Heather Solos's Blog, page 16

Menu Monday Week 42

Heather says:

This is week 42, which is the answer to everything? So it’s totally apropos that we are on a staycation and resting, which is the answer that we need, at least

We are now three weeks into the month-long planned menu and it’s going well. While I haven’t made all of the meals, I haven’t deviated to the point of additional purchases or wasted food. For example, one night we had fewer people home then I expected (blended family schedule changes) so we made nachos instead of the intended enchiladas. No one complained. I call that a win.

This week’s menu:

Monday – Stuffed bell peppers, refried beansTuesday – Caesar salad, blackened chickenWednesday – Biscuits and sausage gravy (I may try to get this added to the site. It’s a family favorite and one I’ve taught all of our teens. We joke that it’s a struggle meal, but sometimes after a hard day all you can manage is a struggle meal and sometimes that’s all a budget will allow) we will also have fresh fruitThursday – Clean Out Refrigerator NightFriday – Macaroni and Cheese, green beans, tossed saladSaturday – Street tacos Sunday – Chicken bog, cornbread

What are you having this week? Are you looking forward to anything in particular?

If you need a printable to help with menu planning here you go.

Removing Diaper Ointment From an Old Couch

Dear Home-Ec101,

So, I turned my back for just a few moments, while I had to help a client—remote work is such a blessing and a curse—and in that time my two-year-old took the full tube of diaper cream and smeared it all over one of the couches.

Now, I’m about to get rid of the couch, so my first reaction was to just sigh and not care, but I also have three teenage boys. Have you ever hung out with a group of teenage boys? We’re going to have to live with this couch for about three more weeks. I am not going to listen to three teenage boys snickering about the white stains all over the couch for three long weeks. It looks… dirty. So very, very dirty.

Help me.

Love,

Heather

Heather says,

I’ve been there. I’ve been there. Oh wait, I am there, this is exactly how I spent Friday afternoon. Seriously, sometimes the posts just write themselves. So, you ask, how do you remove a full tube of diaper ointment from an old couch?

Well, first, you wipe down the two-year-old and her little sister because, as much fun as they are having, you don’t need them getting Desitin on anything else. Diaper cream may be soothing, but it will bleach fabric if left too long. So act as quickly as possible and find a new place to store the tube ASAP.

Please note, these instructions are only for furniture that is no longer covered by a warranty. If your furniture is covered by a warranty, please call the hotline and follow their instructions and only their instructions.

Now, raise your right hand and repeat after me:

I solemnly swear to always read the label, consult the manufacturer, test in an inconspicuous area, never feed the mogwai after midnight, and to never, ever mix chemicals without lots of research and coffee.

The Home-Ec101 Consumer Safety Oath

Now grab the following supplies:

hot water with a generous squirt of plain Dawn dish soap (not with Bleach)several ragsa scrub brush, nail brush, or old toothbrushBaking Sodaa spoon

Now, find someone to help with the kid wrangling or give in and put on their favorite show. Now, either scream into a pillow for a moment or swear under your breath and get ready, this will take a while. Sorry. Put on your favorite music or podcast and let’s get started with the actual removal.

First scrape off as much of the diaper ointment as you can with the spoon. Wipe the spoon often with one of the rags. Be sure when you finish the step to set this spoon wiping rag out of reach.

Next, sprinkle all of the visible diaper cream with baking soda.

Then, dip your brush into the hot, soapy water and begin scrubbing the stain in small circles, dipping your brush back into the water frequently to remove the ointment. As you work, wipe the area with a clean portion of the rag to ensure you have removed all of the diaper cream. Do NOT use the rag you wiped the spoon with. This would be bad. You would smear cream right back onto the area you just cleaned. Aren’t you glad that you have me to troubleshoot the process for you?

And there you go, that’s how you remove a full, oh it was so full, tube of diaper ointment from an old couch so your teenage boys won’t spend the next three weeks snickering non-stop.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

Friday: Finding Our Hoorays

After 2013 some people might find it surprising that my taste in podcasts can run quite dark, but it is what it is. I’ve listened to My Favorite Murder for a few years now. If you can’t stand salty language, please give it a hard pass and remember, to each their own, no judgment.

