I'm being ripped off by The Flood Company!! And I'm not happy about it!!

So remember how I did the wise thing instead of the fun thing? Well, it backfired. The company I had hired to clean up my flooded basement has decided to RIP ME OFF. My insurance adjuster gave me money to replace my carpet but I decided to use pieces of carpet that we had and just patch the bad parts of the carpet. That way I figured I would save about $1,000 that I could use towards my water heaters and I my insurance deductible would be absorbed by the money as well.

I received the invoice from The Flood Company (never use them, they are dishonest). They charged me the amount that my insurance company gave me minus 50 dollars. What a rip-off. When I looked closer at the bill I realized they were charging me for things they never did. They said they replaced my baseboards with 6" baseboards and we used the existing baseboards, they weren't damaged. I can tell you a measuring tape does not lie and our baseboards measure 3 1/2". 1st lie. They charged me for cleaning our storage room floor, utility floor and food storage room floor. Which they didn't do. We had moved all of our stuff back in the storage room so there was very little floor to clean and if they cleaned it they did a horrible job. DID NOT HAPPEN. The food storage room wasn't even affected by the flood so why would they clean it and again it is very dirty so obviously they didn't clean it. 2nd lie. They charged me for laying 513 sf of carpet in my family room. The area that needed to be re-layed was about 30 sf. They told me they charged me for the full room because they stretched the carpet in the whole room. What a CROCK!! Charge me for stretching the carpet then. I know their is more labor involved in laying carpet than in just stretching it. 3rd lie. They then charged me for cleaning the carpet in the whole family room. When I checked out the carpet they had cleaned about 75 sf of carpet and that is being generous on my part! They charged me for 513 sf. 4th lie. Then they charged me 20% profit and overhead. What a dishonest company!! My insurance adjuster didn't put any profit or overhead on her estimate.

I called and talked to them about the invoice and the man, Alex, that I talked to was somewhat condescending towards me. When I questioned him about the baseboards he never gave me a direct answer. (I am fuming just writing about this!) He also kept making comments about how they need to make money. He is running a business. I bet you he is making BUCKS on my job. He also indicated that we received enough money from the insurance company to cover the invoice and we didn't have to pay our deductible. That is true, but his invoice should reflect the work done not the amount of money we received from the insurance company. I talked to the adjuster about us not replacing the carpet but still receiving the check and she said what we did was our choice, the money was ours.

I'm so frustrated!! I was up half the night thinking about it and I finally came up with a resolution. I am going to call my adjuster and go over the invoice with her to make sure I am looking at things correctly and then I'm going to call The Flood Company and go through each line item with them. If Alex refuses I am going to contact my lawyer. I can be a pretty feisty person but I do have my cracking point and then I cry so I want to stay strong. With my calculations, they are charging me an extra $1000 for work they didn't do. Ridiculous!!!

After I received the invoice my adjuster told me The Flood Company is not an easy company to work with and she wouldn't have used them for any repairs. I wish she would have told me before instead of after. Hindsight is 20/20 and I definitely learned my lesson. A very expensive lesson but a lesson learned.

If this is not resolved the way I want it resolved I will file a complaint with the BBB.

I should have just done the fun thing and got new carpet!!

I love/hate it when . . .

I hate it when you are sick . . .

End of story. Too tired and sick to blog today.

I am not a good elementary school kid's mom

I am not good at the whole school thing. This year I have failed miserably with homework and next year it is bound to get worse. Every night Scott is supposed to read for 15-20 minutes. I was really good at it for a while but in the last three months I can probably count on my fingers how many times he has done it. And that's all his teacher has required him to do for homework! He's not going to get bad grades because he didn't do it but instead of getting a gold reading medal, he is only going to get a silver. (At least it's better than a bronze, right?) I really need to schedule the reading to be done at a certain time during the day and make sure it happens, but I don't. In my head I think that if it is important to Scott he would do it. However, HELLO, he is only 7 years old. 7 year olds have parents to guide and teach them. It's my job to help him get his homework done or at least help him schedule the time for his homework. Next year will be worse. Not only will he have to do reading but he will also have other homework. Yes, I know this is just the tip of the iceberg. He will have homework galore as he gets older. One of his friends has to do chores and homework right after school before he can play. Sometimes he is calling Scott at 5:30 to play because that's how long the homework has taken. I really should do that! That would require discipline on my part. I don't have much discipline.

