NaBloCleanPoMo Day #1 Magic Erase the Wall

One of the things that I have had to adjust to most in our new house is having dogs.  I love the dogs, don't get me wrong, but dogs are much harder to clean up after.  Thankfully, J takes care of the grossest clean up (poop scooping), but vacuuming and keeping things in the house clean usually fall to me.  I've mostly gotten a handle on managing dog hair in the house (by realizing that I will never win the War against dog hair...but I can win battles!), but one thing that still baffles me is the dirt on the walls.  Ok, it's not too baffling, since I know Felina rubs up against the wall ALL the time.

She is an itchy dog, and I think she thinks the wall scratches her.  It also deposits lovely dirt from the baseboard up to where the top of her back hits the wall.  Case in point:

Of course, when I am home and see her walk back and forth rubbing on the wall, I scold her.  But, I have visions that as soon as we leave the house, she spends her day walking up and down the wall.  Probably not, but it sure looks like it.  As I was cleaning the wall tonight, I remembered that when we were giving the dogs a bath this week, I wondered why Felina wasn't as dirty as Kyra.  As I was cleaning the wall, I realized that Felina probably deposits her dirt on the wall each day!

The only thing I've found that helps get rid of the dirt is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  It isn't perfect, but it helps.  I know eventually I'll probably rub most of the paint off the wall trying to get it clean, but the walls need to be painted in a few years anyway!

Here is a wide angle view of the wall:

So I got out my trusty Magic Eraser and went to work.

Yuck!

Felina was no help.  I think she was looking at me thinking, "As soon as you're done, I'm rubbing up against that wall again!"

And the finished product.  It is still drying a bit in this photo, but I do think I will need to go back over it at some point.  Maybe tomorrow.  But, it is much better than before!  For comparison again...

Before...

And after!

Thus completes NaBloCleanPoMo Day #1!  Stay tuned for tomorrow's project...