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.

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.

Make Do

The big crack around the back door

I have a great tendency to make do or do without. Sometimes of course I'm just procrastinating!

A long time back I got my new to me back door hung, but I never got back around to doing the rest of the work, like fixing the trim boards and putting in the doorstops and weather stripping.

I complained in my last post how cold my kitchen is, well a big part of that is the big draft from the crack around the door. So I finally decided to do something about it. I didn't really have what I needed to fix it properly so I scrounged around and thought about what i could fill up the crack with.

Big crack filled in

I just took some plastic grocery bags and stuff them in the crack around the door. That really helped stop the draft and it kept the kitchen at least 5 degrees warmer last night.

I know my younger daughter will call it "okie-fied" and it's ugly but it will do until I figure out what I need to do with it to fix it permanently. Took me less than five minutes! Why did I wait so long?

Gift Guides and Winter Weather

Snow in the garden, Dec 5, 2011

Well, it snowed the first weekend of Dec and even now a week later there is still some snow on the ground and ice on my front steps.

With winter weather comes new chores, like bringing in wood, making fires and cleaning out the stove.

I've not been keeping up with the house well at all because it's so cold. My kitchen has been 38-40 degrees at night. It's warmer inside my refrigerator!

I have been writing lots of new articles over on Squidoo, especially gift guides so if you are looking for gifts you might want to check these out:

Best Gifts for the Gardener-Cook has a lot of ideas for the folks on your list that grow their own food and preserve the harvest.

All Occasion Gifts for Artists has some different ideas for what the artists in your life might like since most people don't know what to get as far as art supplies go, this concentrates on other things artists could use.

 Gifts for Organic Gardeners has a lot of different gifts for the gardener in your life, not just seeds or tools!

Another 15 Minutes in the Kitchen

Kitchen after a second 15 minute session

Alright, I know I'm not done in here, but there is a vast improvement! I did that first 15 minute session in my last post a couple of days ago and of course since then more stuff accumulated on the counter.

So I put away all the clean dishes in the drainer and then set my timer. In 15 minutes I had all the dirty dishes done up, one counter and the stove wiped down, some bags of groceries put away and lots of trash gone.

And I made a dent in another counter. So now there are few dishes in the sink from over there. But that's ok, I'll get to them this evening when I wash up after dinner. I might even make inroads on the counter to the left of the sink!