Time Management Ninja
I’m into the home stretch now. The shelves have been cleaned out and reorganized. The drawers were completely emptied, cleaned, and reorganized. The shower has been scrubbed.
The whole bathroom and closet have been vacuumed.
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Duffel Blog
I have now mopped the floors and am waiting for them to dry.
The last steps will be to finish a bit more scrubbing, put the rugs back in, and vacuum them.
It will be good to have things clean and organized, at least in one room…
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The drawers are cleaned out and organized. A BUNCH of ‘stuff’ has been thrown away.
Now we’re down to the cleaning –
Assuming I live to tell the tale later today, I’ll share pics. Then, I’m hoping to do more yoga – but if not, there’s tomorrow…
Oprah.com
Our master bath area has a main part, with vanities and a whirlpool tub, my walk-in closet, and a combination toilet/medicine cabinet/shower area. It doesn’t look QUITE this bad, but you get the picture of what a mess things are upstairs. I’m trying to gather my motivation to attack the problem as I type.
Yesterday I took EVERYTHING out of three large drawers beneath my sink. I’ve been stuffing things in the drawers for years, only getting appalled recently. I procrastinated for another long while, thinking about the fact that it was long past time to go through things. This week I did the two sets of shelves and the medicine cabinet, throwing away LOTS of stuff and reorganizing the rest.
I pooped out yesterday, running out of time and energy, and warned my husband that things were quite a mess in there, but that I would tackle it again today. He was amazed at how much ‘stuff’ came out of the drawers!
This morning before we joined our friends for Lunch Bunch, I pulled up the three smaller rugs and one larger rug, the runners under them that keep them from ‘traveling,’ and then got everything else up off the floor. I brought in the vacuum cleaner and brought up the mop and mop bucket in preparation.
I’ve run out of time to procrastinate, so I’ll finish this post and get to it.
I’ll try to post pics later today, assuming I’m successful in making sense of everything up there.
I hope that your day is filled with fun stuff today.
Laila Ali via Akiva Huber
I’m going to print this one and hang it up so I see it over and over. I’m impatient by nature and have to really talk to myself (I know – I’m nuts) to keep going, whether I’m trying to lose weight and build strength and flexibility, undo several years worth of ‘stuffing’ things into drawers or onto shelves in our master bath, or get our garden and yard under control.
I’m looking at this as a character-building exercise, something that will make me a better person in the long run. I AM making progress on learning my own limitations as I age and modifying my expectations of what I can now do in a day. I still tend to overdo, spending the next day trying to recover. I’m learning to do projects in ‘sessions,’ stopping when I’m feeling overwhelmed, then doing another session until the job is done.
With my weight and strength, there is no time limit. This isn’t a ‘diet.’ It’s a lifestyle change. Now things are complicated because we need to do low or no sugar for my husband. It’s a worthy goal to achieve because it’ll do both of us good. I want my husband to live as long as he is able, feeling as good as possible. Scrambling to learn what I can do to help is something I really want to do. An example, I’ve discovered that avoiding gluten for him is counter-productive, since the gluten is offset by alcohol sugars and other additives. We MUST do a good job of reading labels!
On the master bathroom going through/throwing out/reorganizing/cleaning project – right now it looks as if a bomb exploded in there again, since I’ve emptied out my three large drawers and put things on the step that goes around or bathtub. I’ve already thrown a bunch away and plan to do more of that before deciding what do to with what’s left. Assuming I can finish that today, I’ll plan on the last session tomorrow – pulling out the rugs and doing a deep cleaning of the whole area, including the tub, shower, vanities, floor, and rugs. If I falter, I’ll reread the reminder above…
I really have little excuse. I’m not Suzy Homemaker who puts things where they belong as they are used. I wish I were! Instead, I clean things like our sinks and the counter between them, stuffing things in drawers or on shelves. As a result, we have another area that desperately needs attention. It’s on the second floor of our home, so no one sees it but us, but enough is enough.
This is one of two sets of shelves in our master bath. This mess has essentially been years in the making. This one acts as a linen closet, medicine cabinet, and cleaning supplies place.
This second set of shelves is cosmetics, soap, lotions, potions….
I won’t show you my drawers (if you’ll pardon the expression :0) ) But I will show you some close-ups so you’ll have an idea of the job I’m undertaking. I can imagine you shaking your head in disgust, or feeling good that YOU don’t have this mess. It’s okay. I ALWAYS have excuses, other priorities…. I would have to clean and reorganize before I could get people to come and try to clean my house!
The above pic was the end of the pics for the first set of shelves. The remaining pics are for the second set of shelves.
So, now that I’ve again admitted that I’m a slob, I’ll get started doing something about it. I’ll need to do this in several sessions over at least a few days, but when I take breaks, I’ll post again – unless I get completely buried. (My husband is concentrating on straightening out our genealogy records on the computer and may not even notice I’ve been buried until he wonders why I haven’t brought him food yet….
