KEEPIN’ IT REAL
Posted by Karen on Jun 18 2008
So I get a phone call last night and the person on the other end tells me I was very brave to post pictures of my house in this condition. Yes, I know this person in real life, so it wasn’t like some crazed Pediascribe stalker was calling me.
Well, she ain’t seen nothing yet.
Of course, you need background. My lovely cat, Mowana, was stricken with FLUTD a couple of years ago. The first sign of it was when he peed on our leather couch. But it wasn’t visible to the naked eye. He was able to aim directly between the cracks! In an attempt to figure out how in the world to get cat urine out of leather, I stumbled upon a website. And, falling for their promises, I ordered a container of Urine-Off and a black light.
The directions for the black light stated how you need to identify what is urine and what isn’t. They suggested going into a blackened bathroom and shining the light onto the toilet. Then you’d be sure to know what fluoresced urine looks like. Surely there wouldn’t be urine on my toilets.
OH MY GOODNESS. Yeah, there was. And I’m sure it’s because I have two boys living in the house. Because surely us girls aren’t……uh…..missing.
So I cleaned it. A couple of years ago. But the other day I thought I’d check it out again. Ick. And I’m going to show you. Because my blog is like an open book into my life. Because my blog keeps it real. Because……well, because I had nothing else to write about today.
First….a disclaimer….it is nearly impossible to take a picture without a flash in a completely darkened bathroom!
Here is a before shot…..
See those fluorescent specks? That’s all drips and splatters of urine. Blech.
Now, the absolutely amazing thing. (Insert ad for BioKleen here) I sprayed my toilet with BioKleen Bac-Out. I wiped it with a paper towel and……
Uh-mazing!!!
Ok, so here we go. A contest for my readers and my readers only. Remember my contest for a BioKleen gift pack? Well, I have another to give away!!
Simple rules…..
You have to be a Pediascribe reader and commenter. You needed to have commented at least two times on my blog before this post.
You need to comment on this post and, because I like to keep things real, tell me…..oh…..I dunno….how about this…..tell me the last time you cleaned your toilet* including the area around those little bolts that hold it to the floor! Keep it real, people. (grin)
And then just sit back and wait. And make a list of the things you’ll clean once you win.
One randomly picked person will win the gift pack. Due to BioKleen shipping restrictions, you must be in the USA to win. (All of my out of country readers, don’t worry. I’ll have a contest just for you soon!)
The contest will wrap up Sunday night at 10pm my time. And I’ll announce the winner Monday the 23rd.
*No fair running to clean your toilet right now so you don’t have to post that the last time you cleaned your toilet was October of ‘05!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 7:10 am 1 Mary said …
Very cool! Well I definitely think I’ve posted at least two times before so I’m good there.
As for when I last cleaned the toiled….a really good cleaning just this past Saturday June 14th. We were having people over so the bathroom got a good cleaning. Not sure if it would pass the black light test as it is the only bathroom in the house so it gets used.
You never cease to amaze me on what you are willing to share. Good for you!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 8:43 am 2 Tina said …
This past Saturday for me, too, only because the family was coming over for Father’s Day…
on 18 Jun 2008 at 9:12 am 3 Beth said …
I’d be terrified to see what the base of my toilet looks like. Normall when I clean the toilet, I do scrub all the way down to the base and around the bolts, but my husband and I made a deal a year ago or so, I get the rest of the house, and he gets the bathrooms. They might not be perfect, but I don’t have to clean them. I just hate cleaning in such an inclosed room, all the fumes and apparantly urine. I can’t take it!!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 9:14 am 4 Karen M said …
I will not say when was the last time I cleaned my toilet because I’m ashamed. I will tell you however that we are all girls at my house so there are no splatters of pee-pee on my throne.
Note: I use Clorox to clean the bulbs on the side. I use it for the whole bathroom And my kitchen. I’m sorry Karen and all of you environmentally conscientious people out there, but the all the bio agreeable stuff I’ve found here, though they work beautifully, they stink.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 9:36 am 5 jessica said …
I have a 22 month old and am almost 5 months pregnant with #2, so the last time I scrubbed the bottom of my toilets was January 2006 when my husbands parting friend barfed on my. Bathroom floor and all over the toilet! I do wash the bowl and seat more often. at least once a month. I think I’ve posted exactly twice on the blog. Once for the skeeda bag and once on the Ohio storms. Go buckeyes!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 9:50 am 6 Mary T. said …
Wow, that black light trick was very … um … CSI-ish. That almost makes me want to go clean my toilet right now.