There is only one more week of school and then 6 weeks before school starts again. That's how long I have to pull it together. I sure hope I can do it!

By the way, I never was great at doing homework. I got good grades until I went to college and then I couldn't figure out how to do the astronomical amounts of homework that were required. That is probably where my problem stems from.

3 reasons I'm frustrated

1. Last night I took John to the doctor. He had been running a fever all day and just wasn't acting normal. He has been running a fever on and off for a few weeks, mostly off, so I really contemplated not taking him. Good thing I did because HE HAS STREP! I am so frustrated. He and The Dad and Kate shared a shake earlier in the day so I am hoping that they don't get sick too. I think there must be something in my house that is causing all this sickness.

2. While I was waiting for the prescription I went and filled up the van with gas. $73.30!! I was completely frustrated with that number. At least I didn't hit the $75.00 mark and have to swipe my card twice. Luckily, John's school is over on Wednesday so my commuting will decrease significantly.

3. I picked up the prescription and the credit card I had on file with the pharmacy was no longer valid. The credit card company, "for security reasons," issued a new credit card number. Usually this would be no big deal but it was the only credit card number that I had memorized. It was very convenient to buy something on-line and not have to pull the card out to get the number. I'm frustrated! It was an easy number to memorize and now I'll have to pick a different card to memorize.

So, #1 is the most frustrating by far but they all hold some level of frustration.

Weekend News

Almost every Monday since school started Scott's teacher has been having the kids write down their weekend news and off-track news. Today Scott brought home the compilation. Here is a list of his weekend news, spelling, grammer and all (I will translate some of the harder ones for you):

7/30 - I went swimming

8/6 - I went to Bear Lake.

8/13 - I cot a cataplare. (I caught a caterpiller.)

9/10 - I got sum dinoseres (dinosaurs)

9/17 - I went swimming.

9/24 - I had a sleepover downstairs

10/1 - I had a pezza night. (One of the great things about this one is the picture. The pizza box says Hot-N-Ready. I guess we get Little Caesars Pizza a little bit too much.)

10/8 - I got sum halloween stuf.

10/15 - I sorted my toys in aufabet order but it diddet work (alphabetical order but it didn't) (Let me just say this project was NOT fun for me. Scott couldn't decide whether to call the whale a whale or a killer whale. It was too frustrating for me.)

10/22 - I was sick.

10/31 - I went to my grampas work and i went trik or treating there

11/15 - I went to my grampoas houes.

12/3 - I went sleding.

12/10 - My grandma came to my house.

12/17 - I went to my frinds houes.

1/2 - My grandpa and my grandma came to my house.

1/7 - I went to the aquarium

1/14 - I did chores.

1/22 - I was sick.

1/26 - I got new shoos.

2/4 - I did a project. (Ask him about his fish project sometime. It just about drove me insane but it entertained him.)

3/3 - I made creepy crawlers

3/10 - I buyed some creepy crawler muld pads on line. (mold packs)

3/31 - My brother had a birthay partey!

4/14 - I was sick.

4/28 - I went to the aquarium. I saw some bat rays. I saw an urchen.

5/27 - I wached Indiana Jones the 3rd with my dad. We saw the snakes. We saw the lion. (It was actually the first Indiana Jones movie.)

6/2 - I played Cars on the computer. I played Flo's V8 Cafe. I played Mater's memory

6/9 - I played magic ball two new worlds. I past 41. I past 51. I past 59. (Yea, those are levels that he passed. He's obviously getting too good at the game and playing the computer WAY TOO much.)


Some of the pictures really make the weekend news. Check back to see the scanned pictures soon.

Cowboy Day

Today is Cowboy Day in Scott's school class. Everyday for the next two weeks has a theme. Scott was supposed to dress up like a cowboy but I have no cowboy clothes. Not a single stitch!! Not even a bandanna. Pathetic, I know! I thought they were going to be making mustaches at school so I sent Scott off to school hoping he wouldn't feel too bad about wearing "normal" clothes but at least he'd get a mustache at school. Right? Wrong! Apparently the paper said we were supposed to make the mustache at home so he didn't even have a mustache!! I felt bad. Don't worry, he had a solution to the problem. At 9:00 he called me and asked if he could use his teacher's marker to draw a mustache on his face. I told him yes. Now, I don't know what kind of marker it was, permanent, washable, who knows. So, if you see him in the next couple of days and it looks like he has a faint mustache it will be because he does!

