Day 5: Why

Wouldn't it be fun to make these white gourd candle holders as a centre piece for Thanksgiving*?


But first, I have to scrub the dining room floor:


I love these napkin holders. So simple; just ribbon, acorns and hot glue:



But first, I need to find the tablecloth, placemats and all six napkins I use for fancy dinners.

(OK: insert picture of the drawer pulled out and stuff all over the floor in front of this dresser. I did take the picture--but I don't think the SD card was inside the camera!)


Ugh. I found little tiny bugs in the bottom of the drawer. I'm kind of glad I had to go all the way to the bottom to find those napkins!

And now, of course, I need to wash and iron all those linens!

This is why I need habits and routines. So that when it comes to preparing for fun and festive occasions it can be fun--instead of disgusting drudgery.


*Canadian Thanksgibving is this weekend, either Sunday or Monday.

Day 4: Terrible Tuesday

There's a reason my mother doesn't call me the first Tuesday of every month.

We have one vehicle. I went with hubby to work this morning so I could use it for the Big Shop today.

Checklist:

1. make the bed: yes. at 5:30 this morning.

2. Swish and swipe the bathroom. (This is a Flylady thing.)
done? downstairs-yes.
upstairs, no.

3. Put away dishes in dish rack.
done.
3b. wash dishes when I wake up: I got in the Jeep and drove with my husband to work this morning.

But I did wash them before breakfast and after I made supper. Crock pot. Beef Stew.

4. 15 minute pick up throughout main floor.
done.
The kitchen light keeps going off and on and off.
And I swept the kitchen floor.

4. Pick up Master bedroom
I have no idea. Was there anything to pick up? It's dark at 5:30 am.

5. Laundry:
schmaundry.

6. Review calendar and review or make up daily To Do list
done. Last night.

7. Do One Essential Task.
Have I mentioned the Big Grocery Shop on the First Tuesday of every month, yet?

Let me say:
I am grateful we even have a vehicle.
I am grateful we have heat in our house.
I am also grateful we have food.

Day Three: Routine

They say that one ought not to take on too much all at once. They say that in order for change to "stick" it needs to be gradual--smoke one less cigarette a day until you are down to just that last one, start your weight loss plan with choosing an apple instead of a chocolate bar, that sort of thing.

I'm too impatient! I accept the risk that I may crash and burn, but I am a full-in, head-on changer. That's my style of change. No toe-dipping for me!

This series is a fantastic opportunity to establish the consistency I've been missing for doing my housework: the support I've received so far has been incredible and incredibly gratifying. I guess I perform best in front of an audience. So, now is the time to get into the rhythm.

So, today, I'm going to re-start my morning routine. I first created this routine last year to help me deal with the mornings when my daughter started school after being home-schooled for many years.

But, of course, today was not a routine Monday! My husband, who usually has the day off on Mondays worked over-time in order to help pay for our new wall in the basement and my daughter has a mild cold and so had a day on the couch.

Every routine, I think, has a trigger--and she going off to school is mine.

In the wake of the cold air rushing in as the door shuts behind her, I am supposed to turn around and do....

Dum da da dum....

The Morning Routine:

1. Swish and swipe the bathroom. (This is a Flylady thing.)
done? downstairs-yes.
upstairs, um, no.

2. Put away dishes in dish rack.
done!
2b. wash breakfast dishes.
see below.

3. 15 minute pick up throughout main floor.


This is how things start to look when I don't do this!
done!

4. Pick up Master bedroom
yes!
4b. make bed.
see below.

5. Laundry: start a load, fold one if necessary.
see below.

6. Review calendar and review or make up daily To Do list
done. (It's a doozy, too.)

7. Do One Essential Task.
(This is new. I'll talk about this another time.)

Carrot: Computer time!

Checklist:

Made Bed?
yes.

Dishes:

(last night)
after supper?
Yes. Twice! After doing the supper dishes, I decided to make muffins for my husband's work lunches in my nice clean kitchen. And then, I actually scrubbed out the muffin tin.

when I got up?
There was nothing. Well, nearly nothing. I decided to wait until after breakfast.

after breakfast?
yes.


after lunch?
no. Three bowls and a pot.


Laundry:

Load started?
yes.

Load transferred?
yes

Load folded?
yes.


Load put away?
Half of it.

Thank you all so much for your encouragement. I means more than I can say.

Menu Plan: October

click to enlarge, if you wish.

