fluttering qualms, learning lots and getting confused Options

[bikerbooker2]

this week we went to a salvage place near us (a place where they take cabinets that are being removed, wrought iron railings, all kinds of building and decorative stuff. it's a fascinating place. Ours even has a skeleton hanging in there. not for halloween, it's been there several years! we were looking for something i could use to put both my sewing machines on (one sewing machine and one serger) so that i had room to spread out, especially quilts, and work easily from one machine to antoher. after much consternation, measuring and discussion, we settled on two 18" metal cabinets wtih drawers and a 9 ft butcher block top which is VERY heavy. DH has painted the cabinets and drawers, and sanded the wood top. drawers look new, and he used up some paint we had leftover from another project. he is now trying to figure out how to mount casters on the bottom of both cabinets so it will roll. Im always dropping scissors, spools, tools, etc, and invariably they roll under the desk. SO - my next job is to sell or donate the beautiful desk i have to someone who really needs it. maybe my daughter....

i've been doing pretty well keeping up after my sewing room and office. it looks much nicer than it has in a long time. still have hot spots, especially on desk, but they bother me a lot more and i get to them much faster.

Also, right now i have three volunteer jobs that are both very busy with beginning of the season stuff, and i've organized a system of folders that i can carry with me and work on at odd moments when im waiting somewhere. it will just help me to have all those hot files in the same spot, too. easy to grab and go. that's part of the mess on my desk - things i don't want to put away - afraid i'll forget. so what happens? they get lost in the piles!

today's project is working on a brochure for my son's business. if it will help my grandkids go to college someday, i'll do it!

god bless.

bikerbooker

[morgol]

What a wonderful find that lavender is, yes? It makes a huge difference to unpack upon return, and not wait so long doesn't it? And how great that husband is getting so much done, too.

[bikerbooker2]

morgol - wish you could smell it! smells like clean laundry. all you have to do is rub your finger over the leaves, and it smells wonderful!

will take a picture in a day or two (im teaching tonight and tomorrow morning) and a picture of my almost finished sewing desk!

today is a good day, isn't it? it's cold and beautiful outside. sunny, bright oranges and reds everywhere, and just a perfect fall day.

god bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

this morning i wrote all the zones on my flylady calendar - i had the stickers but kept forgetting which rooms i had decided would be in my zones. now all i have to do is look. this week is my kitchen, pantry and laundry room. so i should get off this computer and do the floors first. the pantry needs a good cleaning since i reduced the stuff in there substantially. hope to work that in this week. first step is get out my steam cleaner and do all the floors. already put the kitchen throwrug in the washer and it's drying on my indoor rack. need to do windows in two of those areas, and wipe off the washer, dryer, pressure tank and water softener tops.

really need to prime the shelves in the pantry. maybe i'll condense one row of shelves to the other side, and start priming those empty shelves and wall. that's enough for one day. will reserve that one for tomorrow. do floors and laundry appliances today. good mission......

thanks for reading my exploits and pitfalls.


bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

What a wonderful find that lavender is, yes? It makes a huge difference to unpack upon return, and not wait so long doesn't it? And how great that husband is getting so much done, too.

[bikerbooker2]

morgol - not sure what you mean about lavender. i've never had it before. can you tell me what you mean about using it? would love to have some ideas how to use it. the smell is wonderful! since it is growing in the greenhouse, we may have some this winter. tips appreciated!

today i wanted to finish my WHB - got out my trusty scunci steamer, filled it with water and plugged it in. waited in kitchen for it to heat up so i could clean edge of sink, frig, dishwasher, counters, sliding glass door, range vent, etc. waited and waited. DH came in and waited also. finally unplugged, opened (still cold) and checked it out. DH loves nothing better than a mechanical conundrum (puzzle), so i stood quietly by. he pronounced it plugged somehow. DING! I remembered this had happened before. I dumped out the water, got out measuring cup again, and put about 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the cup, and filled it, poured all into the tank, and closed it up. plugged in, it wasn't very long until it started hissing. SHHHHH - makes you feel important, like you're really doing something good. DH told me i should use distilled water in it, and i probably will in future, but i know i will add vinegar to every tankful.

so i cleaned kitchen appliances, sink, and counter. works great on stainless, and takes seconds with just a quick wipe dry. walked by the stove, and for fun took a swipe or two at the ceramic cook top. love the top, hate cleaning it. don't like the creamy stuff they recommend you BUY and USE (their brand of course). Steamed across top a couple of times and swiped with the cloth. to my amazement, my favorite burner was CLEAN! that doesn't happen, even with the white gunky very expensive cleaner! it literally was almost spotless in seconds! hmmmmmm - gunky stuff goodbye.

i cleaned for about an hour on one tank of clean water with vinegar. did windows, doors, washer, dryer, bathroom sink and tub, outside of two toilets and floor around toilets, especially behind, tv screens, etc etc etc. had three very dirty rags when i was finished, all on one tank of water - did have to reheat it several times. i cleaned a lot of things in that time. so - wonder what was plugging the tank? i had to add water to it, because i had used the first tankful up. so i added some, shook it around, and gently poured it out in my shiny sink. surprise! lots of tiny black specks looking like they could very easily plug up something small. i added more water, shook it again, and poured it out again. some tiny white specks, probably lime chunks. DH told me i should used distilled water - but id been bad and used tap water.

