Our little bundle

Picture property of Ms. S

...arrived on August 24th and has been keeping this mama busy ever since. Not that I'm complaining. He's really quite precious, and I absolutely love being little Pumpkin's mama.

Since Pumpkin arrived, some things have changed around the house. At least two loads of laundry are done everyday, for example (cloth diapers). Dishes are done more regularly - sometimes by me!! Mr. S is thrilled. I don't get the chance everyday, as often just when I'm about to start someone wakes up from his nap. Oh well. The bathroom is now usually cleaned in stages. One day, the shower will get cleaned. The next day (or the day after that) the toilet will get cleaned. And finally, the sink will get cleaned. Sometime. And that's ok...mostly because it has to be ok. A child quickly teaches you to roll with the punches. And the rest of the house is in a general state of disarray. We pick up when we have the chance. Ok, more like when company is coming over.

Bottom line is this: we're having so much fun.

Finally!

Some good news to share. As of Friday, I am officially employed! Yay!! The life of Ms. S will get infinitely more interesting on Tuesday when I start said job. I am hoping it will mean more motivation for projects around the apartment, and therefore more posts, too.

Yesterday I tackled a task I've been avoiding for, mmm, forever. Cleaning out my closet and dresser. It was surprisingly less scary than I anticipated. I knew I had a lot of clothes and that I never wore half of them. I didn't know I had four grocery bags full of unwanted clothes and one bag of shoes!! Whoa!

The inspiration for finally doing this project: a paycheck and the need for more work appropriate clothes. Not wanting to go shopping until I knew what I had (or didn't have), and until I had made room for new clothes, I decided I could no longer avoid my closet. And since I haven't really been clothes shopping since before I got married, I was kinda excited about the prospect of finally getting to do so. *This is the first time in our marriage that both of us are employed to our full potential, with full salaries and benefits.*

I started by taking all my clothes out of the dresser drawers and sorting them into piles: keep, maybe, give away. When all the drawers were done, I emptied out the closet (and remembered the clothes stored under the bed). Once all my clothes were in one of the piles, I looked at everything in my 'maybe' pile and determined if it would be kept or given away, and did one final look-through of my keep pile just to be sure. My give away piles went into brown paper grocery bags - four of them! I figured while I was at it I might as well do my shoes, too. One bag of shoes joined the bags of clothes.

Then!!! Mr. S and I went shoe shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I adore shoes. A lot. And have rarely stepped into a shoe store for about 4 years because we didn't have the money for me to indulge. Don't get me wrong - we didn't go crazy. Remember the last post about our cash budget? Yeah, we're still doing that (I managed $51.60 today!!), and are still intending to save - more aggressively now than we thought we'd be able to. But we both needed a pair of new shoes: Mr. S a pair of loafers, Ms. S a pair of brown dress shoes for work. My shoes are super cute brown suede wedges by Me Too. I'll take a special picture Tuesday - my first day of real work since August, 2008 - with my shoes so you can see them, too.

In the mean time, enjoy your weekend! We've certainly been enjoying ours.

~ Ms. S

"What's wrong with kids these days?"

I'm having a hard time figuring out what to call today's post. Probably because there are a million thoughts running through my head (like last time) and I haven't actually decided what to write about yet. Does that ever happen to you? Too many thoughts to focus in on just one? It happens to me more often than I'd like.

Still no luck on the job front, though I have landed two very part time gigs and one of them actually involves cleaning! A friend of a friend from church just had a baby via C-section about two weeks ago, and she also has a 13 month old son. Needless to say, she needs some help with household chores for the next month, as well as with her oldest child since she's restricted in how much she can lift and bend over. She is also legally blind - she and her family moved into a new townhouse literally three days before she gave birth, so she hasn't yet completed learning her new home. So far I've helped her sweep, mop, clean the bathroom, and vacuum. But I've also gotten to play with her oldest son and feed him breakfast. Truly a lovely woman with two adorable boys.

My other job is helping out with an after school program working specifically with preschoolers. I know. Haven't I been trying to avoid that? Well, let's just say that it's not my ideal job, but I love working with this age and it's such a short amount of time and not in a classroom setting that it's all good.

Today, though, I think I want to address something I overheard on my way to work today. As I was waiting for the Light Rail train to take me to the after school program, I heard two ladies talking and couldn't help but over hear part of a conversation about Christmas gifts. One of them was telling a story about an expensive gift she'd gotten for a nephew who'd "always been a brat." He didn't like the particular gift she'd given him, so she told him not to expect anymore Christmas cards (which I assume also meant gifts) from her. She was disgusted and went on to say that her other brothers kids were always grateful for whatever they received. The woman she was talking to just shook her head and said, "What's wrong with kids these days?"

They didn't ask me, so I kept my mouth shut, but the beauty of this space is that I can open it and answer them anyway. :)

I don't understand this particular reaction from people, because in reference to this specific story there are plenty of examples of children from hundreds of years ago who weren't thankful for a gift they received. So what is so different about this situation that makes all kids today thankless, as the question implies? The context is different, perhaps, and people tend to have many more gadgets, possessions, and 'things,' but all of those together only illustrate how surroundings are different.

Having heard something during this story about buckskins that had been in the family for years, I put some pieces together for myself (not sure if they're correct). Did the woman telling this story gift a buckskin to this "always been a brat" nephew? Let's pretend this is the case. Part of being a good gift-giver is doing your best to give something you think the recipient will like and/or want. That can definitely be challenging sometimes, but you know, there's nothing wrong with asking if there's something that someone wants if you're a little stumped. It may not be quite as much fun, but you can be sure your recipient will be thrilled. Whereas, getting them something you would want without thinking about their interests....well, no one can really blame them if they aren't interested. Ok, so the buckskins were clearly important and of value to this lady, but they might not have been to her nephew (understandable, in my opinion. What in the world do you do with buckskins?!). Does his lack of interest in this gift really warrant a grand sweep of something being wrong with all kids these days?