I give up

So, you were probably hoping for a really exciting post today. Sorry to disappoint but I don't think this is it. The only things I have to post about are John's bowels and my family being sick (and there are things to say about both those issues). Aren't you all sick of hearing about those things?!? Me too. So, nothing exciting. I do dream of the day when I only have one child in diapers, better yet, all kids potty-trained, and the day when no one is sick in my family. Both of those things are a long ways off I'm afraid!

I love/hate it when . . .

I hate it when you have nothing to post about . . .

I love it when you, the readers, can look forward with anticipation to tomorrow and a great post (maybe) . . .

The Father's Day Gift

Maybe you will recall the Mother's Day poem I received from Scott.


He made a nice gift for The Dad and wrote a little letter:


You are very nice.
Thank you for cooking dinner.
Thank you for helping me when I'm sick if you can.
You are fun!
Thank you for taking me to ball games.



I wish I was the fun one and not the sleepy one!


By the way, I don't know where he came up with the cooking dinner thing. Maybe that happens once in a GREAT while.

Scott's 7th Birthday

Today is Scott's birthday. He did take my bribe and I didn't have a friend birthday party for him. I am feeling really guilty about that but I think he is just fine. He was really excited about ALL the gifts he received and thought there were enough to make up for not having the party. WHEW!! He had a really fun day.

Happy Birthday Scott!!

Pets!!!

I'm not loving my pets too much today. They are quite disgusting!

The kids went outside to play today and when they were coming Scott pointed out a "present" the cat had left for us on the porch. I realize cats do this to show us that they care but I wish he just didn't care that much. The present was a nice big mouse (or so I thought). Later the Dad told me it was actually a gopher. Gross! I'm surprised Kate or John didn't pick it up and play with it. It was right in plain sight.

The Dad went to get the shovel to dispose of the gopher and Charlie (the dog) picked up the gopher and started chewing on it. GROSS!! I didn't want him anywhere near me after that incident. I would rather have him eat poo and be near me than eat gopher and be near me. The Dad said it didn't look like he was actually eating the gopher, just getting ready to.

At least we won't have holes in our yard this year from that gopher.

Carrots, I tell you, carrots!!

The saga continues . . .

John had a bm at school today! It started in his underwear but finished in the toilet. I would say that's progress. They had him sit on the toilet for 30 minutes to accomplish the task (it would be a cold day in hell before he would sit on the pot at home for 30 minutes). They put a diaper on him after that because the laxative I gave him had made his poo quite soft and runny. I was very encouraged by this. It's a carrot, just when I think I'm going to give up, he dangles the carrot in front of my face.

Don't worry, the carrot didn't last for long. After we had been home for awhile I heard someone going to the bathroom. I thought it was Scott but it was John (surprising, I know, but he does go by himself on a rare occasion). He had on the diaper from school (by the way, diapers are very hard to pull down), underwear on top of that and his shorts. He had a hard time pulling up his shorts so he came and asked me to help. He had poo smeared on his back and underwear. I'm lucky it wasn't all over his legs. He decided to pee in the toilet but first he pooed in the diaper. Nice!

Don't worry, it gets better. We went for a little drive and when we got back he had poo on his shirt, up his back, on his shorts and oozing out of his diaper. Oh yea, there was also quite a bit in his car seat. Like I mentioned before, a little laxative goes a LONG way and I'm still quitting once school is out!




Side note: I dodged the bullet on the jury duty this week. I may get another summons for this month but I don't think it's likely. Whew!!

I am so tired and this time I'm really done

Last night was miserable! I went to bed quite. John had been crying on and off for a while before I went to bed. You see, he hasn't had a bm for 3 or 4 days and I think he is in a lot of pain. What would you think? I think he was having cramping pains and fighting them. It's really quite ridiculous! Anyway, at 1:00, Scott came into my bedroom with his pillow. He said he couldn't sleep with John crying. I didn't even hear the crying because I was so fast asleep. Scott crawled into my bed and I got up to check on John. He cried for about 30 minutes so I decide to take care of the problem and I went to the store and got him an enema. He is so paranoid about having a bm that he held that fluid in for a VERY long time. And don't worry, it didn't produce a bm.

