Fighting Bathroom Mold: a Persistent Battle, but Always Winnable

Tilex® has released a brand new Mold Stain & Mildew Stain Remover named Refereshing Breeze in an effort to help you/me/us keep your/my/our home stunningly clean and mold-free. In honor of this new product, Tilex's Facebook page is hosting a mega sweepstakes with great prizes. You can enter to win one of three 40" flat screen TVs or one of ten different Netlfix subscrptions. Each friend you invite to the Facebook page to enter the sweepstakes by 3/16/12 garners you an extra entry in the pool!

In our house, mold isn't a huge problem...at least not the naughty kind...except in our bathroom. We live in an older home that was apartmentalized and the small bathroom is prone to developing mold. It doesn't stick around long because my husband is a mold-killing bandit, but it pops up. There are a few different things we do to stay on top of the problem.

First, in the winter we keep the bathroom door open when the room is not in use to keep the room well-ventilated. In the summer time, we keep the window open to allow more fresh air to come in and encourage ventilation since we leave the room door shut in the summer to avoid cooling it. Keeping the room ventilated helps stop moisture from building up in the wall cavities and on other surfaces. Mold loves moisture and we don't need a bathroom-based love affair going on around here when mold is one of the participants.

The Mighty Macs on DVD: Enter to Win!

I've always loved a good underdog movie and a good basketball story. As a young girl, I would watch the TV movie about "Pistol Pete" everytime it aired! Needless to say, when I first saw a trailer for The Mighty Macs while watching The Grace Card, I wanted to watch The Macs because it looked like a great film and it was based on a true story. I ended up being a bit surprised at exactly how good the true story of The Mighty Macs was.

I originally saw the film in a preview screener in late 2011, but I missed a few minutes of the movie and watched it on my PC which is never quite the same as watching a movie on either the silver screen or a regular size TV (I have a generous computer monitor, but it is still a computer monitor...even when on the movie setting). When I first watched the movie, I found myself wanting to know more abou the real Macs and went in search of data but only found a few pictures and articles.

I was hoping that when the film hit DVD that a few bonus features would be included...and they were! In addition to deleted scenes, the movie contains a "Making of The Mighty Macs" documentary that lasts about 20 minutes and a "The Mighty Macs" ESPN segment that lasts between five and 10 minutes. I liked both because each contained footage of the real Cathy Rush and some of the team mates depicuted in the film. It was also touching to see exactly how invested in the film the cast and crew were. I also didn't realize that the nuns in the bench at Mass near the beginning of the film were actual Macs....that was cute to learn.

Past this new information, I want to share a few points from my prior review of the film:

The Guardian Duke by Jamie Carie: Enter to Win!

I just finished The Guardian Duke by Jamie Carie and am actually surprised at how much I liked this book! I will confess that I had actually looked at this book on Amazon before deciding to review it and read a review that made the book sound like it wouldn't be my cup of tea...but it was.

While I don't want to delve into what the Amazon reviewer said too far because it was a bit of a spoiler....suffice it to say that the reviewer didn't like the fact that the book derives from the standard Christian fiction formula to an extent. However, in this book it more than works because a mystery helps fuel this book. If a mystery book can't be a bit different than other releases, I don't know what type of book could!

In this volume, Lady Alexandria Featherstone is inhabiting her family's castle on the English shoreline when she receives word that her parents are presumed dead and that she has been placed under the guardianship of Gabriel, the Duke of St. Easton. She doesn't believe they are dead and travels off in search of her parents who left home to solve a mystery for a private client (yes, the husband and wife were apparently a sleuthing team...novel concept since a lot of wives were not allowed so much freedom in this book's time period). As Alexandria travels, she makes several acquaintances and acquires a couple of companions for her journey along the way.

Words Spoken True by Ann H. Gabhart - a Blog Tour

I finished Words Spoken True by Ann H. Gabhart on Saturday. I had been reading it off and on all week a chapter at time. I found that about page 100 was the point of no return in this book. I hit that mark Saturday morning and finished the book Saturday afternoon. Loved it!

I feel like I've been ultra-lucky lately because I have read so many Christian fiction books that have really good, decent male leads. Sometimes the love interest in a volume is a bit too stuffy or sanctimonious for my tastes, but I haven't bumped into one of those in a while and Blake Garrett in this book continued that streak. He was delightful...so much so that I feel him and Adriane Darcy were equal characters in this book instead of him being a convenient foil.

In this volume, there are two majorly competing newspapers in the town of Louisville, Kentucky (which I learned was actually a major city at the time when this book was written). Adriane Darcy is the daughter of the Tribune editor and has grown up in the press room. Blake is the editor of the Herald (though not the owner). Tension is supposed to ensue here, and it does....but it was the type of tension that tingles with sparks that let the reader know that it is not going to progress into Pride & Prejudice territory with both characters loathing each other until the end. Blake and Adrian only have a couple of terse exchanges before we learn that they are basically compatible people...but there are other problems.