Maybe this kid really is thankless and has been for a long time, but maybe he just thinks his aunt is really weird and that her gifts are a bit strange. I wouldn't blame him. But I also wouldn't lay the blame on him if has "always been" the "brat" his aunt claims he has been. In my experience, most bratty kids are the way they are because of parenting choices made by those raising them. *Please note, I said "most." There are certainly exceptions.* Kids are by and large a product of their surroundings. Manners and grace are learned qualities and different from culture to culture, society to society. Was this nephew ever taught to how to gracefully accept gifts - even those he was less excited about? Did his parents teach him to write thank you notes for gifts he received? Maybe not, and if so that's hardly his own fault. Did his parents talk about the 'crazy' gifts they always received from someone? If so, and if he heard that from a young age, it's no wonder he came across as thankless.

I'm would never call myself an etiquette snob, though I am a stickler for manners. Comments like "What's wrong with kids these days?" just irritate me because it implies superiority to all young people in the person who said it. In my experience, those who choose to make such a comment are rarely justified in their superiority.

Thank you for letting me rant just a little.

~Ms. S

A little procrastination

Right now, I'm supposed to be working on a cover letter for Mr. S to proof-read tonight. The body is done with revisions made, but I have yet to write the intro and conclusion and reached a bit of a wall. So I decided to procrastinate a little bit and update you on life since my last post (which was only two days ago, you'll notice!).

Cleaning duties listed, whose turn it is to do dishes (color coordinated), and events for the week.

Let's take a little time to visit the Cleaning and Job Schedules. I haven't been great about keeping up with the daily cleaning. Part of this is because Monday's task is to clean the kitchen sink, counters, and dining room table. It was Husband's turn to do dishes on Monday and they didn't get done (note: this is merely a statement of fact rather than a passing of judgement), which meant our limited counter space and the sink were full of dishes. I determined these tasks could be lumped into another day this week thinking it would be yesterday when it was my turn to do dishes. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me to do this yesterday, so instead I did a small load of dishes this morning and cleaned our dish drainer! 

The dish drainer project was long overdue. I filled our sink with hot water, some dish soap, and a couple splashes of bleach (probably about 1-2 Tb). Once the sink was full, in went the rack, the utensils holder, and the plastic tray. I let them soak for ~ 1 hour (mostly because I was working on other things and forgot about them), then scrubbed them with a rag until they were clean, and dried them before putting them back.

Sparkling clean and ready to dry some more dishes!

However, the dining room table DID get cleaned on Monday - mostly because that's where I've been conducting my great job search. Please note the sarcasm in the word 'great.' See last post if you're at all confused.


Yesterday was laundry day. Here's the deal with laundry in our building. You have to sign up for time slots. In theory it sounds excellent - you're guaranteed four hours of available wash and dry time/week. In practice it sucks. We used to be signed up for a two hour slot on two different days. Two hours was never enough time to get our laundry done, and our Saturday time was inconvenient. So we are now signed up for two back-to-back slots on Tuesdays from 6-10. Better, but not perfect.

Still damp and drying while spread over some chairs.

Last night, for instance, I had a church committee meeting at 7 (these meetings always last too long), and knew that pretty much shot my laundry time. So I took advantage of being of 'housewife' for the time being and did our laundry during the day when no one is signed up. I have to be honest - I did not wash the load of clothes that need cleaning (and have needed cleaning since our vacation for too long). Nope. Instead I washed our comforter which was starting to look...well...not white anymore. Out it came fresh and clean to join our new white sheets which were on sale at Target. :)

Now I have to tell the truth about another thing - the job schedule. While it worked fabulously on Monday - I spent ~ 30 minutes looking for jobs, put together a spreadsheet of jobs needing app materials, prioritized which ones needed to get done and when, and even managed to write a cover letter and get it sent off with my resume for one of the four jobs - I was an utter failure on Tuesday. This is the problem when you're the kind of person who is most productive when you're busy: when you don't have a job, there is no momentum to keep you going. And frankly, when you want a job as badly as I'd like one, it's easier to spend all day checking email endlessly hoping you'll have some news - any kind of news! So yesterday, Ms. S did not rock the house like Monday.

Today, as you can see, I've been mildly and comfortably productive. And am hoping that this post will help with my writers block for my cover letters. Especially since finishing the one I'm currently working on means I get to reward myself by painting my nails. A little self-pampering never hurt anyone!

~ Ms. S

Cleaning Schedule

Alright, dear friends. Sometime ago I mentioned putting together a cleaning schedule to try out. Well, after much procrastination, I finally did it and will be putting it into effect this week. Before showing you precisely what the schedule is, let me share a little bit of my thought process that went into the making of 'The Cleaning Schedule.'

My natural tendency when it comes to cleaning is to wait for things to pile up and do everything at once. Generally, I think it's fair to say that 'deep cleaning' is what comes most easily. However, I've found that this approach to maintaining even our lovely little apartment just doesn't work. There's always something that needs to be done, and waiting for it to pile up for a purging session makes cleaning an incredibly daunting task. So I'm taking a que from my mother.

My mom stayed at home with my sister and I growing up, and in doing so, came up with a fairly regimented schedule that she still sticks to today. She did 'deep cleans' every-so-often, but they never took very long because she had a daily schedule of smaller things that helped keep tasks reasonable. Since I'm currently unemployed, I figured now would be the perfect time to get into the habit of doing things on a daily basis to continue even when I am employed. Without any further ado, here's 'The Cleaning Schedule.'

Mondays: Scrub kitchen sink, counters, and dining room table, and disinfect the dish rack
Tuesdays: Laundry
Wednesdays: Sweep and mop apartment (we have wood floors or tile throughout)
Thursdays: Clean bathroom
Fridays: Pick up clutter and file papers
Saturdays: Dust
Sundays: to be filled with whatever needs to be done, even if that's nothing
And most importantly: dishes every other day (with Husband taking the days opposite me)

I implemented the dishes schedule two weeks ago and it has been working quite well, though I've done most of the dishes this week - including everything from the potluck we hosted on Thursday. Not that I'm keeping track, or anything. :) But I'm quite excited for the rest of the schedule, too, as I'm hoping it helps us maintain a semblance of order without going crazy. My problem is, at least while I have lots of time on my hands, I'm much better at creating messes than getting rid of them.
Anyone else have that problem? It's terrible, let me tell you.

