2008 Top Ten

It's interesting to me to see which of the posts I've written in the last year are the most popular, judging by how many visitors I get to those pages. In case you're interested too, here are the top ten posts of the year, in reverse order.

#10. "Happy Birthday To Me"-- My virtual birthday party last spring. Did you come? Unlike real time parties, most of this one is still there-- the cake, the flowers, the concert-- so if you missed it then, you can get in on it even now. This post was the first time I published a photo of myself.

#9. "Bizzy, Bizzy, Bizzy" -- I wrote about re-painting our dining/living/kitchen area, and how "bizzy" we were. People find this by searching for paint colors and drapes. A lot of people must like Croscill drapes and Kilz paint colors!

#8. "My Toes, My Tail, My Nose"-- Complaining about how sick I was on a busy weekend. The title refers to an incident in the old animated Disney version of 101 Dalmations, where one of the puppies complained that his toes were froze, and his tail was froze, and his nose was froze. People landing here were actually searching for the song "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat. I'm sorry I disappointed them, since this post has absolutely nothing to do with that, especially since I'd never heard of the song when I wrote this.

#7. "Happy Birthday, MB3"-- This one is about the birthday celebration we had last year for our youngest son--whom I call MB3, short for Muscular Boy #3. (He's the third son.) I'm not sure why this one brings so many searches here, except there is something out there called MB3, that other people are looking for, that I know nothing about.

#6. "A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife-- and don't forget the cake!"-- A post about our 26th wedding anniversary, and how we tried to resurrect our chunk of 26-year-old wedding cake. Searches leading to this are all looking for that bible verse about a man leaving his father and mother.

#5. "Thanksgiving: His and Mine"-- About the differences in holiday traditions between my husband's family and mine. I have no idea why this one is so popular.

#4. "Sweet Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Thighs"-- One of my early posts from when I thought this was going to be a recipe blog. Evidently there is a market for recipes for chicken with bacon, because I get a lot of searches looking for it. It IS a good recipe, by the way.

#3. "Limited Time Offer! Hurry!"-- My contest post earlier this fall, so I had a lot of visitors. I gave away a necklace from LovelyDaughter's Etsy shop, RoseGoneWild.

#2. "TT#25: Thirteen Birthday Cakes I Have Made"-- Lots of people are interested in fancy birthday cakes, I guess. This post was a Thursday Thirteen where I borrowed pictures off the internet that resembled actual cakes I have made for my kids over the years.

And, drumroll...., the most popular post on my blog:

#1. "The Best Dishwasher Detergent"-- I wrote about my trials and tribulations with my new dishwasher quite a while ago, and it appears that lots and lots of people have the same difficulties. You would be surprised how many searches I get for "dishwasher detergent," "white streaks on dishes," "best dishwasher detergent," "best dishwasher detergent for hard water," on and on in myriad variations.

I hope that post has helped somebody, but I need to amend it. In that little piece of writing I told how I had discovered how to make my own detergent, and to use a product called LemiShine. That all worked for a while, but then the rot began to set in.

You see, I found that the homemade detergent was not stable. It had salt in it, which absorbed moisture from the air, and quickly made it unusable. I could not make a large batch of it to use out of, and it was a real hassle to mix it up fresh every day or so.

And then something happened to the LemiShine. I used it faithfully for many months, all the while watching my dishes get more and more coated with a white layer of something that could only be gotten off by hand with much elbow grease.

I tried using more LemiShine, vinegar and baking soda-- even washing the dishes by hand now and again to start fresh. But it was no use. My dishwasher was all gunked up, the shiny stainless steel interior was white with deposits, whether of hard water or detergent, I couldn't tell, and my glasses were gross.

And then.

A friend introduced me to Glass Magic. I had seen it on the shelves, but never bought it, because the box looks like the Cascade box, and Cascade did a number on my dishwasher. But I was desperate.

My friend said it took a few washings with it, but eventually all her glassware came out clear and shiny again, and her dishwasher was clean.

So I bought some, and you know what? By the time I had used up the box (which at my house was a week at most) all my glassware looked NEW. I'm not kidding. And the stainless steel interior of my dishwasher? SHINY SHINY.

So I have a new hero.

I'm not getting paid to say this (though it would be nice), but if you have problems with hard water or detergent scum, get Glass Magic. It will make you, and your dishes, and your dishwasher, very happy.