But, the last time I cleaned our toilet was sometime last week. But, the last time I cleaned everything including the bolts? I have been meaning to do that sometime in the near future. We’ve lived in this apartment for almost a year and the closest I’ve come to cleaning the base has been to wipe the rag on the underside of the bowl carelessly and then I get the base by the floor with the mop. I know, I’m bad, but I’m lucky to even get THAT far some days!
Last time I cleaned the whole bathroom my 3 year old came in behind me and squirted the mirror with a squirt gun he found so now I had to re-do that because of the water spots! Leave it up to him to make sure Mommy cleans it twice!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 10:20 am 7 Jenn said …
That stuff sure works well! I clean mine every week maybe two if I forget but I have a hubby who thinks he doesn’t need the light on at night(I do not agree) and I have a 10 year old boy and once the baby is old enough I’ll have another little boy doing it. If it was just me and the two girls in the house I wouldn’t have to clean around it so much!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 10:31 am 8 Jennifer said …
Sad to say, but I haven’t cleaned the entire toilet and bolts since we moved into this apartment back in March!! The bowl and seat have gotten many cleanings, but I just can’t bring myself to clean around the base. And the black light??? I don’t even want to see that in here…because I can only wonder just how much of it was ours and how much was the previous tenants…YUCK!! OK, got to think of something else or I will be sick. Glad we are out of here in a month and moving into our brand new house with toilets that NO ONE has ever used.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 11:40 am 9 KT (BaggaChips) said …
I’m not eligible for this contest, right? Oh well, I’ll try to enter anyway! The last time I cleaned a toilet was a few months ago. When I had to do it completely against my will.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 11:41 am 10 Valerie said …
After seeing the blacklight pic, I have a urge to run and scrub both toilets and surrounding floor until the vinyl shines. Ug!! The last time I cleaned my toilets was a week and a half ago. They need it again apparently. I use Kaboom in the toilet and seveneth generation on the outside. I haven’t gotten around the bottom of the toilet and the bolts though in probably a month. I would deep cleam my kitchen and bathrooms with the BioKleen (looks like is works amazingly well).
Great job on the bathroom!!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 12:05 pm 11 CouldBeAnyone said …
One of my toilets is primarily used by a 5 year old boy and a 2 1/2 year old girl, so the seat, rim, and bowl get cleaned pretty frequently. The last time was a week ago Saturday, before we went to the beach for 7 days. The bottom around the bolts was cleaned on Monday when my daughter bumped the “little potty” after using it.
I’ll clean them all again between now and Saturday because that’s what I always do.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 12:07 pm 12 CouldBeAnyone said …
By the way, we’ve gone around the house with a blacklight too, checking carpet for kitty accidents. My husband had his own blacklight. I imagine there must have been velvet blacklight posters to go along with it at one time.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 1:10 pm 13 reba said …
ok i gotta be honest….its been 2 weeks since i cleaned like a normal person, but it was hosed down just sunday during what will go down as The Great Father’s Day Pooptackular’08 …..i have a 4 year old son who was apparently trying to punish us for something
on 18 Jun 2008 at 1:20 pm 14 Sue said …
Boy, someone sure “missed” the toilet. Shaken, not stirred..You wouldn’t think that it was that bad..we just don’t believe our houses are that “dirty”. I cleaned the toilet last Friday. (Two functions at the house last weekend) I DID clean the bolts and ….the cat hair off the base…forgive me. Actually cleaned it with the mesh toilet brush and then threw it away.
I would clean the toilet more often, as well as the tub, floor and sink. If the blacklight works that well, maybe I should also check the kitchen sink, behind the faucet.Other things to be cleaned would be the grill, washer, dryer and anything those cats jump on. Can you put the biokleen in the washer and do pp sheets, etc?
on 18 Jun 2008 at 1:20 pm 15 Dawn said …
Our last major cleaning of the bathroom would have been a couple of months ago (don’t know the exact date-sorry).
What a brave soul you are sharing your *entire* life!!!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 1:30 pm 16 Deb - Mom of 3 Girls said …
Hmm. I think I cleaned it last weekend pretty thoroughly. But before that? Well, you didn’t ask, so I’m not going to tell.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 2:54 pm 17 Christy said …
Well…to be perfectly honeset…I haven’t cleaned a dang thing around here (except dishes) since we found out that we would be moving. So I would estimate…2 months? Does that qualify as super disgusting?
