dog sitting

I am currently dog sitting and taking care of two houses. Not that either house needs a great deal of work, but some things must be done. At the other house I have to look after the vege gardens and outdoor pot plants, not to mention talk to the dogs and stuff. At my place I have to make sure the boy guinea pigs don't get in with the girls, which they have been doing rather frequently this last month.

With the two houses to be looked after, BOTH sinks are tidy, and my freezer is clear except for the to do list for the other place. Both couches are clear as well, with the washing that was left on the other couch folded neatly and stacked on an arm chair. Today I think I will work on clearing the table (and maybe bench) in the other place. On Tuesday I mowed their grass. They have a LOT of lawn.

There are a few things in my place that need dealing with, like the couple of bits of clean washing on the blanket box. These are things I found in the shed and washed, and am now wondering whether I actually need them, seeing as they were away so long. Another thing on the blanket box is a bowl full of washed balls of cotton I also found in the shed. They'd fallen out of their bags and had bits of grass from the lawn mower on them, so I stuffed them in long socks, tied off the balls individually in the socks (like sausages) and washed them. Being summer I hope that will dry them all the way through. I'm wondering if I ought to reball them though, so the inside, which may be damp, is on the outside.

With the friend away, her rubbish bin, which is bigger than mine is empty, so I am thinking I can get into the shed and get rid of a lot of stuff in one go, without worrying that I will over fill my bin. If the friends get back before their rubbish day (Monday) I don't think they will fill up a bins worth. I'd leave room for holiday rubbish though.

Well, I best sort the blanket box, and get going.

Another Friday

It is once again rubbish day, but there is plenty of time to get the bin out. With the day to myself on Wednesday, I did actually get the dressing table done. As a result I now have two cd racks that I don't need, let alone want..and I can't think of a good re-use for them.

This week's missions were in the bedroom. Thankfully my bedroom is mostly tidy - there's a bit of dust collecting though.

Monday - rubbish. There generally isn't rubbish in there. It messes up my zen or something.
Tuesday - stuff. No stuff either. definitely NO coffee mugs or stuff like that!
Wednesday - dust. Oops..I guess I didn't read this too well, in my excitement over getting the dressing table sorted.
Thursday - strip bed. I'm doing this on Saturday to be all fresh and clean for Christmas day :)
Friday - set out pjs. Don't wear any! today I'll dust..coz I know what I got myself for Christmas :D

The dressing table was a bit of a chore. Where could I put the cds, and needle rolls, not to mention the other assorted things that had gotten hidden. Like the blue glass things I has started collecting. I gave up on the idea of collecting them (years ago!), coz there isn't anywhere bright and shiny to display them. ugh..safely..without the cats knocking them off.

The first photo is after I took the cd's off the rack. The second one isn't quite accurate any more, coz on one speaker there is a can of hooks, and on the other a container of needles. Where else can I put them? And the needle rolls? I'll work it out sooner or later.

:O a day all to myself!

I just turned the iPod on..and realised that today is the first day in a WEEK that I have had to myself. Or longer even. I'm going to make a start on that dressing table!

midweek

The summer Solstice is tomorrow. This is something I look forward to. Not sure why, because it means we will be on the downward slope to shorter, more dreary days.

Somehow I am managing to keep the couch and freezer clear of stuff, so now, I want to try and train myself to flush the loo before I leave the house. Growing up on tanks we didn't flush every time we used it. Most people are aware of how that works, so I don't need to go into it. But I often walk out the front door with the loo unflushed. Which is all well and good if no one needs to use it when I get home. And really, I don't much like coming home to an unflushed one either.

While I am still talking about the bathroom, I have to mention that putting the loo paper in the white cabinet sounds like a brilliant idea, but I can't see how low the supplies are getting at a glance. Thankfully I haven't run out, and I have a spare roll on the back of the tank, but still, the hoarder well prepared me doesn't want to HAVE to use it.

The dogs I was going to look after wont be coming here. They had a trial run yesterday, and that didn't go so well. So I will have to be making daily trips to their place.

I better vacuum, and then I have to go into town for a Christmas present that needs to be posted, and I talked myself out of getting while I was outside the shop two weeks ago :s

New week

I'm home from a night away, and an extra day out at one of the local markets yesterday. Because I went to the market, to help a friend with a stall, I took along a few things from home that I wanted to get rid of. Namely a couple of boxes of books, and a few crocheted items. A book in my pile of stuff was sold...and nothing else. So, of course, it had to all come home.

Now I am tired (long three days) and the things are still hanging around. I don't want to put them back where I got them from. But if I don't, then they will annoy me, and the other things out of the same boxes wont have anywhere to go back to. :|

On the other hand, even though I was dead tired last night, I made sure the freezer was cleared off before bed. I'd left it the night before. It felt good to see it clear when I got up this morning. More so coz I know I *could* have left it because I was 'too tired' last night.

I best get on with the market stuff before it gets too late.

End of the working week

Well, it is Friday today, and because I will be away from the computer for a bit, I thought I'd waffle on now.

The To do list for the week is 75% done. The coffee table isn't as good as I want it, but it is better than it was. The desk was wiped down, and things sorted out. Some linen has been binned, some is waiting to be collected after Christmas, and some has been hidden. The dressing table in the lounge room hasn't even been touched. :o

The couch and freezer are still clear. I was all ready to go to bed last night without moving the measuring tape, a scrap of wrapping paper and a pair of scissors. Gave myself a little kick up the bum and put them away. It took..maybe...10 seconds. There is stuff on the freezer now (a list of things to do and change of clothes), but that wont be staying there.

Flylady's missions matched my plans for the week, so that worked out well.