Encouragement is definitely appreciated!
Have a wonderful day!!!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Well, it’s about 4 hours later and I’ve finally finished. I HOPE you can see a difference here. I threw out a bunch of stuff. relocated other stuff, and reorganized what was left so that the things we use most often are the most accessible.
I also tried to organize things so my husband can find what he’s looking for easily.
My husband noticed that things were ALL over the kitchen when it was time for me to fix lunch. We managed amid the complete chaos. He then noticed all the stuff that was in the kitchen had made it ‘somewhere else.” He made one suggestion on moving the instant pot to the place I had the salad spinner, “since I never used that anyway.” I shooed him out with a big smile and left them where they were…
I’m feeling much better since I found some things I had lost. Everything is much cleaner now, and I think I have things where I want them. If not, I have a GREAT start on another move-around!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
I’ve admitted before that I’m a slob. Some people have tried to excuse this for me, saying that I’m too busy ‘creating’ to bother with this. To this, I thank them for being kind, but say, HOGWASH. Every once in a while, my clutter and stashing bothers even me, and that’s when I finally do something.
I showed you the food side of the pantry that I finally cleaned up a few days ago. The trigger for this was that my husband needs to eat as sugar-free as possible, so we are getting rid of a lot of foods that neither of us should no longer eat, clearing the decks for a new emphasis on making condiments, sauces, etc., that are not filled to the brim with sugar. Due to the purging and reorganizing, I can now find things quickly and easily, concentrating on the MAKING, rather than the FINDING.
I hate to have to admit I’m such a slob, but with the glorious supplies side of our pantry, I have now stuffed and jammed as much as the shelves will hold – and more. I’m going to take a good, long look, get rid of a bunch of ‘stuff,’ and reorganize the rest some that we don’t have to climb into the shelves to get things, hoping nothing falls on us.
Even UNDER the shelves is jammed full.
All I can say is, “What a mess!” I’m determined to make sense out of this, though, and hope to be able to report significant progress by the end of the day.
Strength – don’t fail me now….
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
The high carb or high sugar foods have been boxed up to give to the local food pantry or relegated to the lower shelves where ‘out of sight – out of mind’ reigns. I threw away a lot of half-used things from the pantry and the fridge. I went through all the containers to make sure all was good and then wiped down all the shelves with Clorox Clean-up.
My husband feeds the dogs twice a day, and his only request was that I keep the shelves clear where he is working with the dogs and bowls. Otherwise, he just said, “Wow! You’re getting serious, aren’t you?” when I was about half way finished.
All is clean and reorganized now so that I can find the ingredients I need to make our low carb, low or sugar-free meals. I’m going to be trying to find recipes for the condiments we use most often if I cannot find good sugar-free alternatives.
Tomorrow I’ll start on the other side of the panty where we keep supplies. Right now it looks as if a bomb went off somewhere near… :0)
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance
The Spadina Monologues – WordPress.com
I’ve spent about an hour so far in our pantry. I’m making progress, but it’s VERRRRRRY slow. Thus far, I’ve discovered that
It’s a very good thing that I’m not on a strict schedule for completing this job. I’ll do hour+ sessions, resting in-between, until I’ve finished.
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance
s-media-cache-ako.pinimg.com via Cathy Ruggiero
Isn’t this picture WONDERFUL? This is just how I feel this morning. The front came through late last night/early this morning. Yesterday the high was 91. Today it’s supposed to be 71. AHHHHHH!
I’m happily wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt as I type. The doors are open, front and back, airing out the house. We may actually have to close a door if it gets TOO cool. How great is that!!!!
Since working outside may not be an option, at least until later in the day, I’m going to dive head-first into our pantry and see what good I can do. Since my husband is serious now about trying to avoid sugar, or things he eats that cause his body to MAKE sugar, I’m going to get together a huge group of things to go to the local food pantry. (When we had our home built almost 30 years ago, we devoted the room off the kitchen to be a walk-in pantry. We have huge, heavy-duty built-in shelves going from wall to wall with a place for a 2nd fridge. We live on top of a ridge line. Sometimes we get snowed in up here and can’t get down – or back up – our STEEP driveway until the snow and ice melts – once for 14 days without power or public water.)
If you don’t hear from me, I probably got buried in there.
cliparting.com
Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance
I’m trying to tackle one area of my house at a time, taking everything out/down, throwing stuff out, cleaning everything, and then reorganizing. This will take the rest of my natural life, but it makes me feel good to get SOMETHING done…
Today’s project was my utility room; in particular, the washer/dryer area.
Not only had this become a catch-all area, it had gotten to the point I couldn’t reach what I needed, and I knew the area needed a good cleaning.
This is the ‘before’ picture. I threw out or moved a LOT of stuff that I hadn’t been using or belonged somewhere else. I took everything off the shelves, plus everything off the washer and dryer. I spared you a picture of all the YUCK that was under the stuff, but suffice to say that after vacuuming, brush and dust panning, then spraying with kitchen cleaner and thoroughly wiping everything down, things were a LOT better.
