February 09th, 2017

Yesterday was a terrific day for a number of reasons.  We'll start with the fact that I tried a new recipe that turned out great.  Balsamic chicken.  I'm sorry I forgot to take a photograph because not only did it taste terrific, it was pretty too.  Joy and Bob enjoyed it with us and that was fun.  Joy brought cake, chocolate with a raspberry glaze. Oh yeah. That was yummy!  Didn't take a photo of that either. Sorry. Too busy eating it, I guess.

Another nice surprise, we received a gift card to Overstock!  Wow!  Tim handed it to me and said, "Have Fun!".  Oh, I will!  The possibilities are just endless.  The hard part will be choosing.  There is nothing in particular on my wish list just now. But I love it when I find that thing that I never knew I always wanted.  And when it's paid for with a gift card?  Even Better!  Once I make my decision, I will let you know what I chose.

Joy and I went hiking again yesterday too.  This time to a place called, Jelk's Preserve.  Not so much wildlife, but a beautiful spot nonetheless.  Ranger Joy pointed out to me indications of wild boar.  I'm kind of glad we didn't see any of them. Generally speaking, not the friendly sort.  Saw a good sized turtle, or was it tortoise? And we did see any number of small birds and butterflies.  It was a peaceful hike with a lot of "less trodden" paths which is exactly the sort of path I like best.  We hiked and photographed about three hours worth of that spot.  Nice.  Always a good day when you find a new place to hike.

What does all this have to do with the first photo, that picture of a floor, you ask yourself ?  Well that was a yet another really good part of the day.  Finally the grout cleaner arrived!!!   You see, throughout 90% of the house is this beautiful old Saltillo tile.  It's in good shape for it's age.  The house was built in 1961, so it's nearly as old as I.  I'm not in nearly as good shape as these floors.  But of course, over the years, the grout has gotten, well grotty.  Especially in the kitchen and bathrooms.  Oh it's clean.  I'm kind of a freak about clean.  But things stain. My guess is that previous dwellers of this abode were just as messy of cooks and bakers as I.

But at some point, you have to face the fact that the grout requires cleaning.  I think it stands out more in my kitchen now since the floors are old but everything else is new.  I've been itching to take care of this for awhile, but it grew once the painting was done. Everything we do to improve the house, just illustrates more how much the grout needs to be cleaned. I know you are thinking, "So just clean it already and shut up about it!"

Well I don't blame you one bit for that.  I do sound tedious, but let me explain.  Back in Colorado, when faced with a similar issue: newer house, same messy cook, tile floor, nothing I tried worked very well.  After a lot of different attempts, Tim bought me this nifty little steam cleaner thing that has a very narrow nozzle. And even more importantly, he found a particular kind of grout cleaner that was incredible.  That combo did the trick! Yay!  So naturally I'm thinking that will be work here. Except, first you have to find the steamer. Dang. There is always a catch.  I went through all of the bins. Nope.  Went through boxes in the utility room marked "garage". Nope.  Finally went through the boxes that got shoved into the closet of Tim's office.  Eureka!  There it is!  Hurrah!  Now I just need that particular band of grout cleaner.

Tim ordered it before Christmas. It just arrived yesterday.  Quite the delay.  I have no idea why it took so long. Don't care either. It's here. At long last, I will have clean grout lines. Or at least much cleaner grout lines. Tomorrow I will be grouchy about sore knees, but today I will be whistling while I work. Hurrah for Cleaner Grout Lines!!!! Yeah I know, I'm a crazy person.

Today, grout line cleaning.  Tomorrow, overstock.com shopping.  It's good to have a goal.