Mules

You may have noticed me getting crunchier as the years pass me by. I wonder if this happens to all women who leave Lebanon County, PA or just my older sister and myself. After my big Terlet Paper post the other day, I was pumped up to talk about recycled paper products. I tried to engage my students in the discussion, and they looked at me like they wanted me to die. The faces they made when I brought up recycled toilet paper! It was like I had suggested they touch vomit or write extra homework. Worse maybe. Oh well.

Anyway, the next stage in my crunchiness is to use better products around the house. By better, I mean ones that don't hurt my friend the Earth. I've been waiting a little to start on this because these crunchy products tend to be a bit pricey. Friday, however, I got a BIG, BIG, BIG check I've been waiting for from my favorite client, so I dashed off to Target to start cleaning green.

A full cart-load later, I came across something that made me put most of that shit back. A box of Borax. I hadn't thought about Borax since 6th grade, when I went to a science camp and learned to use it for homemade silly putty. I remember making my mother buy a box (which is still, I believe, in my parents' basement 15 years later...) and forming smelly, bouncy goo in the kitchen. Who knew the stuff was so useful in other ways?

Borax, evidently, works with the strength of a 20 Mule Team, according to their website. I don't know about that, but in the past few hours it made my laundry nicer, scrubbed my tub, and de-odorized my garbage cans. The best part? I can use it to clean my toilet brush! I was just thinking last week that the toilet brush is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever thought about. Now the mules can make it better!

The next time Corey pees the bed, I can use Borax to remove both the stain and the odor. Or if I take up flower pressing? Borax! Clean the counters, soak my china, make silly putty. All for $3. And there aren't chemicals in it, just sodium, oxygen, boron, and water. It's like the Bryer's ice cream of cleaning products.

I'm not entirely sure where the mules fit into the scenario, but I'll take it. And I'll wash my shirt with it happily.