One thing that I love about the show is that they end each weekly episode on a high note. I like this idea, a lot. When I started this site, I used to do the Sunday Confessional and we would share how we screwed up as it related to Home-Ec.

But, there’s enough negativity in the world right now. I might revive it in the future, but not right now.

So, today, let’s find our hoorays and share them.

This is my seventh consecutive daily post. I haven’t been able to manage a stretch like that in years. Is it a trend? Is it a pattern? I don’t know; time will tell. For now, though, I’m not going to break that chain.

Next week, I’m on vacation from my day job. The big kids are still going to be on a hybrid school schedule, so we aren’t going anywhere, but Ray and I will focus on resting. We are NOT going to take on any big projects. Maybe we’ll take the little girls on some picnics. Here’s hoping that the weather cooperates and lets us enjoy some socially distant fun.

And my final hooray for this week. It has been wonderful hearing from so many of you. I really am doing ok. While for some, the pandemic slowed life down, our family didn’t fit that category. Ray and I both work remotely. When schools started for the older kids, I shifted my hours to 4 am-noon, so we only have a few hours overlapping to juggle the little girls. It’s only after adjusting to that routine of going to bed early enough to accommodate that schedule that I found the time and energy to begin writing again. I’m grateful for that and I am so glad that you cared enough to show up.

Onward.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

How Do Hand Sanitizer and Rubbing Alcohol Kill COVID-19?

Heather says,

Dear Home-Ec 101,

How does hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol kill COVID-19 and if they do such a good job, why do we need to spend so long washing our hands all the time?

It’s been eight months of this coronavirus nonsense, my hands are raw, I’m tired of this. I just want things back to normal.

Signed,

Cranky in Crater Lake

You and me both.

However, that’s not going to happen for a while, so we suck it up, and we wash our hands. Try to get in the habit of applying lotion right after you dry your hands. As the weather cools down and the air dries out, your hands are going to get more raw. You don’t want your skin to crack. That is miserable.

Honestly, right now, my favorite lotion is Neutrogena Hydro Boost. I really like it as I hate lotions that feel greasy or slimy and this one absorbs fairly quickly, with none of that nonsense. I keep a tube in each car—I don’t carry a purse—and a bottle near the sink. I have a giant bottle of hand sanitizer in the car, so our procedure is to: sanitize, let it dry, moisturize.

As soon as we get home, it’s a full hand wash, dry, moisturize.

Now, to your main question. Yesterday we talked about whether or not clothing needed to be washed on hot to be safe. In that explanation I mentioned the structure of the virus itself.

You hear a lot about the protein spikes. The protein spikes are what scientists are focusing on to build a vaccine. What we’re talking about here is the fatty coating or the lipid layer. This coating protects the RNA, basically the brains of the beast. Hand sanitizer and detergents break down that fatty layer exposing that RNA killing the virus. Yay!

You also mentioned rubbing alcohol in your question. The important thing to remember is that the rubbing alcohol or isopropanol has to be of high enough percentage to be effective 60%. If it isn’t, it won’t do any good, and you’ll think you’re safe, which can lead to unsafe behaviors, like touching your face. (Don’t touch your face)

Now, you ask why washing your hands is important if hand sanitizer works?

Dirt and grease protect the virus from the hand sanitizer. If your hands are visibly dirty or greasy there is enough dirt and/or grease to prevent the hand sanitizer from being effective. Viruses are extremely tiny. They can hide in tiny cracks and crevices, droplets of grease make comfortable little homes for them and the alcohol in your hand sanitizer cannot penetrate to destroy them. However, if you then wipe your nose with the back of your grimy hand, you deposit that grease right inside your nostril, welcome to Sick-ville.

Hand washing is best. It’s not just that the soap breaks down that lipid layer and kills the virus. The physical motion washes the dirt and oil off of our hands, sending the viral particles down the drain and out of our lives, along with influenza, streptococcus, and e. Coli, and all of the other fun things we tend to pick up.

Great question. You can learn more about using isopropanol safely in the Home-Ec101 guide to household chemicals.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

Do I Need to Wash My Clothes on Hot Because of COVID-19?

