Category Archives: Housekeeping – Maintenance

April 9, 2018 · 3:52 pm

Decluttering – Phase 2 Begins

Frugal and Thriving

I’m still a slob. There is almost anything that I put ahead of cleaning. At the beginning of the year I made myself a promise that I would go through things in my house religiously – once every 30 years or so – and REALLY make a difference. I also promised myself (yes, I talk to myself a lot) that I would make every effort to make a donation to the Disabled American Veterans, aka The Veterans Thrift Town in Fort Smith, plus our local library, once a month all year long until all was under control.

To date, we’ve made 6 donations to the Vets and 2 to the library – a mixed success rate, to say the least.

I took a break, but now I’m starting with Phase 2 of my decluttering/purging/reorganizing/cleaning promise.  The biggest areas of concern were tackled in Phase I. Large areas needing help from my husband remain our basement, garage, and the shop. The problem is that basically, he would like to throw away MY stuff and vice versa.  So I’ve put these on hold to ‘discuss’ another day.

Pinterest

Today I started on Phase 2 of our Office clean-up. I tackled a 4-drawer file cabinet that I discovered was a repository of old records from my website, Creative Artworks. I shut down the website last June. All the records were obsolete, just taking up space. So, I –

  • took almost everything out of the drawers
  • saved manila file folders that were still usable
  • gave away hanging file folders whose colors were really annoying (yuck green, even yuckier dirty mustard color) saving the many I still had whose colors are good (purple, a really nice shade of blue, bright yellow, etc.)
  • I put the things I could use back on the office shelves
  • put the hanging folders that were good, but that I didn’t want, in the ‘donation’ area,
  • threw away a large trash bag of obsolete ‘stuff’ that will go out for pickup tonight to be whisked away by the good trash people tomorrow.

The next step will be to relocate stuff that I can now store neatly in the file cabinet that have been looking for a home. I’ll clean out the office shelves more in the process and then clean when all is where it should be (assuming it gets that way.)

I’m making definite progress on my promise, even though I’m one-and-a-half donations behind to the local library. They collect books to sell to the public in order to raise money twice a year. They either just had a sale or are going to have one very soon; so as soon as that is done, I’ll get more serious about finding books around here that can be donated.

I still don’t like cleaning that much, but PURGING is beginning to feel really good!

 

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March 24, 2018 · 1:09 pm

Yet Another Challenge

If I were superstitious, I might believe in the Rule of Threes – where you have to endure three things going wrong before things get back to normal. But what we’ve been experiencing lately goes FARRRRR beyond this rule. It seems that every day we have at least one thing not working properly and needing to be fixed or replaced. I’ve been gritching about this stuff to you lately, and today we just dealt with another one!

This time, it was when I was doing the laundry. I put the first load in the dryer and started the 2nd load in the washer and then took the doggies out, who were telling me they would explode if I didn’t take them out NOW! (They lied. They got distracted and didn’t pee until we had been out about 10 minutes.

Duet Washer and Dryer Combo

(This pic shows the combo we have, but ours is several years old, and our utility room is not nearly as spacious and pretty as this one.)

My husband joined us in the front yard, saying, “Something is wrong with the dryer.” When we discussed it, the problem was that the utility room was getting hot. The dryer was running, but it usually doesn’t heat up the utility room noticeably.

We had to move a BUNCH of things out before we could even isolate the problem. I moved all the stuff on top of the washer and dryer out into the dining area. Then I moved the humongous dog bed we have in there for Amber. THEN we inched the washer out from the wall until we could see behind the dryer. The large flexible vent hose had come loose from the dryer and was lying on the floor, allowing hot hair directly from the dryer to come into the utility room.

We moved the washer out further so that my husband could get behind it. He decided that he could make things hold together the way they should if he wired the two parts of the hose together. Once that was done, I did the appalling job of cleaning the floor behind the washer and dryer and sweeping the things that had collected under the big dog bed.

We got the dryer and then the washer back where they were supposed to be and then I started moving everything I had moved OUT back IN again. We’re back to what passes for normal around here now, but it’s interesting to try to figure out what will go on strike next….

Thank goodness my husband can fix most things!

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March 20, 2018 · 10:38 am

Delighted and Appalled

Dyson Animal Ball Series

This is the later version of the Dyson vacuum I have. I’ve had it for several years now. Each time I use it, I’m delighted – and appalled – at all that I empty out of the cannister.

I KNOW I should probably vacuum every day, particularly since we have two shedding dogs and two shedding cats (the fish don’t shed, thank goodness). The truth is that almost everything takes precedence over house cleaning.

I’ve been noticing that our carpeted stairs were needing attention. Today was the day. I used the battery-powered portable Dyson that hangs in its charging center in the pantry. I can use the top, along with a couple of attachments, to clean the stairway. There was a bunch of matted hair in the stair creases (is there a name for this, other than crease?).

