Wanda Wooly — The Lean Green Clean Machine

  

  

Wanda Wooly, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2008, photo
© 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

It’s cleaning day in our household and dust bunnies fill the air. Once in a while, Liz comes home from shopping excited about a new cleaning gadget. Last September it was Wanda Wooly — The Pure Wool Duster.

Wanda has a long, blue metal handle that extends to 75″, is environmentally friendly because you can wash her hair, and by pivoting the handle rapidly between the hands, is ready for her next swipe up spidery corners. Made by Starmax Resources in Ohio, Wanda is fully guaranteed and cute to boot. She sits in the corner of our laundry room, smiling back at us.

We only deep clean about once a month, with light cleaning between. But the three cats require constant maintenance from their various romps and tips around the house. We do have to vacuum up all the cat bunnies, and Liz is forever coming home with the next version of the perfect cat litter. We’ve been disappointed more than once. But this last bag she bought seems to really do what they said it would do on the packaging.

How often do you clean the house? Are you one of those people who has to have a fanatically clean environment, everything in it’s place and spotless? Or do you like a more lived-in feel. What about cleaning gadgets? Do you buy them? Are you always first in line to pick up on the latest trend?

Who does the cleaning in your household? Is it you, or your partner or spouse? Or maybe you’re a person who hires someone else to clean your house. If so, do you feel obligated to pick up and clean the house before the cleaning person comes?

I’m sold on Wanda Wooly. And after I drape her fluffy lamb’s hair across the dusty piano, we’re heading outside to shake her hair in the wind, put the hose away for winter, and rake a few more leaves.

Note: Wanda Wooly runs about $20 and can be picked up at ACE Hardware SuperStores. The price listed there is for a unit of 6. We try to shop local and visit our little ACE Hardware store whenever we can.

-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC – CLEANLINESS

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Green Is As Green Does

Guardian Green Frog of Indria, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 7th, 2006, photo © 2006-2008 by Skywire. All rights reserved.

Green is as green does. I wouldn’t be nearly as green without Liz pushing me along. Now that I live in a house rather than an apartment, I see things in a new light – it’s luscious green. I didn’t have many choices in apartment living. I recycled into a bag under the sink and carted it out to the brown plastic bin once a week. The rest was decided by the landlord who happened to be a realty company. I didn’t have a lot of maintenance. Things have changed.

On Earth Day, the local news told me our carbon footprints are sinking into a quagmire. We emit 30% more carbon in the last 15 years. And out of planes and boats and trains, forget miles to the gallon; we are talking gallons to the mile. For a family of 3 to fly to London requires 50% more carbon than driving your car for a whole year.

But enough stats. Here’s what Liz helps me to do around our house to stay green:

• Paperless billing – no brainer.
• Pay bills online – another no brainer.
• Compost – we put a composter together a few years ago. The hardest part was finding a spot out of nose length of the neighbors. The city offered the bins to people at a discounted rate as a green promotion. Once a week, in go all the egg shells, carrot tops, French Roast coffee grounds, brown biodegradable filters, yard leaves, and vegetable skins. In the spring, out comes the fertilizer for the gardens. Slick system.
• Electricity from wind – Liz says she made the choice to pay a little more for our electricity to be generated completely from wind sources. I think that’s kind of cool. I didn’t know I had the option.
• Compact fluorescents – we’ve started switching over to compact fluorescent light bulbs. I don’t usually like the cool light. But they are starting to make them with warmer tones. You can save a bundle on electricity.
• Motorcycles – we own two motorcycles.  This has to be the most efficient way to travel with only a few bucks to fill the tank. The only problem in Minnesota is that springs and summers are short-lived. You have to have a thick, cool weather skin.

That’s all I can think of for now. Liz said we should add a 7th – start collecting the shedding winter fur of Kiev, Mr. Stripeypants, and Chaco and make a pair of long underwear for next season. I don’t know if I’m quite that desperate. But we’ll see.

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

-from Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – GREENING

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WRITING TOPIC – GREENING

April showers, winter melting. Earth Day pops up this weekend. There is green the color and there is green the movement.

Think about green. Take a walk, look at blooming trees and daffodil stalks. Look around your house and see how green you live. Do you have good recycling habits? Do you eat green eggs and ham?

Green is money and envy, the grass on the other side of the fence. Airsickness. Riding your bike to work, driving a Prius. Lettuce and unripened tomatoes.

Think green but don’t think too hard. Just write. Green.  Greening.

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