I’ve been so busy settling into our new house that I haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like. Besides the work associated with moving and settling in, I’ve also been struggling with Fibromyalgia. The chronic muscle and joint paint and profound exhaustion are the worst parts of this little-understood illness. Anyway, I go with the flow, taking advantage of the good days to get things done and resting on the days when I am overcome by fatigue. I am blessed with a wonderful husband who is kind and compassionate and is always there to help and support me in every way, possible.

No house is perfect…

It doesn’t matter what house you buy, there are always a few things that you would like to change. While our house has “good bones,” as the designers say, there are several things we would LOVE to change. One of them is the dark ceramic floor that covers the kitchen, dining room, front and back entrances and the stairs to the basement. The tile is dark and cold and not at all in keeping with our preference for warm and cozy (I had cork flooring in the kitchen and bath in our old house). To top it off, it was filthy. Yech! I didn’t know how we would ever get it clean. But, we stumbled upon a way that works like magic!  Yep, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers clean grout like nobody’s business!  Here’s a photo that shows the dirty grout and how it looks after being washed with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

My son, Neil, and daughter-in-law, Jenn, dropped in on the day we were about to start cleaning the grout. Because I cannot get down on my knees due to a degenerative bone disease (Lord, I’m falling apart), I was trying to clean the floor with  industrial strength VIM and a sponge mop. That turned out to be a big waste of time. So my son decided to tackle it with a scrubbing brush and lots of MAN power. That worked, but what an exhausting job. So, I suggested he try the Magic Eraser–we had nothing to lose! Well, with relatively little effort, the grout went from dark and filthy to bright and clean. I swear I’m ready to do a commercial for Mr. Clean! (We were using a pail of hot water with a couple of caps of VIM in it).

To complete the job, I then went over the tiles with my H2O steam mop to ensure the floors were really clean and disinfected.

And here’s another tip: there are other magic erasers that work just as well as the Mr. Clean brand, which sell here in Ottawa, Canada, for $3.98 for a box of two. For example, our local pharmacy, PharmaPlus, sells their own brand for $1.98 for a box of two and Home Depot sells their brand for $6.98 for a box of six.

Now, I keep these magical Magic Erasers on hand for the all the toughest jobs.

I know this post wasn’t about renovating or decorating, but I really wanted to share my new-found joy with you. Thank you, for reading, and thank you, Magic Erasers!!

P.S. That photo (above) of me and Peter…that’s not how we dress when we’re cleaning house…just in case you were wondering! LOL!