Here are some things I have learned or discovered along the way so far.
1. If you have a carpet that is well walked on and you have problems getting all the fluff and fur off, vacuum diagonally instead of back and forth. This causes the fibers to be pulled in a direction they aren't typically and loosens those stubborn fluffs.
2. When cleaning your bathtub or shower, do it after you have showered. The steam loosens all the dirt and you shouldn't have to scrub (well, unless it has been a long time).
3. GreenWorks cleaning products by Clorox work really well. I have used the all purpose cleaner, the bathroom cleaner and the dish soap and all have done a really good job. I really like the fact that it has almost a non-scent, very light and goes away so quickly.
4. Have to clean your ceiling fan? Get two damp clothes. Put one on the blade closest to the light and use the other to push the dirt toward it. This keeps all the dust from falling off the front and because the cloth is damp, all the crud sticks. I have tried this with the damp cloth sitting at the tip of the blade and pulled everything away from the light but for some reason the dirt still falls of the edges. It think it might have something to do with the fact that we only use the fans in the summer, so they only ever turn in one direction? I don't know, but I do know that it works.
5. Use milk and bread tags to label the many wires that accumulate behind your entertainment system and computer desk. I can thank Martha for this idea :)
6. Baking soda and soda water lift fresh spills off carpet instantly. OxyClean powder with soda water does it even faster. Some people call soda water club soda.
7. Magic Eraser by Mr Clean takes off paint. You may not be able to see it in normal lighting, but when the sun shines across the wall, you can see where you used the Magic. Vim, on the other hand, because it has no abrasives, works just as well without the ghost evidence.
8. The bozo who decided that not all Crayola markers will be made washable should be shot. The "Original" ones, that don't say washable on the box, are really original. I come from a place that never knew a non-washable crayola marker, therefor didn't think to look for the washable logo. Fool me once, shame on me... Not a fun lesson to learn.
The grand unveiling of my office will be on Thursday!! I am super proud of this one. There should be another post between now and then though, so maybe I'll give you a sneak peak :)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
What June Cleaver had that I do not
And that would be kids that are over three years old, lol.
I LOVE my kids beyond belief, but having two young ones does take its toll on the whole "role of the housewife" thing. They just plain get in the way of getting anything productive done in a shortish amount of time. Which is fine. They are supposed to need me, they are young and I take every day in with my whole heart because I know that these days go by too quickly and the time will come that I will look back and want these days to live again.
But getting stuff done? Yeah, there are days that it just doesn't happen. At all. And so I get back to the title of this entry. I think being a housewife is much easier when your kids are older. I betcha June Cleaver's house looked like a bomb went off when Beaver was little. Especially since he was so good at getting in to trouble when he was older, lol.
So, ... how to find a balance.
I have always hated that word, balance. You hear it and see it everywhere mom's are discussed. That we need to find a balance between work, kids, marriage and ourselves. I think there will never be a balance in my life because my kids will always come first and knock everything else off the scale, and I'm fine with that because like I said before, this is such a short time of their life span and mine.
So how have I found balance?
I call it the 10 minute tidy! (idea stolen from Big Comfy Couch's ten second tidy)
Before I play, I take 10 minutes to clean something. I set the timer so that Alexander knows that there will be an end and away I go. What ever I get done, gets done, what ever doesn't gets left until the next tidy time.
There are three in the day, morning, afternoon and evening. And this seems to be working, so far. In all honesty, I've only been doing this for three days. But it has given me the best of both worlds, Alexander still gets the best of me, my house gets and stays clean and tidy, and I don't feel overwhelmed by the whole thing. I do get kind of annoyed sometimes when I really get in to it, but 10 minutes is 10 minutes and I can always get back to it later, or after the kids go to sleep. (I think I'm still convincing myself of this, lol)
We'll see how long it lasts. I'm one week away from being finished with the office and am SO happy with the results. I can't find my camera cord so all before pictures will be posted with after pictures, but I'm really excited to show them off. I thought the kitchen was a transformation, but this is just amazing!
