the week of thankgiving, after our week of thanksGIVING

taking a break from our week of thanksGIVING, to focus on the week of thanksgiving. Of course, I am thankful for this blog and for the faithful readers who follow it, but I am also thankful for the ability to close the laptop and walk away. This past week while doing some dutiful promotion for the hosts of the blog giveaways, I ran into the bloggers worst nightmare: negative feedback. And today I am thankful for my brother who offered these very logical and helpful words, "Anonymity breeds jerks." well I paraphrased, but the thought is still the same. For some reason, some people get behind a computer screen and use their internet feed as a venting ground for the things in this world that they don't like. While we have all been known to "vent" from time to time, for some people, venting takes the back seat and the comfort of having a screen in between you and the person you are talking about unleashes a beast of resentment and fury fueled by the courage they get from knowing that there is little to nothing you can do about it. So, for all of you people out there writing a blog, take heart, it is not only you who receives negativity. Though, I hardly thought a cleaning blog that took a week off to allow small home owned businesses a shot at some extra publicity was something people would get the knickers in a twist about.

Back on topic, this week we finish out the contests we started last week and I go back to blogging. So lets focus on the reason that we all get together to stuff seven helpings of turkey and mashed potatoes into our bellies and allow me to give you some tips for the aftermath of the big day.

I cannot say it enough when it comes to thanksgiving, please use plastic. Most plastic wear companies have begun using biodegradable products as well as coming out with a "china" line which looks unbelievably similar to the real thing, in fact my husband and I used plastic for our wedding reception and do not regret it for a second. Besides, if the food is good, no one cares what they're eating it off of.

My second piece of advice is rinsing and soaking. We all know the day is busy and you're hardly thinking of clean-up as you're carving the turkey but you can save yourself hours of scrubbing after the last stuffed person leaves your home by rinsing everything as it gets emptied and by soaking things during dinner. An extra tip for this is that if you place a dryer sheet in the water with your soaking dishes, they will clean MUCH easier (the reason is this: the softening chemicals in dryer sheets help loosen food particles stuck on pots and baking dishes)

if your food is stuck on, for pans or the like if you'd prefer, you can fill them with white vinegar and baking soda then bring the mix to a boil, turn oven off and let it sit overnight and the food should come off with just a wipe or two!!! And of course it helps if you have a dishwasher that isn't you!!!

Happy cleaning and happy holdiays

Check back tomorrow for ways to clean your house for the big day, with minimal effort