Monday - toss bathroom empties, guest room. The bathroom stuff went out last week so that was ok. The 'guest' room is this one, so I was working on that anyway. I'll allocate the linen to that 'room'

Tuesday - wipe sink, home office. I actually wiped the sink/mirror down, and put a few things away - tweezers in the container, hair ties on the medicine cabinet knob, etc. I am still surprised at how much just those couple of small things make such a difference. The 'office' is..in here and I did the desk anyway.

Wednesday - toilet, front entrance. The toilet was done on the same day as the other wiping (small bathroom with toilet and bath in the same room), and the front entrance doesn't get untidy. It isn't really 'allowed' to, coz I'd trip over everything otherwise.

Thursday - shine tub, 'other' room. The bath will get shined today. The coffee table chore will suffice for having been the 'other' room.

Friday - flat bathroom surfaces, craft room. The bathroom surfaces were ALSO done when I wiped down the bathroom, so that is also done. As it is the 'craft' room today, I will put the dishcloths I've made away.

Next week I get to trial some dog sitting, with a view to having them here for a week or so if they don't eat the cats. That will be fun. Thankfully they have finished shedding. It will be nice to have company for a while.

Best get on with washing the car. I've taken the pram out of it and swept the carpet. The pram is not inside, using the space that the bags of linen had. O.o. Oh..better take the bins out too.

Week starting 11th Dec

Yes, my weeks start on a Sunday. :)

Yesterday, I painted the kitchen window sill. It needed revarnishing, but I don't think the landlord would have liked coming to do one (well, two really - the bedroom one needs doing too) window sill. So I painted it. White. I think it looks MUCH improved. Certainly brighter.

The sink is all Flylady-ed too. I'm torn between the 'acceptable' feng shui kitchen colors (green, yellow, white) and enjoying having a range of colors.

While looking to see if feng shui suggests a color for window sills (it doesn't, or I can't find it - yet) I came across a site that suggests moving 27 things to energise the place. I don't think I had 27 things, but maybe I did really. There are 11 things now, so its possible. Thinking about bedroom window sill, it doesn't 'feel' right for it to be white...or blue. Palest green possibly.

I have revised the 'no things on the freezer' challenge to be 'nothing on the freezer longer than an hour' because it IS a place that gets used.

My to do list for the week has listed:

Spare room

- linen (hide, rehome or bin it)

- coffee table (declutter, properly)

- desk (dust and tidy)

Lounge room

- dressing table (declutter - this will entail moving the printer, cds/stands and other things...where to? I have no idea. The cds can presumably be boxed up and stored, seeing as I haven't even opened a case for ....years)

I've given myself to the 15th to get these things done. It should take about half an hour, tops.

The couch is still clear :)

bugaboo challenge, weekly missions

It is now the 9th December, and the couch is clear! Ok, there was a tea towel and a padded envelope on it over night, but I was dead tired when I got home yesterday (from birthday celebrations) that I just didn't care..or, more to the point, didn't remember. They are gone now.

Next challenge is to keep the freezer clear for a week. It can't be that hard.

The flowers we picked last Sunday have been identified as gladiolus cardinalis.

The missions for this week were:

Monday - clean out bins. No bin in my house, I use supermarket bags.

Tuesday - benches. This is still clean, but could do with a tidy up. There is just no where to have a fruit bowl :s

Wednesday - scrub taps. I generally wipe these down when I do the dishes, but I could have a closer look.

Thursday - wipe down big appliances. I'm still doing this. All I have done is the fridge, and even though there aren't any kids around, it is still grotty.

Friday - sweep and mop floor. I will get around to this shortly.

As it is rubbish day, all the rubbish has been put out (spare room and bathroom stuffs) in the bin, and the bin taken to the curb. I even checked for empty shampoo bottles, and binned some linen that Freecycle didn't want. I haven't chucked out the wrapping paper from my presents though. :s

Best on with the kitchen floor, so I can wash the cloth.

Guinea pig fence

bugaboo challenge

So far, so good.

4 days later, and the couch is still clear of stuff. And so is the other chair for that matter.

Next challenge for me will be to keep the freezer clear. At the moment it has things on it from the markets yesterday. There was nothing stopping me from putting the potatoes away when I got home. Well..except for being bone tired.

While out yesterday we stopped and picked some flowers. I have no clue what they are, they look like miniature gladiolas. They perked up nicely when they were put in the vase with water. I like them. They match the curtains and freezer cloth extremely well.

this weeks Missions

Monday - lounge room hot spots. Ok, so I'm working on the couch, and didn't do that on Monday.

Tuesday - vacuum lounge room, tidy front entrance hot spots. Vacuuming is done, and there are no hot spots

Wednesday - toss trash and wipe down walls in lounge room. No walls to wipe. Sorted out the yarn though. Tossed a fair bit.

Thursday - deal with stuff at the entrance to the house. Dust knick knacks. Nothing to deal with in the entrance. I didn't dust the clocks, but I did dust the tv, and associated stuff there. (and the bookshelf in the hall)

Friday - dust entrance ceiling, lights, fixtures. Wipe remotes. I'll Mr Sheen the front door shortly, while the sun is on it, and wipe the remotes with the disinfecting wipes.

The couch is still nice and tidy, and so is the arm chair. The knitting bag has been repaired. Dishes were done and the sink wiped down before bed.

Today being Friday, the rubbish goes out as does the recycling. There is a bag of yarn here that no one on Freecycle wanted, so that is *meant* to go in the bin, but I don't know if I can do that. I might grow some balls and take it to the op shop instead.

A challenge for myself

To keep the couch free of stuff.

For a week.

That is all.

A week.

I want it able to be sat on without moving anything. Cats excluded.

This is what it looks like at 12pm, on the 1st Dec.