regardless that cleaner is kind of like flylady's feather duster, which i used next. fast and very efficient - and NO CHEMICALS to BUY, STORE, BREATHE, CLOG UP THE AIR IN THE HOUSE and OUR LUNGS. And i can use it over and over FREE for years.

furthermore, i looked online and figured out how to use all the attachments! bout time, wouldn't you say? had the thing two or three years!!!!

thanks for listening.

bikerbooker2

[bikerbooker2]

haven't been feeling too well lately, back hurting, so have been working on volunteer jobs on computer, plus studying for classes. lots of irons in the fire now.

the house is looking good. steaming the bathtub made a big difference, and have been doing hot spots in living room every day. amazing how much difference that makes pretty quickly. i have a bad habit of dropping my shoes there beside my chair, leaving current projects on the table, and scattering tasks around the chair.

so running a couple hot spot drills a day not only makes the room look better, it teaches me NOT to leave junk around!

also, this week i had a staff meeting at school and had to take a couple things out of my files. while i was in there, i saw lots of books i had decided not to use anymore, and figured the staff meeting was a good time to return those. I got a pile of about 30 lbs of books (now gone!) and that started me on other things in the files. found some papers i had copied and no longer needed, and those went in my printer file so i can use the back side to print on. i started saving paper that way probably a year or more ago, and you won't believe it - i haven't bought any paper since! i even save junk mail that's clean on the back and use it, so long as it doesn't have our name on it. I use it for my classes to, though i don't copy large amounts of things at home.

long story short, my class drawer is much easier to find things now. my new cabinet looks really good in the sewing room. i have a picture of it and my desk AFTER it was cleaned, though it looks like a BEFORE shot. I'm not thriving in that area yet. but i am trying to keep up with things and put them away when i get home.

also - DH and i have been slowly working on putting the garage back in order after finishing the other house. we found a quantity of books we bought when we were re-designing the garage, and they were all like new. we had used them for ideas, and no longer needed them. i listed them all on amazon and sold about $50 worth. As we cleaned another cabinet, DH found lots of motorcycle items that either fit his old motorcycle, he didn't need anymore, or whatever. Im in process of selling those on ebay. once i get those gone, i will start on my own sewing books. have lots of those, and will save maybe one in each category and get rid of most of rest. im as quilty as he is in this area. in fact, guess who bought all the books for him? we did use them a lot during the garage phase. so usefulness is over - bye bye.

i feel like im moving into a new phase with flylady. have done a few zones, a couple missions, and better at hotspots. no longer crunching on the routines - they are getting better too, especially the morning one. almost don't need to look anymore. nighttime routine still weak. the other day we had a concert in the evening to play for (our dulcimer club). i had a very busy day, which is rare, with a staff meeting at 3 pm, teaching at 5-7, and concert at 7 pm. i came home between staff meeting, and couldn't find either my tan pants or my dulcimer club shirt! 15 minutes of pandemonium and i finally found them, but not without a lot of stress on me AND my DH. my shirt was in his closet (he has one too) and my pants were in the side of my closet with the shirts. i would like to blame him for both these errors, but the truth is i probably did both when i was in a hurry. so - evening routine would have prevented all this.

still do most nights a PODA list. that gets me in the mode of what i need to do, and odds go way up that i WILL do at least some of those things. i copy over every night what i didn't finish to the next day, and i get tired of writing the same things over and over, so eventually get them done. of course, by that time i have NEW things to get done.

so am i progressing at flylady routines? some yes, some no. but this one thing i know - my house is looking better and better. one year with flylady is HUGE. thank you marla!

god bless.

bikerbooker

[morgol]

Ah the steamer. I don't pull mine out often enough, and I know just what you mean by the buildup issues. Of course the manual states not to put vinegar in (it also states not to use distilled water ), I think because they want you to buy another one. I googled and got the directions to disassemble and fully clean out. I think your tip of adding a bit of vinegar to each tank is brilliant, and I'm adding that smart step when I pull mine out. I do use filtered, though not distilled water, but I think you get buildup regardless of what you use.

Sounds as though you've made great progress and you're determined to get the last little bits under control. It's all a process, and you've done amazingly well.

[bikerbooker2]

Ah the steamer. I don't pull mine out often enough, and I know just what you mean by the buildup issues. Of course the manual states not to put vinegar in (it also states not to use distilled water ), I think because they want you to buy another one. I googled and got the directions to disassemble and fully clean out. I think your tip of adding a bit of vinegar to each tank is brilliant, and I'm adding that smart step when I pull mine out. I do use filtered, though not distilled water, but I think you get buildup regardless of what you use.

Sounds as though you've made great progress and you're determined to get the last little bits under control. It's all a process, and you've done amazingly well.

[bikerbooker2]

thanks morgol. not sure i deserve that, but i will take it! and back at ya!

bikerbooker