- I woke today to find that I won a cookbook and gift card to Grand Central Bakery. All I did was post a comment about healthy eating on their Facebook page, which was “My healthy eating habit is to just keep the crap out of the house. This is also known as the why-I-don’t-buy-Nutella theory.” I will of course regift the cookbook and use the gift card. But that’s just how I roll.
- Yesterday was my mother’s 69th birthday, so we had her and my step-father over for dinner. I made Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, cheddar biscuits and a big ol’ chocolate cake. Everything was beyond delicious and helped to keep my house smelling like heaven throughout the day. Because I buy gifts at thrift stores all year long, I think I spent a total of $5 on gifts. Hooray for a mother who is happy to receive vintage salt and pepper shakers, a signed Short Attention Span Theater postcard from John Stewart, a (free) Walgreens collage print and a handpainted Mrs. Butterworth’s figure, complete with straw hat. Yeah, I give the best gifts.
- When I went to lunch with my father the other day, our conversation was so interesting and moving that I saw the woman at the table next to us start to tear up. Yup, we’re profound.
- I completed filming my reality TV segment for a national network last week. Although the process took two 14 hour days, my segment will only be around seven minutes. This does not bother me, as I actually want them to edit out the garbled and uninteresting bits. It should air around the beginning of the year, and I’ll do a big announcement when it’s no longer “confidential.” I am hoping to milk this for a free trip to New York. (Today Show, are you listening?) Why New York? Because my sister lives there and I love visiting New York!
- Today is Saturday, which means that both my sons have soccer games. However, neither of the games overlap and it’s actually not raining! The no-rain thing is a rarity in Oregon.
- Despite multiple sprays with enzymatic cleaner and deep cleaning with my new Bissell steam cleaner, my fantastic $15 Goodwill armchair still smells like cat pee. The problem is that the urine went into the crack where the seat and back come together, and it’s next to impossible to reach. I love this chair and will continue to work on this problem. Meanwhile, I have upholstered furniture on my front porch, which is such an awesome and sophisticated look.
Now you — What’s making you happy and pissed off today?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a cat pee problem these days. Our female cat is peeing everywhere because she’s mad at the new kitten (male). I’m sick of washing all the throw rugs. I think I might resort to air freshener. Ack. Cat pee is the worst.
I had to move into an apartment that had previously been occupied by chain smokers. 8 bottles of Febreeze and 2 days of open windows fixed the smell. Maybe if you douse the chair with Febreeze it will help?
Nature’s Miracle is the best I have found for getting that smell out. It can be found at most pet stores, I keep a gallon on hand, as it is equally good on vomit and other little kid stuff. But you need to totally saturate the entire area, then let it air dry. Sometimes multiple times.
I second Rebecca’s suggestion. Take the spray top of the bottle and literally pour it on there. Speaking from experience sadly.
Hmmm…..ok, my 5 things that are making me happy first.
1. Todd (my dh) bought a new passionfruit tree for the back yard and it’s blooming! The flowers are lovely, albeit totally weird looking.
2. I have 20 or so cubic yards of compost, garden soil and topsoil that are ready to go into one of my gardens, which means I can plant something delicious there soon.
3. My fave pair of Doc Marten boots are dusty, which reminds me that I’m practicing one of the behaviors that is becoming important to me: “lead a quiet life, mind your own business and work with your hands”. Well the last one anyway. Which has nothing to do with boots, but hey, dust on my boots means work to me.
4. I don’t have a thing to do today but stay home and take care of my home chores, such as baking bread, making pizza dough, making soap, bagging up chopped bell peppers, dehydrating grapes (for raisins) and chopping up onions for the dehydrator (after the grapes of course) and the freezer.
5. More than half of number 4 is already done and it’s only 10:26am.
Ok, the thing that’s pissing me off…..my dog Desmond marks my chair. The one *I* sit in. I clean it off whenever I see it, but he insists on marking the side and the back. Does this mean he’s claimed me as his own? Thankfully he hasn’t marked ME yet.
Just wait, it will happen. I have an Irish WOlfhound and when he caught me petting another dog, he came and stood next to me and peed on my leg.
