How to Clean Marks Off Walls (Without Toxic Chemicals)

"Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else." ~Ivern Ball

Some fables -- ancient or modern -- ooze with the doe-eyed dedication of imagined perfect individuals, fairy-tale characters, supermodels or movie stars, and the empowerment gained by a sweetheart's strength.

Syrupy romance or not, such tales prove that affection, devotion, tenderness, obsession, and -- dare I say love -- is eternal. Take for instance Guinevere and Lancelot, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe (well maybe not the best of examples), Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (again and again and again), John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Sir Elton John and David Furnish, J. Howard Marshall and Anna Nicole Smith, and even those star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria or their Elizabethan role-models, Romeo and Juliet.

The name Romeo has become synonymous with "lover." But it's Juliet who has deeper feelings and genuine emotions, beyond his puppy love. She shatters Romeo's shallow view of love, moving him to speak some of the most beautiful love poetry ever written..."When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew." "Love goes toward love."

Notes of infatuation, memos of obsession or passionate communications new or old have appeared throughout time as scribbled romantic words, hearts-n-arrows and tangled initials -- even on the walls of Juliet Capulet's house in Verona.

The celebrated balcony where Juliet pined for Romeo has for centuries been a pilgrimage for lovers, and the tourist facsimile remains one of Italy's most visited sites. Lovers' graffiti left on the house's walls and doors include passionate scribbled words, letters, doodles and even post-it-like notes stuck on with bubble gum. As an act of preservation, Juliet's house is regularly scrubbed clean of its love notes.

On this Valentine's Day, if your personal Romeo (or Juliet) should leave missives of love scrawled or meticulously written in either crayon or pencil, breathe easy in knowing that baking soda can remove both from walls. To remove your sweetheart's sonnet, just make a paste of baking soda with a bit of water, scrub the lovelorn area, and then rinse with clean water.

The saying goes "Love is not written on paper, for paper can be erased. Nor is it etched on stone, for stone can be broken. But it is inscribed on a heart and there it shall remain forever." So whether they're rhymes for your Honey, limericks from your Love, couplets for your pet, odes from your Beloved, prose for your Precious, or verse from your True Love, remember to allow your words of devotion to speak from your heart and not from your wall.