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Book Review: My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag…and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha by Jolie Kerr

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Today I am reviewing My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag…And Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha by Jolie Kerr for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): Got a cleaning disaster on your hands? From the Deadspin and Jezebel author of the popular “Ask a Clean Person” column comes a hilarious and practical guide to cleaning all of life’s little, and sometimes rare, household emergencies. Just in time for Spring Cleaning, Jolie Kerr’s book tackles the most common (and uncommon) spills, odors, and – let’s face it – those oh-so-embarrassing stains you just can’t ask your parents about.

With her signature charm and humor, Jolie Kerr takes on everything from Cleaning 101 questions such as “How do I use a mop?” to the more obscure “How to I clean up this ginger beer that exploded all over my kitchen?” My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag is NOT your Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook!

My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag showcases Jolie’s infinite cleaning knowledge and terrific sense of humor, including remedies for heirloom wedding dress restoration, confetti stains on wood floors, dusty ceiling fans and endless laundry, as well as general tips for leading a tidier and happier existence.

Whether you’re moving into a college dorm, purchasing your first home, of finally getting around to cleaning your old one, no stain, spill or surprise windowsill mushroom growth is too odd or embarrassing for Jolie. This book is the perfect guide for college students or housewarming gift for someone new to living on their own.

My review: Hey, it’s obvious that this delightful book is geared to the younger generation. Jolie Kerr is hip and very funny. A few of the ‘situations’ that are covered are definitely more relevant to a younger reader – though I have to say they made me chuckle or, in some cases, ask “What the….??”

But here’s the thing. Jolie Kerr knows what she’s talking about. And she covers a multitude of cleaning questions with humor and down-to-earth practicality. She gets right to the nitty-gritty, as it were. There is a lot of valuable information in these pages – and it’s not only valuable to a college student or someone just getting their first apartment. I learned a lot while reading this book and I’ve been cleaning for more years than I care to mention.

Some people like cleaning. I am not one of them. But I do it. I am the first to admit that I don’t always know the best method for treating a stain or for cleaning a ceiling fan (Kerr has an amazingly easy way to do that particular cleaning task) or for cleaning tile and grout (an endless task here at the cottage and one I often avoid because I hate it.) Kerr’s book provides clear and smart advice for all those situations and more.

Here is a section just made for me: Wedding Dress Restoration Projects: Before and After. Why, you ask? Because on our wedding day, my husband accidentally wiped his spare-rib-eating hands on his ‘napkin,’ which turned out to be my wedding dress. Maybe I should finally tackle that stain?

I love reading housekeeping books for several reasons; the advice is always helpful, I can pick it up and read a section or two at a time, and I learn a lot. But a cleaning book that tackles the subject with humor? Even better.

So, yes, this book is meant for twenty and thirty-somethings. But I (definitely not a member of either of those age groups) really liked it a lot. And I’ll use it. It would be a great gift for someone younger in your life. (And they will think you are oh-so-cool to have discovered it.) It would also be a great gift for you. You can skip over any subject matter that doesn’t pertain to your Older Adult life. Believe me, there is more than enough great advice here for anyone who has to clean their home or their clothes or their car. She covers it all.

About the Author: Jolie Kerr is the author of the popular column “Ask a Clean Person,” which is featured weekly on Deadspin and Jezebel. Her work has appeared in Fortune, BlackBook, the Urban Outfitters blog, Gothamist, The Hairpin and The Awl. She has been featured as a cleaning expert in the New York Observer, O Magazine, InStyle, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Health Magazine, and Parents Magazine. Jolie is a Boston native and graduate of Barnard College, now residing in a teeny, tiny, spotless apartment in New York City.

I am giving away one copy of this book to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll pick a winner on Thursday evening.

On another note: Several of you who subscribe to this blog via email have mentioned that you have not been receiving recent posts. This is a Feedburner problem and it seems to be happening across the blogging world. The short answer: there’s nothing I can do about it but trust it will be sorted out eventually. Feedburner often has mysterious glitches. May I offer some easy, practical advice? Most readers subscribe to a blog via email because the blogger doesn’t post every day and they want to know when a new post is up. You know I post every day. Every Day. So, barring unforeseen circumstances, there will be a new post on this blog every morning. Why not simply bookmark the blog on your browser and click on it at some point during the day? Quite frankly, that’s how I read blogs. (The only blog I subscribe to is my own and that’s just to keep tabs on whether the email is working – and it has been working for me.) Bookmark it. You can rest assured that a new post will be up by 10 am every morning. Like clockwork.

Happy Monday.

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The Scoutie Bunny

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Happy Easter!

