7:17 PM
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House Cleaning
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Show Us Your Life
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Ok, I know I am a bad, bad blogger here lately (what with all my computer time being spent wrapping up details for the ABSOLUTELY AWESOME YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT Give-away and Raffle over at At the Well:In Pursuit of Titus 2) But while I do have a few minutes this evening, I thought I would do a Show Us Your Life post seeing how much I do love blog parties... even though I am late with it!
This week, everyone is sharing their cleaning tips.
How FUN! LOL.
Contrary to what you may believe from the past Monday's post about cleaning my horrific bedroom, the main parts of my home are usually clean.
What?!?
No, seriously!
Stop laughing, I mean it!!
I'll even prove it to you! I'm gonna go take some pictures!
Ok. Besides the glare from the light (Sorry! I had to climb onto a chair to take a picture of the whole thing!) that is honestly what my kitchen looks like right this minute!
And part of the living room. (My husband politely -lol, not really- requested not to be in the picture, so I pointed the camera at the kids as he dodged out of the picture!) Yeah, sure there is a laundry basket sitting by my chair, but see how neat and clean the floor is?
BUT this blog isn't about proving to you that I do clean, but telling you a few of my tips for cleaning! So here they are:
TIP #1: Lots and Lots of Coffee!
(OK, Ok, I'm just kidding! Sheesh! Don't be so serious!)
TIP #2: Always, ALWAYS wear good lace-up shoes!
The FlyLady says this is one of her most important rules, and when I worked as an at-home customer service Rep, and when I worked as a Mary Kay consultant, both companies STRESSED always getting dressed to your shoes. It puts your mind in the right frame to get up and MOVE! You're ready for anything, anytime, and you're comfortable while you do it! (And YES, I was, and still am wearing my lace-up shoes and my pajamas at the same time! I put them on when I before my feet hit the floor in the morning and don't take them off until my head is hitting the pillow at night, except to bathe of course! Oh, and yeah, my socks don't match:P)
TIP #3: My Control Journal.
Now what does this have to do with cleaning? EVERYTHING! I write down anything I see that needs to be cleaned, so I don't have to think about it. Then when I'm cleaning, I just turn to my "Cleaning" tab and work my way down the list! It keeps me focused and it also keeps me from getting distracted and wasting time on things that didn't have to be done! There are several websites that teach you how to build your very own control journal, but of course, I recommend The Flylady's!
TIP #4: Good Music and Good Audio-books.
Music has a magical way of getting your blood pumping! When you are listening to your favorite song, it's hard to sit in your chair and waste time; you want to get up and dance! So I get up and dance while I clean! I keep a variety of good audio-books and programs on there so I can listen while I work on the more tedious jobs!
TIP #5: Good, All Purpose Cleaners.
When I walk into the kitchen in the morning to get my first cup of coffee, I grab my spray bottle of Lysol 4-in-1 cleaner and a roll of paper towels and carry them with me pretty much where I go. I also have polish for the wood, Windex, and Dawn detergent. And that's it. That's all I buy! And they keep my house shiny, cut through the toughest stickiness the kids can deposit and none of them have really over-whelming smells that make me sick or aggravate the kids sensitive sinuses!
TIP #5: Get ya a good feather duster.
Whether you realize it or not, dust makes a house look, feel, smell, and seem dirty, even if it's really not! I use mine like ALL the time. I mean, come on! It's just fun! LOL. And it really doesn't take that long. I can dust all of our pictures and surfaces in the house in less than 10 minutes if I hurry!
TIP #6: Keep the shiny things clean!
I mean, the mirrors, the sinks, the faucets, the windows. When something is SHINY and the light's reflecting off of it, it helps make a room look clean, even if it's not perfectly clean! (Trust me on this one!) I keep one of these microfiber gloves in each bathroom and the kitchen because they are FANTASTIC for doing a quick swipe without any cleaner at all.
TIP #7: Make sure the essentials are handy!
(And no laughing about my Santa canister in my bathroom!) This, ah-hem, canister holds my microfiber cloth, Clorox wipes and my sink brush. The trash bags (this was in the bathroom) are right within arm's reach (we don't have a single cabinet in the bathroom to hide them in!) but not obtrusively so and the shampoo is the extra stuff that I don't use, therefore it gets delegated to a cleaning product!
