Disposal Dilemmas

A few weeks ago my husband peeled an orange and stuck it in the sink, to be disposed of by the lovely garbage disposal. I got after him and told him orange peels couldn't go in the disposal. He was confused and asked why I could put lemons in the disposal (to clean it) but not orange peels. I realized I didn't know why, but that is just what I had been taught.

Being Type A, I googled it. And I found out some interesting things on garbage disposals.

So the bad news? According to most plumbers, very little food should be going down the disposal. It is meant for the food that does get left behind.
But really...who is going to scrape out their kids' bowls of cereal into the garbage when there is a perfectly capable tool right there to clean it up neatly?

So on the one extreme you have people who say you should not put ANYTHING down the drain, and on the other hand there are people who will put EVERYTHING down the drain.
Okay, almost everything...minus the notorious potato peels.

But really most garbage disposals are fully capable of grinding up just about anything, but there are few things you should NEVER put in your disposal.
*Potato peels
*fiberous or stringy foods such as celery, asparagus, artichoke hearts, etc.
*rice and pasta (because it can expand just like potato peels) -I'm really bad at this one.

Anyway, so my new motto is, if I can realistically scrape it (meat scraps, leftover apple slices, etc) put it in the garbage. If not, it goes down the drain (mac n' cheese, cereal, etc.).
All citrus can clean the disposal great. However, I only do this in moderation. I don't put all the peels from the 2 oranges I give my kids down the drain. Just a few pieces.

Also, grinding up ice cubes can sharpen your blades in the disposal...who would've thought!And if you really want to deodorize your disposal you can buy disposal cleaner at the supermarket. Or if you cheap, like me, use 3 Tablespoons of Borax (found in the laundry aisle) let it sit in the disposal for an hour then run HOT water and run the disposal for several minutes to clean it all up.

There you have it...the skinny on garbage disposals.

Real Mom's Dinner: Last night we had pork chops, parley red potatoes, carrot sticks, and pineapple. We will either have homemade pizza tonight or broccoli and beef...it's almost 5:00 and I can't decide.

Kitchen Table Redo

I have wanted to paint my kitchen table for over a year now! It was a beautiful natural wood color that matched the cabinets in our first home beautifully. And now our cabinets in this home are much darker. (And I knew my DH would FLIP if I tried to paint the cabinets...he he he.) The table was bought new, but in the last 8 years, it has taken a beating...marker stains, fork stabs, etc. I knew a new dining table was out of the question right now. So I started making plans to paint.

Before:But I thought I would wait until it warmed up and then I got pregnant and then my DH wouldn't let me paint anymore...at least in large amounts that was noticeable.

So in preparation for Miss Sunny's Baby Blessing I decided I was going to do it...no matter what!

Over several weeks in the cold, cold January in the cold, cold garage, I slowly painted my chairs...one at a time. First, I did a light sanding (I didn't spend too much time on this part.) Then I primed it with a gray spray paint. Then I spray painted it black.
Fortunately, the picture doesn't show my many mistakes. I ran into a little trouble when deciding what to use as a top coat. I tried a couple of different things on a couple different chairs, so in person they look a little different. I really don't like the triple coat clear top spray paint. I may go back some day and fix it, but my dear twins are destroying the chairs faster than I can fix them, so I don't know if it's worth it.

I did the same process on the bottom half and under the table. It isn't perfect looking under there, but I figured no one over the age of 6 is going to be underneath there inspecting my work.

Then I sanded the heck out of the top using a heavy grit, a medium grit, then a fine grit. After a good cleaning I stained it using a stain with a polyurethane (Minwax Polyshades Pecan Gloss) already mixed in. I ended up doing three coats to darken it until I decided I was finally okay with the color.
My final product and I LOVE it!!! I am soooo happy with how it turned out!!! And I've learned a lot about painting and staining. I'm so glad I pushed myself to do this! It has made my kitchen feel a lot more "put together." At least to me...and that is what matters, isn't it?!

I'm linking to Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party