Oh, and btw, sorry about your chair. I would want to save such a comfy looking chair too!
Katy, I love this post. I mostly like how you talk about the 5 positive things first and the one that “pisses you off” last. BTW I am excited to hear about your TV stint!
I don’t have personal experience with this, but have been doing quite a bit of reading on natural products for cleaning and think I have a suggestion for your chair. A product named zeolite is available in “breather” bags, is 100% non toxic, and can be reused. It absorbs pollutants as it is an ion exchanger, after use you put it in the sun to desorb (off gas) odors it collects and it is ready to be used the next time your cat does it’s dirty deed on your fave chair. I found them online at http://www.greenstore.com for 10.95 per bag, which I do not consider to be cheap by any means…except for the fact that they are reusable “infinitely” according to the company (and what I have read on the product as well). I’m pretty sure it works on all odors, but I do know that there are zeolite litter box odor cleaners also on the market-so I thought I’d mention it…just in case it helps.
Nature’s Miracle has never worked for me. What really does work is a product called Urine Off. It actually gets rid of the smell.
You certainly give interesting gifts! The birthday dinner sounds absolutely marvelous too. So here’s my 5 happy things: A university nearby is going to spray our kudzu as well as theirs at their cost(only can be appreciated if you have fought kudzu and lost), I bought plane tickets to see my DS and his sweetie for New Year’s with the bonus that they live 3 blocks from the Rose parade route and take cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate in hand and stroll down 5 min in advance of the parade which I’ve never seen, DH is agreeing to get rid of things we don’t use but he has held on to before, I lost another pound, I made a new friend – the pisses me off one is more of a deep sigh as its the leaves starting to fall and the days and days of raking ahead.
Love #2! I, too, am blessed with family that appreciates used and non-traditional gifts.
Our newish couch was nearly destroyed by our pissing cat. Nature’s miracle didn’t solve the problem. A friend recommended “Kids ‘n’ Pets” and it has been wonderful. I pretty much poured it down the cracks, and it fixed everything the first try. I swear by the stuff now, and bought a 6 pack on amazon!! You are beyond the barfing-baby stage of life, but for the sake of your readers—it also works on that. Just sayin.
so, just to clarify – the problem with the chair deodorizing issue is that you can’t reach the part that needs cleaning , right?
I can kind of reach down there, but I know it’s not getting everywhere it needs to be.
Katy
White vinegar is supposed to be good for urine odors. Maybe you could spritz some down into the crack.
Fun post! Can’t really help you with the cat pee issue. There’s nothing worse. I took my sister’s cat when she died, and he started having accidents, so I sent him to live in the barn at the ranch with my son. He (the cat) ended up living out a pretty happy life catching mice. I did get the smell out of my chair, but it was where I could use the shampooer. I think I used Resolve (for pet smells).
Making me happy today: had a fun little junking adventure this morning, my lesson plans are ready for the week, it was 70 with NO wind today (unheard of for n. NE), have a yummy stew simmering, & I got the messy garage cleaned. The thing frustrating me is HGTV showing nothing but House Hunters. I watch so little TV, but can’t they come up with something more inspiring??
1. Using the apples and herbs that grow in my yard I have made a delicious french inspired roasted chicken I’ll be eating in a variety of ways all week.
2. I found a simple solid wood over sized nightstand with side sliding drawer that I’ll be using as an entertainment stand at the thrift store today.
3. I made vocabulary bingo sheets for my students midterm review.
4. I have hard apple cider, a splurge but it was on sale.
5. I also bought a cute white cable knit sweater with hood for my youngest sister (she’s turning 11) for $3.
and now 1 thing that is pissing me off… I’m tired of being the person people call when they need something from me but always forgotten when some event or get together is planned until it is too late! It is hard not to be a hermit when this happens.
The only thing I’ve found to touch cat pee odor is non-chlorine bleach. Daughter’s cat spent the night in her room when it was below zero and used her laundry as a litter box. I soaked it all day in an entire gallon of non-chorine bleach and all the smell was gone! There were all kinds of bright colored clothes in the load, and there was no discoloration from the bleach. I sure hope you can get the smell out – the chair looks comfy!