Do you have any kind of a cleaning/organizing schedule? 


~ Ms. S

Cleaning Cloths

Memorial Day weekend was spent down in Nashville, TN with my aunts. As reading for the flight down, I picked up (among other things) Real Simple's book, 'Cleaning.' In it they suggest purchasing a set of microfiber cloths for the bathroom and a separate set for the kitchen, as it minimizes the spread of certain bacteria from one place to another. Made perfect sense to me! So when I came across this brightly colored kitchen set, I immediately put it in my basket. They are now hanging inside the door of the cabinet where our trash can is with the color code hanging up behind it. Mr. S would like to find another place for them, but for now they have a functional home.

~ Ms. S

Dishes, dishes everywhere

Last week (maybe two weeks ago), we had some friends over for a semi-potluck dinner. It was quite delightful as these are friends we live close to, but our busy schedules tend to keep us apart for longer stretches than we like. Here was our menu:

Course 1: Cesar salad with homemade dressing
Course 2: Homemade veggie lasagna and red wine
Course 3: (brought by our dear friends) Homemade brownies with Izzy's ice cream and white wine

Everything was delicious! And I'll take this time to tell you my darling friend's brilliant idea for pre-portioning brownies. She used her muffin tin (standard size). Duh, right?! Brownies don't rise like muffins do, so you just fill each cup about 1/3 full, bake monitoring the brownies carefully (don't want 'em to burn), and let cool before removing from the tin.

Once our friends left, however, a rather horrifying stack of dishes appeared. *Knowing how much I hate doing dishes, I will never ever ever ask company to assist in doing the dishes. So anyone how comes (or has come) to my house, don't feel bad. That said, I'm happy to assist others if they request help with dishes while I am enjoying their kitchen.* It was late and we were tired so we called it a night and went to bed. Normally, this doesn't bother me. I'm very comfortable leaving dishes for the following day Carl to take care of later. :) But this time....whoa. However, it gives me the perfect opportunity to show you how I like to organize my dishes when I DO decide to tackle the task.

1. Before I even begin to fill the sink, I arrange/organize my dishes according to their shape and size, as this dictates the order in which they'll be cleaned. For example, all the big plates go into one stack, small plates in another, cereal bowls in another, and tupperware is stacked according to shape and size. Not only does this let me see how much of everything I have to wash, I can maximize our counter space (we generally have a pot still on the stove, our pull-out cutting board out and full, and/or a few dishes still on the table). 
2. This next step might be different for some of you, but we have one giant sink (never again!). So we have a plastic tub that sits in our sink that we fill to wash dishes. After sorting the dishes, I put all the silverware in the tub, throw in some dish soap, and start the water.
3. As the tub is filling up, I wash the silverware and place it in the drying rack.
4. Next come big and flat items - biggest plates first, smallest plates second.
5. Then soup/salad bowls, followed by cereal bowls.
6. Small tupperware containers and their lids.
7. Big mixing bowls, baking pans, pots, etc.
8. Glasses. 

This system allows me to maximize and creatively fill the space of our drying rack. If my drying rack is full and I still have a number of dishes left, I'll let my first round dry and put them away, coming back later to do another round. Now, if you were to talk to Mr. S, he'd tell you a completely different method for washing dishes (cleanest to dirtiest). There isn't a right or a wrong, simply a different.

How do you tackle dishes? Do you spend any time sorting and organizing before you start, or do you just dig right in? 

~Ms. S

The Dreaded Shower Curtain Liner

I had one of those moments last week, as I was turning on the water for the shower, where I saw the tub for the first time in a long while. And looked closer. Grabbed my glasses, and practically smashed my face to the floor to get an even closer look. It was filthy!!!! Grime, slime, and muck lined the lower walls, and the corners (which is what grabbed my attention in the first place) were just plain scary.

No time to clean the shower right at that moment, but it had me paying attention to other things...like the shower curtain liner. Knowing the state of the tub, I dreaded taking a careful look at the liner. Yep. As predicted, it was a horrific mess.

Have any of you run into this problem? Please don't answer that question if the answer is 'no.' I have a hard time figuring out the best way to clean the liner, and have tried all sorts of things before with no luck. Too bad they don't come with a manual full of cleaning instructions. (If they do, now would not be the time to tell me!)

Our liner has magnets or weights in the bottom corners to keep it closed even when the water is hot and steamy. The problem, as I see it, is that the weights don't allow the curtain to air out, and they cause the curtain to trap gunk up against the walls of the tub. This also means the bottom of the liner gets gross easily. Mine was bad enough I was ready to toss it and just buy a new one, but my practical side got the better of me. I mean, I don't just toss my jeans in the garbage when they get grungy and need a good wash. Therefore, the shower curtain liner deserved a chance, too.

I cleaned the tub really well, and I thought maybe I could sponge most of the gunk off of the liner, too. But that didn't work well at all. I contemplated risking throwing it in the washer, but decided we don't have enough money to replace a washer if I ruined it. So I did the next best thing I could think of - filled the tub with hot water and a mix of non-chlorine bleach and Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner. Couldn't tell you the ratio, as I initially measured, but then just poured...and poured....and poured. I let the liner and our bath mat soak in this solution for 1.5 hours. As I pulled them out to dry, I could see that this had done the trick for the curtain liner, and helped (but wasn't as effective) the bath mat. The best part is that this method didn't require hours of scrubbing needlessly. The scum just came off as the liner soaked. Hooray!

Do you have any methods for cleaning your shower curtain liner? And do you clean it regularly?

~Ms. S

Break through

This'll be a quick one...

Just wanted to note that THREE times this week, I came home and immediately did the dishes. What? You're not impressed?! Do you know me?!!! Ok, let's review. I, Ms. S, loathe doing dishes. It is my least favorite home related task, hands down. But, for two reasons I am making an effort to be better.

1. I know how it feels to be the only one who does dishes when you're living with someone, and that feeling sucks. Mr. S has voiced his frustration, so I'd better do something about it.