I first used the whisk broom, vigorously attacking the creases. It worked well. Dog and cat hair was flying off the stairs onto the foyer carpet.

Amber was in the office, but noticed me when she heard the sound of the whisk broom. She came running and saw furballs flying in the air. She snapped one out of the air and ate it. She thought it was a FINE game and smiled at me, wagging her tail. I kept her amused the whole time I did the first part of the stair cleaning. I have no clue how many furballs she ate…

I’ve now finished vacuuming with the hand-held Dyson and the crevice tool, plus the stairs tool, and then the foyer and living room with the Animal Dyson. It looks much better now.

I’m still delighted at the way the vacuums work. Dyson makes really good products. But, I have to tell you, when I empty the cannisters, I’m also appalled at all the dust, dirt, furballs, etc. that were on our carpet before I started. I know I’m a lousy housekeeper. I’ve told you I’m a slob. But this is powerful evidence that I speak the truth. Thank goodness I have good equipment when I finally bestir myself to use it!

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March 18, 2018 · 12:17 pm

Spent

FunnyPlanet

A wonderful combination of too much pulling, hauling and digging on the irrigation system with my husband yesterday and a night where I seemed to be looking at the clock each hour until right before the alarm went off are making me pretty worthless today.  I tried to curl up under my throw in my recliner after breakfast and initial chores were done, but aches and pains made me get up and take some Ibuprofen. “Getting old ain’t for sissies,” as Bette Davis wisely said.

Since I was up, I again noticed that the aquarium was still looking pretty sad. The too-large filter pump was in and working, but the top wouldn’t fit on the aquarium with that pump and the water looked cloudy. I decided that it was past time to do something about that.

 

An hour or so later, the aquarium is back together again . I took everything out, including the fish, siphoned all but an inch of the water out, scrubbed everything, put in the new, smaller filter pump with a new filter in it, put all the ‘stuff’ back in and then filled it up with specially treated water. Finally the fish were carefully scooped up, one by one, and put carefully back into the aquarium. The new filter is working nicely, the top now fits on the aquarium again, and the water is nice and clear Happy fish!

 

 

I stored the too-large pump and the filters that go with it, in case of another disaster. Keeping the sweet fish alive is the first priority.

 

 

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March 17, 2018 · 4:08 pm

Irrigation System Makes Us Thirsty

article from Buzz Feed Partner

We just came in from two sessions of repairing our irrigation system in the front yard. My husband created a system from PVC pipes, elbows, and knees :0)  and hoses with clamps. When we turn the system on – on a timer once we start watering every day – the water comes through drilled holes in the PVC pipe. We used to spend almost an hour with hand-held hoses, trying to give our poor, thirsty plants enough water to keep them alive. We lost a lot of plants before we came up with the system we use now.

As with anything out in the sun, the hoses become brittle or break from a kink, develop leaks, etc. Today we fixed the two worst parts of our system. We’ll probably find places where hoses have burst, connections come loose, etc., when we turn it on, but we KNEW these two areas needed basically to be redone.

I was going to work out in my greenhouse, but when I saw what my husband had started, I dropped my plans and played ‘helper’ and ‘go-fer’ instead. I was also planning to change the filter pump in the aquarium and clean the whole thing out – since we got the new pump and filter inserts today at Wal-Mart, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

While we were out getting parts and running other errands, we got some lunch to bring home. We also brought home a rotisserie chicken, so all I’ll have to do tonight is reheat that and make a salad. Wonderful!

I’m going to go drink a bottle of water and rest a bit now, since we worked for about three hours outside today, not counting the errands. A good day for old folks. :0)

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March 4, 2018 · 2:28 pm

More Purging Progress

123RF

After our last donation of ‘stuff’ from my art room, I came up with more – about half a 39-gallon trash bag full, and the bag sitting in our foyer, waiting.

Today I enlisted my husband’s help. We went through some really big bins in the basement that were filled with coats, jackets, rain gear, vests, etc. that weren’t worn all this fall or winter. We are going to donate a good half or more of what we went through, freeing up two large bins and one small bin downstairs. We’ll plan to make a trip to Fort Smith sometime in the coming week with a donation to the Veterans Thrift Store.

 

My next reorganization project will be my greenhouse.  These are pics from BEFORE I started deciding what belonged out there. This will actually be an ‘organization,‘ – rather than ‘re,’ – because all I’ve done since my husband and I built the greenhouse is take stuff out there and stash it, waiting for spring. This will be my first time trying to make sense of the space I have out there. I want to set up a planting area, a supplies area, and then have kind of a staging area for when the seeds start to make actual plants and before they’re ready to go out in the garden.