Top left hand corner is the remote box, sewing machine cover and that yellow scrap is a sock. Blue thing is a shawl (that I have forgotten my place in), green thing under the shawl at the back is a hat, the black thing under the shawl at the front is...? a ball of yarn maybe? Plastic bag with green is the socks I am working in. Black thing next to the white and orange thing is the invisible bag I take walking. plastic bag with the yellow is the remaining yellow yarn. Then there is a vintage knitting bag, which has sock needles in it. Who knows what is under the vintage bag.

By the end of the day..um..1pm, I will have that all cleared off and PUT AWAY.

Yep, I will. No arguing. It will take..oh..about 4 minutes. O.o

ETA (at 12:41) its all clear, and things put away, not relocated - with the exception of the knitting bag, which has a broken handle that I plan to fix.

Bonus challenge: keep the other arm chair clear.

The spare room, seven months later

While I can see a lot of stuff that still needs to be done, I find that the entire room is VASTLY improved.

This is the post from seven months ago.

This is the room now. I tried to take the pictures from the same angle.

Things I see to be done:

Pic 1 - The stuff on the coffee table needs to be moved. As do the fit balls. Where does one store these things anyway?

Pic 2 - I see there is something under the flat blue fitball. That needs moving too. And the towels need putting away. The box with the pink bag is rubbish at the moment.

Pic 3: Well, that's the computer desk at the moment. Its a bit untidy, but still workable.

Pic 4: That is a cat in the hamper full of baby toys. The desk really needs seeing to, the cans are my weights. In the icecream container in front of the monitor is overlocker cotton.

Pic 5: is the deplorable state of the carpet. The brown splot is shoe dye. The white one is where the carpet is all mashed from the bed leg. The rest of it is stains.

Pics 6 and 7 are of my new fangled cotton yarn storage. Made up of a milk crate (very useful items those) a scrap of sheer curtain, and an empty cushion cover.

tidy, mess, tidy

Its true. Sometime things have to get worse, before they get better. I'd been on the hunt for cotton yarn. I know I have specific colors, and thus I went looking for it. I found TONS of cotton...just not the colors I was looking for. :s The first picture is the yarn out of its spot in all its tangled glory. It should be noted that THIS is just the used parts. The shelf under where this came from has the full balls.

The second picture has most of the yarn in color groups. I don't have much yellow.

I want to find a nice, pretty, neat way to store the cotton I found.

Because the baby I was looking after is a) no longer a baby baby, and b) looked after by his dad now days, I decided I didn't need the baby toys in the lounge room.

I determined that the baby stuff would fit in the laundry hamper.

But to do that the hamper needed to be emptied and the stuff in THERE dealt with. It was mostly left over odd socks, a few clean doona covers and the pile of yarn I got out of the shed...for..some reason.

This is the lounge room floor currently. I used the old stand by of using a RAKE to gather it in one spot to sort through.

This is what the spare room looks like. :| Look...more yarn!

As a point of interest...how does the STUFF get on the floor after you have vacuumed? you know, those little bits you KNOW you just vacuumed? I can vacuum in here (and its not shaggy carpet) and but the time I have done the rest of the house, there are bits on the floor again!

work is progressing

The kitchen sink is clear (well, except for two plants) the lounge room looks much improved (you wouldn't credit how much ONE dining chair blocks space.)

I am quite disgusted at the things I've found in here, partly because its taken so long to get to them, and partly that they are here in the first place. Like an old cake box, with God knows what in it. It is from daughters 18th birthday, which was almost 3 years ago. I understand wanting to KEEP memorabilia, but a cake box? with cake crumbs/icing in it? More saddening is finding old school photos and report cards in a bag of what looks like rubbish, although, given some of the things I've found, perhaps its not a rubbish bag at all.

Anyway, the corner is done. its not the corner I planned on doing, but that just seemed a good place to continue on with. Every thing else on the list from the other day has been completed.

The list for the weekend (5/6 Nov) was:
Sort out wall unit corner
Return books to wall unit
Tidy door, and wardrobe door ✔-> bouncer in the corner, hanging hooks on real door. ✔

As I have done the OTHER corner, which was meant to be this weeks job, I am back onto the wall unit corner. There is more stuff to go, including more linen, an old fan, and two heaters. One of the heaters is broken (but probably still works) but I need to get rid of it anyway.

I found a great way for getting to the stuff on the floor right near the base boards, and that is with a little nail brush. I've been 'sweeping' the dust and whatever out and vacuuming that up. When the room is done I want to have a 'rededication' type 'ceremony'. Something like this Feng Shui method. This one doesn't quite 'speak' to me though.

"...The most important point to remember is that feng shui remedies/enhancers will not work if applied to a cluttered environment. For feng shui to work your space (home/work place) has to be free of clutter and energized..." From here. That page says no red in here, but more and more I think it ought to be.Aside from the price, this sofa bed looks like it would fit in here quite well, and is something I will need/want if I have guests. The other color for that style is white or cream, and DEFINITELY wouldn't be good. "...Red: A room that is painted red will energize, inspire activity and movement, help passion, be powerful and stimulating. A red room can also be exhausting and overpowering, and stressful for those who are anxious. Pink is less demanding. Choosing a red bedroom would not be restful, although some red can be used to enhance sensuality. A red exercise room would be energizing! In Feng Shui red means luck."

work is progressing

The kitchen sink is clear (well, except for two plants) the lounge room looks much improved (you wouldn't credit how much ONE dining chair blocks space.)

I am quite disgusted at the things I've found in here (the spare room), partly because its taken so long to get to them, and partly that they are here in the first place. Like an old cake box, with God knows what in it. It is from daughters 18th birthday, which was almost 3 years ago. I understand wanting to KEEP memorabilia, but a cake box? with cake crumbs/icing in it? More saddening is finding old school photos and report cards in a bag of what looks like rubbish, although, given some of the things I've found, perhaps its not a rubbish bag at all.

