I Can’t Remember

Since the end of March they’ve given me: two colds, a horrible virus(flu?), a sinus infection, tonsillitis, a fungal rash (don’t ask), and strep. Now I have mono, which isn’t their fault, since I caught it in grad school. It just reoccurs when your immune system has been beaten into submission by something else.

The good news is that the children haven’t really been slowed down by any of these things–although they make me tired just watching them run around.

Which all brings me, in a round about way, to thinking about “Healthy Homes.” (Since I’m the only one sick, and all the asthma and allergy-ridden ones are all fine, my house is at least healthy, right?)

A “Healthy Home” is not a germ-free one. Normally. There are germs everywhere. Only a few make us ill, so trying to “kill all the germs” is inefficient.
Besides anything that can “kill all the germs” isn’t good for us usually.
Bleach, for instance, will “kill all the germs” but it also kills the indoor air quality and has been linked to cancer, which kills us.

After crawling out of bed from my latest illness, I have cleaned every time.
And since not everyone has gotten ill, and I haven’t been re-infected with the same thing (always something new–aren’t they running out yet?), I must have done a good job.
But no bleach, no ammonia, no non-Earth-friendly cleaners.

The sheets and towels are washed in hot water, and I’ve added Vinegar to the rinse cycle for added germ-killing. The countertops, kitchen table, desk, etc have all been wiped down with an eco-friendly surface cleaner. The phone, doorknobs, sink handles, and light switches have been wiped down also. And the toilet and shower cleaned.

Wait, didn’t I just say that a “Healthy Home” isn’t germ-free and we shouldn’t try to kill all the germs?

What’s the difference?
The difference is that had I used bleach yesterday, it would still be working on the germs and my children today. The safer cleaners worked on the existing germs–some of which I knew were harmful since I had just been ill–but did not stay around.
Safe cleaners are safe for you to come into contact with (no gloves needed) and are safe for the environment by not being an endemic enviro-cide.

Germicide, fungicide, pesticide?
“-icide” means it’s deadly.
So don’t use any of those things if you want a “Healthy Home.”

Technorati Tags: clean, germs, healthy home, ill, sick, sterilize

Living in the burbs of Houston, I was surprised to see a Houston toad this morning. I’m almost positive it was one, and not a cricket toad, because it had a stripe down the center of it’s back.

The Houston toad is endangered. But I remember when it was more common.

When I was a child, one of my favorite critters was this tiny little toad. We’d see what seemed like millions of them near the church grounds and in our favorite park. “Please, please, mom, can we take a couple home? We’ll set them loose in the backyard!” “No,” my mother would say. “But everyone else’s mom let’s them!” we would proclaim. “No they don’t,” she would answer.

Well, maybe they did.
I still look for them in the places I used to go as a child. At my old church I see the children and wonder why none of them are crouched around puddles at the trees’ edge, muddying their Sunday best like I used to do. I catch myself seeking out puddles in the park, puddles that are empty.

Until today, I hadn’t seen the little toads in any of these places in a long time, because the Houston Toad is now endangered. I just looked in a puddle in the park near the elementary school out of habit, and there it was at the puddle’s edge!

Perhaps pesticides and other causes made them endangered? Surely this is true. I can attest that it is also true that none of these little toads survived to this day in my friends’ parents backyards. Even the ones who lived in the country and didn’t have lawns to spray. Even the ones who lived just a few streets over from the park. The separating of different toad colonies by roads is now listed as one of the causes for it’s endangerment. Separating individuals from the rest in order to keep them in one’s own backyard could not have helped.

Please, PLEASE leave wildlife where they are. Even if it seems like there are a million of them. Even if they’re only a toad.

The Houston Zoo is now breeding the Houston Toad in a effort to repopulate them, and surprisingly, Bastop’s State Park is said to have a population of them. (Surprising to me, ’cause I always thought that they weren’t found much outside the middle of town!)

Kids love them because of their small size. (Only 1/2 inch long!) This morning I pointed the one I saw out to a child and her mother, telling them what I thought it was. The mother was interested in the fact that it might be an endangered animal.
The little girl wasn’t listening; she was utterly fascinated by the tiny little toad.
Some things never change…

Here is a link that might be useful: Houston Toad

The house next door was empty for a couple months before it was sold. It’s a pretty house, and though a bit overgrown, the yard had some beautiful roses in it. The young couple who bought it asked the Realtor to “clean up the yard” before they bought the house.

A ‘mow and blow’ crew was hired, and boy did they ‘clean it up.’ They left lawn, trees, mulch, and an evergreen hedge (trimmed into a perfect rectangle of course.) Everything else was yanked, shredded, and bagged. My neighbor across the street and I were sick: if we had been home, we would’ve claimed the roses before they were chopped into little pieces. It wasn’t as if they weren’t recognizable as roses: they were blooming and Hybrid Teas!

When the young couple arrived at their new home, they stood on the curb, utterly shocked.

The new trend in real estate is to try to make the house look “new.” New carpet, fine. New kitchen, expensive but sometimes worth it. All new landscaping? Hmm…too young trees, tiny shrubs and large expanses of mulch are OK for a new home…but only because it’s expensive to do better.

The best thing about an older home is it’s mature landscape. Yes, you should trim and mulch. But please do NOT ruin the landscaping by removing trees (!), limbing up trees (especially pines) so that they look like paintbrushes, yanking out mature perennials, and any other effort to make it look “new.”

If the front of the house needs anything new, make it a new coat of paint.

Also see the rest of my articles on Home Staging.

Technorati Tags: curb appeal, Home Staging, landscap

Decorate with houseplants, and you will add beauty, harmony, and fresh air to your home.

Houseplants as decorative accents work with all color schemes. Eyes are drawn to houseplants: there is a contrast created by bringing the outdoors inside. By choosing a houseplant with a striking or sculptural form, such as a bromeliad, you will create a focal point for your room. Plants like ferns and spider plants look good from all sides and suit pass-through bars and centered tables well. Trailing plants like ivy can be used to create a sense of mystery or lead a visitor to a different area. Ivies are also effective for softening sharp corners. Lucky bamboo creates a vertical accent that draws the eye upwards. Be creative and mix different plant forms together.
Read the rest of this entry »

Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home
By Julie Moir Messervy & Sarah Susanka

As both a gardener and a fan of the Not So Big House movement, I eagerly sought out this book. Unfortunately this book was horribly disappointing.

This book is frustrating to a homeowner: in other books there were suggestions that could be used for renovating—here much time is taken up with dream landscapes with fabulous views and hill top sites. The book constantly reassures us that “Not so big doesn’t necessarily mean small,” because so many of these landscapes are measured in acres, and the house that go with them are gargantuan!

The authors have no concept of what normal homeowners have to work with–fences aren’t even mentioned until halfway through the book! They actually bemoan the “great challenge” of landscaping a home that had neighbors on three sides. The authors give concepts to work towards, with little explanation, or advice on how to achieve them, even in a dream landscape.
Read the rest of this entry »

So one of my neighbors has…er make that HAD three beautiful large (30-40 ft tall) trees in her front yard.
She’s a gardener–you know, the type with all the cool plants and roses and absolutely no thought to landscaping (why gardeners’ yards look the worst is a subject for another post…)
Anyway–back to my RANT:
Apparently, she thought she needed more sun for her eclectic assortment of flowering shrubs, and had ALL HER TREES CHOPPED DOWN!!!!!!
Read the rest of this entry »