I'll leave it at that, build some suspense :)
I LOVE my kids beyond belief, but having two young ones does take its toll on the whole "role of the housewife" thing. They just plain get in the way of getting anything productive done in a shortish amount of time. Which is fine. They are supposed to need me, they are young and I take every day in with my whole heart because I know that these days go by too quickly and the time will come that I will look back and want these days to live again.
But getting stuff done? Yeah, there are days that it just doesn't happen. At all. And so I get back to the title of this entry. I think being a housewife is much easier when your kids are older. I betcha June Cleaver's house looked like a bomb went off when Beaver was little. Especially since he was so good at getting in to trouble when he was older, lol.
So, ... how to find a balance.
I have always hated that word, balance. You hear it and see it everywhere mom's are discussed. That we need to find a balance between work, kids, marriage and ourselves. I think there will never be a balance in my life because my kids will always come first and knock everything else off the scale, and I'm fine with that because like I said before, this is such a short time of their life span and mine.
So how have I found balance?
I call it the 10 minute tidy! (idea stolen from Big Comfy Couch's ten second tidy)
Before I play, I take 10 minutes to clean something. I set the timer so that Alexander knows that there will be an end and away I go. What ever I get done, gets done, what ever doesn't gets left until the next tidy time.
There are three in the day, morning, afternoon and evening. And this seems to be working, so far. In all honesty, I've only been doing this for three days. But it has given me the best of both worlds, Alexander still gets the best of me, my house gets and stays clean and tidy, and I don't feel overwhelmed by the whole thing. I do get kind of annoyed sometimes when I really get in to it, but 10 minutes is 10 minutes and I can always get back to it later, or after the kids go to sleep. (I think I'm still convincing myself of this, lol)
We'll see how long it lasts. I'm one week away from being finished with the office and am SO happy with the results. I can't find my camera cord so all before pictures will be posted with after pictures, but I'm really excited to show them off. I thought the kitchen was a transformation, but this is just amazing!
I'll leave it at that, build some suspense :)
Monday, June 28, 2010
And the work continues...
I'm still here, and still cleaning, lol The office is looking so much better but a few things have transpired through all this cleaning and it is here that I will list them.
1. SO much harder to go through your personal stuff than it is kitchen crockery. The old pie trimmer that I haven't used in ages, no problem to get rid of. The book I loved but haven't read in ages, not so easy. The doubles of my corningware that everyone said I will use, gone. The DVD and VHS versions of The YaYa Sisterhood, still on my shelf. What if i want to watch it up at the cottage? No DVD player, need the VHS. Plus there is something nostalgic about fast forwarding through previews :) Needless to say it has taken a really long time to complete this room because I am very connected to many of the things on the shelves (and floor and desk and in boxes etc etc).
2. I have way too much paper stuff. I went through all my filing cabinets, piles and drawers and got rid of probably half a forest. I am a paper collector, not because I like to collect paper, but because I'm lazy and don't file right away, and things get piled on top of things and before I know it I'm going through an envelope with bills in it from 2005. Yup, true story.
3. I should never watch that TLC show about hoarders. I can identify with way too many symptoms, and even though I know I'm not a hoarder, I can feel the stuff around me growing each time I see a commercial for it.
4. I have stopped pursuing things that I really enjoy. I LOVE to read, but haven't been lately. Not sure if it was because of the kids or because I'm tired (because of the kids) or that I just lost track of how much I love to read, but going through all my books has peaked my interest and I'm back to having three books on the go again. That is how I have always done it and it is so nice to be back on track.
The other thing that I stopped doing was writing. For as along as I can remember I have loved to write stories. When I was preschool aged, my mom would make we little booklets out of folded paper and I would draw pictures on each page and dictate what the story was about, my mom printing it on each page. As i got older I made my own books and eventually moved to a notebook collection of stories I had written. I found this notebook while going through some boxes of stuff in the basement and really want to start writing again. But for some reason I don't know how to go about it.