2. A counter and/or sink full of dirty dishes is just overwhelming. Logically that means doing the dishes when there are only a few is much simpler, easier, quicker, and satisfying.

Hopefully my streak will continue.

Also, I mopped the bathroom floor (and kitchen floor) today. It felt SO good!! I may not like doing dishes, but I get great satisfaction out of cleaning the bathroom. :)

Will have more tomorrow! For now, sweet dreams...

~Ms. S

Revealed: The New Bed

That's right! Our new bed was delivered Friday afternoon by my awesome father-in-law. Mr. S and I were so excited we could hardly contain ourselves. And I have a confession to make - the bedding arrived on Monday!!! I was going to write a little post about it, but upon finding out the bed itself would likely be here soon, everything was saved for a 'reveal' post. :)

Just so you remember what the bedroom looked like before...

Alright, these photos are from this past summer, but if I'm being completely honest, the piles of clothes and general messiness never fully went away. And you can't really see them (due to the embarrassing amount of clothes strewn everywhere), but there are boxes to the right of the dresser that had been there since we moved in last June. Suffice it to say, we were grateful to be forced into dealing with cleaning and organizing issues we had continually pushed aside.

The king sized bed required rearranging the room to maximize the amount of usable space. We switched the wall against which the bed sits, moved the rocking chair to a better corner - by a window, and rethought our hamper usage. We now each have a (small) laundry basket on our respective sides of the bed - hidden from sight initially, but easily accessible for us so that we can get rid of the navy and gray 'darks and whites' hamper you see in the picture above. I'm hoping this will encourage me to stay on top of laundry better than in the past. Additionally, we inherited an old wicker hamper from Husband's boss which we have placed in the bathroom for dirty towels, washclothes, placemats, napkins, etc. I'll have to let you know how this system ends up working for us (well, for me really, seeing as how Mr. S tends to be laundry adverse).

With no further delay, please enjoy the pictures below...

~Ms. S

The bedding has arrived!!

 And it's beautiful.

Before the 'Emporer' found his clothes...

Tranquil, peaceful, and serene; and the cleanest, most organized this room has ever been.

Calm enough to enjoy a long nap yesterday...

Desk Transformation

My goal for the day: clean off this desk and repurpose it to be my sewing desk as opposed to being a (paper) work space. A rather lofty goal considering you truly can't see the top of this desk, and haven't been able to for...I don't even know how long...a REALLY long time. Why the change? Well, let me share my motivation!

I ordered our new bedding a little over a week ago. (Exciting!!) Hopefully it will be arriving shortly, as there is a chance our big bed will be delivered on Friday, courtesy of Husband's dad. Since we're changing up the look of our bedroom, and I've been in the mood to do some sewing, I decided to make us some throw pillows (so much cheaper to make them!). And as I trolled my blog role, I stumbled upon gold!

Design*Sponge guest blogger, Brett Bara, posted a lovely piece about making pillow covers. Wah! Butterflies started fluttering in my stomach. Not only were there step-by-step instructions (critical for me), it actually looked easy! AND there would be no pattern involved. I can't tell you how much I hate cutting out patterns - so much so, actually, that I have a pretty impressive stack of fabric I've done absolutely nothing with for lack of motivation to cut the pattern. 

Anyway, I had some time yesterday and stopped by the best craft store in the world. Crafty Planet sources some of the most gorgeous prints I've ever seen. And the best part, in my opinion, is that they're all cotton prints (aka: easy to work with). I spent a good 45 minutes picking out two prints for contrasting pillows and picked up the other necessary materials elsewhere. 

When I got home yesterday and sorted through my finds, I realized I didn't have a great space to work. So, after church this morning, I decided to turn my desk (which has never been used for office/school work here) into my sewing station. There was a ton of paper to sort through. Most of that was recycled, and the rest is in a pile to be filed away. And I went through the uppermost drawers to make space for some sewing supplies. 2.5 hours later, I was super pleased with the results and ready to begin on my project. But I couldn't find the power source cord for my machine!!! I still haven't found it and I've searched everywhere. 

(the blue blob is an unfinished skirt - soon to be finished!)

While I'm bummed I didn't get the chance to start, it turns out that's not such a bad thing. During dinner, Husband and I were talking about the fabric. I had chosen one print with a dark gray background and fabulous baby blue polka dots, thinking that shades of blue would be an excellent pair with our new white coverlet (and remembering Mr. S mentioning wanting blues as our accent). Come to find that Mr. S associates light blue with his sister's bedroom and wants nothing to do with it in ours. Huh! Good thing we had that conversation. :) Thankfully, he does like the other print I picked - a soft gray with white dandelion-inspired flowers/floating seeds on it. So, he'll be coming with me on my next trip to Crafty Planet, though we've decided to hold off on that until we have our bedding.

Exciting things! Cant' wait to have pics to post of the new bed when everything finally arrives and comes together. In the meantime, I've got some other things up my sleeve.

Goodnight, and enjoy the lovely spring weather (it got up to 63 today)!

~Ms. S

Confession

(photo courtesy of: home-decorating-co.com)

Last night, before retiring for the evening, I re-checked all the blogs I follow just to see if anyone had posted something interesting. I'm still not entirely sure I'm glad I did this re-check, but before I get to the point of the story, I need to give you some background information that is more than slightly embarrassing (and due to this fact, the information doled out is not entirely accurate - a right I reserve to prevent what judgment I know is coming). Let me tell you about bedsheets.

I like bedsheets. They provide a soft place to sleep at night, and generally keep me well insulated. However, I do not like washing them in the small little washers here at our apartment, where I can only fit a single set (and nothing more) inside. They become a large pain. Therefore they are not washed as often as Husband or I would prefer.

Getting back to the point of this story...

Last night, while perusing the blogs, there was an entry that seemed to scream, "read me!" from Apartment Therapy.  I did what was only natural - I read it. Lo and behold, this entry began by informing me that most people (ie: everyone but me) wash their sheets weekly. ACK! Then went into the whole bedding schedule - for cleaning. And I thought I was just going to enjoy going to bed last night.

