Spring Cleaning

The blog has been heavy on recipes lately.  That's because, when I'm busy, they seem to be the easiest things for me to post.

And busy I've been!  I've been spring cleaning.  I started in right after Christmas, tackling one room at a time, beginning with the living room as we were taking the tree down and putting away decorations.

From there I moved to the master bedroom, then to Kat's room, the bathroom and hallway, the kitchen (two full days on that one), and finally the computer/craft room.  Yep, it's a small house, but we have LOTS of stuff.  Things were cleaned and then organized, or sorted to be donated or sold in a garage sale we plan to have in a couple of months.  Walls were wiped down, ceiling fans were washed or dusted, windows and blinds were cleaned, and floors were scrubbed.  It wasn't a non-stop cleaning marathon, though.  Some rooms only took a few hours, but they were spread out over a week.

My really clean kitchen, for the five whole minutes it stayed that way.

Shane helped a lot with the living room and our bedroom, and he spot cleaned the carpeting.  Kat helped me with her own room, but the rest of the house was up to me.  That was my choice, though, so I'm not complaining.

There is still a lot to do around here (garage, basement, shed all come to mind), but it's so nice to have the main living areas really clean.  It's almost like a fresh start, which is just what spring cleaning is meant to be, I think.

And with cleaning out of the of the way, full-blown garden planning is on!  I hope to have more to say about that the next time I come up for air.

What a Difference an Hour or So Makes

Here's a quick before-and-after pair.  This is our shelf in the kitchen.  It's supposed to an orderly place for cookbooks, recipe cards and clippings and a couple of baskets for Shane and me to toss our wallets, keys, sunglasses, etc. into at the end of the day.

Sometimes, though, it takes on a life of its and has to be tamed again.  I always feel so much better afterward.

Livable Living Room

There's nothing like coming home from vacation to make me realize just how dirty and messy our house is.  It seems like time away makes it easier to see all those things I've been overlooking and ignoring.  One thing I wish I hadn't overlooked was the breakfast burrito and bowl of strawberries I made for Shane on the morning we left for vacation -- last Wednesday.  I stuck it in the microwave for safekeeping while he took care of a few last minute chores.  We were 30 miles down the road by the time we remembered it was still in the microwave. 

Ew.  Just, Ew.

But enough about my past.  Back to the present.  After catching up on a few things that had to be done today, like watering the garden, bringing in a small harvest, and starting some laundry, I decided to tackle a room of the house.  I let Kat choose for me, since choosing seemed beyond my capabilities today.  She picked the living room, and I tacked on our one hallway as well. 

It's not spotless, but I gave it a pretty good top-to-bottom cleaning:

• Cleared out any items that don't belong in this room
• Organized the hall (coat) closet
• Dusted the ceiling fan and attached light fixture
• Cleaned cobwebs from the ceiling and corners
• Dusted the blinds
• Cleaned the windows
• Removed cat hair from upholstered furniture
• Dusted the furniture, wall decor, etc.
• Cleaned all glass surfaces
• Swept and cleaned the laminate entryway
• Vacuumed
• Spot-treated the carpeting

Here's what I can think of that I didn't do:

• Clean the glass in the front storm door
• Wash the curtains (they'll surely fall apart if I do)
• Organize the photos in the cedar chest that we use as a side table.

That last one has been an item on my to do list since my mother-in-law gave me this chest in 2001.  The only time I open it is to quickly shove another photo inside.  Nope, it's not likely I'll be checking this off my list today.

So, at least one room is livable again.  I'm going to do my best to ignore the rest, at least until tomorrow.

Diggin' In

Clutter.

This is a room in our house.  It doesn't have a theme, or a color scheme, and it's often a victim of neglect.  Except for the bathroom, it's the smallest room in our home, yet it does the most work. 

Mess.

It's our home office, computer room, craft storage room, and catch-all space all rolled into one.  Some of our books live here, as do the few movies and music CDs that we own.  We toss thrift donations in here until there are enough to bag up and take to the store; eBay or craigslist items are housed here until someone buys them and they are out the door.  Oh, also...the cats' litter boxes are in here.

Piles o' crap.

It's a little room and hard to keep clean and organized.  Since we got our laptops, it's been even messier because we aren't in there to see or deal with the clutter as much as we used to be.

Every quarter (maybe even twice a quarter), I get fed up with the mess and start diggin' in.  Yesterday was "office cleanin' day" for the first quarter of 2012. 

It's not a perfect room and never will be, but it looks better, doesn't it?

Still need to tackle that big basket of filing in the background.

The eBay/craigslist shelves and things that need to be returned to family and friends. I vow that all of it will be gone, one way or another, by the end of February.

Oh, look!  It's a place for people to sit.

Aah!  So much better.

And five boxes of stuff going to the thrift store.

Not Much To Show For It

Shane and I did a lot of work this weekend, but you can't tell by looking around the house.  Most of our work was on paper.

On Saturday, while I balanced our checkbook, paid bills, cleaned out my "bill box", cleaned out my catch basket of odds and ends (like billfold, keys, sunglasses, small notebooks, etc.), Shane spend his time poring over seed catalogs and making garden plans.  We stopped for lunch and supper, then watched a movie with Kat and then our day was over.

Yesterday, I read the Sunday paper, sorted through some recipe clippings, cleaned a kitchen drawer or two and started pulling together the documents I'll need to file our tax returns.

While I did that, Shane did more seed searching, this time online.  He spent most of the day at it, getting up a few times to stretch and take care of some laundry.

So, our work this weekend doesn't really show.  There is cat hair on the carpet, the dishes are piled on the countertop and the house is generally a cluttered mess.  I'll admit it...this bothers me.  The clutter is a nagging distraction to me.  But sometimes I just have to let it all go and dig into the paperwork, the sorting, and the other "administrative" chores that running a home requires.

The dishes and cat hair will still be there when I'm ready for it.  Of this I have no doubt.

**********

On a totally different note...

Some people do end up with something to show for their efforts.  In yesterday's Kansas City Star, there was a feature article in the Star Magazine section about Harry S. Truman and his financial struggles, both before and after his presidency. 

You won't see it in the online version, but in the print version of the story, the sub-headline reads:

"Mr. 'The Buck Stops Here' was known for his frugality, but he died a wealthy man.  Surprised?"

Well, I am surprised; surprised at how many people equate frugality with poverty.  One source defines frugality as "prudence in saving; the lack of wastefulness".  To me, those are more closely associated to wealth poverty.

Anyway, if you have the time and interest, read the article.  It's an interesting article, and it's fun to compare expenses and wages from the early 1950s to those of today.