This is not really a part of the 31 days series, just a post I do sometimes to celebrate the fact that the menus are done!

This week:

Monday: Chicken Noodle Casserole (from All Recipes)

Tuesday: Crock-Pot Beef Stew, Roasted Butternut Squash.
(From Saving Dinner, by Leanne Ely)

Wednesday: Shrimp Stir Fry w/rice and zucchini.
(From The Food Matters Cookbook, by Mark Bittman)

Thursday: Pork w/Apple Cider Sauce, Oven-fried Turnips, Rice.
(From Saving Dinner the Low-Carbohydrate Way, by Leanne Ely)

Friday: Chicken with Honey Mustard Mayo, mashed potatoes and broccoli.
(From Saving Dinner the Low-Carbohydrate Way, by Leanne Ely)

Saturday: leftovers.

I'm not sure whether we're having Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday or Monday yet.

Linking up with the other menu planners at Organizing Junkie.

Day Two: Planning and Prep

Checklist:

Dishes:
when I got up?
weeeeell. OK. A couple of hours after I woke up, but still before brunch.

after breakfast?
no.

after lunch?
YES. Just now. So I could say so.

(last night)
after supper?
Yes, yes, yes. I had to bribe my son to dry a rack-full for me, so I could finish every last one, and hubby was waiting for me to join him in the living room for a video--but I did it! (I even took a second and swept the floor. Yay me.)

Laundry: Day off! Hooray.

This is new to me actually. I used to just keep doing it in perpetuity--one load a day, some days more, some days (many days) less. But I like this--even though it nearly killed me yesterday--not only do I get a day off, but I now know to gather up all the towels and kitchen linens and give them a quick wash on Saturday! Otherwise, I look at the towels in the bathroom and wonder when they were last cleaned.

Made Bed?
Yes. 3pm still counts!
Just out of curiosity: how often do you change the sheets?


Sunday is the day of the week I take to plan. Today, as it is the first Sunday of the month, has almost too much to figure out!

1. Menus.

I plan my suppers for the whole month on the weekend before the first Tuesday of the month so we can stock up and save on meat and pantry items--our local stores offer 10% off the entire grocery bill. I wrote out how I do that here. I will take both today and tomorrow to work on this.

I've been meaning to change over to an on-line version of this for ages. The ones on my list to check out include:

Monthly Meal Planner
Kitchen Monki
How Does She Do It
Shop'n'Cook and
Ziplist.

The key is to find a program which not only lets me create my own recipes to generate the shopping list, but also lets me upload everything I've already typed out into the computer already and lets me import from other recipe sites. That--and the ability to combine those ten cloves of garlic from those ten different recipes into one line item instead of ten. Some of you might want an app for your phone so you can access the list from anywhere. I'm still a Luddite when it comes to cell phones, so I'm spared figuring that out!

2. Projects for October.

There are two HUMONGOUS house projects scheduled for this month--both for the week my husband has off. Plus, I have a few to complete from September.

Done! I wrote it all up in this post this morning.
What I haven't done, I just realised, is figured out exactly when I will work on these (and other) projects. For example: should I work on the slip cover all in one day? Or should I do a bit here and there?

3. Plan and prepare homeschooling for the week.

I have one student: my 13 year old son. I need to mark his stuff (though I don't like doing it on a "day off.") I have no idea where his stuff is, either. I hope it's all in that pile up there somewhere.

It was!


We're back on track. I hate doing this--and I feel so great when the schedule is done. There's both relief and a sense of feeling ready to go. I like it. Procrastination just prolongs the yucky feeling--and makes the good feeling take longer to arrive. Huh. I've never thought of it that way before.

4. Plan lunches for this week.

I know, I know, but my daughter goes to school and my hubby goes to work and I am watching my weight and my son doesn't like what I eat, so there's four different lunches to think about five days a week and it's all so much to figure out I think my head will explode.

Welcome October!

From my Fall mantle.

September was a fantastic month! I worked with my son on decluttering his room--he did so well!

We also transformed the laundry room. It is amazing how differently the place feels! I'm hoping for the same effect upstairs this month.

I have lots of things planned for this month, but, first and foremost, my focus is on establishing habits and daily routines to keep my house clean. That's what the 31 days series is all about and why I'm committed to blogging about it everyday.

That said, there are a number of projects in progress I don't want to drop--as well as two doozies planned. Throw in Thanksgiving and my son's fourteenth birthday--and we'll have what is often the busiest month of the year around here.