After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I grabbed our flannel sheets out of the linen closet and proceeded to unmake and remake the whole bed. Let's just say that the sheets coming off of the bed had been there far too long and leave it at that. Go ahead, gasp, cringe, make a 'grossed out' face, judge me horribly for my domestic short comings. Goodness knows, I do it to myself. It was high time to put fresh sheets on...I just hadn't planned on doing so at 10 PM last night.

But I should back up a little. Upon reading this, I mentioned it to Mr. S and got into a very defensive discussion about the acceptable timetable for bedsheets. Are you ready for my ridiculous excuse? It impresses even me. "Well, if we finally used our laundry time slots regularly, and therefore had fewer clothes, I could prioritize washing the sheets! But since our washers can only fit one set of sheets, they take last priority." Mr. S proceeded to tell me I should take our sheets to the laundromat. Which, today, presents itself as a good idea, but last night was frustrating.

Needless to say, the bed got fresh sheets. I will be making weekly or biweekly trips to the laundromat seeing as how there is one just down the street from us. But the kicker to the story is this. When I searched for the article tonight, so I could provide a link to what had spurred me into action, I couldn't find it! 'It couldn't really have just appeared last night long enough to make me feel so guilty I spent about 20 minutes changing the sheets on our bed!' I thought. But it certainly looked that way for a good 15 minutes or so until I used the 'search' function in Apartment Therapy to find it. *huge sigh of relief*

The article is great - based on information in the January issue of Martha Stewart Living about washing pillows. So, when I make that trip to the laundromat, our pillows will likely make the trek with me.

Thank you for amusing me and listening reading my whole story.

Ms. S

Visiting Home

This weekend finds Mr. S and I visiting my parents since Thanksgiving will be spent with other relatives. My parents' house is huge compared to our apartment, but it's also wonderfully warm and clean. And it always smells amazing (with the exception of the cat, sometimes). I don't have my camera here with me to take pictures, but have some ideas for my own home.

Breaking the cleaning into smaller chunks so it happens continuously over the course of the week. My mother has the system down pat. It helps that her job, for years, was raising my sister and myself, but today she's just as busy with other things and still manages to find time to get things done. So, I'm determined to try this myself and see how it works.

Less is best.
My parents' house is beautifully furnished and comfortable without feeling overdone. Nothing is overcrowded. This simplifies cleaning - less furniture to move while vacuuming or sweeping, less things to clutter space, less to find storage space for. Note taken.

A clean kitchen makes a place feel cleaner than it might actually be. 
My mother would be the first to tell you she's not the tidiest person in the world, but there is one thing that is guaranteed to drive her bonkers: a dirty or messy kitchen. You can just see her start to itch all over when she enters my sister's abode (my sister is notorious for letting dishes pile up), and mine prior to marrying Mr. S. Anyway, a few weeks ago, Mom informed me that she had 'deep cleaned the kitchen.' She took everything out of the cabinets, getting rid of rarely-used or never-used items, and purged the counters of unnecessary nick-knacks (of which there were many). I didn't realize just how big a difference that would make until coming home and finding a beautiful kitchen with even more counter space than I remembered. (I haven't seriously checked out the cabinets yet, but will before I leave.) While this tip may not be most useful to me right at this moment, I can definitely see how a clean kitchen (which is where Mr. S and I, and our families, spend most of our time together) can do a lot to give off vibes of a clean home.

When a home smells good, it inspires cleaning.
I am not particularly fond of the smell of cleaning chemicals. Therefore, I do my best to avoid products that smell at all chemically. My dad - who is obsessed with vacuuming and vacuum cleaners - uses lovely scented powders on the carpets when he vacuums every Saturday. It sure makes the house smell amazingly clean. And my mother is a fabulous cook and baker. At the moment there's a pot roast that's nearly ready to be eaten and it smells wonderfully scrumptious! Their house always smells clean and delicious. Mr. S and I don't have any carpeted surfaces, but seasonally appropriate scented candles take the place of Dad's vacuuming powders; and Husband and I both enjoy *cooking and baking, which permeates our apartment in lovely ways.

*However, I would recommend not over-using garlic in an apartment, as Mr. S's recent garlic humus is potent enough to kill any living thing that crosses its path.  

Some inspiration

Having been sick recently, not too much cleaning has been done on my end of things. Husband cleaned thoroughly and all by himself this past weekend while I was cooped up with a nasty cold that's still lingering rather powerfully. But I have resolved to do a better job of up keep here, and this is my inspiration for doing so:

"I ought to have done it long ago but I've just kept putting it off...it's such a detestable task. It's a very bad habit to put off disagreeable things, and I never mean to do it again, or else I can't comfortably tell my pupils not to do it. That would be inconsistent." ~ Anne Shirley, Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

And with those words of the immortal Anne Shirley, I am off to make our bed before promptly falling into what will hopefully be a deep (and most welcome) sleep.

Goodnight.

~Ms. S

It's SO clean!!!

Well, that's been a long time coming, huh? Let me tell you, the pictures will not disappoint. Mr. S and I are hosting a house warming party tonight for some friends who have yet to see our place. Understandably, Husband decided it provided the perfect opportunity to clean, clean, clean. Here's a run down of what happened today.

• ALL floors swept and mopped
• ALL dishes washed
• table scrubbed
• stove top cleaned
• counters scrubbed
• bathroom cleaned
• ALL clean clothes put away (this was an enormous accomplishment for me)
• bed made
• desk top cleaned
• living room decluttered
• all remaining boxes put downstairs minus the two next to the desk
  

It's impressive, people. And we're exhausted from all our hard work before our party has even started! But!! We have freshly baked cookies, mulled cider, apples and caramel dip, cheese and crackers, beer, and wine to look forward to; plus excellent company and some exciting games.

Something that Mr. S has been dying for me to update you all about is the under-the-counter lighting he installed for us two weeks ago. The light that had been above the sink burned out a while ago, so we replaced the bulb only to discover that the light itself was broken since it would not turn on with a brand new bulb. I wasn't heart broken about it - the light wasn't that great. It was a florescent of some kind and really didn't project much light, which made it most unhelpful. Needless to say, Husband is quite pleased with himself because the under counter lights are amazing. We love spending time in our kitchen that much more now that we can actually see what we're preparing or cleaning!

