Back to Square One

back to the beginning again

Well this is why I don't seem to be able to get ahead around here. Last week was a very crazy week, did like 55 hours at work, plus it was our county fair and I had to go out to the fairgrounds on Tues to take the veggies, then again on Wed to deliver the ducks and chicken, then back out on Thur to help my friend show her sheep, then back out on Sun to pick everything up.

So with all the crazyness I did not even attempt to keep up with anything around here except to keep the garden and livestock taken care of.

But on Monday afternoon I was able to manage 15 min in the kitchen while I waited for the veggie soup to cook. I know it doesn't look like I did much but it's a start and I'm hoping to manage another 15 this morning as I don't have to be to work until about 9.

kitchen after

You can see more about my fair entries on my Harvest Monday post.

And then Life Happens

after a crazy work day

To continue in the kitchen, well, Thursday turned into the craziest day for work. First I went to work from 5-6:30 AM. Then I came home for a bit, fed the ducks and chickens, drank more coffee. I did 15 minutes in the kitchen throwing away some junk and getting a bit more counter space cleared off. (That is an ongoing project that comes in about a square inch at a time). I even ran a couple loads of laundry and managed to get one of them hung out.



I had to leave home and return to work at about 9:45 and didn't get home until just about 1:00. My blood sugar was hitting the basement so I gobbled up some cheese and crackers, went out and picked some chili peppers, made a pot of green chili for my dinner. I fed and watered the livestock, watered some newly seeded lettuce and carrot beds, made my lunch and left again for work at 2:45. I got home after 10, cruise the internet a bit and went to bed. And then today I went back to work at 7:30, just happy it wasn't 5am again.

The picture above shows the state of the house this evening. I spent 15 minutes in there tonight, washing up the dishes, scrubbing on one side of the stove top and cleaning up the sink again.

Kitchen after 15 minutes

I know it doesn't look like I've done much, but really, the dishes are all clean and there's a few square inches of clean counter space that wasn't there earlier. And now I"m off for a shower and bed. I'm beat.

The Kitchen

The dreaded kitchen

Well the kitchen has always been my nemisis. I hate washing dishes; I suppose because I was an only child till I was 8 and it was some years after that before my sisters could do dishes. I was forced to wash dishes every night after dinner. I don't mind doing them so much now, and I dearly love it when my kitchen is clean and shiney. It just seems really hard for me to keep it that way.

The kitchen after one 15 minute session.

So I plunged right in and did 15 minutes in there. I know that it's hard to tell from this photo, but I did actually get a lot accomplished. It just happens to be all at the far end of the room and not all of it is visible from this end.

kitchen tonight

I did a couple more 15 minute sessions, mostly washing up dishes and putting some stuff away. That was a couple days ago. Since then I've mostly been trying to maintain to clean spots, keep the dishes washed up and put away some more stuff. So here it is tonight. I did manage to sweep the floor at the far end and put away most of the clean stuff. Some things I have to find homes for.

The Bedroom

The bedroom before

Well, to continue, after getting a lot done in the bathroom, I tackled the bedroom, 15 minutes at a time. Here's a before pic from the doorway. I couldn't tell you how many months it's been since I actually made my bed.

Bedroom before

I did three 15 minute sessions in here, there is still a good bit of dust, trash and junk in here, hiding on the other side of the bed, but at least the walk way to the bathroom is cleared, the feather bed fluffed up and the bed made. I put away most of the clean clothes (there isn't room in the dresser for the winter stuff and since I'll be needing it soon, no point to packing it away now! that's the pile on the floor next to the dresser) I got all the dirty clothes corralled in the hamper, it's been raining so I've gotten a bit behind on the laundry, tho one sunny day and I can catch back up.

Bedroom after

Bedroom after

I also vacuumed the open part of the floor in here.

After the bedroom I tackled the kitchen, but that's another post for another day!

Starting Over Again

Bathroom Before

Wow, I can't beleive it's been 9 months since I posted here! I thought it had only been 5 or 6! Time certainly gets away from me, and once again a lot of things in my life have been going on without me paying a lot of attention to them.

Recently I've been looking around and wondering how on earth did I get in the predicament? My place looks worse than an episode from Hoarders. The outside looks like a cross between a landfill and a junkyard. I will say in my defense that a lot of the stuff out there doesn't belong to me.

However, most of whats on the inside of the house does belong to me. And the inside is even worse than the outside. The inside of my house looks like somebodies overstuffed storage shed puked all over.

So, I'm starting over again. 15 minutes at a time. I know this works, I just have to do it. I just have to keep plugging away at it and keep going even when I'm tired and don't want to. So where to start? When everything is so overwhelming I like to start in the bathroom.

There are a lot of good reasons to start with the bathroom. It's a small room, even if you keep at it until every last bit of it has been scrubbed all over, it still won't take you that long. Most bathrooms are small enough that they can't accumulate too much junk to sort through, clean and put away. So here is the state of the bathroom at the beginning.

Bathroom, after

And here it is afterwards. I scrubbed the tub, the outside of the toilet, the sink, washed the mirrors, wiped down the worst of the shelves and the floor. Three cleaning rags, three trash dumps and 20 minutes later it is reasonably clean and sanitary again. Later I did a few more minutes and made a dent in the grossness on the inside of the toilet.

Having accomplished this much, I felt much better and more motivated to tackle some more of the house. But that will have to wait for my next post!