Ode to Oxi

I swore off the white powder long ago
But with dirt the enemy and stains the foe,
I knew that I had to try the new cleanser Oxi Clean.
It's all over TV, in commercials I know that you've seen.

And indeed, at first try some whites did look whiter.
But hark! Its true strength is as a stain fighter.
There were new stains: food, blood, makeup, and sweat
And even those I thought had already set --
But the Oxi gently lifts all and washes away.
If only it could keep new stains at bay!

I scrubbed and I rubbed one stain of ink
Ready to bid the shirt good bye
So it was with amazement I did blink
That Oxi worked with nary a sigh
Oh my dear Oxi
You sure are foxy!

This rhyme is getting old
So just let it be told:
For bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry
Use Oxi, it really is extraordinary!

On ironing

An odious household chore (though there are worse ones out there) is ironing. The vast majority of my clothes don't need ironing (especially now that I'm working in a casual environment) but shoo-wee, almost all of Dear's work clothes need ironing. Despite my pleas for him to get wrinkle-free shirts, his closet of wrinkle-full shirts persists. So any way to make the chore go by faster or easier helps.

When looking for an iron to buy, lots of people raved about Rowenta models. One person claimed that it made ironing a pleasure. This I had to see for myself. I chose the Rowenta Focus DZ5080 because it was on sale and the extra-pointy tip seemed to be a useful feature. For days I was actually excited to iron (this is related to my giddiness to start playing with any new toy but the iron is not bad either). We didn't yet have an ironing board (more on that later) so I actually brought my shiny new toy over to the out-laws'.The experience was not as mind-blowing as I thought for several reasons, the main one being that I was living in fear that I would electrocute myself -- the only available outlet at the time (without having to lug the ironing board upstairs) was one of those non-polarized ones that just couldn't hold on to the iron's plug and it hung loosely when standing still and jiggled out of place as I proceeded to iron. (Yikes, see, chores can be hazardous!) So when we finally got the heavy-duty ironing board from Target (I don't know what makes it heavy-duty -- do people need to iron weighty garments?) I was semi-psyched to iron again. Unfortunately that eagerness has died with each ironing task (definitely not a life-altering, nor pleasurable experience -- maybe I just need a maid? :P) though it does make ironing go by a little easier. (Watching TV while ironing helps too :P). My thoughts on the Rowenta Focus, in easy-to-read bullet form:
- The water compartment is pretty sizable (I can iron at least one shirt with one fill) and I like that it closes to prevent spillage.
- I like the handy thin little canister used to fill the water compartment for steam.
- I like the pointy tip (great for getting in between buttons or into corners).
- The stainless steel soleplate has been good so far (no scorch marks).
- I didn't really notice the advantage to having all those extra steam holes on the soleplate but the logic of it works for me (more holes=more steam).
- It is heavy (both a plus and minus). I notice the heaviness less as I use it more often but I think it also helps with getting rid of creases (I have used light irons before and they just suck, plain and simple).
- This no-drip thing really is a fallacy (water and holes -- it's gotta leak sometime), though this iron drips a lot less than other ones that I've used before.
- There are just 3 temperature settings and I never know which one to use for synthetics or blends.
- I'm not sure if there's much difference/use to the three lights that tell you whether the iron is too hot (red), not heated up enough (yellow), or just right (green) but it's cool to have.

Now my other issue -- I need to find a handy place to store both the ironing board and iron. This will require some closet re-arranging (way down on my to-do list).