TIP #8: Keep your toilet clean- ALL THE TIME!
It is SO gross going to a public restroom where there are streaks and stains and who know what else all around the toilet bowl, and I don't know about you- but I won't use them if they are yucky like that! So why should OUR toilets be any different?!? I don't even have a regular toliet brush anymore because I don't need it. I have this glass sponge that I keep in a vase that has that old, unused shampoo in it, and I swish the toilet several times a day. It keeps it clean and white (although I am sparing you the picture, but I can prove it if I have to!!) and since toliet bowl cleaners are nasty, stinky, poisonous things (which I won't keep in the house) and can only be used with caution, this is an awesome alternative, because I can swish the entire inside and outside of the toilet if need be! I change the water and soap once a day, and also I do disinfect the toilet in the mornings with 4-in-1 because I have little boys who aren't very good at aiming!
So that's that for now! I hope you can get something of use out of them, although I must reiterate that I am BY NO MEANS! an expert! LOL
1:39 PM
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Simplifing for Sanity
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OH! I'm so excited! I love me some blogging parties! I've been eagerly awaiting today's Simplifing for Sanity from Lynette's blog.
So, this week I decided to do my bedroom. I won't even horrify you with before pictures (because I wouldn't make myself take them!) but I will give you a bit of a description:
BEFORE: My bedroom was covered, and I do mean covered!, with laundry and whatever else the children happened to drop in there. You couldn't walk on the floor it was so full of clean laundry in baskets, dirty laundry in baskets, toys and other miscellany on the floor. It was pretty dern rough.
I mean, I want my bedroom to be sweet and calming, but at the same time, it's on the opposite end of the house from the living space and the children's bedrooms, no one is supposed to go in there except me and Josh so in theory it shouldn't get dirty. BUT what happened was that if I was rushed and didn't have time to fold and put away laundry then I just threw it on the bed. No big deal, right? Because I have to clean it up before I can go to sleep. Well... let me tell you something, Missus! It NEVER gets done like you plan it! In the rush of the day, I couldn't always leave the children unsupervised long enough to get a handle on it, and there's certainly not room in there for all of the monkeys being monkeys AND a monkey mommy cleaning, so it was just easier to hide it and pretend it wasn't there until I crawled into bed with the lights off, too exhausted to worry with it.
SO I decided that I was going to create a CALMING environment. NOTHING would exist in my bedroom unless it had a specific purpose for being there and a specific place to go. It took me about 3 hours to completely scrub everything and get it sparkling, but I DID IT! And now, I'm going to walk you through my NEW, Simplified, Master Bedroom. :)
Now, My bedroom is roughly 14x14 and is actually the second smallest bedroom in the house, which also holds the house's largest bed (go figure, right?). BUT we chose it because it is so isolated from the rest of the noise and light. We don't even have any windows in our room because of how it's tucked in there!
Let the tour begin!
This is the view from my bedroom door.
The walls are actually BRIGHT SKY BLUE, which my new, relatively cheap, camera doesn't seem to like taking pictures of in true color.
The Hubby's Nightstand.
(The table cloth is actually brown, but again, the camera didn't pick it up :( ) Notice the entire lack of anything besides the phone charger and a lamp! No books, no soda cans or water bottles...NADA!
The bed all made up and my pretty painting.
Our bed is pale pink and dark blue. (LOL) All of the stuff has a gingham/floral pattern on one side and stripes on the other. The painting was actually found by my husband in a home he was remodeling. I love it!
My night cabinet.
I keep so many books and other things that I think I just have to have right by my bed, that I decided I couldn't really keep a bedside table clean, so I just moved this freestanding cabinet to use instead!
A slightly different perspective.
I absolutely HAD to have flowers somewhere in the room, so I bought this bunch of faux peonies for $3.00 at wal mart. The vase I had, and I mixed in some rose scented potpourri and apple scented pine-cones to hide the flower stems. (They actually smell really yummy together!) The mirror I had shoved into a closet and the candles are cranberry vanilla, with a vanilla reed diffuser. :) Believe it or not, the smell is seriously yummy!