In Progress:
(sounds so much nicer than "left-overs"....)

The slipcover for the couch. This involves cutting and resewing a slipcover I purchased for the sofa two years ago. I just need the courage to cut it and get on with it already!

The kitchen cabinets. I'm painting them from yellow to white. Almost done! Can't wait to show you that one. I'm very nervous about it. Have I painted out all the charm in my kitchen?

At least the model is charming! This is where we are at this morning. Yep, that's all the cabinets.

I think I have to resist the urge to take on two other kitchen related projects; a) to create (or buy and use) a stencil for the soffitt, and b) to sew up some fabulous cafe curtains. (I can see them in my mind's eye. I want to make them real!!)


A piece of old sheet looks very simple and pure...and kind of like a piece of old sheet. Ugh. And looking at this, I have to get that trim painted!

New Projects.
The doozies. Hubs is on vacation from October 16th to the 22nd. We had originally planned to take that time to fix the wall and tile the bath tub area in the bathroom.

We also planned to insulate and construct another wall in the basement laundry room.

However, last night as we sat down and discussed this, we realised he has another week of vacation coming up in November. That's the time to do the bathroom. Whew. I am greatly relieved.

I will however, take the time to make good on a promise to paint my son's room red and blue. I'm very anxious about it--it is not what I would choose to do--but it really isn't my room.

So:
1. Finish slipcover
2. Finish the kitchen cabinet project: doors back up, hardware cleaned and back on.
3. Insulate and construct wall in basement
4. Paint son's room.

Optional:
1. Stencil soffit in Kitchen
2. Sew cafe curtains for Kitchen.
3. Paint window trim in Kitchen.

As well, there are several seasonal items which I will do: Aby Garvey at Simplify 101 has conveniently placed them all on a printable checklist.

This completes item #1: Set your goals for the month.

Housekeeping: Day One

Check out the links on the page (above) 31 Days of Housekeeping for the Introductory post.

I so wanted to make my first post a successful one! But I live in the Mountain time zone and I'm afraid that if I wait 'til it's all done, everyone will be asleep!

I have to give some serious thought to when I expect myself to get these posts up and I'll let you know.

I live in my head.

I like it here, too.

I could begin this series by catering to my strength: thinking, planning, and analysing. I could begin by linking to all the wonderful sites which help one begin to keep house. Flylady. Organized Home. Messies Anonymous. I could talk all day about the reading I've done, the systems I've tried, the blogs I've read. I could yammer on about how this course helped me and how that web site inspired me. But, it's like losing weight. After a point, we all know what to do--we just need to do it.

So, where to start?

I read somewhere that the two most important tasks to keep up with in any household are 1) the dishes and 2) laundry.

So, that's what I will focus on today.

Dishes:
The challenge here is a kitchen with a tiny amount of counter space and a human dishwasher (me).


I have timed it: it takes me less than 15 minutes to wash one "load" of dishes. (a load is defined as one dish drainer rack full.)

(I'm a very good stacker.)

I should do my dishes 4x a day:
Once when I get up (leftovers from the evening),
after breakfast
after lunch, and
after supper.

I have tried to do the dishes before going to bed--but you can bet we're lucky if I do them after supper! It's enough.

Laundry:
I do my laundry one load at a time. My goal is to wash one, dry one, fold one and put one away--and it doesn't have to be the same load--except on Saturdays. That's today! I want all the laundry done so I can take Sunday off.


(This is my lovely "new" laundry room)

So, the daily checklist includes dishes, and laundry...and making my bed. Why make my bed? It makes me happy. It makes me feel wonderful when I hop into it at the end of the day. That's all.

How did I do today?

Made bed?
Yes!

Dishes:

when I got up? Yes. Took less than 10 minutes! (I know because I was timing my boiled egg for breakfast.)
after breakfast? Yes. Needed the counters clear for painting the cabinets.

after lunch?
Lunch--what lunch?

(last night)
after supper?
um, sadly, no. I asked hubby to bring home pizza (yes, to save on both dishes and making supper) so there wasn't much.

Laundry:

Wash? Yes, tons.

Dry? We're backed up at the moment. I think I have to go outside and clean the dryer exhaust cover. (Hubby insists so that we don't get mice inside the house.)

Fold? Whatever is dry! I think I'll spend the evening in front of the TV folding.

Put away? We'll see.

See you tomorrow!