Anyway, the corner is done. its not the corner I planned on doing, but that just seemed a good place to continue on with. Every thing else on the list from the other day has been completed.

The list for the weekend (5/6 Nov) was:

Sort out wall unit corner

Return books to wall unit
Tidy door, and wardrobe door ✔

-> bouncer in the corner, hanging hooks on real door. ✔

As I have done the OTHER corner, which was meant to be this weeks job, I am back onto the wall unit corner. There is more stuff to go, including more linen, an old fan, and two heaters. One of the heaters is broken (but probably still works) but I need to get rid of it anyway.

I found a great way for getting to the stuff on the floor right near the base boards, and that is with a little nail brush. I've been 'sweeping' the dust and whatever out and vacuuming that up. When the room is done I want to have a 'rededication' type 'ceremony'. Something like this Feng Shui method. This one doesn't quite 'speak' to me though.

"...The most important point to remember is that feng shui remedies/enhancers will not work if applied to a cluttered environment. For feng shui to work your space (home/work place) has to be free of clutter and energized..." From here. That page says no red in here, but more and more I think it ought to be.

Aside from the price, this sofa bed looks like it would fit in here quite well, and is something I will need/want if I have guests. The other color for that style is white or cream, and DEFINITELY wouldn't be good. "...Red: A room that is painted red will energize, inspire activity and movement, help passion, be powerful and stimulating. A red room can also be exhausting and overpowering, and stressful for those who are anxious. Pink is less demanding. Choosing a red bedroom would not be restful, although some red can be used to enhance sensuality. A red exercise room would be energizing! In Feng Shui red means luck..."

I'm not up to the decorating or energising phase yet. But I will be soon.

wow....LONG absence!

You know that decluttering I was doing of the centimetres? Well, its working.

It worked so well, that I have only just started to get enough energy left to DO stuff. Like catch up on Flylady! I've done the missions this week, and I've made a start on the spare room. Or..ANOTHER start. Coz it got quite wretched in here. Yes, here. I am BACK in the spare room. I have a table again. I even have a floor. There is NO bed, and there are 6..yes 6 boxes gone from in here, plus a stack of books. I've given away stacks of linen, and the tv has been offered on Freecycle. The little white cabinet is in the bathroom under the sink, but I don't like it there. I may well Freecycle that as well.

There are still a lot of things that need to be done in here, but now the bed is gone, I have room to move.

The list I wrote up a coupe of days ago reads thus:
Get white cabinet out - bathroom? ✔
Move blanket box under the table ✔
Rehome tv
Move coffee table under the big table ✔
Display cabinet back in corner - or where cat post is? ✔
Blanket box under the window ✔
Desk off the table and back against the wall ✔

Flylady does have something when she tells you to get dressed to shoes. It makes getting out for a walk MUCH easier. A couple of days I've gotten up and put a dressing gown on, and have been very sluggy ALL day. Days when I get up and dressed in 'walking' clothes, I am far more likely to do it.

I've sewn some new couch covers and am slowly but surely managing to walk at least 5 times a week, AND get the house sorted. Its not been easy, coz the early days I walked and died in the ass for the rest of that day. Not that I was overdoing anything, my brain was just working lots.

Now that the laptop is in the spare room I can plug it into the wall in here and get the extension cord back for the vacuum cleaner! yay!!

But now, its getting on, and I should be walking again in a bit over half an hour, so I better get walking clothes on (I went out today so I have 'good' clothes on) and do the dishes.

decluttering weight and more

Today was a somewhat hard day to get OUT for. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I woke up TOO relaxed?

It rained over night (hence the relaxation), and before I went to bed last night I expected that I would try to talk myself out of going for a walk, because it would be too much like hard work to find my gumboots and umbrella. Because I know myself well enough, I got my clothes out and ready (Thank you Flylady) and put the gumboots next to the door BEFORE I went to bed.

No excuse now...so nyyyyyyyeeerr.

Yesterday I almost had a coronary when I hopped on the dog scales in the pet feed store. I sincerely hope they are wrong. They shows 5 kilos/10lbs more than what I thought I was/ought to be roughly.

But, four days out of four I have gotten up and OUT. That is four days more than I have ever done in my life.

The back yard is now a boggy mess again though, with the girls cage on the grass even. I have little faith that I can move it. I was out there yesterday morning tidying up some, and watching the chooks look for new nesting places. They are very inquisitive creatures. They watched me put hay behind the guinea pig hidey hole and went over to check that out. This morning they graced me with an egg each.

yard pics

Phil on the garden chair



Me trying to get a good picture of the not dead Lilac.


Good picture of dirt.


Crockpot Lasagne that was cooking while I was doing stuff.



Guinea pig


Chooks scratching in the guinea pig poo.


Tidy yard. Well..mostly.


Other end of the yard. Old cages...what do you do with them?


Worst 'problem area' - I have no place to keep the wire. maybe I could hammer some nails into the fence and roll it up to hang on them?