The Dresser.
The candlesticks I found on sale at Fred's for $4.00! I want to get some nice pictures of me and Josh and put them between the candles, as well as some shorter candle sticks for the votive candles. One good thing about having a small room though- any angle you look into the mirror you can see the flowers on the cabinet!
The Chest of Drawers.
I have to admit, I was out of inspiration when it came to the chest of drawers. I wanted to keep this crystal punch bowl in my room (I'd be terrified it would get broken in any other room!) but I didn't know what to do with it. Truth to tell I still don't! (And I noticed that the candle was leaning after I uploaded the pictures but this is the best picture I got of it!)
But!
I love how it sparkles with the candle-light!
You see,
What I did: I took some taper candles (cranberry vanilla!) and two of the punch cups and some leftover rose potpourri and shoved it all together. This is what I got!
AND
The piece with the most history and meaning in the entire room to me! This painting was done by a dear friend of mine (Charlie Litherland) for my sister-in-law. She hung it over her mantle for years and when I lived with them it was a constant in the house. When Harmony was born, that was all she would look at while we were at her house. So, my ex-sister-in-law graciously offered to give the painting to us since Harmony was obviously delighted by it. It's hung in every single home Josh and I have shared since Harmony was 2 months old, been all around the country and through some crazy adventures with us! It hangs on 'my' wall so it's usually the first thing I see each morning when I roll out of bed!
So there you have it! I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished!
3:52 PM
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House Cleaning
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While I sit here at the computer I am listening to the sweetest music: my washing machine whirring away right outside my office door! And the dryer humming in tune. Sweet, sweet music! I just want to sing along!
It'd gotten bad. Not just bad, but BAD. Like (since the boys are camping out in the girls room while we replace the flooring in their room and their room is next to the laundry area) we had so much dirty laundry in there that the entire floor was covered with baskets upon baskets full of stinky clothes, muddy socks, and blankets that had accidents on them. B.A.D. Bad.
Since our washer is so old and decrepit, none of the stores had the piece that we needed to fix it in stock, so we were (not-so) patiently waiting for them to order it and recieve it to get our laundry system up and running... but we were basically at the end of our rope!
I went searching through the piles upon piles of dirty clothing in the master bedroom last night, searching for a specific shirt to be able to wash by hand and wear to Nashville today, and guess what I found? The piece that we needed to fix the washer!
Right there! We had it all along! How frustrating!
Actually, it's not. I am just thrilled to have it up and running now! And although it's completely against my cleaning philosophy, I am on my fourth load of clothes for the day (and would be on a later number, but for the trip to David's Bridal this morning!) and I fully intend on staying up until I can't keep my eyes open washing and drying clothes!
YEA! I'm so happy! I get to get my house REALLY cleaned tonight! Whoo-Hoo!
10:34 AM
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House Cleaning
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I love the commercial on CMT where Naomi Judd is walking 'Country Cribs' people through her house. Not only is she impeccably dressed (as always!) but she walks over to her washer and dryer, throws her arms around them and gushes "It is possible to have a passionate love affair with a major appliance!"
Gets me giggling every time!
I have a serious affair going on with several of my own major appliances, but they aren't always passionate and they aren't always loving! I love my stove... I baby it, cleaning it several times a day and making sure that it is always in pristine condition. My refridgerator is like my best friend, I always keep it clean and full and smelling good... I even have a little thing going with the dryer!
My washer is a completely different story... My washer in particular is giving me serious problems here lately.
See, my washer is about 6 years old. Up until about a year ago, it lived in a nice comfy house with four people. It was always clean and sparkly and didn't have to work very much at all. Since then, however, it's been moved to my messy laundry room and put into what must seem like a forced labor camp... running four loads on a slow day, and upwards of ten to twelve on a busy one.
But I am sweet to it! I make sure and wash the cat prints off the top and sides, I use good detergent and softener, and I make sure that the pockets are usually cleaned out so it doesn't have a bunch of stuff banging around in there.