I need to do something about the floor out there because the black weed barrier you see here has torn in several places. We have some leftover rolls of carpet that I’ll probably spread out in walkways as an interim measure. I’m planning to use some of the bricks we’ll have when we take down the two damaged planters we have now and replace them.  I’ve never tried to make walkways with bricks before, but this seems like a good thing to try.

As I get rid of things I’m feeling better and better. I’m happy that I’m finding lots of things that others might like to use. I feel good that I’m throwing what isn’t good away. It feels good to have LESS. And it feels GREAT to have what I KEEP more organized.  As I go around the house, I see more and more things that need to be gone through, more that needs to be given away or thrown away. Purging and reorganizing seems to be good for the soul.

 

 

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March 1, 2018 · 9:55 am

“Have-to’s,” “Need-to’s,” and “Should’s”

ShangralaFamilyFun.com

Yesterday was a much-needed day of sloth for me.

Our good plumber had a guy call us regarding putting a snake into our clean-out pipe in the front. He came about 3pm and was gone 15 minutes, our problem fixed. The last time we needed this was in 2015 (my husband checked his log). We had to pay a fortune because we – and the guy – had to FIND the clean-out pipe. It wasn’t where we thought it was, and was buried after many years of things moving, shifting, and settling around here. After finding it, we added to the pipe so it sticks up out of our gravel. Some people might call this ‘ugly,’ but ugly is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Since our bill was about 1/3 of what it was last time, we call it, ‘beautiful.’

The only other significant thing I did was gather books and take a donation to our local library.

We are hopefully having our last day of rain and drizzles – looking forward to two or THREE days of sunshine! (THANKS to those of you who were still doing a rain dance for STOPPING!)

Since I’m not planning on diving into another purge/clean-out project today, I’m going to concentrate on getting back to my regular exercising regimen – walking, the elliptical trainer, and stretching via yoga. With all the cleaning, I haven’t done this and my poor old body is feeling it. I’m hoping that getting into my usual rhythm will loosen me up and ease my old woman’s pains.

‘Have-to’s’ and’ need-to’s,’ as well as ‘should’s’ have accumulated while my attention was elsewhere, so I’ll use today to see how many of those I can check off my list.

I wish you a happy, productive day – or give yourself permission for a wonderful day of sloth.

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February 27, 2018 · 5:09 pm

The Art Room Reorganization Project is Finished!

BEFORE:

To refresh your memory a bit, this what my art room looked like before the purge/clean-up/reorganizing. This had gotten to the point there was hardly anywhere to sit down and no clear surface on which to work. Finding something was an awful prospect. NINE+ 39-gallon leaf bags of donation and FIVE 39-gallon leaf bags of trash later, things look a bit better.

HALLWAY OUTSIDE ART ROOM:

The shelves on the left WERE full of art supplies – glassware, gourds….. Now this is where quilts, Afghans, comforters, etc. are stored. The super-large Ziploc bags will keep the dust off and you can see what’s what. The fabric curtain at the right of the picture keeps dust off sheets, etc.

ART ROOM CLOSET:

This is a combination gift wrapping center, some finished artwork and mainly paint. This is also the entrance to our attic; hence, the ladder.

 

 

MAIN ART ROOM:

This area is set up for drawing (I’m trying to work my way through “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”) and the use of alcohol inks – a fun, messy art form I’m really enjoying.

 

This is my drafting table that was completely buried in the before pics. I paint note cards, thank you notes, stationery, etc. here. The drafting table is protected by a sheet of black and white vinyl, and then there is a thick piece of glass on which I put the work to paint.

 

This is the area where I tie ribbon on my stationery and note cards. I also do a bit of jewelry making.

 

Paper supplies, craft envelopes, etc.

 

I HOPE that you can see a difference. It will never be completely ‘tidy,’ because this is my play room. I could stack things neatly and finally have it ready for some enterprising person to photograph it for a magazine (in my dreams) but then I wouldn’t want to go in here because I didn’t want to mess it up. :0)

Now I feel free to go up there in the next few days and get started with a new idea I have for a line of stationery, note cards, thank you notes, and greeting cards. I’ve been dreaming about it for a couple of weeks now, so I’m itching to get started!

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February 27, 2018 · 11:07 am

Treasure is in the Eye of the Beholder

National Treasure Film Set-Wikipedia

Somehow the ancient, old, chaotic feel of this photo reminds me of my art room right now. I’ve pretty much finished gathering things for donation, though I’ve started another bag. I’m down to the nitty-gritty of going through things carefully, getting ruthless about whether I actually plan to USE whatever it is, and then deciding its fate.

This is harder because I’m finding lots of things, like pictures torn from magazines, that get my juices flowing. I’ve decided to pare these down to about 1/4 or less of what I currently have. I’ll make files of what I keep so that I might actually be able to find them later.

I’m finding ‘treasures’ though – things I’ve had for years that have been buried. I’m loving this – but the finding of wonderful things makes it harder to make significant progress on my efforts to purge/give away/throw away/clean and reorganize.

