I am not alone!

Cascade has come out with a new type of dishwashing detergent and it is absolutely terrible! Not only does it smell more chloriney (yes, I just made up that word), it destructively strips the color off of black utensils and pans while leaving white dots over everything! I was so disappointed with this new product that I took it back to the store and tried to buy the old stuff again in the dark green box, well- it turns out that's now discontinued. I therefore decided to try the Smiths brand in liquid form (a little more expensive, but worth it!) which is working great. 

Being the proactive consumer that I am, I went to Cascade's website to share my dissatisfaction, where I learned that many others have had the same unfortunate reactions. I also learned that they have recently removed all phosphates from their products which you would think would make it less smelly and damaging, but I think they just upped the amount of some of their other toxic ingredients because the Smiths brand that I bought is also phosphate free. Thankfully I remembered this trick that came with a box of fancy appetizer utensils from Pottery Barn, which is to rub a small amount of vegetable oil to retain the black luster. I did this on our damaged kitchen tools, and voila! 

While taking photos in our kitchen, I couldn't help but take one of our current table centerpiece. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bright and cheery yellow sunflowers with a yellow center (hard to find). They're a scream of a deal right now at Sams Club...$3.88 for the entire bunch. That's like 0.78 cents per flower! Yesterday our location was also selling fresh Kettle Corn outside...it made shopping on a busy Saturday totally worth it!