Dear Home-Ec 101,

Do you need to use hot water to kill germs in the laundry? What about COVID? I work with kids, so I’m around germs all day. I do all the standard stuff. I wear a mask and wash my hands frequently. I also change as soon as I get home, but what about my clothes? Do my roommates need to bleach the washer before they do their clothes?

This whole thing makes me anxious.

Signed,

Concerned in Concord

Heather says,

Insert standard disclaimer here: I am not a medical professional; this is not medical advice.

First, thank you. As someone who works with her youngest children practically perched on her head, I know the parents that have to leave their children with you are grateful. Thank you for being concerned. Thank you for taking precautions. It is important.

Second, we’re still learning, but we’ve learned so much since back in March. Some of the early information and guidance isn’t the same as it was then. It doesn’t mean that the science community or those in charge of public health don’t know what they’re talking about. It means that we as fallible humans learn as we go, and as we know better, we do better.

Know better; do better. It applies to all areas of your life.

Next, so far, I’ve only learned of one confirmed case of fomite transmission of COVID-19. Fomite transmission is when a disease is caught by one person depositing the virus on a surface, where another person gets the virus onto themselves, usually their hands, and then into their body, typically through a mucus membrane like the eyes, nose, or mouth—stop touching your face! That case took place in a nursing home. Does this mean it hasn’t happened elsewhere? Of course not. It just means that the chances are low, but keep washing your hands, to be sure.

When you add in the process of washing your clothes, you’re adding in all kinds of other disruptors to the transmission process:

You are diluting the number of virus that can be transmitted at once.

You are rinsing away some of the virus, reducing what can be picked up.

But here’s the kicker, the coronavirus itself is covered in a lipid (fatty) coating, and detergents break down this layer, which causes the virus to fall apart. Yay!

So no, you do not have to wash your daily-wear clothing on hot to be safe concerning COVID. If you’re cleaning up after a sewage backup or diaper explosion, that’s a very different story.

Kids are little petri dishes and are excellent transmitters of so many things. So, please don’t forget to get your flu shot this year, the normal germs are still going to make the rounds of preschools and daycares.

Stay healthy and send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

The Ugly Truth About Set-In Stains

Dear Home-Ec 101,

How do you get out set-in stains especially in clothes?

They have been there awhile. I don’t want to have to throw these tops out.

Signed,

Teresa the Terse in Terra Haute

Heather says,

This is one of those questions where I wish I were a lot more comfortable on camera than I am, but… I’m not. So, get a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in.

While I’m writing this post, there are currently 131 posts on this site, this will bring that to 132 and by the time I retire, there will be many more.

What makes stain removal so complex?

It’s chemistry, baby, chemistry.

Dye Stains and Bleach Stains

For a few moments, I want to use hair dye as a metaphor. Like hair, the cloth is made of fibers (and some is even made of animal hair, wool sweaters, for instance). Like hair, these fibers can absorb chemicals that change their color or structure (like a perm).

So let’s say you want to go from dark hair to blonde. You wouldn’t have good results if you just used blonde dye on dark hair. You have to bleach the hair first, stripping the color.

Some stains work like this, removing the color from your clothing. There’s no fixing the bleach spots caused by your whitening toothpaste or acne cream. So use those items carefully. Well, you can get a dye pen and re-dye the spots, but that’s different than removing a stain.

Returning to the dye metaphor, there’s this “temporary ” dye I see on Facebook, Overtone, I think. It’s made to wash away, and it will, mostly. Sometimes the best you’re going to get from the white towel you used with the red “temporary” dye is very light pink. Why? The dye molecules soaked so far into the fibers aren’t getting trapped by the detergent molecules in the washing machine. (Learn more about how clothes get clean in your wash here.) Ink, Kool-aid, food coloring, etc. are dye stains.

Many dye stains are permanent, but you can try heavy duty detergent and soaking. With ink you can get lucky with rubbing alcohol

Protein Stains

Yup, we’re going there, sorry.

Now we’re going to change metaphors. I want you to think about a raw egg, now think about cooking that egg, now back to the raw egg.

Oh wait, you can’t go back to the raw egg.

That process is called a physical change, the protein molecules in the egg change shape and can’t go back to the way they were before the heat was applied.

