clean blinds!

i haven't been doing completely nothing for the new house... just very little in the last 2 weeks. we are still planning to move in on the 21st, but when matt is busy with work i can't get over there to do much work. the girls can't really be there when i'm painting, obviously, and it's not really safe to let them run around right now. no outlet covers, no gates on the stairs, no childproofed toilets or doors (julia is a master at slamming her fingers in anything with a hinge)... plus, the floors are really slippery with dust & dirt. it's really one big 'no-no' for my girls right now, so we've been staying away!

i have made a little progress, though... i took down the wood blinds from 4 rooms and brought them home to clean. YUCK. keep in mind that the house had been vacant for a while before we purchased it. then remember that we have been doing work on it for 6 months. and i think the blinds might have been pretty dirty before the house was even vacated... there was some pretty funky stuff on there. YUCK is an understatement, really.

i looked online for hints about cleaning dirty blinds- ammonia, vinegar, mild dish detergent... i tried them all. that was okay, but they were still a little gray & sticky. the cords were brown. so don't get mad at me... i turned to my old love, my 'very bad for the environment & for my family' solution:

i know. hate me- but it is the ONLY thing that worked on these nasty blinds.

and hate me even more- i don't have after pictures of my clean blinds! i temporarily lost my camera (julia stole it & put it inside a bag, into a basket & covered it with stuffed animals), so i missed the best pictures of all: sparkly clean blinds hanging from rafters all around our basement! such a lovely sight. but i'll take pictures when they are hanging in our newly cleaned windows at the house!