I decided to sleep in Scott's bed because I don't sleep well with him in my bed. At 2:30 Scott came back into his bedroom saying that he had a bad dream and needed me to sleep with him. I guess sleeping with The Dad just wasn't good enough. I went back to my bed and Scott proceeded to tell me about his dream. His friend told him about Pirates of the Caribbean and he was afraid of the bad guy. Thanks friend! He also told me the reason he had the bad dream is because he was in my bedroom and his dreamcatcher didn't "catch" the dream because it was in his bedroom. Needless to say, I fell asleep around 3:00 and the alarm went off at 7:00.

This morning I expected John to have a pooey diaper, but no, he didn't. Potty training has turned into such a nightmare. When I told his teacher a month ago that I was done she told me not to quit but school's almost out so I'm going to. John is so stubborn and knows that going to the bathroom is something he can kind of control. His teachers even have a hard time getting him to pee at school. So, I'm going to quit. Potty training is such a negative thing. I was told not to get mad when he has an accident but I always get mad. Maybe if I give him a 2 month break and try again things will be better. For now, I'm hoping he has a bm today and I hope he has it at school so I don't have to clean it up.

On a final note: I'm very tired and I'm so grateful for 2 hour naps!! Too bad I probably won't get one. And yes, I had to drive John to school again this morning. That's every day this week. The carpool just isn't working!

Not much to say today

I have been having a problem finding something exciting or interesting to say for the last several days (as you can probably tell by the last few posts). I have also noticed that my posts are pretty short compared to others in the blogging community. I have my reasons.

First: My family is sick again. Not surprising since it seems we haven't had more than a week of everyone being well for the last 8 months. I don't want to bore my faithful readers with the details of sickness (since I've posted enough about that in the past) but that's all I've been dealing with so there just isn't much to say. Also, there is one thing I do want to blog about but I've tried to draw the line on things that might be too personal so I haven't blogged about that (you may think a few of my posts have touched on some personal issues and they have, but this is something different). Maybe I will blog about it later but it will be much later.

Second: My posting length. I like to keep my posts short and simple. When I am reading someone's post that is really long, sometimes I just don't have the time to finish it in one sitting. I like to keep my posts short so even if you only have a minute or 2 to read you can finish it (nice of me, huh). Also, if my post is too boring you know you won't have to read for 5 minutes, you can get the pain over quickly.

Now, some random thoughts. I don't think I will be called in this week for jury duty. My number is 318 and they have called up to 158. If they continue on that trend (of course it does depend on the cases not trends), they will only get to 316. I may luck out!

I love hydrogen peroxide!! My mirrors and glass have never looked better. (I just had to add another plug about it.)

My carpool for John isn't working out so great so I've had to drive 3 times this week. What a bummer and a big expense!

That's all for now. Hopefully I will have something to say tomorrow.

I love/hate it when . . .

I hate it when your 5 year old isn't potty trained (although he does have a good excuse) . . .

I hate it when your 5 year old's diaper leaks during the night and his bed is soaked in the morning . . .

I hate it when your 5 year old wasn't sleeping in the covers but on top of the covers so instead of having to wash just the sheets, you have to wash everything, the sheets, the extra blanket, the quilt and the favorite blanket . . .

I love it when you get right on the laundry and get the bedding in the washer 1st thing . . .

I hate it when you start throwing the bedding in the dryer and realize the soaking wet diaper wasn't thrown away but washed with the bedding and the diaper is still yellow . . .

I hate it when you have to rewash the bedding because you just washed it in pee water . . .

I love it when you realize it could have been a lot worse . . . It could have been a pooey diaper . . .





I love it when you decide to dress-up and wear really cute clothes and really cute high heeled sandals . . .

I love it when you decide to venture out of the house and you know you look so cute . . .

I hate it when you end up walking around the store for two hours and because you NEVER wear high heeled shoes for more than a few minutes your feet end up hurting REALLY bad and you get some nice blisters . . .

I love it when you realize that you love your standby clothing of jeans and a T-shirt and you change into pj's at 8:00 pm because the 'cute' clothes are way 'uncomfortable' . . .





I hate it when you get called for jury duty . . .

I love it when you call in and you don't have to go in for at least the first two days of the week . . .

I hate it when you have to continue calling every evening for the week to see if you have to go in and if you don't you will be "on call" for the whole month . . .