In further decluttering news..I'm am trying to disappear a few pounds. Or centimetres. Centimetres might work better seeing as I have no scales. I've stayed at a stable weight for many many years, but its time to think about trying to DO something about getting to a lesser BMI. The yard work has been a meagre 10 mins or so of added exercise a day (which is about 10 more than I usually would have) and I am popping out for a walk of a morning. Its always been too much like hard work to get up, dressed and OUT of the house of a morning, but for the last two days I have managed it. I think the slip on shoes from Avon has helped in that regard. So far, (and I dont want to go too hard, too fast,) the walk has been around the 'block' taking a total of 7 minutes, which is about 700 metres..or so. I can cope with 7 mins. We are advised to get 30 mins a day. 10 mins of yard work and 7 walking is half way there, and that was without trying. I plan to increase the walking exponentially. a week of 7 mins, then maybe onto 10 mins (depends on how long the new route is) then maybe moving to twice a day and 15mins each time. This will be in ADDITION to the exercise to get every day, not trying to tell myself 'oh, you will be walking to that place later, you can skip this mornings walk' - I've already tried that with myself. Who knows if I will keep it up, but I plan to for 21 days, which is what it reportedly takes to form a new habit. How to start the exercise habit.

I've managed to make the bed every day (some days its better than others, but its DONE) and I have easily slipped back into the dishes before bed routine.

I can do this.

Life is good

I bought a new rake last week, and have spent time in the back yard with it tidying up. Having a rake that has all its ...tines? works WONDERS. Tidying that bit there leads to satisfaction of a job well done, and then I move onto the next bit.

All the cannas have been cut back, the elder berries listed on Freecycle, (with one interested woman who hasn't gotten back to me about when she can collect - the offcuts will be burnt or binned next weekend if I cant offload them).

The girl piggies were shifted out of their huge cage and put into the smaller flight cage for some grass time out the front and to allow me to clean their house out properly. All the poo and leftover hay went onto the gardens - yes, plural. The wire part of their cage had matted stuff. Which is why they had to come out for me to clean it. It needed to be put on its side and poked.

I hosed down the path and tried to burn some of the canna bits. They were too damp to do much. There are some fence palings out the front that I might um..borrow...to use as fuel for the fire.

I have planted out heaps of last seasons garlic that was shooting and if it all grows I will have garlic coming out my ears. I'm thinking of selling it.

As a result of the longer days (IMO anyway) the inside has becoming tidier. I'm back to doing the dishes before bed and with a ..romantic interest who is allergic to cats, the floor gets vacuumed more often. Its a flow on effect, like outdoors. Do the floor and you see other things that have cat hair that could be washed or wiped down to alleviate allergies.

The bathroom is being wiped down more often too. Nothing like having a guest who might use the loo to make SURE the toilet doesn't need flushing and no tooth paste spits in the sink.

I've been sleeping much better as well. I think its because the bedroom window is open at night again. Or it could be all my 'hard work' in the yard.

I *will* get the couch and other arm chair to a 'visitors' level.

But now, I better go and get my washing in. We haven't had any sun all day, and it looks like rain is on the way.

catching up

I can see a couple of warm spots in the lounge room, but these are/will be easily dealt with. For some unknown reason I simply CANNOT keep the couch and other arm chair free of crap! I don't know why. I don't use them as a rule, so there is no need to absent-mindedly put things on them.

But anyway. I've been in the spare room today, taking down the curtains (and putting them in the washing machine straight away!) and thinking about other options for curtaining in there. Currently the main curtains are a halved double bed doona cover. Not ideal. But I refuse to spend a fortune on real ones. Something also needs to be done about the Queen size bed and mattress in there. The bed has been broken down, but it is still in the way. I'm not sure I want to put it on Freecycle, but I am also fairly sure I will never get around to calling the op shop to see if they want it. I'll likely leave it to deal with 'later' until mid summer. I am really looking forward to having that room back to what it was with the computers and sewing machine set up in there. I now have an overlocker (with issues) so that will also need a place to live. I'm thinking the drive shaft is worn or something, but we'll see. Having everything back in there will free up a LOT of loungeroom space.

The back yard is being worked on a bit at a time. This morning I was out there for all of 10 mins cutting the branches, on the fence side, off the elderberries. I've been trying to get them to be screening plants on the dividing fences. It has taken a few years, but I am getting there. if I can remember to do the fence side pruning while they have no leaves I'll be doing well. Last year I offered the prunings on Freecycle. I may do that again this year.

The boy guinea pigs, who are free ranging, are doing an admirable job of keeping the grass in check. They even get along the fence better than any whipper snipper would. The girls are probably hanging out for some grazing though. The ground has been way too boggy for their cage. Not that the grass has been growing. Cleaning up the girls poo from the concrete path is proving good for the actual garden beds.

Well, the curtains are finished, so I better get them out before it rains again.

Spring!

Ok, technically Spring is officially another month and a bit away, but TODAY is very spring like. Even if the temperature online says its 14.

I've been keeping up with the dishes before bed again, and even willingly wiped down the bathroom. This makes a huge difference to my mornings.

I've stripped the bed today, to wash the sheets and take advantage of the weather.

The car has also been washed, inciting dread to all my local Facebook friends.

All but one of the windows in the house are open to get the breeze.

Additionally, with the spring like feel to the air, yesterday I parked at Kmart and walked into work. Its a mere 10 minute walk, that I almost skipped because 'rain was forecast.' So that 20 min walk to and from the car also boosted energy levels.

The weather and energy wont last, so I plan on making the most of it!

thoughts

I watched an episode of Hoarders last night, and even though I spent half the time seeing 'things that are still good' one sentence stood out. That was where the 'professional' said that so and so had just tossed the stuff into a room and shut the door on it.

Guess what? that is what 'everyone' suggests when you are having a rough time (sickness, baby problems, too busy) - but I'm not sure I have ever heard how to get back on track. Say you are a new mum, just home from hospital. A partner who is little to no help and who bitches coz 'nothing is done.' So, you tidy up by shoveling everything into the spare room, where he and the guests never go, the main living are is tidy, but you are still knackered. Baby is fussy and wont be put down for 8 months...you've still been 'cleaning up' by filling the spare room, except, by now, the spare room is full, so you start on the babies room. Baby sleeps with you coz thats the only way you can get more than 5 mins sleep at a time.

