My " Buzz" report on Vanish

A few days ago I wrote about how I was going to "Buzz" about Vanish. When you are a "Buzzador" they send you products from time to time, and you get to try them out. There is also some sample packages in your box, which you give to friends to try out. This time it was the stain remover "Vanish"

I received three different types of powder and a powergel. The powders were the pink "Vanish oxi action powder", the white "Vanish oxi action crystal white powder" and the green "Vanish extra hygiene powder". The powergel is pretty new on the swedish market so I hadn't actually seen that before it came in my "Buzzador box".

I thought I'd really put it to the test and pulled out some clothes I was sure would never be anything other than "take-the-dogs-to-the-woods-clothes". These were old stains.....you know the kind you have washed and dried and tried different stain removers on....with little or no luck. 

My youngest daughter Jennifer gets a LOT of stains on her clothes when she's training. She is training and competing in Orienteering, which means they run straight out into the woods with an orienteering map and compass and then they are supposed to find a certain number of control points in the right order. This means they can come back dripping wet after a failed attempt to jump over a stream, or muddy up to their knees. Anyway....I had a pair of white leggings   -   yes that is a brilliant color to wear on orienteering training isn't it!! These white leggings were a brownish mess when she came back, she had fallen into a peat bog....and let me assure you, those stains are there to stay. 

This is what they looked like when I put them away after numerous attempts to get them clean.

I started by soaking them in "Vanish oxi action crystal white" and then I put in an extra scoop in the machine for good measure. I was actually surprised how good they came out...you could still see the stains but it was a whole lot better than before.

So I thought I'd give it another try, this time with the "Vanish powergel" I rubbed the gel onto the stain and let it sit for a few minutes before I put it in the washing machine. This time I was quite impressed....it's hard to see on the picture, but yes...you can still see the stains but they are almost gone!!

My next experiment was with a white top, also Jennifer's, but this one she had no idea where the stains came from    -    these ones kinda made me wonder what in the world she is doing on her spare time. These mystery stains I had not tried any stain remover on, only washed it in the machine and it didn't turn out too good so I figured it a "dead" top.

I did the same with this one, I soaked it in "Vanish oxi action crystal white" and a scoop in the machine. Pretty much still a "dead" top after it came out of the machine. The stains had faded some but they were no doubt still very visible. 

I rubbed some "Vanish powergel" on the stains and let it sit for a few minutes before I once more put the top in the washing machine. It did make a difference, but they are far from gone. I have to admit though that the top looks a whole lot better after two different "Vanish" treatments than it did before.

I thought I would try the products on some new stains, so I took an old linen kitchen towel and smeared it with good blobs of ketchup and mustard. The towel also had some really old mystery stains. I rubbed the newly "spilt" ketchup and mustard into the fabric and let it sit for about 10 minutes before I rinsed it off.

Instead of using the powder, I rubbed a fair amount of "Vanish powergel" onto the stains and let it sit for a few minutes before I put it in the washing machine, but I did put a scoop of "Vanish oxi action crystal white" powder into the machine together with my regular detergent. Wow....I am really surprised and impressed, not only did it take the ketchup and mustard it also took most of them old mystery stains.

Onto that tank top I wore at my granddaughters birthday party. I really should not attempt eating anything standing up....not even pizza. I constantly spill on me and spend more time trying to remove odd food stains from my own clothes than I do from my granddaughters. This time I got some big grease stains on me. I have tried to get them out with other stain removers, with no luck.

After the impressive result with the towel I decided to try "Vanish powergel" instead of soaking the tank top in the pink powder. I was really generous with the gel and rubbed it onto the stains and left it for a few minutes before I washed it. I did put a scoop "Vanish oxi action" powder in together with my regular detergent. When I took it out of the machine I thought I could still see some stains and hung it up to dry. When I looked for the stains when the top was dry I couldn't find them....gone....totally!!

I also did a test with the green "Vanish extra hygiene" powder. I washed some fleece bedding three guinea pig girls have in their cage. There were no stains on them, but I find that even after washing the bedding, there is a slight smell left. Not a lot but if you really put your nose in there and sniff, it's there....yes I do the "sniff test" on all the animal related laundry. I put a scoop of the green powder in the machine this time around and then dried in the dryer as I normally would....then I did the "sniff test". Nope.....that slight smell was still there. I can't say the "Vanish extra hygiene" took the smell away more than my regular detergent does.

So, after having really put the Vanish products to the test, I have to say that I am pretty impressed. No the powders did not entirely remove old stains, but they did fade them quite a bit. The powergel was what impressed me the most. Both the new ketchup and mustard stains and the old mystery stains and the old grease stains were gone after treatment with the gel, so the "Vanish powergel" will no doubt be a permanent item in my laundry room from now on.

Snowman Ornaments

Second of Advent has passed and it's really not very many days left until Christmas. I am a huge Christmas lover...all the lights and the decorations, baking and making candy and making Christmas crafts...both with and without kids. I love the way Christmas smell, that very special scent you only have in your home once a year. A combination of all the scents, and I guess those vary a bit depending on where in the World you live, what we bake and cook.

To me there are a few things that are a "must". The Christmas tree has to be real with mess and all :) You go to pick out the tree and spend hours finding the right one....either it's not straight or the branches are too skinny and will dip down when you hang the ornaments or it's simply really ugly. But that is the charm of it all, and once you get it decorated it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside even if it didn't have all the branches perfectly evenly spaced out. 

