Who actually smiles like that when they're mopping their floor?
And, in my humble opinion, if the pad looked that clean after I mopped my floors, my floors didn't really need mopping.

Word of the Day

Shoop - The singular form of sheep. Also applicable to fish as foosh. In the case singular moose, meese is the plural form.

I normally channel surf right on past infomercials when looking for something interesting to watch on TV. There's LOTS of infomercials on TV during the weekend. I avoid infomercials. The overly bright sales people and their overly bubbly sidekicks tend to drive me crazy, but a few of my friends mentioned that they loved their Shark steam mops. My first thought was, huh? Then, of course, I had to actually watch one of the infomercials to figure out what they were talking about. The thing cleans behind toilets? I've always had to get down on my hands and knees to clean the floor around the toilets. Still, I wasn't sure if I wanted to trade in my mop and bucket for one of these steam mops. However, my old mop has seen better days. Tile floors and grout tend to shred the poor things. My mop at The Lake was starting to disintegrate the last time I used it. My mop here, though pretty shredded, still works (kinda) but...I still had to get down on my hands and knees to scrub up the more stubborn spots with a 3M sponge.

Knowing that I needed to buy a new mop here anyway because they don't make replacement mop heads for my old mop anymore, I decided to actually bite the bait tossed out by my friends and the infomercial. As you can tell, even with the endorsement from my friends, I was feeling a bit like a fish nibbling on a hook. I've been caught/stung before. Some things just don't work as advertised. I've got a few of those things taking up space in my cupboards. The electric tortilla maker? That thing that was supposed to perfectly dice potatoes and onions? It slices, it dices...not. I really should get rid of those things. It's not like I have a lot of spare cupboard space.

My Shark steam mop came delivered to my door just before supper last night. It was too late to give it a try out last night...besides, I'd already spent the day dusting and vacuuming. I'm not Mrs. Clean. The try out would have to wait until after breakfast today.

Now, I have to tell you that my floors were incredibly dirty. I hadn't washed the floors before HTP and I left for The Lake last spring and I'd only done a half-baked slapdash mopping after I'd bottled the winter wines. Plus, I'd cleaned those 120 pomegranates this spring and spilled stuff which I didn't completely clean up after starting my winter wines for this winter season. And then...well...my floors were NASTY.... YUCKO NASTY. Needless to say, I'm not fond of mopping or mops. My new steam mop was in for quite the trial workout.

Having said all that, the steam mop did an amazingly good job (considering) and I expect it'll do a better job next time. Due to the nastiness of the floors, I did have to use both the pads that came with the mop and I still had to use a 3M sponge to clean up a particularly nasty area near my stove where I'd spilled some grease last Thanksgiving...but it was only that one spot. The steam mop got all the other spots that would have required the use of a 3M sponge in the past. If that one area hadn't been so sticky, I'm sure the steam mop would have cleaned it up great!

I didn't want to touch the pads after finishing with my mopping. Ewwwww!!!! The pads are supposed to wash up in the washing machine. Of course, skeptical me, I immediately threw them into the washing machine to wash...just to make sure. Besides, they were gross and I didn't want the evidence of how bad my floors were lying out where someone might see. They really did wash up in the washing machine! I couldn't believe it. They're still a bit stained but they're clean. Ready for my next mopping adventure. I did order two additional pads....delivery pending. They wouldn't sell additional pads if people hadn't discovered that they needed them. Actually, if I'd had additional pads, I would have used them this morning. Unfortunately, the additional pads that I ordered haven't arrived yet.

My new toy, the Shark steam mop was easy to use. It was light. It dealt with my tile and my grout a lot better than my old mop. Woohoo! No more buckets of water. No more slippery floors. No yelling at HTP or the dog for tracking across a wet floor. No soap. No getting my hands nasty wringing out a mop. I just might feel like mopping the floor more often. Does this mean that I'll mop my floor on a daily basis? Positive reinforcement is a powerful thing....but let's not go crazy. However, if this steam mop works out well...I may just get one to use at The Lake. I wonder how well it deals with blood and fish scales? Actually, I'm surprised Sis hasn't bought one. She really does mop her floor on a daily basis.

Random Thought of the Day

Your kids are becoming you -- and you don't like them, but your grandchildren are perfect!

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

- Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)