Diva Dollz- People's Pick 2008 for Favorite Women's Boutique and Favorite Shoes and Accessories

Diva Dollz, a new-ish women's clothing, accessories, and shoe store in Pioneer Square (really, it's part store, part museum), is very fun- it's fun to look in the windows, fun to try on the clothes, fun to talk to the owners, fun to get great deals on beautiful clothes.

Apparently, Hurricane Katrina is the reason the owners of Diva Dollz are in business in Seattle, and I'm so happy to see (according to the recent People's Pick results) that they are doing well.

Green Clean

Last weekend, after a family reunion down in Auburn, the 421 household made a stop at Ikea, and I got the most wonderful book: "clean" by michael de jong (subtitled, "the humble art of zen-cleansing"). For a long time I have been wanting to rid myself of the chemicals that are my cleaning products, but to replace with what? This little book is nice because it's short (and only $7), so I don't feel like I am studying for my Ph.D. in cleaning the house.

Here's a few highlights:
First, you (mostly) only need five things: baking soda, borax, lemon, salt, and white vinegar. Cheap, so I'm on board. (Except, where does one buy borax? Not at Rite-Aid. I'm still looking. Update: I found it at Whole Foods.)

A couple of the greatest-hits recipes:

• Equal parts borax, baking soda, and Ivory soap flakes for laundry detergent

• Equal parts borax and baking soda for electric dishwashing detergent

• Add to fresh flowers: two Tbsp. white vinegar, one tsp. sugar for each one quart water

• 1/4 cup borax and 1/4 cup baking soda for all-purpose kitchen and bath cleaner; add salt as needed as an abrasive

I'm on board with the eco-cleaning, as soon as I find borax (it seems like a lot of the recipes include borax). These recipes provide yet another use for the glass jars that I love so much, and because they do not involve any chemicals, I can use rags for cleaning different things and then throw them all into the washing machine without worrying about different chemicals reacting.

All these cheap and easy cleaning solutions lead me to wonder: why did I ever start buying those toxic cleaners to begin with?