In USA pretty much all the trees are "shaped" and have that perfect "Walt Disney tree shape"....you know the kinda tree Chip N Dale lived in, in the old Mickey Mouse Christmas movie from 1952.

I just love the old Disney movies by the way and still watch Pluto protect his Christmas tree every year :)

 Well here in Sweden the trees are more natural so to speak, which means there is a whole lot of....well...less flattering looking trees out there. I have this memory from when I was a child...maybe 11 or 12 years old, and my dad just could not find a tree he was happy with, so he gave nature a helping hand....he drilled holes and put extra branches into the tree. I can't say I have gone that far, it's been close a couple of times though. Even if there is a side that's a bit uneven one can almost always get away with it by facing that side to the wall or corner.

Another thing I really wouldn't want to be without is ginger snaps. Here in Sweden they are very much a Christmas cookie and we call them "pepparkakor". And naturally there also has to be the gingerbread house. I almost always buy the ginger snaps though, it takes such a long time to make and you can buy really good ones in the store, meaning no photo ops of us making ginger snaps, but I found this picture at Fotoakuten they have lots of free pics to use.

 

Drinking "Glögg" is another very typical Swedish Christmas tradition. "Glögg" is mulled or spiced wine, but from my limited experience neither in England nor USA does it taste quite the same way as the kind I am used to. It's rather common to serve it with raisins and chopped hazelnuts or almonds. You put some of that in the warm "Glögg" and when you have finished you scope it up with a spone....yum!!

A yearly tradition is to make some Christmas crafts. I found these super cute and simple to make ornaments on Kissing Frogs Photography Props. Something you can make with kids all ages, older ones can use the glass ornaments and for the younger ones it's probably a good thing to go for the plastic ones. Anyone who has children most likely have either craft paint or finger paint at home, or....I imagine any white paint would work. Tiny  pieces of fabric or felt and some markers for eyes, mouth and nose and voila......Super cute snowman ornament.

My granddaughter Victoria loves to draw and paint on her arms and hands, so she will really enjoy this project :)

Fun food for kids

I don't think there is a day without at least one cooking show on tv. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy them....a lot. But the trend seems to be that they become more and more pro, nothing wrong with that either, but wouldn't it be fun to make fun food, not one bit pretentious, just play with it and have a blast.

Most kids go through phases when absolutely nothing.....and I kid you not...I really mean NOTHING is to their liking. The chicken they loved a week ago is now cause for wrinkled faces, the ever so trusted hot dog, makes them sigh really loudly and look at it with disgust. When they finally eat, they take two itty bitty bites and then they let you know how full they are....can not eat another single bite or they will for sure pop. Unless there is a real health issue with the kids, they won't starve, they will come out of that phase and once again eat, without the big drama.

Ok, so I don't see myself making these fun foods every day, but once in awhile as a treat. It will probably make the kids more interested in eating AND I am having fun at the same time....win win situation :)

It can be as easy as cutting food in playful ways, to make two crabs and two octopuses out of a hot dog. You can find these cute little creatures and how to make them on Cute Food For Kids

Or make a birds nest by tweaking meatballs and arranging them on a nest of spaghetti like the ones from Crafty Moods. 





Takes a couple of minutes to turn regular meatballs and boring hot dogs to something fun. And it really doesn't take any extra time at all to make the calzone into a snake :) This one you find on Pure Imajennation.



Or you can go all in and make something like this absolutely awsome Star Wars Breakfast made by Carrie Elle using hashbrowns, bacon and eggs :)

I will absolutely try to tempt my granddaughter, Victoria with some fun food next time she has one of those exciting phases. Or why wait for the drama, I'll actually make some fun food this weekend :)



Follow my blog with Bloglovin

It’s no secret that I can spend way too much time on Bloglovin. Diving right in there amongst all the great blogs, only to come up to the surface to make sure the coffee maker is still keeping my coffee warm. So naturally I just had to start using it for my own blog :)

I'm a Buzzador

So I got my first “Buzzador package” in the mail. I knew it was “Vanish” in the box. One would think that isn’t cause for excitement. Well that might be the case for other people, me….I literally dove into the box thinking it was almost like Christmas. Hmm I guess that says quite a lot about the wild and exciting life i lead :)

The idea now is that I am going to use the products and “Buzz” about how I think they work. There are also some samples to share with friends, so they too can test and voice their opinion.
I’m having several stains I have been trying to get out for quite some time….it’s going to be interesting to see if “Vanish” can do what nothing I have tried so far could. I will let you know how it worked when I have been scrubbing and testing all the different types of “Vanish”

My very first blog post

Well here I am, after a long time thinking and pondering this blog thing, should I or should I not. I love to read other peoples blogs, the ones that are strictly baking or cooking blogs, the ones that focus on health and beauty, others that are giving great ideas and tips on decorating or the DIY and craft ones. I love them all! That’s where I ran into problem….I am interested in so many things, not great at anything but pretty decent at a few things.  I didn't want to have a blog about one certain thing, I wanted it to be a mix of all things I find fun, useful or interesting.  Right now I really have very little idea about how this blog will turn out, I’m thinking I’ll just learn as I go and simply blog about whatever happens to catch my attention and what goes on at the moment….as mixed up and sometimes messed up as life itself is!

I think many of us are just like that. We search inspiration for next days dinner, look for yummy goods to bake, want to get inspired to re-do or decorate at home. Ideas for craft and DIY Projects, and gardening….no on second thought scratch the gardening…I absolutely suck at it, so there most likely will not be any posts on that topic. But other than just gardening, pretty much anything can pop up here.