You see the pattern here?

Or perhaps you have been ill...done the same thing, but the thought of facing all that stuff is too overwhelming. So you shut the door. Out of sight, out of mind.

So how to you get started again?

I had a baby here yesterday. Hes been here a few times, but yesterday I also had a house inspection. I knew he would be coming, so I did getting organised things before collecting him. It made me wonder how I managed when I had my own kids. Especially the first one. Its hard enough working out how to cook baby food and go to the loo and do STUFF when you have experience. But the first advice you get when lost with a new baby was..let the housework go. Now that I am older, and presumably wiser, Flylady's 15 mins a day would be easily achieved with a baby sling and fractious baby. 20 years ago baby wearing wasn't common, and I didn't know about Flylady. :s

The house inspection was a breeze. I wiped down the sinks and vacuumed. Even finally putting the clean sheets that were washed a couple of weeks ago. he is here to check the condition of the house NOT my housework skills. As nothing has changed, there wasn't anything to report. but is is very nice not to stress out about the housework.

I'm still not even looking at the missions for the day. I should. They would give me something to do. But now that the days are getting longer and also nicer, I feel more motivated to keep things tidy. Laundry can be hung on the line, rather than on the clothes horse inside. The back door can be open to let fresh air in. I guess as long as I can keep the house at a sustainable level, a few months 'off' over Winter is ok.

woo!

I cant say that I am perky today, but some things HAVE been done. I did the dishes last night, and tidied the bench, cleaned the stove and wiped down the sink..and even got out the corned beef.

There was no sleeping with the window open, coz it was too windy and the weights in the blinds bang and crash against the wall. I did take a multi vitamin and a couple of cod liver oil capsules - for the Vit D.

This morning, I told myself that I couldn't get online until the lounge was tidy, so I sorted most of that out to a tolerable level and put the corned beef on. This bit of meat is brilliant in the crock pot.

Before and after shots.

Ugh. Cant sit on the couch or other arm chair. Clothes horse in the way of everything, and the dog blanket.


Only a slight improvement, but better than nothing! Now the cat has a bit of couch to sleep on, and another cat can claim the arm chair.

I am wanting to find a way/place to store the socks I am knitting. Right now they live on the couch, in the bottom left side of the after shot, or on the arm of it. There are four pairs on the go at the moment. That's...more than 27 needles. Nine for each pair, plus however many for the store bought socks I am reknitting which has the instep stitches on a circular.

Anyway, I feel much better about it being tidier. But I expect that is the added vitamins more than anything else. This weeks Zone is the lounge so I guess I am still sort of on track.

tsk tsk

I'm not sure I can claim to be a Flybaby at the moment. I didn't even LOOK at last weeks missions, and I don't think I've done the dishes/shined the sink before bed in at least a couple of weeks. :( The motivation just isn't there! I also have far fewer visitors over winter - likely a result of not being at all sociable - and with the addition of really GREAT books to read on my Kindle...yeah.

I've been going to bed at 6, 7pm to read because there hasn't been anything on tv and to make sure the heater doesn't go on. Sometimes I head there not expecting to go to sleep, but I do. Other times, and this is frequent in winter, I read until after midnight, and still not get to sleep before 2am. On those nights, the last thing I want to do is get back up to do the dishes/sink. And it is really too cold to do it anyway. I don't have the heater on as a rule, so the indoor temperature can be as little as 7C. Getting up to wash dishes for 4 mins isn't worth the cost of whacking the heater on for that amount of time.

We are past the shortest day, and already things are looking brighter. Ok, I realise we have just as much light as we did 4 days BEFORE the solstice...but it still feels brighter :P I also realise there is another 9 weeks of Winter.

Because the temperature has risen the last couple of days - like, its a whole 11C outside, the bedroom window has been open the last two nights. On both of which I actually got to sleep before midnight. perhaps I shall take a multi vitamin, sleep with the window open again tonight and see what that does for the motivation levels. Getting tomorrows tea out of the freezer tonight would also help, especially if I want the corned beef to thaw out.

If improved vitamin levels don't help, then I expect this blog will stay very very quiet until Spring. I don't think I have fallen off the wagon, I'm just in hibernation :D That said though, I figured out the other day that if you 'have to tidy up coz a visitor is coming' then you are well slack on the housework :s

C'est la vie

slackness

Grey days really are NOT conducive to tidying up. I am fairly sure I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, though I am not sure that the Dr has actually said that.

But anyway, with a visitor due today, and one that is allergic to cats I have done a half decent job of vacuuming. But I also got out the front of the house and tidied that up. All the cannas were frost bitten and the other plants were over growing the path. I even tidied up the prunings and hosed down the path.

This is what it looks like now:










That pile of STUFF is going to end up being mulch. If I wanted to get fussy I would cut back the grass. But that is enough for today, it is much improved. It also ties in well for todays mission, I just did the outside, rather than inside...though, I guess I did that too by moving the monitor and baby seat.

:o long time, no see

I want to say I've been insanely busy to make excuses about why nothing got done for a few weeks. There is no excuse really though. I could have found time to do things between driving lessons and dog sitting and emailing someone overseas.

For example, I could have made sure things were neat and tidy before taking the dog for a walk and driving lessons. Its not that hard to wash the few dishes I get dirty. Takes even less time to wipe down the sink after washing them.

I could have even made sure the dishes were done before sitting down to email the overseas correspondent.

I could have even vacuumed after I let the dog out the back to do his business of a morning.

But, in all honesty, I just couldn't be stuffed doing it. Gray cloudy days are NOT conducive to me doing things. By the time I got back from dog walking and driving I was 'too tired' to spend 3 or 4 minutes doing the dishes.