I don’t know the difference between chlorine bleach and non-cholrine bleach, but be careful using bleach with cat pee – it can create a toxic combination with the amonia in the pee – that is very dangerous!
Gosh, these are some helpful cat pee removal tips! I can use all the help I can get, and may try these products one by one. I have 4 cats, one of them with severe territorial issues. Ugh!
Thanks, everyone!
Nature’s Miracle is great, but this stuff called Enzo-Kleen is better. It was developed to get rid of the smell of decomposed bodies (too much information? sorry.), so it does a great job of eliminating the stench of other bodily fluids, as well. D. W. Davies makes it. It really works and is one of my first gifts to new brides in the family. Yeah, my gifts rock, too.
I bought a spray can of something from my vet ($15 ouch) which they told me was an enzyme that ate the cat pee stink. I bought a can and it really did work.
Gosh, I hope you can get the smell out, that is an awesome chair. This probably wouldn’t work since the urine isn’t fresh/wet, but I’ve had success with using rock salt in hard to reach places. Shove it down there, leave it for 24 hours, then vacuum it out. It soaks up any wetness. Like I said – it probably wouldn’t work since yours isn’t wet, but heck, it might be worth a shot.
Whatever you do, do not use vinegar. I did that once and had “cat pee salad.” It was horrible!!!
And what is the Nutella theory? I’ve been reading for a while and I don’t remember you mentioning it.
OK, one thing that is making me laugh right now is the “why I don’t buy Nutella” reference, because that is my own absolute worst weakness – and I JUST walked by it in the store today, and literally did the follow-it-with-my-eyes-while-forcing-myself-to-walk-on thing (Evil Brain: “Oooh look Nutella, YOU WANT NUTELLA!” Good Brain: “You do NOT want to buy that, you know you will eat ALL of it in 48 hours and feel gross, SO KEEP MOVING!”) Yes, I have the same “keep the crap out of the house” strategy – and I don’t buy Nutella! (Well, almost never.)
I’m a fan of vinegar; I’ve found it works like a champ to kill the pheromones in the urine that smell so….. yeah, that. Poor it on straight and let it air out. Might take a time or two, but I haven’t had it fail me yet. Best of luck!
I suggest using Feline Odor Neutralizer (FON). You can get it at Amazon.com. I originally found it at the vet’s, and it works WONDERS! You do have to basically pour it on there, if it’s furniture, because the pee is probably soaked all the way in.
I have to add my agreement to the Nature’s Miracle suggestion. I have two cat that decided to develop peeing-on-the-carpeted-stairs issues over the summer. I specifically used the Nature’s Miracle Urine Destroyer (which is labeled “just for cats”). This stuff was nothing short of a..well…MIRACLE because I seriously thought we might have to rip up the stair carpeting the smell was that bad. It also made them STOP going on the stairs, so I figure it really must have done the job of getting the smell out.
Ok, so I sorta have a cat love/obsession and plan to do my graduate research studying cats. Cat nerd! That being said–cat pee is a B to get out. Nature’s Miracle is the ONLY enzymatic cleaner that can get it out. However, it will not work if you’ve tried other cleaners before the Nature’s Miracle. It messes up that important chemical reaction. Next, NM takes around 2 weeks for full work…chemical reactions take a long time when it comes to degrading cat urine. Thirdly, invest in a GOOD black light. Cat urine will fluoresce under it. Finally, expect to pitch the chair and start figuring out why your cat is inappropriately eliminating. That’s your best bet to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Oh yeah, just because we can’t smell it, the cats can still detect the odor and often continue to re-soil the area. Cats-gotta love (hate) them!
Megyn,
The reason the cat peed was that she was shut in a room all night without a litter box. And thanks for the two week info, I hadn’t known that. And yes, my first line of defense had been the Nature’s Miracle.
Katy
Oh whew!! That’s good! Dealing with inappropriate elimination issues are the worst! Seriously, it took me well over a year to figure out that our female cat needs a certain depth & brand of litter. Oh yeah, and she HAS to be indoor/outdoor or the peeing starts all over again.
After treating the spot and it dries , push dryer sheets in the opening in the back of the chair. Smells much better than pee and the cat doesnt seem to like the scent and stays away.