I did finally uncover a chair, so I can sit in the middle of the chaos and go through things. I put in two sessions yesterday and will do at least that much today. I’m hoping to be able to share pics with you soon.

In the meantime, who knows what treasures I’ll find today!

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February 26, 2018 · 11:39 am

Feeling Lighter

arts-kids

We just got back from taking another donation to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith. We took 9 large leaf bags, so my art room is definitely feeling lighter. It’ll feel even lighter when we take the two large bags of trash I added to our regular tonight!

Now that the decks are cleared a bit more, I can concentrate on starting to put things where they will live. I’ll probably shed more, but the majority of the give-away or throw-away portion of the purge and clean-up is done.

Yesterday I finished reorganizing the hallway outside the art room. Quilts, afghans and comforters are now all bagged up and on the shelves that formerly held art supplies. The sheets are kept behind a shower curtain across the shelves to keep the dust down.

I’m excited about finally getting to reorganize some things because that means I’m at least one day closer to being able to actually USING the art room to make something!

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February 25, 2018 · 11:10 am

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Garrett’s Moving & Storage

This isn’t my art room, but I guess it COULD be.  My husband came in last night, hoping to see a good amount of progress. However, this is one of those projects that looks worse until it’s completely finished.  He looked shocked, and then, trying to say something tactful, managed, “I guess it’s got to look like an explosion to show you’re doing something.” (He’s sill alive, so I guess it worked.)

I’ve centralized our quilts and comforters storage, pulling things from our bedroom, the guest room, and two cedar chests. I should finish the reorganization of my linen closet area in the hallway today. I’m reorganizing the art room closet, as well as the main room, so things that come out of there are going

  • into a donation bag
  • into the trash
  • onto a table in the main room until I make a place to put it

I also took everything out of a drawer in the drafting table. I was looking for a key for the cedar chest under an art room table. I didn’t find one, but when things go back in the drawer, it’ll be much nicer. :0)  It turned out that I didn’t NEED the key for the cedar chest! I pulled it out laboriously (the thing really seems to weigh a TON). I found that you push IN the area of the keyhole and lift up on the lid at the same time. Wallah! It was filled with ‘stuff’ of all types. UGH. It is now empty, pushed back under the art room table, with a FEW large things that need to be flat on top – at least for the moment.

The plans are to bring the bags of trash down to be put out tomorrow night, AND to bring down the donation bags that we’re planning to take to the Veterans Thrift Store Monday or Tuesday.  Those two things will clear the decks for more rearranging of the stuff remaining in the room….

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February 24, 2018 · 11:27 am

That Awkward Stage…

ClipGround

I have several shelves inside the art room, inside the adjoining closet, and outside the art room in the hallway completely cleared now. The result, after 8 leaf bags of donations and two of trash, is that the art room – right now – looks worse than when I started  ( if that’s possible.)  It certainly looks as if a bomb hand landed when you open the door…

I’m telling myself firmly that I AM making progress.

Today I’m going to start putting some things away in the place they’re going to live. That should clear the decks – if only a bit – to make it so I can find a chair to sit and rest on from time to time.

One weird problem I didn’t foresee – I have a cedar chest that has a cushion top that I got from my mom. It weighs a TON, more or less. I don’t want to get rid of it, so I put it under one of the tables in the art room. It eventually was buried beneath lots of wonderful sheets of posterboard, large frame mats, and other stuff over the years. I uncovered it yesterday. I then proceeded to pull it out from the wall a bit and open it. I couldn’t! It’s locked. I have no clue where a key is. I’ll look around today, but I’ve already talked to my husband, asking him to use his nefarious lock-picking skills, to open it for me. It may be completely empty OR stuffed. I don’t have any idea which. Today the mystery will hopefully be solved.

You won’t see pics until I can at least get around in there without falling on my rear. I’m still hopeful that the project will be substantially, if not completely, finished by the end of the weekend.

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February 23, 2018 · 12:34 pm

And the Clean-out of the Art Room Continues

Mairtown Kindergarten-Ephemeral Art

I love this photo.

Yesterday I told you that I thought I had maybe two more leaf bags of things to donate to the Veterans Thrift Store and then I could begin cleaning and organizing. I filled both bags and am still going – if not STRONG – still going.

Something nice is happening, though, as I go through things.

For awhile I was sad because I seemed to be shedding ‘who I was,’ as well as ‘stuff.’  It was hard for me to give anything away. I might need it for something….

Now I’m actually making some good decisions on what I really enjoy doing, and would like to continue doing. An example of this is painting glassware. I’m thinking of new things to do, new designs to try. We have a sand blaster in the shop and I’m looking forward to ‘frosting’ some designs I cut out, plus I find I really enjoy trying to etch the glass with my little dremel tool.  I would like to watch some YouTube videos of someone who knows what they’re doing and then see what I can do.