Happily though, with the dog gone, the last driving lesson scheduled, plus the clear day and the overseas chap being at work, I whizzed around the house and had it tidy again in a matter of 5..maybe 10 minutes. And that included wiping under the hotplate rings on the stove. Those things are sharp underneath, as I found out the hard way. There is still dog hair everywhere (doesn't vacuum up very easily), and muddy foot prints in the laundry, but I'll get to those, probably sometime today if the weather stays clear.

Suffice to say..after a few weeks of the house being ever so slightly annoying, waking up to it being tidy is a distinct pleasure.

todays mission

Was to tidy up your front entrance. Well, thankfully, I did that the other day while waiting for the quarantine lady. I even moved the car out of the carport and swept down the walls of the car port. Now that was gross! Old cobwebs and dust and even a dehydrated mouse carcass. Ok, the mouse was on the floor. There is still more that needs to/could be done, but it still looks a hell of a lot nicer than it did last Monday.

I do need to prune the plants back though. They are looking a tad seedy.

female cat marking

One of my cats, Snot, is a bitch for spraying. She is desexed, and was before she turned into a teenager.

She had a bladder infection a while back, and thats thought to have been caused by stress.

Cleared all that up, but now she is marking the area near the kettle. First I knew of this was yellow droplets in/on the bowls that live there. Then I saw that the base of the kettle had yellow droplets.

Of course, this just isn't on. She does it at night when I cant see. Ok, I *assume* it is Snot, because I have seen her marking other places. I have the pepper laying on its side next to the bowls so she is avoiding that bit. But the kettle is fair game for her. Sprinkling pepper works, but I have to wipe that up every morning.

I think that she is marking because of the dog thats here. This morning she squirted ME while I was on the loo! That most definitely isn't on.

This link isn't much good. I think I'll have to do the pepper thing, and wait for the dog to go.

Drives me up the wall. But I'm glad its not a boy cat doing it!

~*~
My Flylady stuff isn't in Google calender today. Not sure where that is. Today is dust the nick knacks though.

~*~
I called Quarantine on Saturday. Tasmania is an island state with fairly strict quarantine laws, so when I found that the dog biscuity bones had little brown beetles in them, and they were from Qld, I called. Well, I thought we did. The quarantine officer who called me back was all 'oh, its probably nothing, we have indigenous bugs, they probably got into the biscuits here.' :s he didn't listen when I said there were beetles in a SEALED bag.

A woman called me this morning and will be here to collect the biscuits some time today.

Google tells me they are carpet beetles. But not varied carpet beetles. Mine look like this. Its hard to find out if they are ok HERE, or whether its the varied one we have. This is the Australian carpet beetle. CSIRO link. Still not mine. But hey, if I listened to the guy who called, I could have easily said 'oh, we have brown bugs? ok then.'

Anyway, we will see what the quarantine officer says when she gets here.

oooh arr...

a deep and meaningful mission today.

We are to stand in our loungerooms and look around to see what we love, or what we are used to.

My clocks are still loved (as much as they can be - I cant take them to bed or hug them after all) - but I am still fairly 'used to' them being there. Every now and then I will wind one up.

The videos and dvd's annoy me, but there really isn't anywhere for them to go. So I enjoy having them in alphabetical order.

Aside from those collections, I have no nick knacks or any thing. I do, however, have a dirty great bed for the dog, which is taking up ooh...a quarter of the floor space of the loungeroom. Small lounge room, big dog. I cant do much about that until the dog goes. But I CAN do something about the layers of dog hair.

I've been quite quite slack about tidying up since he got here. He is always under foot, and whines if he is in the back yard. I used to think he was lonely/in need of company, but realised that if he can spend hours out the front alone (and piss off), that wasn't the case. I look forward to him going back home so I can get these beds up and out of the way.

I bought a deep fryer the other week, and have been using it over Easter. I cant wait for it to be put away, coz it takes up space on the stove. The cord is too short to reach the power point if it is on the kitchen bench would you believe. I need to wipe down the fat splatters and get on with eating real food again. The corned beef for example. And Scotch Broth - with goat - before the veges go blech.

Well, time to vacuum and stuff, then back to knitting and watching Alien3.

:s what to do?

Missions this week:

Monday - Get rid of what doesn't belong. There isn't anything.
Tuesday - Clothes pile. There isn't one.
Wednesday - Night stands. Don't have any.
Thursday - Dressers. Already tidy. I could dust them though.
Friday - Strip and make the bed properly. Now this one I might be able to manage!

With just a couple of forks and a microwave bowl last night, I didn't bother doing the dishes before bed. It would have been a waste of water to do them. Ok, I am on town water, but why waste it? Now I can add this mornings coffee mug, breakfast bowl and two spoons to that, because I have a funeral to go to and I will want to come back to a tidy house. I was going to put corned beef on in the crock pot, but given that tomorrow is Good Friday, and we have some vague traditions in our family, I wouldn't have eaten the left overs. So it has to wait.

I'm baby sitting a dog, so I should probably vacuum up the dog hair before I leave as well. And hang out his bedding.

Now is a good time I guess.

Mission impossible

Todays Flylady mission is to take things out of your room that don't belong. Happily, I don't have anything in there that doesn't belong. So, Mission accomplished.

Not sure if living alone is good or bad at this point.

If nothing 'ever changes' then how did the place get to the CHAOS stage?

shameful moment

Well, actually two of them.

The other night I had a visitor. Yep, a visitor at night. But I hadn't done the dishes or shined the sink, and the visitor washed their hands at the kitchen sink! How embarrassing!

