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Posts Tagged ‘housework’

April

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , , on April 9, 2014| 11 Comments »

It’s April, and do you know what that means?

April Fools Day?

Yes, but that’s not quite what I was thinking

I know!  April showers!  They bring May flowers, you know.

Well, according to legend that is true.  However, this April brough us SNOW showers so far, so I’m not sure how soon the May flowers will be following.

No, the answer I’m looking for is – April marks the beginning of spring cleaning!

No way!  I hate housework!

Well, you might be interested to know that spring cleaning doesn’t require the effort it did in the olden days.  Today we have furnace filters and we don’t burn kerosene lanterns so the need to scrub soot off of our walls and ceilings is practically unnecessary.  But the smell of Murphy’s Oil Soap, ammonia and bleach can fill the house with a special feeling of clean, especially when you can open the windows and let the spring air mingle with the aromas of freshly scrubbed floors and scoured sinks.

This past weekend I engaged in the first session of spring cleaning at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters.  It entailed a lot of furniture moving, baseboard dusting and vacuuming, furniture vacuuming, and scrubbing down and rearranging the laundry area.

Then today I got home from work and went wild.  Wild, I say!  I had no intention of doing housework when I came home from the day job, but guess what?  I decided to clean out one of the kitchen drawers.  Just one.  I ended up cleaning all of the kitchen drawers.  I emptied them, wiped them down, and together with Husby decided what to keep, what to donate and what to throw.  I mean, seriously, how many bottle openers and cork screws does one household need?  I feel proud and organized.  I can hardly wait to tackle the cupboards!

So get out those sponges and rags, roll up your sleeves, and jump into the bliss that is a clean abode.  You’ll thank me.

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A Productive Weekend

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on October 28, 2013| 5 Comments »

I worked my patootie off this weekend.  Seriously, I haven’t done this much domestic work in one weekend for a really long time.  As much as I like doing craft shows (and spending lots of time getting ready for them) I was craving some time with my dust cloth and vacuum cleaner.  I even cleaned the oven!  Okay, so it’s a self-cleaner, but still, I had to be on guard in case the whole thing caught fire.  Yes, it was that bad.

The house is once again in order under control.  I feel free!  One thing I concentrated on was picking up and cleaning up my special writing room.  I call it the East Wing.  With NaNoWriMo coming soon (starts Friday!) I wanted a comfortable place to sit and write.  And write and write.  Away from any distractions.

My lovely East Wing.

There’s one more craft show in store for me in Taylors Falls, MN.  It’s not until the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I have a little bit of time for crafty and writey projects.  This weekend got me motivated and off to a good start.

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The Best Bath Ever

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , , , on March 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The outdoor temperature got up to a balmy forty degrees (and then some) and it’s the end of March.  Do you know what that means?  Spring Cleaning!  There used to be a time when I thought all spring cleaning tasks had to be done within a week or two.  I don’t put as much pressure on myself anymore, especially as I have a day job that takes up a lot of daylight hours.

This weekend I decided to tackle the master bathroom and devoted all of Friday (considered part of the weekend because my time at the day job ends at 10:00 a.m. on Fridays) to the task.  I started with washing the walls.  I’m going to take the liberty to share my mom’s miracle recipe for wall washing solution.  It works wonderfully!

2 gallons water

1/2 cup baking soda

2 cups ammonia

1 cup vinegar

Sorry Mom, your secret is out.  But the friends of the internet will be forever grateful.

After washing the walls I washed the woodwork.  My favorite product for cleaning woodwork is Murphy’s Oil Soap.  It takes away those grimy fingerprints from cabinets, drawers and doors, and gives the wood a nice glow with the oil in the soap.  Plus it smells kind of good too.

I also use Murphy’s on my vinyl floors.  Not all the time, but when I want to get them really clean I use a little bit of the soap.  It worked beautifully for the deep cleaning of the bathroom floor.  Believe it or not I was actually on my hands and knees getting behind the toilet and in all of those edges and corners a sponge mop fails to reach.

The window also got a good washing, and the cafe curtains on the window were vacuumed.  The toilet was sanitized with bleach as were the jets of the whirlpool.

The tile was cleaned, the tub was cleaned, the shower stall was cleaned.  Every little nook and cranny, every piece of ornamentation, every candlestick, every soap dish was cleaned.  By the time I finished the job I felt really good, the bathroom looked bright and fresh, but I worked up quite a sweat and my back was killing me.

That’s when it happened.  I drew a bath of the perfect temperature and soaked in it for a while.  I couldn’t believe how luxurious it felt.  The bath itself wasn’t any different from any other, but soaking my sore muscles in a tubful of hot water in an amazingly clean bathroom felt phenomenal.

As Mary Poppins says, “Once begun is half done.”  Now that I’ve begun my spring cleaning I hope I can keep up to momentum and continue to give my abode the deep cleanliness it deserves, which in turn will give me the satisfaction and relaxation I deserve.  Happy cleaning!

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