Once I decide that I no longer really need to do an art form, I find lots of supplies and tools to give away. I’m actually feeling freer – eager to get things organized so I can play again.  I’m hoping to gather the last of the donations from the art room finished by the end of the week, if not before, so I can then figure out where I want to put things. Meanwhile, I have several fun ideas rattling around in my head – giving me motivation to keep on keepin’ on!

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February 22, 2018 · 11:37 am

Seeing the Light at the End?

artandcreativity.blogspot.com

I’m going back upstairs to do another session in my art room clean up project. We took 6 large leaf bags of donations to the Veterans Thrift Store this week and I have 4 more filled. I think maybe one or two more bags of donations and then I’ll concentrate on continuing to throw away while I clean and reorganize.

The shelve in the hall are emptying of the supplies I’m donating, so I’m going to include those shelves in the reorganization project – using them for longer term storage for linen closet type stuff. This will centralize things from our master bedroom and the guest room. I have some large bags to put quilts and blankets in. I’ll cover up comforters we’re not using now, too.  I really hadn’t thought about the new use for the shelves, but things evolved as I began to get rid of things.

I’m hoping to finish the art room decluttering/purge/reorganization project by the end of this week. I’ll take pics to show you. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to starting to create some ideas that have popped up while trying to go through piles and piles of ‘stuff.’ :0)

 

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February 21, 2018 · 11:24 am

Little by Little…

 

I’m feeling somewhat like “The Little Engine That Could” today. I keep saying the equivalent of, “I think I can. I think I can” while trying to clean out my art room.

 

The art room is an accumulation of about 20 years, rather than 30, as some of the rest of my clean-out projects have been, but it’s harder for me because of the emotional attachment and illusions of ‘some day.’  I have a good start now. I feel even better because after filling 6 large leaf bags full of things I think others might enjoy playing with, we took the donation yesterday. (These were all lined up in the foyer downstairs). Now the decks have been cleared and I’m ready to start another session. :0)

As I’m cleaning, I’m making decisions about what I want to continue to do after the clean-out is finished. I’m starting to feel less sad that I’m not going to do some things anymore because I can concentrate on what I still love to do. I’ll have more room to organize the things I need for each type of art or craft.

(My husband, who sometimes wears the hat of “Balloon Pricker in Chief,” continues to ask if I’ve started cleaning things out yet. He finally quit doing that – at least for the moment – when he helped load the truck and then UNload it at the Veterans Thrift Store yesterday…)

As I also clean out supply shelves my husband put up for me in the hallway upstairs outside the actual art room, I’m seeing them as being more useful as added linen closet type space – an option I didn’t have before!

I AM feeling better as I do this. I’ve given away a LOT of things. I’ve thrown away a LOT of things. I’ve reorganized what’s left in each area so that I know what we have and where it is (mostly).  When my art room is cleaned and better organized, I look forward to starting actually USING it to start trying to create the ideas that have been rattling around in my head.  :0)

 

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February 18, 2018 · 3:43 pm

Thoughts on The Art Room Project

Pinterest

I’ve made more progress today on cleaning out my art room. I have a total of FOUR 39 gallon leaf bags full of stuff to donate to the Veterans Thrift Store soon.

The thing I didn’t expect was that this project would make me so emotionally tired, too.

I’ve spent a large part of my life trying to create things, paint things, decorate stuff – to sell on my former website, Creative Artworks. Last year I closed the website down, shifting my work to Etsy  and  ArtFire.

Now I’m trying to pare down what I’m trying to create and the materials I need to make them. This is surprisingly hard, in that I’m closing some doors. I’ll feel better once this is finished and I have more room to spread out and start trying to make ideas rattling around in my head come to fruition, but I have to talk to myself, pushing myself to admit I no longer want to make something and actually gather the materials to give to others. I’m happy to provide materials for others who might love making use of them, it’s just hard to make my creative world a bit smaller.

So now I’m trying to picture my art room looking clean and spacious, trying to gather motivation to continue this needed project. Some things are more difficult to go through. It was much easier when it was pots and pans…

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February 18, 2018 · 11:44 am

Art Room Clean Up Progress?

Well, I was planning to show you pics of a couple of tables I’ve managed to clean off in the art room. So far I’ve gathered two large bags of things I’ll donate, plus a nice big bag of trash to put out for the trash people tomorrow.

I brought my husband in to show him my progress last night right before we went to bed. I was thinking he would notice how clean two of the tables are. He looked around and said, “You’ve got a lot more work to do, don’t you.”

I’m not admitting defeat here. I’ll just keep going up there, deciding what I can get rid of, and keep on keepin’ on…

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February 17, 2018 · 11:55 am

Slogging Through the Art Room Clean Up Project

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I’m having to do really short sessions on cleaning my art room. I keep getting distracted when I find something interesting I didn’t remember I had and wanting to do something ‘artful’ with it, instead of continuing to go through things.

