CATCHING UP FROM CHRISTMAS AND LEARNING NOT TO ASSUME ALL CLEANING PRODUCTS FOR A PURPOSE ARE THE SAME - WHAT AN ODOR!

 Ah, the swift passage of time.  Three weeks have passed since I last posted.  So much for doing better in the new year.  

Well, I did get all of the reenacting clothing washed and stored away – though I still have his neck cloth which needs to ironed – it is sitting on the dining room table as reminder to do so.

On Monday, the sixteenth, I set my desktop computer to start its monthly backup and I went to start taking down the ornaments from our Christmas trees. Our agreement is that husband gets the room to use for weaving (called his “loom room”) from mid January to mid December and I get it for Christmas for the other month.  He was at his desk and I told him what I was about to do.  “NO, NO! I am not ready yet for Christmas to be over and packed away!”  So our indoor Christmas decorations are still in place.  (We did take down the outside lights that weekend so neighbors would not think us crazy.)  

We have figured out how to deal with the window candle lights I like for Christmas (goes well with the house which is colonial in style) for the future.  I figured out that if we pulled the hope chest shaped DVD chest out from under the TV table I could carefully climb under and reach the windowsill as well as the electric outlet under the window and we can use the plug in candle lights we have from years ago  (in recent years before the current one we had switched to battery operated ones).  If I do this once next year and plug them into a timer which can be controlled from a cellphone, we can leave the lights in place permanently and husband can turn them off after Christmas.  We can continue to use the battery lights upstairs and turn them off after the holiday by hand.  

I am not the best at cleaning to begin with – and since Covid and being in the house most of the time, even worse. (So bad, husband has started helping me, though he says he does out of boredom.) Last Saturday night I was in the kitchen and decided to clean the bathroom immediately next to the kitchen – and I do mean immediately next to.  As I sit here at our kitchen table the wall in front of me is the shared wall with the bathroom which is a small “cozy room” and the kitchen wraps around it – the door to the bathroom is on the side of it and faces the “pantry” closet in the kitchen.  This was while I was waiting for husband to be ready to order take out for dinner our “Saturday night substitute for date night dinner out”  

BIG MISTAKE!  I had not been able to find my normal toilet bowl cleaner and the one we had bought had a LOT of bleach in it.  The kitchen reeked of bleach – especially by the kitchen table where we would eat dinner.  I closed the bathroom door to keep the smell in it, figuring that later when we were in the living room watching a movie (for Saturday night date night movie substitute) I would open the door and let the odor dissipate.  First thing husband does when he comes down to go out and pick up dinner as I say “NO, DON'T!” is open the bathroom door and let the bleach odor overwhelm us.  The odor did dissipate later that night.  And, yes, while out on a shopping run this past week I bought a bottle of the non-bleach toilet bowl cleaner I normally use – though it seemed to be the last and the company has changed it – but time enough to worry about that in the future.  

At the same time, while the cleaner had sat in the toilet bowl, I also “Swiffered” the kitchen floor – which I had done in the bathroom as well as I could (bathroom is too tight to easily use the Swiffer, a broom or mop in it) – the floors really NEED a washing – but we are always here and using the kitchen so washing it and letting it dry is not easy.  I also cleaned the sink in the bathroom.  

One semi clean place in the house.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Two of them really, first, watch what your cleaning products have in them and second, it is not THAT hard to find a small amount of time to do something about cleaning.

NEW YEAR AHEAD OF US - A FRESH START

 Well, here it is – another new year. A clean year ahead of us – a fresh start.

Let's put behind us what we have done wrong in the past and start the new year fresh.

I have posted in the past that a new year actually starts every day – so if you missed January 1, pick another day, it starts a new year also – Lunar (Asian) New Year starts on January 22 this year, you can use it as a second chance for a new year's start. I don't make resolutions as they are never kept. I do try (yet another time) to do everything I do a bit better – less putting off of things, less “a lick and a promise”, less “I'll do next it next week”. As I said “I try” it generally does not work, but I do try.

Right now our bedroom is a mess. We did several days of a reenactment event over 2 weeks and clothes and accessories tended to be dropped each night when we got home all over our bedroom. I collected the clothes which need to be washed. As usual on Wednesday nights while I am posting I am also doing our laundry for the week. First load – regular clothes - is in the washer as I write. I will fitting in one or two loads of reenacting clothes depending on how many white items and how many color items there are. If I can fit all in one load – fine with me. If not I will do one load of white items and one of color items. I will also do a load of towels for the week. I know I will not finish tonight and will be continuing tomorrow night. When I go to bed tonight I will bring up the dried load of clothing and fold it while husband gets ready for bed (he takes longer than I do). I will put away the “goes in drawers” part of it away afterward and the hang up items will be put away tomorrow, when I will also fold the towels from a later load at night, as well as any other laundered items which need to be folded or hung and put away.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

As we go into the new year try to use same as a chance for fresh start catching up and keeping up with what needs to be done. If not remember – tomorrow is always a new, fresh day ready for one to make a start for the future. After all, I did not finish putting out Christmas decorations inside the house this year until January 2!