The only other thing I'll add (besides pictures), is that I got to purchase the gargantuan sized box of baking soda! :) I'm a happy camper. Enjoy the photos...

~Ms. S

Current State of Things

Alright, so here's a rundown of the current state of things:

1. Husband has hijacked the camera. I saw it sitting on our little table at some point this weekend, but when I looked for it on Tuesday I couldn't find it anywhere. Husband is in Boston this week wrapping up his year-long service job which means I can't upload the pictures I promised from my last entry, nor can I take pictures of what I plan to do tonight. (big sigh)

2. I am a terrible person - well, not terrible...more like hypocritical - because I make these lists and promote them because lists ' hold you accountable,' and then I just don't do anything on my list. This needs to change.

3. We cleaned, cleaned, cleaned about two weeks ago and got our home in lovely shape! It wasn't perfect by any means, and it wasn't 'done,' but it was the best it's looked since we moved in. Let's just say we've reverted back to the pre-clean, clean, clean state. 

4. I have not necessarily done much, but I DID manage to fix the drain in our tub so that when we shower we are no longer standing in four or five inches of water. :)

So, first and foremost I apologize for the lack of pictures again. It's truly unacceptable. Don't try and tell me otherwise. I have been told by a very smart and savvy lady who is something of a blog connoisseur, that pictures are a must. I must confess, I hope Mr. S does actually have our camera somewhere and know where it is because if he doesn't I'm kinda SOL!

To combat my apparent aversion to following the lists I make...well, I'm not entirely sure what I'll do about it. Mostly, I think it's a mind over matter issue. As a start (and because our apartment looks horrendous at the moment, and we have company coming Sunday and Monday), I have a list I plan on accomplishing tonight. Tonight, I need to:

1. clean the bathroom
2. bleach the tub
3. sweep and mop bathroom and kitchen
4. do dishes
5. bleach kitchen sink
6. put away the cooking/baking supplies that are currently on our table
7. tidy up the bedroom - put clothes away

The other thing that will help me with my lists is a schedule. I have actually been giving a lot of thought to the schedule, and am glad there has been one deep cleaning with very little maintenance done afterward so I have a better sense of how often some things need to be done. Here's what I've determined so far...

Sweeping should be done a weekly basis - really more frequently, but at a minimum, once a week. We have hardwood or tile throughout our home, so dust and dirt accumulate easily. In the kitchen, whenever either of us works with onions or garlic, we always seem to end up with paper peel bits all over the floor (even though we're pretty clean cooks). And it's surprising how much and how quickly hair accumulates in the bathroom!! Sorry if that totally grosses you out, but let's face it - hair in the bathroom is a fact and whether you like it or not, are grossed out by it or not, at some point you have to deal with it. And dealing with it more frequently means you'll have to confront less of it all at once. Which is, I think, less gross than mass quantities. Ok, I'm done with hair! Stop freaking out.

Scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom sinks and tub with baking soda should be done on a weekly basis - it's amazing to me how quickly grime builds up. Baking soda really does a great job of fighting the grime and keeping things sparkling. As an added bonus, our sinks and tub are white which tend to show scuffs and marks really well. The baking soda works miracles in erasing those marks without being too abrasive - or leaving a different colored mark, which has happened to me when I've used a blue 'non-abrasive' sponge. Don't create more work for yourself, folks. Just use the baking soda right away.

Oooo! As a complete aside, I was at Rainbow earlier this week (a grocery store, for those who aren't familiar with the name) and found GIANT boxes of baking soda!!! I can't wait to run out of my current stash so I can buy the ginormous container. It's seriously the biggest thing of baking soda I've ever seen. I had no idea they sold it in such quantities, but it's such a wonderful idea since I use a lot of it when I clean, but still need it for baking, too! Moving on...

Dishes should be done daily - ideally, multiple times a day (once after breakfast, once after dinner), but if we're being realistic - and I am - maximizing morning sleep is more important than waking up with enough time to do the dishes before dashing out the door to work. Admitting dishes should be done daily is actually a huge step for me. Husband will be so thrilled when he reads this. I've never been one to let dishes go too long, but certainly a day or two. The thing is, dishes are the first thing to clutter counter space in a kitchen, and any of us who enjoy spending time in the kitchen know that counter space is precious. Especially when you don't have much of it! Dishes are also one of the easiest things you can do to eliminate clutter. It never takes nearly as long as you think it might to get them done; the work is painless; you can listen to music while you do it; and it's something you can do as a team (though I prefer doing them myself). Also, think of the other benefits - doing dishes the same day the are dirtied means A) they don't smell as bad, B) they're not as gross because nothing has dried on the dish, C) they're a heck of a lot easier to clean (see point B)! Why wouldn't you do dishes daily? 

As a side note, I'm totally jealous of those of you who have dishwashers. Also, I feel this is a good time to remind you that this is a judgement-free zone!!

Sinks and tubs should be bleached bi-weekly - the bleaching process described in Real Simple's Solutions really adds the extra polish to your weekly baking soda scrub. It helps in combating the grime, is simple to do, and makes your water-holders look fabulous! And I found a chlorine-free bleach by Ecover the other day at Kowalski's (another grocery store), which means I don't feel nearly as bad making this part of my regular cleaning routine.

Kitchens and bathrooms should be cleaned weekly - we're talking your normal maintenance routine - sponging down counters, the stove top, and the table, cleaning toilets, mirrors, etc. It's not a 'deep clean,' per say. You do the deep clean every other week, but use this to maintain your work so that your 'deep clean' is simply adding the bleaching and mopping (which we haven't gotten to yet). Just keeps things simpler and easier.

Hard floors should be mopped bi-weekly - unless it's been a particularly rainy week, our floors don't need to be mopped on a weekly basis IF they are being swept on a weekly basis. On rainy weeks, I'd probably choose to sweep and mop even if my schedule didn't call for the mopping. I do find, though, that if I don't sweep regularly, mopping is always necessary because there is much more on the floor that ends up sticking, staining, and making a mess.