Then yesterday, not thinking that the bathroom was that messy, I got the cleaning sponge to wipe up the dripped bits of liquid soap, and found out that while the what you call it? bench/vanity whatever, didn't LOOK dirty, there was significant amounts of dust and hair strands. The floor around the cats water dishes was worse. Why i didn't think that the cats shed hair at the water bowls I'll never know. Sheesh.

Yeah...so..I think I will have to trust that while things look ok at a surface glance, they might not actually be as clean as I think, and need doing anyway.

another list item to cross off

I bought new curtains for the loungeroom yesterday. They are a lovely pair of coffee colored velvety ones, which cost me all of 10 dollars - for the PAIR. They barely looked used. Best of all, they are full length and full width. Ok, I would have preferred lighter ones for that window, but these will do. Better than none with winter coming.

There is something going on with my internet connection. It keeps dropping out. Not sure whats up with that, but if (when) it reconnects I will post this and be done with.

Still to cross off is a laptop back pack, a new computer desk (for the spare room) and an external hard drive.

I remember many many years ago the 'things to get list' had a freezer and a vacuum cleaner on it, and a more recent one had a new fridge and laptop. I'm pleased to say, that even though it might take me a year or two to get them, almost everything on these lists I have gotten!

Lost week

I seem to have lost a week.

I'm not sure where it went.

But I know I haven't done diddly squat of Flylady stuff beyond wiping down the sink and making the bed.

Ok, to be sure I HAVE done stuff around the place - like rearranged the lounge room furniture, and as a result of that vacuumed properly in here and changed the cover on the ratty old arm chair that is one of those blissful wraps-you-up-in-comfort type ones (and its a recliner) - but I have studiously ignored the missions.

Why?

Well, I was thinking about this yesterday and I came to the conclusion that my mentality is 'I just did that/it doesn't need doing again/there are no kids here [to make a mess].' Which are all accurate. But now, on a new morning, I am trying to work out why my thinking wants things to get to a 'need to clean' state, rather than a maintenance chore. Granted, the last time any of the mission were um..'held' was easily 4 weeks ago. Surely there is dust and fly specks accumulating in that time?

Oh, yeah, I did empty out the crumbs from my toaster. Does that count?

I also am now the proud owner of a Kindle! Full write up about it over here in my craft blog.

As I read elsewhere, "Okay, so I could go on and on about every detail that I plan to do today, but you guys would get bored. As I sit here writing this, I realize that I am going on and on just to put off cleaning."

So, I'm off to get a start on the leg of chevon I plan to have for lunch.


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..
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But, I am also wondering is there is a common point when people stall. Maybe I'll ask.

I am excellent

..at procrastination.

Aside from keeping the sink in order, and making the bed, I have done NOTHING the Flylady way for 4 days.

I think, in part, that came from not having applocable missions to do. Last Friday was Zone 1 (a one day Zone 1 even) - the mission was to clear everything away that doesn't belong. I didn't have anything there. Thursday was lounge room walls, Wednesday was vacuuming. Tuesday was the knick knacks, which I don't have, but I did do my clocks. So, in theory, its been 6 days. :s

The computer is probably the main reason nothing has been done. Get up, get online. Look at the Flylady calendar list and do other stuff. Look at the list again, find something ELSE to do...etc et al - all. bloody. day. Plus, now that a dear friend is back at work and chatting, I always get caught up in conversation. I know it takes maybe a whole five minutes to vacuum, but I still put it off. O.o

Then its the weekend. I went out and did things on Saturday - before doing anything that resembled housework. I hired movies and watched those. To be fair, I was knitting on a couple of socks during this time, and got a fair bit done. I also did laundry, fed the cats (several times), moved the guinea pigs AND helped out the neighbour.

Sunday was much the same, except I sorted out the top shelf of the pantry. Its much neater now, and the containers are in alphabetical order. I know, I'm anal about these things. But now I know that the barley will be on the far left hand side, and the polenta on the far right. I wont need to shuffle anything around trying to find what I am after...too much.

Today it is Zone 2 again, and the mission is the counter tops. This should be easy to do. There is only an 18x40 inch counter top. :s

Being that daylight saving has ended here, I need to change the bedroom curtains to the heavy weight ones, and I think I will strip the bed as well, seeing as its a nice-ish sunny day, even if it is cold. It will rain again sooner or later, and I want this bedding back ON the bed, rather than the other stuff :P

Times awasting.

sigh

I'm a bit put out today. It's for a silly-ish reason and all. I planned to have corned beef for tea, cooked in the crock pot, and got an invitation for a sleep over tonight, so now...no corned beef. With the house a lot tidier though, I could, in theory, invite the invitee to dinner. But I don't have a table. Yes, this is important to me. Hows does one have guests for dinner with no dining table?

Todays mission is to wipe down the loungeroom walls. I have barely any walls available to the general room, so I don't really have anything to do today (I will get behind the tv unit and wash down the wall under the lounge room window though). Instead, I think I will wash some of the ceiling. Its hard to get going though, as it is a frosty frosty morning and I don't have heating on until about May..and then only at night when the house is closed up. I long for an old fashioned wood fire at times like this, but I then fast forward to paying for the wood and the mess and everything, and get quite glad that I *don't* have one.

Perhaps I should have a look at the detailed cleaning lost to see what ELSE is supposed to be done in Zone 5, eh? Ack! that finishes today!

Here's is a dinner picture from the other day. Its a dish (mjaddarah - there are a LOT of different spellings) that a chat buddy recommended to me a while back, and was an instant hit in my house.

Onto the housework.

Todays mission

Was to dust the knick knacks. I don't have any of course, but I do have a collection of clocks and espresso mugs. I am sure it hasn't been that long since I dusted them, but they collected a pile of it anyway. The two top pictures are the clocks with Mt Sheen on them. I didn't think to take pics before starting. I really should work on getting proper shelves for them.