Some stains, like blood and other bodily fluids, contain proteins. Those proteins work their way into the spaces in the fibers of your material, they get very comfortable, don’t get removed, and then either get cooked in the hot water of your washing machine or the heat of your dryer.

Delicious.

Stick to cold water, agitation and detergent.

Oil Stains

These aren’t too bad, actually. The biggest problem with oily stains is that they are really stubborn and that they usually aren’t just oil. They tend to bring their protein friends along for the ride, so the techniques you use to get rid of the oils, cook the proteins. Darn it.

For straight up oils, butter, grease etc, a laundry pre-treatment either with detergent applied directly to the area or a stain stick or spray is your best bet.

Tannin Stains

These are your wines, teas, soda etc. Here’s where the club soda trick got started. You don’t even need club soda, plain water will do. Don’t use soap that can set the stain.

But Wait, There’s More

Oh… you didn’t think it would be this simple did you?

Of course not, don’t forget that for every stain you also have to factor in what was stained. Always consult the care label. Don’t use any method that would damage the fabric.

For combination stains work from the gentlest to the harshest method. For instance if you had a chili dog with mustard and dropped in on your white cotton t-shirt. You’ve got a protein, grease, and dye stain. Yay.

First, rinse the shirt thoroughly with cool water to remove as much of the food particles as possible. Look at the shirt. Are they all gone? Great. Now pre-soak the shirt in detergent and water and rinse again in cool water. We’re giving the detergent some time to work on both the protein and dye stains. Finally, only after all of the mustard is gone get your stain stick and heavily treat the area before washing on the hottest water the shirt will tolerate to remove the grease.

About Those Set-In Stains

Can you remove them? I don’t want to give you false hope. I also want to warn you that if the clothes are what is referred to as “fast fashion” which means pretty much anything from Kohls, Target, Walmart, etc all along that price point… it’s not likely to survive the trauma of the stain removal process.

And for the record, I want to be very clear; I am not making any judgment about wearing fast fashion. I simply want to set expectations for the lifespan of the article of clothing. They are not made to last. For what it is worth, it’s pretty much all I own, too. I’m trying to save and buy quality pieces for myself, but my wardrobe tends to take a back seat since we have six kids. So when I say I get it, I really do.

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

Menu Monday 2020 Week 41

Yes, it’s still 2020. How? Good question.

This month, I took a cue from my friend Amiyrah Martin of 4hatsandfrugal.com. We’ve been friends for a very long time, and I keep up with her on Instagram, you can find me there, too, but I don’t do a lot Home-Ec stuff; it’s mostly family life stuff. Anyway, Amiyrah has her act together and gets a lot done while homeschooling by choice. (As compared to those of us who are virtual schooling by default.) So I’m trying out her system for a few months. On the first of each month, she plans out the entire month’s menu. You can check out what else she does on the first of the month, here.

So far, I’m enjoying Amiyrah’s system. When I have an idea for a meal I want to have, I’ve been adding it to my planner for next month, so November’s planning session won’t be quite as intense as October’s. I also know that life happens, so I try to keep one meal that is mostly pantry based per week and one Clean Out the Refrigerator Night (CORN) to cover for when life happens, and our plans go awry.

We still strictly limit our trips to the store and are not going to restaurants, except for the occasional takeout.



Are you new to menu planning and don’t know where to start? Here’s a tutorial? Just looking for a handy menu planning/shopping list printable? Here you go.

So what’s on our menu this week? So glad you asked:

Monday – Vegetable Soup, grilled cheese – the soup will use Saturday’s meatloaf and is more Mustgo Soup than Vegetable

Tuesday – Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Vegetables with ranch dip (I’ll use half the pork today and set aside the rest for tomorrow)

Wednesday – Lazy shredded pork enchiladas (I treat it like a casserole and layer the enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, and filling), salad

Thursday – CORN

Friday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice (Instant Pot – this recipe is pretty close to what I do), Green beans

Saturday – Smashburgers, fries – Ray gave me a propane griddle for Mother’s Day. (It was exactly what I wanted, don’t give him any side-eye). I love this thing, Let’s just say with four teenagers a trip to FiveGuys practically required a second mortgage. This griddle is a live saver. I’m hoping to get, well, I wouldn’t call it a recipe since it’s so basic, but a tutorial up soon.

