Whew, after all that THINKING about schedules and time and tasks, I'm ready to DO something this week. How about you?
Now, I'm the kind of gal who likes to just wipe the surface of things. I'm not too concerned with the nitty-gritty, the nooks and crannies, the down and dirty. Call me shallow, but if something looks pretty good from a distance, I'm quite OK with that level of clean.
Most of the time.
But every now and then I notice things that can only be handled by getting into the very nitty gritties. Sometimes it feels good to pay attention to the details that people like Martha Stewart & Staff regularly maintain. I just know they do.
Enter: The Mighty Cotton Swab
Also known by the "Q-Tip" brand, or "cotton bud," as the British call it. Which, now that I know the British term, I'm going to use it all the time...with an accent, of course.
Famous for cleaning out ears (carefully) and bellybuttons, this tiny tool is the Workhorse of the Nitty Gritty. Some even believe it to have magical powers, but I can't confirm that claim.
So, for our Small Thing, let's have some fun with a cotton swab. You can clean:
- The gunk in your computer keyboard
- The edges of the washing machine
- The edges of dishwasher
- Almost any crevice imaginable, in: frames, electronics, figurines, body parts
- The gunk in your dog's, cat's or ferret's ears
- Car dashboard and cup holders. Also the vents and door handles
- The gunk around faucets
- The gunk around soap dispensers
I'm sure there are hundreds more things you could clean with a cotton bud, but if you seriously can't find one thing to use it on, I must first ask you: what in the world you are doing at my blog?? You perhaps need other kinds of help. I will then proceed to allow you to do something creative with one instead.
You could:
- Make an art piece
- Put on makeup
- Use it as a paintbrush
- Dip it in baby oil and run it down a sticky zipper
- Dip it in lemon juice to write an invisible message, activated by heat
- Dip in vaseline and coat the inside of dry, cracked nostrils (this actually works)
Oh, my! My brain is ecstatic just thinking about cotton buds! The possibilities are endless, ladies! Why don't we do this Small Thing more often?
POINTS: 40 for making use of cotton swabs, Q-Tips or cotton buds in some way
BONUS POINTS: 20 for telling us what kind of gunk you cleaned, or what you creatively did with your swabs
Song of the Day: The Nitty Gritty, Shirley Ellis
Small Thing Warning: Once you start this task, you might find yourself completely unable to stop yourself from swabbing every nook and cranny in sight. Be sure to call your mental health care provider should Q-Tip mania last longer than 2 hours. This blog in no way endorses the use of cotton swabs as weapons, projectile objects or eating utensils.