It was so peaceful this morning

On the weekends The Dad and I try to stay in bed as long as possible because we are not morning people. The boys got up around 8:00 and went into the family room to play. Kate woke up a little while later and The Dad got up and got everyone breakfast. He came back to bed because he is sick (again) and everything was really quiet, too quiet. We couldn't figure out what was going on. I got up to see what mischief everyone was getting into. Everyone was doing just fine, no trouble whatsoever. Kate was playing with toys on the floor, Scott was playing on the computer and John was laying on the couch running a fever. I felt really bad for him because he was really feeling sick but it was nice to be able to lay in bed for a few extra minutes and not have to be refereeing John's activities. Usually he is bugging Scott for a turn on the computer or squeezing and hurting Kate's arms or hands because she is playing with something he doesn't want her to have (not necessarily something he wants but something he thinks she shouldn't have).

It was such a peaceful morning.

My OB/GYN died

Not my current OB but the OB that delivered my first two babies. I was in total shock. He died this week in his sleep. He was only sixty.

The only reason I mention this is because I was going to have him fix my problem. This may be too much information, but I have an incontinence problem. Not a terribly huge incontinence problem but a problem nonetheless. Coughing, sneezing, laughing, jumping, running, etc. cause me some issues. It started after I had Scott. That delivery was horrible and I pushed for a very long time. I mentioned my problem to my doctor right after I had John and he told me about "the surgery" to fix it. He also told me he was really good at that particular surgery. My insurance changed so I changed doctors but my plan was to go back to him after I was done having kids and get the surgery even if I had to pay more. It's too late now. Kate is 18 months so I could have had it but I just wasn't ready to admit I was "done." Now I will need to find another doctor who is really good at that surgery.

One thing I do have to say, I would be freaking out if I was one of his patients and I was say 35+ weeks pregnant. What a stress that would be to have to find a new doctor that late in the game.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Bad: The school bus stopped running since school is out for the kids on the traditional school schedule. I would have to drive 30 minutes each way, twice a day, four days a week to take John to school.

The Ugly: Gas is $4.00 a gallon.

The Good: John's school goes for an extra month longer than the normal traditional school schedule (same routine = better behaved child). I found 2 people to carpool with so I will only have to drive the 2 hours once a week.




The Bad: Scott is sick. Really sick. He has diarrhea and is throwing up.

The Ugly: He went to the bathroom, had diarrhea and quickly stood up and turned around. I quickly flushed the toilet and then he proceeded to throw-up. (I can't even imagine if he would have thrown up before I flushed because when he threw-up, the water splashed! EWE!!)

The Good: The dance performance was yesterday so he told me he can miss school today. (He actually didn't feel that great when I sent him to school yesterday but he didn't tell me and toughed it out because he didn't want to miss the performance. That's dedication!)




The Bad: My hair is still a tiny bit uneven.

The Good: I have figured out how to do it, pokes and all, and I think it looks pretty good. The best part is it only takes 3 - 5 minutes to do.

The Not So Ugly: It's actually not too bad now. It's not so ugly and kind of cute!

I'm a believer!

I cleaned my mirrors with hydrogen peroxide today and so far, NO streaks. I'm so excited! I can't tell you how many times I've cleaned and recleaned mirrors just to end up with streaks. The sun isn't out today so when it does come out and shine on my mirrors I may be singing a different tune but for now I'm very satisfied. I've looked at the mirrors from several different angles trying to find streaks but I just can't see any. Hydrogen peroxide is my hero today!

*Just put the peroxide in a spray bottle straight for a streak-free shine at your house.

The birthday party bribe

Scott's birthday is coming up soon and we have been talking about his friend birthday party. I have had a birthday party for him since he was 4 and I just don't love doing it. I also don't think it's necessary for him to have a birthday party every year. I have been called for jury duty next week and we would be having his party on Saturday. I realize the jury duty may not happen and if it does it may only be for a few hours and then I would be dismissed but I won't know and I don't want the stress of being gone all week and then having a party on Saturday.

Last night I bribed him. I told him I would give him more gifts, 50 dollars more in gifts if he decided not to have a birthday party. He is a very bright boy so he is figuring out how much he can get for 50 dollars. I also explained that he would be able to pick exactly what he wanted whereas if his friends bring him gifts it will be what they pick. I know that is a terrible bribe and he actually won't be getting that many more gifts but he doesn't know that. I already have about 50 dollars in gifts so I will pick up a couple small gifts and call it good. I think he has decided to go for it. Maybe this will be the beginning of no more parties. Yea right, in my dreams!

