A new level of crazy.

I've always known that I can be a bit abnormal. Growing up in a house with two very, very clean-freakish parents (some may call them OCD), I have learned to truly enjoy cleaning. This is not to say that my house is spotless, even I have my limits (though I do like to have the vacuum trails on the carpet...NO footprints!). I love going to the grocery store and picking out cleaning products (oh, Kaboom, how I love thee), and I love the smell of a clean house. When I am done cleaning a room, I like to admire my work and enjoy the clean. I have grown attached to 409 since Jonathan and I moved to England. Maybe its the nesting instinct that comes with being newly married and living in a foreign country, or maybe its just me, but I love to use 409-daily.

Today, I was baking cookies to send to Jonathan and I wanted to spot clean the counter in-between batches. I reached down into the cabinet and grasped the 409 bottle. As I lifted the bottle, the top detached from the bottom half of the bottle, and lots of 409 spilled out on the floor. No joke, the first thought in my head was "my liquid gold, wasted!". I very rarely scare myself with my cleaning addiction, but today I begin the first step in my healing process. I admit the problem.

This isn't the first incident of crazy since my addiction has begun. A few months back I wanted to deep clean the master bathroom. The water in England is very hard and full of minerals, so the glass door on the shower is always a disaster. I always use Kaboom in the shower, but this time I thought I would attack the shower two-fold: a little Kaboom and a little Tilex (with bleach). I'm not a detail person, so reading the "warning" label on the back of the bottles seemed pointless to me. About 5 minutes into my cleaning, I noticed that I was getting light headed and felt "tingly". I turned the fan on and continued cleaning. I jumped in the shower after cleaning and became increasingly lightheaded. I quickly left the bathroom and read the back of the bottles. Turns out you shouldn't mix bathroom cleaning chemicals...especially when bleach is involved. Luckily, I didn't pass out, though I am pretty sure I lost some precious brain cells (and I don't have many to spare!). All I could think about after that event (other than the fact that I am an idiot) was that Jonathan could have come home from work to find me passed out on the bathroom floor with a bottle of bleach in one hand and Kaboom in the other...I would NEVER live that down.

Lesson of the day: Do NOT mix cleaning supplies...even if the end result is an amazing sparkly and clean shower door, its just not worth the loss of brain cells.