I've just had a whirlwind 24 hours with my parents visiting. Dad needs to be close to home for the next couple of months, so they came down so he could do some phone repairs for us, because he's very clever with things like that. We have no clue on earth! So while Dad fiddled with wires and crawled under the house (he likes that we live on a slight hill, because space!) Mum decided she would clean my windows.
Well. You will never ever see cleaner, sparklier windows than these. A little cloudy ammonia, some water, a few swipes and lots of WOW! So since Mum was cleaning the glass and needed to remove the screens to do those panes I figured I'd clean the screens. Every time I look near a window, now, all I see is outside. No dirt. No dust. No mould. Just outside.
My mother is a very funny lady, with a brain for problem-solving. She happened upon this cleaning method because she was cleaning grout with cloudy ammonia, and she began wondering what it would do for her windows. Not being one to die wondering, she gave it a go. And then wanted to bless me with her magic window cleaning potion. I am definitely the winner. Her very diplomatic assertion was that cleaning my windows was very satisfying. I'll bet...some of them were pretty awful.
This is yet another episode in a lifetime of ammonia events for my mother. I remember, when I was 9yo, and we had not long since moved to Wewak (PNG). I came home from school one day to find Mum on her hands and knees with a bottle of ammonia and a bread and butter knife, in the kitchen. She was scraping years of floor polish off the floor boards. I distinctly remember the acrid stench and that I very quickly left the house and went outside. But Mum pressed on, because she is not only funny, but also very determined (some call it stubborn, but I think determined is a kinder description to this trait, which she has passed down the line of oldest daughters). That polish was also embedded with grime and mould, so she did not stop until it was done. And then she took to caring for that floor properly, until they refinished the floorboards a few years later.
Me? I'm scared of ammonia! Hopefully the windows stay shiny for a long, long time!
1 comment:
I've never use ammonia for cleaning. I had my windows cleaned before Christmas and the lady used a home mixture of dish detergent, metho and dishwasher rinse-aid and Windex. Equal parts of these added to a bucket of hot water made my windows sparkle. I did the inside windows with just Windex.
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