I love/hate it when . . .

I love it when you clean your kitchen floor, on your hands and knees, and it looks great with no more water spots . . .

I hate it when your dog gets a drink of water and sloppily slurps the water and then water drips from his chin all the way across the floor . . .

I hate it when your kids walk in the water drops and leave wet footprints all across your clean kitchen floor then the water dries so you are left with water spots again . . .

I love it when the cat gets a drink of water and daintily sips from the water bowl and leaves no sign of ever being there . . .





I hate it when you look out your windows and start analyzing what the marks are on the dirty windows . . .

I love it when you wash your windows and realize it really isn't that hard and you shouldn't have been paying someone to do it . . .

I hate it when after you wash the windows your dog barks on the nice clean window and gets spit spray all over it which is exactly what was on it before . . .




I hate it when your basement floods . . .

I love it when it damages a small portion of the carpet under the stairs and so your homeowners insurance is going to pay for all the carpet in the common areas in the basement to be replaced . . .

I hate it when you decide to do the wise thing (NOT the fun thing) and patch the damaged carpet (no one will even notice because it is under the stairs) instead of replace all the carpet and lay the undamaged carpet upstairs (boy, I would love different carpet upstairs) . . .

I love it (sort of) when you do the wise thing and use the carpet money to pay for the water heaters and deductible on your homeowners insurance . . .





I love it when you buy a Wii . . .

I hate it when you decide to have it be a Christmas gift but you bought it in May and that's a LONG TIME TO WAIT . . .

I love it when you almost decide to make it a consolation prize for not getting the new carpet but you resist! (BTW, it's been 5 days since it arrived, only 206 days, give or take, to go!) . . .

Sick again

Scott is a little bit under the weather today. He woke up with a swollen eye but it didn't look like pink eye so I sent him to school. When he got home he laid around and complained that he was SO tired. And then he started crying and crying and crying. You would think I had the 'sick' thing down and would check for fever, but no. Instead I took him to the doctor and they told me he had a fever and a virus and they didn't know what the swollen eye was about but just watch it. I really hate running to the doctor, paying a co-pay and finding out it's just a virus. But, I had to do it because, once again, Scott told me he COULD NOT miss school on Tuesday or Wednesday which caused the horrific crying spell. They are having a dance performance on Wednesday and tomorrow is the final practice and his teacher told the class they COULD NOT be absent. I suppose it's a good thing that he likes school never wants to miss.

Housework I really dislike

There are several things that I really don't like to do when it comes to housework. Some of them aren't even the housework part of it but the final step in being done with the chore.

I don't mind vacuuming, in fact, it really doesn't bother me at all. The part that really gets to me is putting away the vacuum. I really dislike wrapping the cord around the post thingies on the vacuum. My vacuum will sit around for hours after I vacuum. Sometimes The Dad will come home from work and put the vacuum away. Pathetic, I know.

I like a clean kitchen floor and I like to clean it on my hands and knees. The part that bugs is emptying the bucket of dirty water and wringing out the dirty rag. I do realized that I have been using that rag and wringing it out while cleaning the floor but wringing it out after, yuck! Like the vacuum, sometimes the bucket of water will stick around until I get the 'courage' to take care of it.

I don't have a problem with laundry and folding the clothes but I don't like to lay the shirts flat. The Dad taught me this. If you lay your warm shirts flat right out of the dryer you don't need to iron them. Logical, but I had never thought of it before we got married. Sometimes I will run the wrinkle release several times thinking I WILL DO IT when the dryer is done (yea, I know, a waste of electricity to run it several times).

I hate vacuuming the stairs. If you ever come to my house, please don't look at them because they are a bit dusty in the corners.

I despise cleaning mirrors!! I can't ever get them streak-free and it drives me crazy. Sometimes I will think they look great and then look at them a few hours later, when the sun is shining on them and notice they are completely streaked! I was told that window cleaners have wax in them so you can use hydrogen peroxide and you get a streak-free shine. I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to.

I thought I hated washing windows but I did several over the weekend and it's really not so bad. I was checking out my work and thought I saw some really bad streaks. Don't worry, it was just a reflection that I hadn't seen for a VERY LONG TIME because they were so dirty.

That's my list. What's yours?