Things I Have Learned in the Past 24 hours

It has been an *active* day or two around here.  Some lessons learned include...

1) Oil (canola or baby, specifically) will remove crayon from a painted wall (don't even ask).  Next time your favorite wee Picasso takes his genius from the drawing pad to the wall, don't panic.  Fill a bowl with oil, saturate a rag and rub it over the drawing until it disappears.  Then follow-up with a bowl of soapy water, cleaning away the oily residue.  No harm, no foul.

2) The best way to clean a grody microwave: halve a lemon, put it in a glass bowl of water, and nuke it for 5 full minutes.  Then let the microwave stand for 5 full minutes.  When you open the door, all the little grossness will have been steamed from the walls and tray to be easily wiped off with a damp rag.  Bonus: your micro well have a lovely, fresh, citrus-y smell to boot.  If you feel heroic and want to be everyone's favorite colleague, try this at the office... it literally takes almost no time and effort, and we all know how truly disgusting the work-micro can be... ick.

3) If you smell gas in your basement and call National Grid, they'll have a lovely, polite worker at your door within an hour who will be kind to your baby and dog, try hard not to track salt in on your wood floor, and have the problem solved before the morning is over.  I love nothing more in this world than top notch customer service (particularly from a utility company who knows we don't actually have a choice of providers)... thank you, National Grid.

4) That if you boil a box of orzo, throw in some broccoli florets in the last 2 minutes, toss that whole mess with a block of grated cheddar and a bit of milk in a greased Pyrex baking dish, pour a quick bechamel over the top, cover the whole thing with panko breadcrumbs, and bake it at 350 for 45 minutes, your husband will think you are a culinary genius, and your son (who heretofore has only been willing to eat yogurt, eggs and sweet potato fries for the last few weeks) will devour a whole bowl, which will make you glow with Jewish-motherly satisfaction.

5) That for the first time in way too long, I have a fun blog giveaway in the works... stay tuned!

Now that's a Monday.

What's doing with you?