Sunday – Chicken alfredo, caesar salad

What’s on your menu?

Related ArticlesMenu Monday Week 44 – Another Week In the BooksMenu Monday Week 43 – Starting AgainMenu Monday 26

Why Do the Armpits of my Shirts Always Turn Blue or Black?

Dear Home-Ec 101,

A couple of months ago, blue stains started appearing in the armpits of my light colored shirts, and on the darker shirts, there were even darker, but more normal looking, stains after the shirts were washed. At first, I thought the issue was the natural deodorant I had started using, but even after I switched back to normal deodorant, but the stains kept appearing. Then I thought the issue might be a certain new shirt I had bought which has dark blue floral patterns, so I began washing my laundry separately in lights and dark loads. But the stains are still appearing even when I wash only white clothing together. The stains only show up in the armpits, and they’re extremely difficult to get out.

Nobody else in my family is facing the same issue. I’m kinda freaked out that I’m gonna lose a lot of clothing to this so please help!

I’ve researched for hours and cannot find anything relating to my problem.

Signed,

Smurfette in Smyrna

Heather says:

Thank you for writing in, you’ve explained a question I’ve gotten more times than you’d believe over the years. It relates closely to two posts that have been on the site for a very long time.

How to Deal with Stubborn Body Odor in Laundry and

Pillowcases and Oily Skin (the questions were either submitted as follow-up comments or as emailed responses to the post itself)

Many people have emailed me over the years, asking why despite changing deodorants or switching to no deodorants at all, the armpits of their shirts turn black. People have written complaining about their spouse’s side of the bed changing colors. I’ve never had a good answer, and I’ve never had anyone so thoroughly document their issue. Thank you for playing the laundry detective for me; all of those clues really helped!

Sometimes black armpit stains are caused by your deodorant; if it’s black, it is usually the aluminum. You can test this theory by switching to an aluminum-free deodorant and wearing a new shirt.

Yellow stains along the collar and in the underarms are sweat stains and we’ve covered how to get rid of those in the past.

But blue? Blue stains that weren’t caused by dye transfer? That was interesting, and it’s the reason why I finally made the connection to the underlying cause.

First, the disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice or a medical site. There is a pretty rare condition, but it does happen, and it does cause a person’s sweat to change colors.

Also, the condition is usually not super obvious. It’s not like a person suddenly looks like an old Gatorade commercial.

It’s a lot more subtle. If you hang out on pregnancy boards, you’ll find people freaking out that their white toilet seats are slowly turning blue (and this is how I figured it out).

The condition is called chromihidrosis. You can learn more about it here. The quick and dirty explanation is that for some reason the sweat glands begin producing more pigment than normal. Sometimes it’s because of an underlying issue and other times it’s not. So, please make an appointment and take a couple of shirts with you, because Lord knows sometimes it can be hard enough to get a medical professional to listen when it’s something common.

Chromihidrosis can cause human sweat to turn blue, black, yellow, green, or brown.

There is also a slightly more common condition called pseudochromihidrosis that is the sweat reacting with something on the skin and then changing color, rather than the sweat itself being a color.

From reading, not going to school, and learning about the condition, remember, I’m not giving medical advice. There are treatments for underlying causes and treatments to help with the sweating itself if your body has just decided to add some entertainment value to your already interesting enough 2020.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for the stains left by the pigment itself. I would first try treating it like a sweat stain and if that doesn’t work, try treating the stains like a dye stain. Mix Dawn dish soap (the kind without bleach) 1:1 with white vinegar directly to the stain and blot, then rinse with clear water. Follow that with rubbing alcohol, which you’ll remove first by blotting with either a clean rag or folded paper towels followed by rinsing with clear water. If you still have a stain, your last resort would be 1:1 Dawn dish soap and ammonia, followed by a thorough rinse with clear water.

And a little bit of good news, I’m quite stylistically challenged, so I had to look it up, but it appears there is a blue for every color type. Yay? Enjoy your new wardrobe?

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com!