As you can see, our little Easter Bunny has already paid us a visit. Reluctantly. Every year we drag out these bunny ears and make Scout model them.

She doesn’t like it. Not by a long shot.

This morning I raised the roman blinds in the kitchen and looked out the window to see a fox staring at me. He was just as surprised as I was. He trotted away from me for a few steps and then turned back and stared at me. My mouth was still open from the gasp I made when I first saw him. Then he trotted around the far side of the dog corral and into the woods.

Wow.

I’ve seen several foxes lately. Twice on this property, once on the road where we walk Scout and once more when one ran across the road in front of me while I was driving. We’ve lived here almost nine years and I think I saw a one or two foxes in all that time. Until now. I wonder if he’s living on our property?

I also saw two bunny rabbits this week. (He’d better stay away from our bunnies.)

Oh, make that three. See below.

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We’re having dinner at Noble and Tina’s this afternoon. It’s sunny and it’s getting warmer – hard to believe after our long winter – but it’s true.

Whatever you celebrate or don’t celebrate,

Happy Sunday.

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Life’s Too Short to Worry About This Stuff

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In the Life’s Too Short/I Can’t Waste Any Time Worrying About This Stuff Column:

Data Breaches: Every time I turn around lately, I’m on the receiving end of an email or letter informing me that a website or store or utility company I have done business with has been the victim of a ‘data breach.’ That between some date and another date, some nefarious group hacked into the site with the result being that some of my data, i.e., credit card info, name, birthdate, address, might be in the wrong hands.

When this sort of thing first started happening, I felt the usual panic, wondered what to do, wrung my hands, etc. But now? I just shrug my shoulders and shake my head and maybe change my password or maybe ignore the whole thing. If this sounds like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, you might be right. But the fact is, we all provide personal information online or at the cash register. We hope, of course, that that information is secure but there is always the risk that it might not be. In this age of digital everything, personal information is readily accessible – too accessible – but that’s the way of the world nowadays.

The people behind all of this are contemptible, of course. They do bad things that affect innocent people. I think it’s terrible. But, in the end, I can’t go into a panic every time I this happens, because it seems to happen more and more often. I can’t be worrying all the time about identity theft. There’s so much written about all of this – especially on the web – that one can quickly be overwhelmed by it all. I’m not going to be blissfully ignorant, but I refuse to let this crap rule my life.

So I shake my head, shrug my shoulders and move on.

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Rules on Blogging: Please stop. Please stop with the ’10 Things That Make a Good Blogger’ kind of posts. Or ‘What Every Blogger Needs to Know.’ Or, even more maddening, ‘How to Coordinate All Your Social Media or When to Schedule Your Pinterest Pins or your Facebook Posts or your Instagram posts” or “How to Use Social Media.” Always with the proviso that you must do these things if you want to be taken seriously. There’s just too much of this kind of ‘expert’ advice out there. And the result is that we lose that individual stamp that is so vital, the thing that makes one person’s blog different from every other blog out there.

I realize, of course, that for many bloggers, their blog is their business. I get it. And I respect that.

Regretfully, at least to me, blogging has changed. What started out as a creative way to share with each other and expand our world, to journal, to share photos, to create, to write – let’s stop for a moment and say that again – to write, has now morphed into an arena where everyone has to have a new project on the blog every day, then has to Tweet or Facebook or Pin and hype the heck out of it. And every stat has to be checked and rechecked and compared to every other blogger’s stats.

If there’s any way to squeeze every ounce of joy out of blogging, that kind of stuff is sure to do it.

The number of bloggers out there has multiplied and multiplied and multiplied some more since I started blogging six years ago. The arena has become much more competitive, with everyone vying for readers, for ad clicks, for a rung on the ladder of ‘blogging success.’ It’s exciting, for sure, this blogging world. And blogging can lead to recognition, to possibilities, to maybe even a book deal. All well and good. Though, as to book deals and blogger hype, I have to raise this question: When did everyone become an ‘Expert?’ The internet has suddenly given everyone a chance to claim the title of Expert. Really? I’m highly suspicious about that one.

Let me say here and now: I don’t claim to be an Expert on anything.

I don’t want to see blogging become the equivalent of a strip mall, where everything is the same and the content is so similar that one could be in any city or town with all of the shops so interchangeable that nothing is really new or fresh or original.

I have to stop myself because there’s SO much I could say about all of this and I will, someday.

Really, in the end, my point is this. I started blogging for the sheer pleasure of it. It brings me joy. Anything that takes that joy and boxes it up and surrounds it with a list of ‘rules’ and things I must do will be summarily tossed out the window.

Life is too short and joy is too hard to come by. It’s too precious to mess with.

Happy Saturday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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