off the edge?

Lily and Emmy are drawn to me. No matter where I go, they are soon behind. There must be invisible threads pulling them toward me. They can be totally absorbed in something, but as soon as I go into the bathroom for a moment of privacy they become disoriented. MOMMMM! Where are you?

They always find me.

Making sure everyone is happy, I get in the shower. As soon as I have a nice, bubbly lather in my hair, I hear screaming. MOMMMMM! Lily isn’t being nice to me!

I’m banishing them to the far corners of the globe when I ask them to play in their bedrooms, begging them to give me some space. But Mom, why do we have to play UP THERE? They don’t even realize that once they get older, their bedrooms will become their havens. They will need to go slam the door and escape from Mom for hours. Mom, who will be old and needy and who just doesn’t understand.

Those days haven’t come yet, however. When I’m in the kitchen making dinner, they soon appear, getting underfoot as I stir the stew. When I’m in the basement doing laundry, they are at the top of the stairs, demanding my attention. When I dash outside to put a trash bag in the garbage can, their little noses press against the screen door, wondering why I ventured outside WITHOUT THEM.

Around the same time every day, however, their orbit is suddenly shifted. The garage door goes up. The side door opens, and suddenly, the strings attached to me snap.

“DADDY!” they cry, running to jump on him.

Then as soon as he disappears for a couple of minutes, they are abruptly back in my orbit.

Their little arms automatically go around my neck. Their legs curl around my waist. Their sweet chubby cheeks fit next to mine. Their love warms me like rays from the sun.

Perhaps I am not the center of the universe after all.

 

My two little suns
My two little suns

I’m linking this post up to the Yeah Write challenge, where we are reminded to read books, read more books, and to take a long break from reading blogs by people who don’t read books.

This post was inspired by the book I’m currently reading: A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness. The main character is a scholar of the history of science. Click the button above to read more blog posts by people who do read books, starting on Tuesday. Then go back on Thursday to vote for your favorite five.
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