Last time I got the idea for a new line of stationery, note cards, thank you notes and greeting cards. The idea is rattling around in my head, plus I’m dreaming about it, so I guess I’ll need to make time and space to at least get started on the idea soon, but I really need to get the art room ‘healed’ first.

So far, I HAVE cleaned off my drafting table. If you walked into the room, though, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything else had been done. This is the kind of project that looks worse before it even THINKS about getting better.

I’m going up there now to see what I can do….

I would appreciate your sending good wishes, persistence, and focus in my direction today…

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February 15, 2018 · 2:11 pm

Good News and Bad News

The GOOD news is that we’re having an absolutely GORGEOUS day – particularly for mid-February. It’s 77 degrees F. outside now and the sun is shining. There’s a gusty wind, but it’s coming from the south.

We took the opportunity to walk around the yard when we got home from errands.

The BAD news is that we’re finding more of what living in the same place for over 30 years brings.

We have severalbrick planters in the yard because we have no soil on top of the ridge line. We have two 8’x2′ planters across the front of the house that are giving it up, falling apart.

 

Those were pics of the first planter. Below are pics of the 2nd planter –

 

 

 

We have a sample brick to take to Fort Smith to see if we can get more or something similar. My husband will calculate how many bricks we need have the company deliver them, leaving them to the side of the top of our driveway.

We’ll see if we can find a real brick layer, rather than trying to do these again ourselves.  We plan to dig out the plants, saving the ones we can. We’ll dig out the soil, putting it in huge piles on tarps in the front yard. We’ll demolish the planters down to the concrete pads. (We’ll see if we can use these bricks to make a walk-way or two in my greenhouse later.)  Hopefully by doing this much ourselves, plus putting soil back in when the brick layer has finished and says it’s okay, we’ll save as much money as possible.

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February 13, 2018 · 10:55 am

Cleaning Out the Art Room – Day 1

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I’m going upstairs now, armed with trash bags for donations and trash bags for trash, to get started going through things in my art room. As bad as things are in there, my biggest problem will be NOT picking something up and wanting to stop cleaning and PLAY with something wonderful I’ve found. I have my mental ‘ruthless’ hat on, so I’ll do my best.

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February 12, 2018 · 10:21 am

New Purging Project Starts Today – My Art Room

I converted our third bedroom to be my art room. I can create to my heart’s content (when I can make the time and have the energy).  I consider it a treasure trove of wonderful ‘stuff’ I can use if/when the creative bug grabs me. Between projects, though, I tend to just open the door quickly (the cats try to dash inside the minute the door is cracked) and stash whatever it is, thinking I’ll get to it later. This is the result of all that stashing.

I really have no excuse, other than being a slob. My biggest problem when I try to go through things and clean in there is that something grabs my interest and I want to sit down and play with it.  :0)

 

Under all this is a nice drafting table.

This used to be a dressing table when it was a bedroom. It is mostly set up (under all the ‘stuff’) as a jewelry making center and wrapping center. (I know – it’s hard to believe.)

 

This table is for alcohol ink creations, drawing, etc.

This is an area where I keep art supplies.

I have shelves on both sides of the drafting table.

The last time I cleaned this up, I was mainly straightening things. This time I’m going to concentrate on purging (donating things or throwing away), THEN cleaning, and THEN reorganizing.  This will definitely be a multi-day project.

We have the truck packed with a big donation from the pantry purge to the Veterans Thrift Store in Ft. Smith. When we get home, we’ll repack the truck with all the trash bags from the same project, hoping that the good trash people will take them all.  THEN I’ll start making more…

 

 

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February 11, 2018 · 1:23 pm

Pantry Project is Finished!

Recently I showed you the NON-FOOD side of the pantry. Here is the FOOD side – mostly – except for the very top shelf.

 

Today I went through the top shelf mainly. We just bought replacement flood lights for an outside corner of the house. Today I found that we HAVE some…. I found a lot to put in the Veterans Thrift Store donation area, a lot to throw away, a lot that needed to go elsewhere. I then thoroughly cleaned the top shelf and then reorganized it. There are still two containers holding miscellaneous small light bulbs, but we won’t have to paw through them to find a regular replacement light bulb anymore.

 

I bought and used a lot of see-through plastic bins to help me organize things. We also have small ‘critters from time to time, and these will help us move things quickly to clean, plus The critters may decide to go elsewhere when they find it’s hard to get to anything edible now.

 

My husband made some special can shelves for us several years ago. We have these labeled, so we can quickly find the veggies or soup we want. We put new cans in the back of each partition, so the older ones keep moving to the front.