5. Cleaning the office does not happen in a vacuum like cleaning the kitchen does. Stuff in the office goes in the dining room, living room, bedroom etc etc, which means you are pretty much working on all rooms at the same time, although not as concentrated in the extra rooms, there is still some minor work that needs to be done. This makes for a very long, very frustrating process. I'm really not enjoying this room at all, but aside from our bedroom, it should be the hardest of the task. At least I have that to look forward to.
6. I am really good about getting rid of somethings, and not so much other things. I have boxed up all my kids old clothing to take to once upon a child, and while it was hard, it feels so good to have the stuff out of the closet and ready to go. Our chandelier on the other hand, for some reason, i am finding hard to part with. We put a ceiling fan in our living room (what used to be the dining room and we took down the chandelier that was there. But I am having a huge issue getting rid of it. We don't need it, won't need it, and it will just be collecting dust in the basement, but for some reason I don't want to get rid of it. I think my mind is so full of all the other things I've been getting rid of that it is clinging to pointless things needlessly. We'll see where this one goes, lol.
1. SO much harder to go through your personal stuff than it is kitchen crockery. The old pie trimmer that I haven't used in ages, no problem to get rid of. The book I loved but haven't read in ages, not so easy. The doubles of my corningware that everyone said I will use, gone. The DVD and VHS versions of The YaYa Sisterhood, still on my shelf. What if i want to watch it up at the cottage? No DVD player, need the VHS. Plus there is something nostalgic about fast forwarding through previews :) Needless to say it has taken a really long time to complete this room because I am very connected to many of the things on the shelves (and floor and desk and in boxes etc etc).
2. I have way too much paper stuff. I went through all my filing cabinets, piles and drawers and got rid of probably half a forest. I am a paper collector, not because I like to collect paper, but because I'm lazy and don't file right away, and things get piled on top of things and before I know it I'm going through an envelope with bills in it from 2005. Yup, true story.
3. I should never watch that TLC show about hoarders. I can identify with way too many symptoms, and even though I know I'm not a hoarder, I can feel the stuff around me growing each time I see a commercial for it.
4. I have stopped pursuing things that I really enjoy. I LOVE to read, but haven't been lately. Not sure if it was because of the kids or because I'm tired (because of the kids) or that I just lost track of how much I love to read, but going through all my books has peaked my interest and I'm back to having three books on the go again. That is how I have always done it and it is so nice to be back on track.
The other thing that I stopped doing was writing. For as along as I can remember I have loved to write stories. When I was preschool aged, my mom would make we little booklets out of folded paper and I would draw pictures on each page and dictate what the story was about, my mom printing it on each page. As i got older I made my own books and eventually moved to a notebook collection of stories I had written. I found this notebook while going through some boxes of stuff in the basement and really want to start writing again. But for some reason I don't know how to go about it.
5. Cleaning the office does not happen in a vacuum like cleaning the kitchen does. Stuff in the office goes in the dining room, living room, bedroom etc etc, which means you are pretty much working on all rooms at the same time, although not as concentrated in the extra rooms, there is still some minor work that needs to be done. This makes for a very long, very frustrating process. I'm really not enjoying this room at all, but aside from our bedroom, it should be the hardest of the task. At least I have that to look forward to.
6. I am really good about getting rid of somethings, and not so much other things. I have boxed up all my kids old clothing to take to once upon a child, and while it was hard, it feels so good to have the stuff out of the closet and ready to go. Our chandelier on the other hand, for some reason, i am finding hard to part with. We put a ceiling fan in our living room (what used to be the dining room and we took down the chandelier that was there. But I am having a huge issue getting rid of it. We don't need it, won't need it, and it will just be collecting dust in the basement, but for some reason I don't want to get rid of it. I think my mind is so full of all the other things I've been getting rid of that it is clinging to pointless things needlessly. We'll see where this one goes, lol.
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