So those are the things I'm noticing thus far. Has anyone noted a trend in my observations and posts? Remember my intent is to clean and organize our home. 'And organize' being the key words there. Everything I've really 'accomplished' so far has revolved around cleaning. I don't really love cleaning or organizing, but I sure as heck like cleaning more. The tasks are very straight-forward, there is a huge sense of accomplishment at the end, and the results are immediately visible. 

Organizing is just something I find to be insanely daunting which is a little weird because I'm super organized at work. I cannot function if my desk is a mess and I can't find things. I am an expert filer - both online and actual folders, everything has a place on or in my desk, there are systems developed for papers and projects, etc, etc. Somehow, this doesn't really transfer to home. Maybe because it's such a large space comparatively, requiring many more systems in order to form some semblance of order. This is where my husband shines. Mr. S loves systems - creating them, developing them (as in, changing them when they don't work quite right), using them, maintaining them. I think it gives him a sense of peace. If only I were like that.

Well, that's probably enough babbling for one post. Especially one that does not include pictures! Now it's on to conquering my list. Have a good evening, dear readers (if there are any of you out there)...

~Ms. S

Progress

I will post photos tomorrow, but enormous progress was made on cleaning this weekend! All because the husband stepped in to help. With the pressure of his Godmother, her kids, and his parents coming up with the explicit purpose of seeing our place (and us, too), he decided we needed to get our rears in gear!

Here is the list of what got done:

• dishes
• swept kitchen, bathroom, and living room floors
• cleaned dining room table
• cleaned counters
• cleaned bathroom
• tidied living room (including placing some boxes in storage!)
• organized and cleaned bedroom

Let me tell you...our place looks amazing at the moment! Minus the pile of crap on my desk, but for now, we'll overlook that detail. The biggest changes happened in the living room and bedroom. Husband's sister has been staying with us while finishing up her job before her move to WI. Well, she left Saturday after our get together, but packed up all her stuff long before which meant we could fold up the sleeper sofa. We got our living room and couch back nearly with the snap of our fingers! It was pretty incredible. (But, dear Sister, you are welcome back any time. We really enjoyed having you.)

The other change, that is sure to drop jaws once pictures are posted - the bedroom. Let's just get one thing out there right now. Thou shall not judge. I know our bedroom was ridiculously messy. I realize, as Husband regularly points out, that it is not, in fact, that hard to put clothes away - I just really dislike doing it. :) So, my friends, we come back to the real point of the blog: Ms. S desperately needed a project, and knew this would be a healthy thing for her to take on. She would never in a million years claim to be a cleaning/organizing expert. Hence, the blog.

Ok, now that that's out of the way...our bedroom is now very neat and tidy. All the clothes are put away in dressers or the closet, the bed has the lighter summer quilt on it, *you can see the floor*, and even though we don't quite have a spot for everything yet (we do still have boxes in the room), our stacks are well contained within a small area of the room. 

It's fair to say I would not have made this much progress on my own. The checklist I had made for earlier in the week? Yeah, it totally didn't get done completely. So the fact that so much was accomplished means I must give credit to Husband and Sister (in-law) for their help. Thankfully, our hard work payed off. Our guests were impressed and pleased with our place. So are we! And it truly feels wonderful to come home to a clean house.

My goals for this week (main focus: Desk):

• tackle the mess that is my desk
• begin the new filing system (pictures and explanation will be provided!)
• maintain this level of cleanliness throughout apartment
• begin to develop long-range cleaning/organizing schedule
• implement one or two new ideas from Real Simple Solutions

TTFN!

~Ms. S

A small dose of reality

Today, my friends, marked the first day since finishing summer classes that I have really had anything of importance to do during the day. I began training for the job I'll be doing for the upcoming academic year. So upon completing my shift at the child development center (my summer job), I came home, got cleaned up, had a quick bite to eat, and it was off to a windowless room for 4.5 hours. Needless to say, it was good to have this experience now. Why? Because I did not get any cleaning done today. In fact, all I did was contribute to the mess of dishes.

Though today was busy, it was nothing like life will be come the second week of September. Not only will I be working 40 hours/week, I will have 6.5 hours of class/week, plus church choir and a church committee. Therefore, today was an excellent learning experience.

Lists are important, like I said in a previous post, because they hold you accountable. If I am going to be successful in this endeavor, I must create lists. And I must make the lists at least the night before I want to do them - a key point. My biggest problem with organization/cleaning lists tends to be that I'm over-ambitious. And let's be honest, it feel so much better to cross everything off of your list and feel like you really accomplished something, than to have even one item remaining. Knowing that I'll have about an hour - an hour and a half of time to devote to cleaning and organizing each day, my goals should be realistic.

So, for practice, my day tomorrow is even more full than today. Here is my list:

1. Do dishes

2. Unpack remaining boxes in living room and/or put them in storage (get them out of living room)

3. Sweep & mop kitchen and bathroom (because this is a very doable task that makes me feel good)

4. If time, clean and organize top of desk in living room

We'll see how tomorrow goes!

~Ms. S

Lists & Lessons

Day one. The cleaning process began around 11 this morning and continued until 4:30 this afternoon. It should be noted, this is the longest stretch of time I have ever spent cleaning. Normally, I get distracted after about 1.5 hours with something much more interesting and appealing - like catching up on missed episodes of tv shows online, writing in my diary, reading a great book (or a bad one). Basically anything that is not cleaning. But today was different. I woke up this morning knowing today would be a day spent cleaning and wanting very much to accomplish as much as possible. I did not get as much done as I had hoped, but it was not because I got distracted - there simply was not enough time.

Today, after arriving home from work, I began by choosing a focus, a target area, if you will. Trying to clean and organize your home to the point it's magazine ready is no easy feat. In fact, it's insanely overwhelming! Why am I doing this, again? Right, to see if it's possible. Thinking about our entire apartment and everything that needs to be done to all of our 4 rooms makes me want to fly in the opposite direction. You would, too, wouldn't you? And some of you probably have houses with more than 4 rooms! (Maybe you shouldn't attempt this until I've determined whether it's even worth it with my meager amount of space.) 