This is a picture of the non-food side of the pantry.  I can now just walk up and get the small appliance I need, rather than having to stand on my head to get one out of the cabinets in my island.

I’m pleased to have this much better organized than it was before. Even my husband noticed a big difference, though his main focus was on what I did with his ‘chip food group.’

The next thing I’ll need to do is list and pack up the things for the next donation to the Veterans Thrift Store. We’ll need to make this donation tomorrow or so.

 

 

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February 10, 2018 · 1:12 pm

Pantry Project – Day 4

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This is Day 4 of the Clean-Out-The-Pantry project, and I HOPE it will be the last. I’m hanging in there, but I have to admit I’m pretty bushed. I now have 7 large trash bags in the garage to go out Monday evening, and we haven’t started gathering the ‘regular’ trash for the week! We do have several things to give to Methodist Church’s food pantry when I get finished, and I’ve gathered several things for the next trip to the Veterans Thrift Store.

One thing that has helped is we got 6 large plastic see-through bins so I can put like things together, such as sugar substitutes, or low carb baking mixes, or different kinds of flour. I used 4 yesterday and we went back today – since we’re due for freezing rain all day today into tomorrow, and shopped for groceries, too – to get 2 more. I THINK that should finish it. It will certainly make cleaning easier in the future.

Other than my husband’s sacred ‘chips and crackers food group,’ we’re pretty much down to things we can/should eat now in the pantry. Things won’t be so jammed together and it’ll be easier to find things.

If I finish today, I’ll post pics.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day.

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February 9, 2018 · 2:07 pm

The Contest is On….

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EEK!!!!!

The contest is on for the oldest thing discovered in our pantry. So far, the winner is 1996 – a can of fruit cocktail in one of the back corners…

I had also been keeping large plastic containers of things – Better for Bread flour, All Purpose Flour, Brown sugar, regular sugar, etc. in two rows, one on top of the other, all the way across the back of one shelf. I’ve just finished throwing all that out. We’re not eating ANY of those anymore. I don’t know why I was so reluctant to dispose of them. Some were yucky, too….

I’m taking a break now, and then I’ll start to try to make a baking supplies area, a condiments area, etc. out of the chaos that reigns now. At the rate I’m going now, it’ll probably be the end of the weekend or into next week before it’s reasonable again.

I think I’ll sleep well tonight!

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February 9, 2018 · 9:54 am

Pantry Purge – Day Three

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We’re going to enjoy our good friends at Lunch Bunch today and then I’ll start Day Three of the clean-out-the-pantry project. The non-food side of the pantry is almost finished.

 

 

On the food side of the pantry, I’ll try to recapture areas such as baking supplies. I’m going to first start gathering food we aren’t (or shouldn’t be) eating on our low carb lifestyle – except for ‘saving-marriage-stuff, such as the chips food group, for my husband.

I’ve got this! (I HOPE)

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February 8, 2018 · 10:41 am

Another Exciting Day at the Lewises!

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I wish that I could tell you that exciting things are happening at our house, but it ‘just ain’t happnin’ as Arkansans say.

My husband will probably work in the shop again, working on his welding lathe. He’s had to make almost all the parts, and he’s done a beautiful job. He has the main part of the tool welded together, painted, and on casters with brakes now. He’s having to carefully put the long 2″ in diameter solid tube of metal on the lathe today because it has to be exactly 2″ in diameter, and there are places where it is over that. This means it won’t go inside the 2″ hole in the tool that it has to, so he’ll have to carefully cut off the parts that shouldn’t be there, whittling the piece down to as close as 2″ in diameter as he can get it. He’s heating up the shop now. I’ll take progress pics soon and post them.

I’m making slow progress on my clean-out-the-pantry project.

I have discovered in all the cleaning out/purging/donating/reorganization stuff I’ve done this year, that I try to have one area serve way too many purposes. I’m trying to consolidate and relocate stuff that ‘shouldn’t be there’ more than anything. Hopefully, this will result in my being better able to find things going forward.  (An example of this is I had two over the counter meds on the shopping list for this coming Sunday. In going through things yesterday, I found we didn’t need to buy them – we already HAD them!)

 

Another example of my lack of organization was that I keep buying another package of clothespins, which we use around here for all sorts of things other than hanging laundry. I had them ALL OVER different parts of the non-food side of the pantry. I’ll probably never need to buy another one, along with good bottles of shampoo…

I went through both of these bins, throwing away expired meds for both humans and animals and reorganizing the rest and labeling them.

 

At least you can see that some of the shelves are cleaned out. I’m heading back in there in a few minutes to continue my slow, but steady work.

I hope that YOUR day is more exciting than ours….

 

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February 7, 2018 · 5:46 pm

Pantry Project – Day One

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I did three sessions on my cleaning out the pantry project. So far, it looks worse.

