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.