Feeling BLUE

For those of you who had a hard day, and are feeling down in the dumps, and wondering "how could this day even get any worse?" I have two words for you:

Methylene Blue

Now, for those of you who aren't current on their dyes and stains, Methylene Blue is "a heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with the molecular formula C16H18N3SCl. It has many uses in a range of different fields, such as biology and chemistry." (Thanks, Wikipedia!")

Two of it's common uses are in microbiology as a culture stain (it is similar in its multiple levels of usefulness and and it's potency to Gentian Violet), and for aquarium owners to cure certain fish diseases (much like Gentian Violet kills yeast infections).

Both Methylene Blue and Gentian Violet are beautiful shades of their respective colors, and both of them stain like the dickens!

Enter SmallDaughter.

We had (for undisclosed reasons) a large (6 oz.) bottle of Methylene Blue stored high up in a kitchen cupboard (the cupboard that used to be over a refrigerator in a former kitchen arrangement) to keep it safe.

We don't anymore.

HOWEVER--on the bright side, my ugly kitchen linoleum tiles (and some cupboards) are infinitely more exciting, and my bathtub has an exciting "denim and indigo tie-dye with toeprints" motif. It also produces the most beautiful Caribbean blue bathwater imaginable.



PS--for those who are wondering, Methylene Blue IS NOT the same thing as Methyl Blue, and is not effective for certain dramatic scientific experiments. So, save your money. Darn, darn, darn.Just sayin'.

A deeply clean bathroom

Three weeks ago, the light burned out in my downstairs bathroom. By this I mean both the switch and the light socket. Totally dead. Nada. Nothing. Not particularly surprising--this house is over 100 years old, and things go out all the time. HOWEVER--the downstairs bath (which, in realtor terms is a "quarter bath" ie., a tiny closet containing a sink and a toilet. Thats it.) doesn't have any windows, and when it's light went it was DARK.

My creative children solved this by placing a row of all of my scented, decorative candles in a row across the top of the sink. Lovely. Problem delayed.

Yesterday (Yippee!!) the light fixture was repaired, and light was restored again!

Revealing--wow, you don't see a whole lot by candlelight! The sink was filled with a multicolored hodgepodge of wax drips that reminded me of an italian restaraunt candle my mom had when I was small (stuff a colored candle in a short, round wine bottle, let it drip down the sides, then burn lots of different colors so you have lots of picturesque drippage--what can I say, it was the 70's!)

Anyway, I had to remove the trap from the sink to clean all the stuff out (lots of burned match stubs, also) and scrub the sink with much elbow grease, and many tools, but now--VOILA! A sparkling clean, brightly lit bathroom!

I don't like cleaning much, but I do love nice, clean stuff!