Square One: It’s Different for Everyone

I was minding my own business at work yesterday when a dear friend texted me a link to a tweet, with the comment, “This kid needs Home-Ec 101.com.”

My 20 year old cousin got his own apartment and it's going pretty well pic.twitter.com/SaPSogpo0r

— Henpecked Hal (@HenpeckedHal) October 8, 2020

I started laughing. I want to be clear, I’m not laughing at this kid, well, maybe a little bit because the earnestness and dedication of cleaning out the oven after every cooking endeavor is completely endearing to me. Whatever that kid’s parents did, they did not raise a total slob, so let’s put some points over in the winning column, too.

1.2 million likes (when I wrote this post) show that a lot of people could relate in some way or another.

Also? I was in my mid-twenties before I knew that it was NOT illegal to have a light on in your car when it was moving. So who am I to laugh? We’re all ignorant in our own ways.

Some people are lucky and were raised in a home where life skills are taught right from the beginning, in a kind and loving way.

Some generations were taught in school.

The rest of us just kind of muddle our way through.

That’s OK. That’s why I started Home-Ec101.com, way back in 2007. A lot has changed since then, but the mission never has.

I took this text from my friend as a nudge to get off my butt and start writing again; I’m going to try. Not just for @HenpeckedHal’s cousin, but for the rest of us who are still figuring things out.

Do you have a “baking sheet?” moment?

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

Menu Planning When Going to the Store Is a Bad Idea

As I write this, many people are under shelter in place orders. While we are allowed to go to work for an essential job, to exercise (walk the dog), to go to the doctor/pharmacy, or to the store, our primary role in this pandemic is to stay home.

Yes, it sucks.

It could be so much worse, and if we don’t follow these orders, it will go in that direction.

So even though we are allowed to go to the store, limit your trips, please.

If you need strategies, most of them are in this post on maximizing your grocery budget, but I’ll TL;DR it here.

Use what you have on hand. There’s likely more than you think. It’s time to inventory your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Then, make a list of meals you can make without leaving the house. Here’s a printable if you find one of those helpful.

Prioritize what will go bad first as you set up your menu plan. (If you have never menu planned before, I’ve got a whole series on it.) Remember that skillets, soups, stews, quesadillas, and casseroles are great ways to use up food that will soon be unusable. Don’t be afraid to use google to find possibilities. Search for what you have that you want to use up, and the word recipe. Someone, at some point, has shared something that may inspire you.

Additionally, don’t be ashamed to ask for inspiration in your social groups. I know right about now that I have zero creative spark for my menu, but if someone else gives me a list of what they have on hand, I’m suddenly the Pantry Iron Chef. It is what it is, use your resources.

Don’t make a new meal until all of the leftovers from the last meal have been eaten or are safely stored in the freezer for a quick meal in the future.

Getting in and out of the store quickly is for your protection and everyone else’s since you may be an asymptomatic carrier.

When you do need to go to the store, plan your list carefully so you can spend as little time around other people as possible. Remember that not everything you want may be there (looking at you, TP), have some alternatives in mind. With chicken, you can pretty much take what they have and adapt your recipe.

Also, if you have kids (or need some easy kitchen wins) and you see baking mix available, go ahead and grab a box or two. In the past, I have been all about as natural as possible. With a pandemic, four teenagers, a toddler, and an infant in the house, I say take the easy wins where you can. Help your kids learn to make pancakes, biscuits, etc. Not only will you be adding to your menu, but you’ll also be giving them a sense of independence and control, which is in very short supply right now.

If you are not in financial crises and you have a choice between an item marked with WIC and one that isn’t, please choose the one that isn’t. This simple action can help more than you’ll ever know.

Communicate with your neighbors to see if it’s possible to coordinate and consolidate trips. Venmo, Paypal, the Cash app etc, are all great ways to transfer money for these situations. If paper money needs to exchange hands, try not to have contact during the process. (Maybe placed in an envelope under the mat just before arrival. I’m not saying store your grocery funds there full-time.)

And finally, don’t turn the food delivery into a social visit, either. Put the food on the porch, ring the doorbell, and go on your merry way.

We’re all in this together, even if we’re six feet apart. Hang in there and be kind, please.

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