Here is the ‘after’ picture. (I HOPE you can see a difference! Now I can reach what I use the most often. Things won’t fall over, or try to fall on me when I do the next load of laundry. I washed the outside and insides of both the washer and the dryer. It amazes me how dirty these can get on the INSIDE!
One area down, 87,000 to go….
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Hollis J. Works
We just returned from Lunch Bunch, where we had a nice catch-up with our good friends, plus errands. Now I’m heading out to the shop where I have two projects –
Rain clouds are moving in as I type, and we’re due for some heavy rain this afternoon and evening.
I hope that things are good where you are, and that you have a fun Friday, too. :0)
Yesterday I worked from noon until about 6:30 in the evening finishing pressure washing the deck.
My husband took this picture of me while I was working on the outside of the deck. Here are some before and after pics –
This is our back sidewalk BEFORE pressure washing.
And AFTER!
One set of two stairs to the deck BEFORE –
And AFTER!
Part of the upper deck BEFORE –
And AFTER! (With Smoke supervising) You can see to the right of the pic that I haven’t started on the main part of the deck yet…
Part of the main deck BEFORE –
East side of deck AFTER!
West side of deck AFTER!
Part of outside of deck AFTER!
Part of me is embarrassed to have shown you what our deck looked like before I started pressure washing, but that’s what 25 or so years of NOT pressure washing does. The deck doesn’t look new, but it sure looks BETTER! :0)
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
-ipaintandcontract.com
I’ve been pressure washing the deck since noon. I came in now because it started to rain heavily. I’m hoping that it will stop soon so that I can finish the job. I’m working on the outside edges and uprights of the deck and then it will be finished.
I honestly can’t say enough about this ‘new tool’ for me. I’ve tried all kinds of deck cleaners, but it was a complete waste of time. I guess your deck should be clean BEFORE you use these – they didn’t phase our deck. I had given up on getting rid of the black stuff, green stuff, and identified ‘stuff’ that was all over our deck.
I love seeing the grain of the wood again! Our boards are warped. We have nails that have worked their way up. It doesn’t look like a new deck by any means, but it is cleaner than it has been for at least 25 years, and that means a lot to me.
I think I’ve shocked my husband. He really didn’t expect me to do anything with this. He asked me today, in one of the many times he came out to check on me, if I wanted a bigger, more powerful pressure washer, now that I seemed to be using it all the time. I told him ‘no.’ This is one I can handle. I don’t have to worry about it getting away from me. It’s not as heavy as some I’ve seen.
When the deck is back together again, I’ll post pictures of our CLEAN deck!
professional-powerwashing.com
If I were a younger person, I would still be outside with the power washer. As it is, I spent an hour and a half today cleaning stuff, then came inside and fell asleep in my recliner. As I type, my jeans have dried mud on the legs and I have a thin film of ‘stuff’ all over me.
I did the back concrete sidewalk today, and got a good start on our deck. Since they’re both 30 years old and have NEVER been power washed, I’m not sure you can imagine what I’m dealing with.
I’m going to try to finish the deck tomorrow, and then I’ll post before and after pictures.
I honestly can’t believe what a power washer can do. I may be becoming addicted….
Now, up for a shower, clean clothes, and I’ll start dinner.
My husband thinks I’ve gone off the deep end on using our new pressure washer. He may be right, but it’s really satisfying to be able to clearly see where you’ve been. :0)
Here are some before and after pictures. (I realize I’m showing you clearly what a slob I am, but I think you already knew that.)
1000 gallon propane tank before.
Propane tank after. (I’m thinking of painting this, since the paint is starting to peel. I’m looking for something unique, or at least very colorful).
Concrete pad in front of our garage mid-cleaning.
I finally finished it last night. (My husband then mowed the back yard, spraying it with grass….. :0( )
Front sidewalk before.
Front sidewalk after.
I didn’t get a pic of the front porch and pad before.
I’m taking a day off from the pressure washing today, since I’m old and my body is telling me I need to spread this out a bit more. I plan to tackle the back sidewalk next.
“My kingdom for a gasket.”
We bought a GE Profile French door refrigerator about 7 years ago. We have been delighted with it. Awhile back, though, the pull-out freezer at the bottom started acting wonky. I would try to open it and it would be frozen up, with ice everywhere. Since it’s supposed to be frostless, we knew we had a problem. I thought maybe I just hadn’t gotten it closed well, but after several tests, we decided that the gasket to the freezer had become brittle and wasn’t sealing correctly.
We found a man who would order the gasket for us and come to install it. He called this morning and will be here this afternoon! Once this is done, we’re waiting on a shelf support from which a small part broke off in one of our deicing attempts. Soon, we’ll be fully back in business. The best part is that the lady I talked to this morning said he could replace the gasket without my having to empty the freezer! Even if she’s wrong, I’m delighted that help is on the way….
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
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