Good Morning. Happy New Year. Been a long time since I've been in this space. Too busy, too overwhelmed physically and mentally. Hopefully this year will be a bit slower and a little less crazy.

While the inside of the house looks as bad or worse than the outside, I've been working out there as much as I can. I figure I can work on the inside when the weather is too bad to be outside.

Because I have so much going on I just commit to 15 minutes at a time. Sometimes it doesn't seem like I'm making any real progress but if I just get a little trash gone at a time at some point it will all be done.

And then days like today, I had momentum going and actually did an hour.

Still Trying!

front room before

OK the past 3 weeks have been the craziest work weeks ever. The boss went on vacation (I get to be in charge when she's gone) and all h*ll broke out. Two staff out with a family emergency, fired another and another one quite. I actually worked over 50 hours each week. I NEVER! get overtime!

So of course the house is in worse shape than before. I have managed to do a fairly good job getting caught up in the kitchen and decided to have a go at my front room. It's an L shape and this pic if from standing at the base of the L looking left.

the other side of the "L"

base of the "L"

Between doing a lot of other things like playing with new chicks, finishing 32 pints of applesauce, doing some laundry plus the regular chores I managed to do two 15 minute sessions in here, mostly the strip between the living room and the front door. So at least I can walk through without having to turn sideways!

So maybe one day soon I can get some more junk out of here....

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!

New Beginnings

Living room before I started

New Year's is of course about making resolutions. I'm not much for that, most of us will start off well and peter out before the end of the month. However I am taking advantage of the new year for a new beginning. There are so many things that I want to accomplish in my life over the next 5 years and to be able to do them I must be much more organized!

So here is what the living room was looking like the past week, leftovers from Christmas and things I brought home from cleaning out a store room at my moms. Yes, that is a drill press ;=0.

Living room after one 15 minute session.

So I did one 15 minute session and here is the result. Those little wall cabinets will eventually go in the studio to hold various small things. I think I will glue cork over the fronts so they can double as a bulletin board.

Living Room after a second 15 minute session

My second 15 minute session included transferring all of my seeds from a big plastic tub into the little storage table. Now I can get rid of the tub!

That space behind the storage table in this last picture is where my grow light set up will go. Since the living room is the warmest room in the house, this is where I start my seeds. When they are bigger then they go in the bedroom where it is a little cooler.

WORKING IN THE KITCHEN

The kitchen before

Well as you can see the kitchen is a big wreck. Stuff everywhere, can't hardly find a clean pot and tripping over things on the floor.

So working on it 15 minutes at a time today. And in between made some chicken and dumpling soup, yummy, just right for a cold rainy day.

kitchen after one 15 minute session

Well after one 15 minute session things are a little better, I've done some dishes and picked up some of the junk off the floor.

Kitchen after two 15 minute sessions

And here it is after another 15 minute session, beginning to look a lot better. Most of the dishes are done, most of the junk off the floor and two counters have had a lot of stuff removed from them, thrown or put away. I took out the trash too. Still aways to go before I can say it's finished, but definitely an improvement!

RAINY DAY=WORK INDOORS

Bedroom before I did anything

Well since I have been concentrating so hard on the outdoor work of course the house is a train wreck. But today is grey and rainy and I happen to have a day off, so I'm working indoors 15 minutes at a time.

Here's the bedroom before I did anything. Two weeks ago when the weather turned cooler I pulled out the boxes of winter clothes and there they are, still sitting there....


Now here it is after just one 15 minute session; looking a LOT better, don't you think?

bedroom after one 15 minute session

bedroom after one 15 minute session

bedroom after one 15 minute session

   


















I learned about the magic of 15 minutes from Marla Cilly, aka The Fly Lady. Her book Sink Reflections chronicles her journey out of CHAOS and gives you loads of help so you can do the same.

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!

15 on the Dresser

Today I'm back on top of the dresser, wow, there is sooooo much stuff on there and being little and some of it I want to keep so I have to find places for it as well as wash the dust off of it. 

dresser top after a second 15 minutes

So I did get rid of some stuff; a whole handful of nuts bolts and screws went  to a pile of them on the back porch to be sorted out later. I wiped off some dust, tossed some trash. Put some little things that were on the dresser into the display case. Put away some lotions and potions into the bathroom. Made a pile of all the keys until I have time to see what they go to.


Yes, that's me in the mirror back of the display case taking the picture.