The good news…we’re moving next week. I’ll clean this pot for the last time after we clear out!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 4:21 pm 18 Awesome Mom said …
I am so glad that I get to enter this contest, I was worried that you would run it while I was gone.
I generally only clean my toilets that extensively is when I have people coming over to visit. I hate doing it and think that my husband should be the one doing it because I know I am not the one sprinkling my urine all over the place.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 7:18 pm 19 Teri said …
Okay, as a disclaimer - we’ve been on vacation for 10 days. Prior to that I was just busy and never got to our toilet. Can’t remember when I cleaned it last. When I do clean it, though, I clean everything to do with it. But hey - I just cleaned for a client today and all three of her toilets are sparkling!!!
on 18 Jun 2008 at 8:30 pm 20 lace said …
I cleaned the toilet just a few days ago. I get to cleaning and then get interrupted and never seem to get to the floor. But that has been recently cleaned as well.
People think my house is a public facility. We have people (as in relatives mostly) stop by just to use the bathroom. Why is that! I know public bathrooms aren’t nice but if you keep coming to mine it will become a public bathroom.
I think I would be too scared to use that little black light.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 8:32 pm 21 Maryann said …
Hmm .last time I really cleaned my toliet. Memorial day weekend … my folks came in town, so I had to bite the bullet. I used Clorox toliet bowl cleaner on the bowl, and then Method bathroom cleaner on the outside and the floor around it.
I just did a quick clean of it this morning though.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 8:41 pm 22 amy said …
How ironic, I actually just gave one toilet (and accompanying bathroom) a thorough cleaning Monday. However, it had been so long before that that it took so long I didn’t have the energy for the rest of them. Usually the master bath gets neglected because no one else sees it.
I’m kind of curious though…did the urine-off work? My cat had a horrible time adjusting to our new baby and took it out on our poor house. We used something called Feline-away (I think thats what it was called) to prevent the problem. It either helped or she just realized on our own the kid was staying. Since I know you’re wondering, now they are best friends.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 9:04 pm 23 Carolynn from Western Australia said …
I’m one of your overseas ones but for what it is worth, I throughly clean in and around my toilet at least once per week and more if it looks like it needs it. Just can’t stand a dirty loo.
Take Care
Lots of Love Carolynn xxxx
on 18 Jun 2008 at 10:23 pm 24 jen said …
Um…ewwwwww….
I, uh, don’t clean the toilets. I don’t miss, so I don’t clean. Tom and the boys clean the bathrooms, and I think it was almost two weeks ago. Now. If they are down and dirty disgusting I’ll do a quick clean, but they rule the bathrooms.
on 19 Jun 2008 at 12:22 am 25 Janet said …
So last time we cleaned the toilet….like a month ago? It’s bad…ok not too bad, I would clean the kitchen floor because it needs a really good clean, and so does the bathroom floor.
on 19 Jun 2008 at 9:14 am 26 Thea @ I'm a Drama Mama said …
I think I qualify this time!
The last time I cleaned the toilet (including the bolts) was 2 days ago. I hit the bolts while I was scrubbing the grout with a toothbrush around the base of the toilet…
Good times.
on 19 Jun 2008 at 9:28 am 27 Ladybug Crossing said …
Well, since we had a party last week and we are having another party this weekend, my toilets and bathrooms have been cleaned every couple of days - I’m trying to keep up with it.
Maybe I should buy a black light and exchange it for the light in the kids’ bathroom. That would be extremely enlightening!
xo
LBC
on 19 Jun 2008 at 6:09 pm 28 Dawn said …
Okay I had to come back and comment how motivating this was for me. I just couldn’t take it any longer and cleaned all 3 bathrooms, including toilets today!
on 21 Jun 2008 at 11:02 pm 29 Erin said …
The last time I cleaned the toilet was two days ago. But I taught my 5 year old to do it and he thinks it is the coolest job! My kids aren’t big fans of flushing so the inside gets dirty just as fast as the outside. My Dad was military strict on cleanliness so it is somewhat ingrained. The kids toilet usually gets cleaned at least twice a week.
I hope I win. New stuff — I live for new stuff!