On Gassy Foods:
A teaspoon of ground ginger in chili keeps everyone gas free. It has something to do with the enzymes in that particular herb, and it works every time. It has saved me for a couple of decades from my husband's night time gas attacks! As a young bride, I made up a batch of chili for him. That night I swear a low hanging gray cloud nearly smothered me! I had to crawl out to the couch in order to breath again. Not long after, I heard about the ginger trick. It works! They don't even taste it, but your nose and lungs will thank you later!
On cleaning Oriental rugs:
I recently had to clean a small Oriental rug I have. It is from an estate sale, so I really know nothing more about it than it is old, and it is wool. Well one day Mr. Dog had a little accident on it. My bad for not getting up earlier! He really is a good dog, and I can forgive him this accident because it's one of three in the last six years. But that didn't help the rug.
Now my good friend, Rose, used to help her grandmother clean the Oriental rugs twice a year out on the farm. This is a place in Virginia and Rose told me what she did. I was hesitant, but it worked! Always trust Grandmother's work! However, it isn't easy nor is it for the faint of heart. If you want to try though, this is what I did.
Supplies:
Borax. I used one box for a 4' x 6' rug.
Sponge mop with a new head
Plastic tarp a bit bigger than the rug
A clean sheet larger than the rug
Extras that help:
Two to four sawhorses and four long 2x4 boards in a length longer than your rug.
A very warm day
Prep work: If possible, vacuum or sweep off the rug to remove extra hair and dirt.
Where to wash: This should be done in the backyard or on the driveway if it's clean.
Place the rug on the tarp, turn on your hose, and wet the rug down. This part had me worried, but it was fine. After you have it thoroughly wet, sprinkle on the borax and gently work it into the rug. At this point, the water coming from my rug turned brown. The rug had come from the home of a smoker, so that might have been some of the issue. Once it was washed I found it had colors and a pattern that I hadn't seen before!
I used half the box of borax on the first wash cycle. When you've worked it all in, it's time to rinse. It does help if you have the rug on a little bit of a tilt so that the water can run off. Otherwise you might have to fuss with the tarp some to create a channel. Rinse it in the same manner as you would wash down a sidewalk. Use a side to side motion with the water, working from one end to the other.
Be gentle with the washing. Wool is fragile and if you use any kind of scrub brush, you will harm your rug. Thus the clean, new sponge mop head. You just need to spread the wet borax over the rug and carefully work it in. Don't be alarmed if you see small wads of stuff coming off in the rinse, that's loose hair. Remember, you're washing a hair rug and it sheds!
Once the first wash and rinse is done, it's time to sprinkle on more borax and work the second batch into the rug with your mop. Rose's grandma used to have her shuffle around on the carpet in her bare feet! Rose wasn't very old, maybe 6 or 7, and she thought it was great fun. Borax can be poisonous if ingested by humans or pets, but it won't hurt the skin. Since Rose is now an adult, I'd say she survived just fine!
Rinse again, only this time rinse until the water runs clear. That sounds easy, but it took me nearly an hour to get the water to run clear! I did roll it up, stand it up, ran the water through it from the top, unrolled it and rinsed it yet again. This is not easy! But the end result was worth it.
Once the rug is completely rinsed, let it sit for a little bit to drain as much water off as possible.
Now the next part requires some muscle. If you have the sawhorses and boards, set them up so you can drape the rug on it as flatly as possible. Once it's draped on the wood, put a sheet over it and use more boards to hold the sheet down. The sheet is to prevent sun damage and bird droppings on the rug.
I wasn't that lucky to have the saw horses and boards. I used a chain that was hung on the clothes line, hefted the rug up, and covered it with the sheet as directed after I hosed it down ONE more time to be sure it was borax free. The rug is small and did dry, but the down side was that there was a fold line in it once it was placed on the floor again. That line did eventually relax itself out of the rug, but for a larger rug it would be unsightly.
The rug came out remarkably soft and clean! It did not shrink, it did not wilt, it did not self destruct with a scream of recrimination! It took about two hours on a hot, sunny afternoon to completely clean it. I saved myself a lot of money and time, and I don't have dry cleaning chemicals scenting my home.
The next time I do this, I will have muscle around to help me, and some kind of wooden frame to work on. I'm thinking wooden lattice across some saw horses would do the trick. Especially if they're framed by those 2 x 4's. I did mention this to my husband.
I wonder where he wandered off too?
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