First of January

Today is the day that I make Impossible Cheesecake Pie. I started baking this a good 6 years ago on New Years Day. I think the first time was a fluke, to see if it worked. It did, and tastes just like a traditional baked cheese cake, so I kept it up. This year I have kept the left over tinned passion fruit from the Christmas pavlova, and I am thinking that I might try some of it drizzled over the cheesecake when its done, and cool. I don't like wasting almost a whole tin of it, but could never think of a way to use it up.

The people I was dog sitting for returned on Friday. Their broccoli had been picked, blanched and frozen, and the cabbage pared down to the good leaves and poked in the fridge. I am now second guessing whether I ought to have done it. Their table was tidied up, and even polished. The bench sorted out, but not TOO tidied, coz its not my place and I shouldn't be moving too much around. They seemed happy enough about the care I took of their house, yard, and dogs, so this is a good thing. Thankfully I hadn't started sorting my shed out to put in their bin. This is a bit of a shame, coz I would have liked to have gotten rid of stuff.

In my place, I rewound a ball of cotton and found it ok - not damp or smelly. I might try the big one later to make sure. Why I didn't start with that one, I don't know. Now that the people are back the freezer doesn't need the to-do list on it, so the paper is back in here. The couch is STILL clear (almost a month now) and the sink still has the parsley plant on it that really ought to be planted. Except the guinea pigs will eat it, which means I need to plant it in a cage, or out the front. The guinea pigs ate the tomato plants I bought two weeks ago and planted Christmas day. I think I have saved two of the three, but I am still not impressed.

I don't think I did any of last weeks missions.
Monday - Hidden clutter. I don't have any. Not even strewn dvd's/cd's. (Though, if I hadn't done the dressing table last week this would have been a different story)
Tuesday - Rubbish. Again, none. See above.
Wednesday - Stuff. Again, none. I'm getting good at this :) (I *could* have put the Christmas tree away. probably should have. I can do it today)
Thursday - Vacuuming. This I did
Friday - Door knobs. There are none, unless I count the front door, hall door (which is always open and in therefore IN the hall) and laundry door, (again, always open until bed time...oh, front door is always open too!)

Today, a day of rest even O.o, I wiped off the house phone with anti-bacterial wipes, coz it was looking decidedly dusty. I am half thinking of making a slip cover for it.

Well, I better get on with baking the cheesecake. It promises to be a lovely warm day, and the oven needs to be on.

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.