Ok, back to the subject at hand. My focus area for today was: Bathroom and Kitchen. Bathroom because it's small and always needs cleaning; kitchen because that's where my husband and I spend most of our time (we thoroughly enjoy cooking and baking). I already knew what my very first task would be: bleaching the kitchen sink and the bathroom tub. Following instructions from Real Simple's Solutions, I filled both as full as possible with hot water and added 1 cup of bleach to the sink, and 2 cups of bleach to the tub. Then I waited for 1 hour before doing anything more with them. 

In the meantime, I had a quick lunch and decided it would be smart to write out a list of things I wanted to accomplish for the day. Here's my list:

It doesn't look that big, but I learned today that cleaning and organizing are processes that take more time than I think they will. I was able to check off the following:

• Bleach tub
• Bleach sink
• sweep and mop both rooms
• clean dining room/kitchen table
• clean counters
• clean toilet and bathroom sink
  

To be fair to myself, that was half of my list. Not bad on my first day.

Once I was done writing the list, I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, and was about to begin on the bathroom floor when I encountered a problem. A major one. My tub with the bleach solution had completely drained!! It was dry, dry, dry and the hour soaking time was not up. Oh dear! Well, I only had 1/4 cup of bleach left, so I didn't fill the tub full again, but only filled it half-way and let it soak for another 40 minutes or so. Note to self: in the future, when doing something that requires soaking, make sure to check said space early and frequently to ensure there are no problems.

It was time to complete the kitchen sink, which had not encountered any problems in its soak. After draining the water and rinsing the basin, I sprinkled Baking Soda in the bottom to use as a non-abrasive cleaning agent (recommended by Real Simple).

I have to tell you, I've used baking soda when cleaning cookie sheets, drains, and other household items before, but never the sink or the tub. You need to add it to your cleaning supplies! The stains in my sink scrubbed out so easily with the baking soda. It was truly a glorious and exciting moment! (Who am I?) After a final rinse to remove any lingering baking soda, my kitchen sink is beautiful, white, and sparkling. I also had equally wonderful results with the tub.

By this time, I needed a little break from the cleaning. Not to worry! I found myself a little decorating project to occupy my time. Before my husband and I moved into our place, we lived with his sister for about 2 months. She had a little set of hooks hanging on her wall which she used to hang her keys. It was brilliant! (Ok, I know other people have these - I'm not intending to imply the key hooks are unique. Simply that we appreciated them immensely.) So one of our first purchases for our apartment was a set of hooks for ourselves. Well, we've been here nearly two months now and neither of us has even mentioned hanging them up. You see where this is going.

I placed the hooks on the wall and marked the places where holes needed to be drilled for screws. Luckily I found an electric drill in our closet - I have no idea who lent it to us because it's not ours! And then I panicked slightly when I realized I haven't had a shop class since 6th grade - about 13 years ago. 'How do I get the bit to stay?' 'Is there a little attachment for the different sizes?' My husband, dad, and grandfather would be so proud to know I figured it out on my own, and managed to use it successfully! Our key hooks are now hanging on the wall with the door harp my grandfather made resting gracefully right above them.

To complete my day of cleaning, I washed the table, the remaining dishes, the kitchen counters, and the bathroom. It was an exciting day and I feel good about what I managed to get done...but there is still so much to do! I guess there's always tomorrow. Until then here are some lessons I learned from today:

1. Wear shoes with good support. Your feet won't hate you if you do! (Mine hate me right now. Flip flops = no support.)

2. Determine a focus or target area and only worry about that room/task/area.

3. Make a list. It holds you accountable.

4. Play music loudly!

5. Take before and after pictures - you'll be impressed with yourself.

6. Tell someone what you've done so they can be really impressed, too! (Admittedly, I have yet to tell the husband, but my sister in-law was uber excited for me.)

7. There's always tomorrow.

~Ms. S

A purpose has been found

Alright, so I've traveled to this place a number of times since its creation, only to realize I had no idea where to begin and what to write. I wanted and needed a purpose to make a reason for coming here to update this blog. After weeks of my brain pretending it was dead - always at its worst when on the topic of 'potential purpose for blog' - it finally perked up.

A goal of mine has long been to be more organized, neat, and tidy in my living space. I firmly believe I would be a calmer, more relaxed person this way. An added benefit is it would shock the pants off my husband, who is far more organized than myself. I must confess I managed to do this my senior year of college (when I met my husband, actually). I lived in the tiniest room you can imagine and maintained its spotlessness for a full 9 months, as anything out of place - even a rubberband - made the room feel cluttered and messy. It felt great to keep my living space that clean! And my husband (mistakenly) thought I was the neat, tidy, organized person I happened to be for nine months, all the time. Ha! Joke's on him. :) But I feel if I did it once, I can do it again.

Now, I also feel the need to point out here that I am a neat freak when it comes to my work space. I absolutely cannot function if my desk is not organized and de-cluttered. Which makes me wonder why this doesn't drive me bonkers in my living space...but it doesn't. At least, not until it gets really, really bad.

All of this, plus reading Real Simple's Solutions tonight, led me to my proposed 'purpose' for this blog. I think the living spaces seen in magazines like Real Simple are so...sexy, amazing, clean, perfect. Every time I see pictures of them, I think to myself, 'I'd l.o.v.e. to live in a house that clean, tidy, organized, etc, etc, etc.' So, I intend to see if it is possible to get a house to that point of organized, neat, and tidy, and then if it's feasible to maintain said standards over an extended period of time. Will it be easy to get our home that standard? How will it make me feel once I get there? Will sustaining that level of organization and tidiness increase happiness and decrease stress, or will it drive myself and Husband bonkers? At the moment, I have no idea, but I intend to find out and document the process. My hope is, at the very least, this will get me off my pathetically lazy summer bum (as of late) and help keep me accountable.

Pictures and stories will start tomorrow. Uff-dah!

~Ms. S