I’ve thrown away a bunch of stuff, started gathering stuff to donate, and have reorganized some things in bins, but there is ‘stuff’ still on the dining area table and unless you know where to look, you wouldn’t know anything had been done in there. WHEW!

One good thing – I certainly got my exercise today.

This is one of those projects where it only looks better when an area is completely redone. That won’t come for at least another day or so. I’m concentrating on the non-food part of the pantry first. There is a LOT to go through, so I may not be posting any pics soon – at LEAST until I get the non-food part cleaned and reorganized.

I’m trying to keep the kitchen so we can still cook, make hot drinks, feed animals, etc., with an area clear for doing each activity. It seems impossible right now, but little by little, I’ll get it done.

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February 7, 2018 · 10:52 am

New Purging Project – Pantry

When we built this house 30+ years ago, we wanted to be SURE we had two things: plenty of closet space and a big pantry. We have walk-in closets in all the bedrooms plus the front hall closet and cleaning closet you visited in other recent purge projects. We have a room off the kitchen for the pantry. Not just a few nice shelves, but an entire room. Ahhhh!  I’ve cleaned this out before, but it was before we changed to a low carb lifestyle. I’ve also stashed things in here because we had the room. Now, of course, like so many of my other purge projects, it is overflowing with goodies.

 

As you can see, we have heavy shelving that goes all the way around the room and a fridge in-between. We have ceiling-to-floor ‘stuff’ that has gotten totally out of hand.

 

My plan is to get rid of most of the things we’re not supposed to be eating now – donating it to one of the various food pantries in Greenwood, and there are some things I can donate to the Veterans Thrift Store.  I want to organize the food that is left so I can find things more easily.  I’ll move some of the things in here elsewhere and I’ll throw out a lot of stuff.

 

I also have small appliances, like a toaster, an instant pot, etc., that I want to be able to get easily off the shelf.

This will be a several-day project. I think I’ll start removing the obvious things that shouldn’t be here first. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, but I’ll just do a session at a time and just keep on keepin’ on.

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February 5, 2018 · 4:38 pm

Productive Day and Play Tonight!

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We had a really productive day! We

  • took 8 large leaf bags of donations to the Veterans Thrift Store
  • exchanged an empty bottle of Argon for a full one (for my husband’s TIG welding)
  • got cash at the bank
  • got parts for the welding lathe at the hardware store
  • found coconut flour at the grocery store for the low carb blueberry scones recipe I’m planning to try
  • found a new welding supply place that is closer to us AND a bit cheaper when we signed up for an account
  • I got the guest room bathroom clean and reorganized (this finishes the guest room reorganization project)
  • I gathered trash – managing to fill an extra bag for the week – according to my plan for the year.
  • I put our bowling balls in the back of the truck for tonight, gathered bottles of drinking water for the women
  • put the bags of trash in the back of the truck so we can put them out on the way to bowling tonight
  • cleaned up the rear seat of the truck, whisk brooming/vacuuming/using a lint roller/and finally a damp cloth to get Amber’s hair off the seats and floor. I also washed the inside of the windows because Amber tends to slobber while enjoying the ride in the car.
  • I made us a late lunch (we don’t eat dinner on bowling night because we want to enjoy some Braum’s ice cream after we play)

Tonight we’re bowling with good friends, catching up with what’s been happening since last week, and enjoying ice cream.

A great day!

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February 3, 2018 · 4:08 pm

Guest Room Project Finished (Almost)

 

I finished the purging and reorganization of the guest room closet this afternoon. I have 8 large leaf bags to take to the Veterans Thrift Store on Monday.

 

Other than my out-of-season clothes and our luggage, the only other things are spare sheets for the bed, a spare comforter and pillows for the bed, a velour blanket. I tried to leave a big space for hang up things – long and short, for our guests, plus hangers, plus lots of shelf space.

 

I cleaned all the shelves, rods and carpet, so everything is nice and clean and much better organized now.

 

This is the guest room book shelf I went through the other day.

 

The only thing left having to do with the guest room is the guest room bathroom. Maybe that’ll be my project for Monday.  I’ll list the stuff for the Monday donation tomorrow. Right now, I’ve earned a nice cup of coffee and the chance to put my feet up for awhile. :0)

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February 2, 2018 · 10:08 am

Guest Room Closet Project – Progress (?) Report

I spent most of the afternoon getting everything out of the closet except for my out-of-season clothes, which I moved to the far end. Everything else is now out. When I get home from Lunch Bunch and errands, I’ll make lunch for my husband and then clean the closet before even thinking of putting anything else back in.

 

Going through my spring/summer clothes again will wait until I switch over at the end of winter.

 

Right now the guest room looks like a bomb went off in there, doesn’t it. I’ll probably start with linens and bed stuff I want to keep for the guest room. If this takes me through Sunday, I’ll just take time off for the SuperBowl and then do another session. :0)

 

 

 

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