It just doesn't like me very much.
That's ok. I don't like it very much either. So there. :P
It's very hard to love something that looks for opportunities to break down. First it was a belt. Then it was a hose attachment. Then it was the plug. Then the silly thing wouldn't hold water. Then it wouldn't drain the water.
See what I mean? It hates me! Usually though, we are able to catch whatever problem long before it does any actual damage or makes a huge mess... Usually.
On Thursday however, it was a different story.
I was in the kitchen making grilled-cheese sandwiches on my lovely stove when I asked Harmony to take a basket of laundry she and Regan had finished folding in the kitchen floor to my bedroom.
There I am, cooking away, singing "Just a spoonful of suugggarrr makes the medicine go down, medicine go doooowwwwwwnnn, medicine go down!" at the top of my lungs when I am suddenly interrupted by a shriek! I calmly looked around, counting kids (shrieks are not uncommon in this house!) and realized everyone was playing contentedly except Harmony.
Harmony? She's not a shrieker! What on earth?! I chunk my spatula on the cabinet and gasp to the other five "Stay here! I'll be right back!"
I dash off towards my bedroom and collide with Harmony bolting towards the kitchen.
SMACK!!!
We both stagger for just a moment... it was a hard smack!!
There's my poor six year old, hair put up and curled in pretty bows, wearing her pretty new birthday clothes and bouncing in drenched socks -screaming bloody murder because "THERE'S ICE COLD WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!"
Wait. What?!?
I twist her and turn her around a few revolutions to make sure there's nothing actually wrong with her.
There wasn't.
No wayward spider (Harmony would just stomp on it anyway), no bumps or bruises (Harmony wouldn't have been screaming about that- she once got a splinter under her big toe nail and didn't even see the need to tell me about it!). No big scary anything.
Yep.
I wasn't hallucinating.
The washer was leaking. Again.
Dang it.
The drain magically popped itself loose and then the washer obliged itself by spraying dirty, soapy water all over the laundry area... and the hall way... and the bathroom... and the girls' bedroom carpet... and my office carpet.
Not only was a good part of my house under water, it was under almost 2 inches of water! How does that even happen?!? The clothes were washed in the washer! I checked! The soap was gone and the clothes were all soaked.
*sigh*
I called Josh at work and, as usual, interrupted him up on a ladder (You know he just loved that!) just because I was having a minor freaking out session about living in a swimming pool. I could almost hear him rolling his eyes at me! I mean, come on! Anyone would be upset about that, right? (lol)
"Desi," he says with a sigh, "turn off the water valve to the washer in the bathroom. Get out the Green Machine and suck up the water. Quit washing clothes."
Oh I HATE it when he's that calm when I am gone somewhere outside my mind!
"BUT JOSH!" I shout frantically into the phone, "THERE'S WATER EVERYWHERE. AND IT'S COLD! WE ARE LIVING IN A DAD-GUM SWIMMING POOL IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!!!!"
With not even a second thought he answers me, "Well, then get out y'all's bathing suits and put on your jackets." and gets off the phone.
*ugh*
I toss the phone down and wander around feeling completely helpless for a few minutes while the big kids dare each other to touch the icy water and the little kids are delighting themselves by throwing blocks into it to see how big a splash they can make...
Oh, and THEN I finally remembered that I had been enjoying myself thoroughly cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. Which were now black as soot and tasted just about the same. So now, my stove is mad at me too. And I left the cheese out by the stove and it's all smushed together.... the fridge is not happy with me either. *sigh*
Stupid washer.
I did eventually (after several hours freezing work) get all the water sopped up and the other appliances contented but I've not forgiven my washer. The stupid thing. I am not speaking to it right now... but it's not speaking to me either. :(
Josh hasn't fixed whatever the problem is yet, and so, for now... the washer has won. I have dirty clothes and blankets just piling up all over the house and I am not happy about it at all.
I have resigned myself, however, to scheming against Washer for the day (hopefully not that far off!) that I will buy a BRAND NEW washer and send this old cranky one for recycling.
Then it can go be grumpy with someone else as parts and pieces and leave me to sing to the stove when I want!
