Squeaky clean...

     I'm a Pinterest lover just like many of you out there. We like to believe all the innovative ideas that we're seeing actually work. Most of them probably do. I don't know because I've only tried a few handful of projects or recipes and out of the millions of ideas, my few don't leave me any authority to judge. But I do know many of those so called short cut life savers aren't worth squat and turn out to be complete failures.
     I've ended up with a few of those failures, but in time, I've realized many of the recipes just needed a few tweaks and I could improve it to be the scrumptious dish it was meant to be. We once tried apple pie empanadas. I was so excited as I was making them because they looked amazing. I was using our home made apple pie filling and making, what I thought was, caramel for the first time. Lots of butter. In fact, a crazy amount of butter. But I followed the recipe. As it baked, the house smelled amazing and our mouths watered when I pulled them out of the oven. It was so hard to wait that 20 minutes or so to let it cool.
     One bite and I was so disappointed. The tortilla wrap and filling were amazing, but the caramel sauce was pretty much a pool of butter. Way too much. So much butter that it ruined all of it. Go figure. Too much butter. It really turned me off and I could feel my veins harden just taste testing it. Use about a quarter of the butter called for, bump up the sugar and viola. No more wasted apple pie filling. I assume as people copy and paste each others recipes and share them on Pinterest, there are probably unintentional typos or someone's misjudgment. One wrong word can be the difference between a success and a flop. Try it your self and see what happens. Learn from it. Better it if you can and make it your own.
     And then you run across the recipes and mixes that bring back a childhood memory of your grandmother or great aunt or some such who used to do it that way. And they'd always say, "I've done it like this for 50 years." But what if somewhere in your memory, you remember how well it turned out for them? We gave one of those old wives tales a shot.
     We followed the old 3, 2, 1 glass cleaner recipe. Even as a young teen I can remember being at a friends house while she was doing chores. They used a home made cleaner, I remember she said vinegar, and she used newspapers, and the mirrors all came out so spotless. I was amazed. How could anything but expensive cleaner and paper towels get such a streak free shine? Then I came across this recipe on Pinterest, which was only one of 100's that I came across.

Easy 3-2-1 Formula for Washing Windows

It's simply three drops of blue Dawn, two-thirds cup of water, and one-third cup of white vinegar.  (Did I mention this only costs pennies per cup?)

     Just pour it into a spray bottle and spray away. That's it. You can see the rest of the post here:

     http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com/2014/03/easy-3-2-1-formula-for-washing-windows.html
     So I take this mixture and head to the bathroom. The dirtiest mirrors in the house. I sprayed it all over and already I wasn't impressed. It started dripping right away and looked like nothing more than straight up water. However the vinegar smell was a tad douche related. Yes... I said it. I grabbed a wad of paper towel, (next time I'll save the Sunday paper) and started wiping, not having much hope.

   I wiped as fast as I could and changed the paper towel around to make sure I kept drying with a dry spot, but it just seemed to move the fluid around and I thought for sure my mirrors were going to look disgusting. When I gave up trying to dry them and stood back, instantly the moisture started to clear up and I was left with streak free, spotless mirrors... with a little vinegar smell. I couldn't believe it. I stood there with my mouth open wondering, "How much money have I spent on Windex over the years?" No offense against Windex.
     I moved to the bedroom and did that mirror and wiped every other glass or mirror surface I had. I picked up a little momentum even because I felt pretty accomplished and smitten with myself. Just like grandma used to do it. Two thumbs up is my review on this one. I'll never buy mirror cleaner again. No kidding. And I'll try more of the home made home cleaners now that this one has proven to be a success.
Chat soon!
Penni