FLY LADY WEEK - Kitchen & Laundry Room

 

Good morning!

The sun is shining and we should have a high in the 80s* today. I've already started putting laundry on the line.

A lot of things did not get done last month, as I'd planned. Between getting the oven repaired, dealing with a sinus infection then doctoring Bob's foot, it was a month. I'm going to say March is going out like a lamb here between the nicer temperatures and all of the afore mentioned things behind us.

As I hung the laundry this morning, I got the earliest scents from the Cherry Blossom Bush. I love that bush. Unfortunately, the honeysuckle and blackberry roots have crept beneath ground, across the back yard and trying to take up residence. I pulled a couple of the larger honeysuckle vines down this morning where I could get to clip them. There is still more to do. Always more to do.

With all of the illness/ injuries/ ect. going on here, the Christmas decor is still up in these two rooms. That's all coming down today. The curtains will be first, followed by the Santa village in the living room. 

Did I mention, this has been a year?! LOL I'm never this late getting things down. I'm also realizing the issue is, in part, to my age and issues with my knees. The other thing is, while Bob has been retired for eighteen months, I'm still trying to find my old routine. I know the old routine isn't going to work but I just work better on my own. It's a process. 

So, this week:

** Santa Village

** Curtains in both rooms

** Tea shelf

** Floor

I'm also adding...

** Pack Bathroom Holiday

** Put every day linens back into place

I'm only adding those last two points because I don't want to wait three weeks to get that room back in order.

On top of this, I'll be trying to finish Book 2, An Ozarks Homecoming, so I can work on the edits when I travel the middle of April. 

After the way this year began, I am so ready to get back to a normal cleaning routine. This is the month I prove it is never too late to get back to basics.

Our local grocers had great sales last week. I now have #72 of butter in the freezers. I bought two #5 of russet potatoes. I plan to get seasoned potato wedges in jars later this week. 

What are you working on? Is there a spot in your laundry room/ kitchen you've been putting off tackling? This is the week!

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 5 - Basement

 Good morning!

This room only shows up on the cleaning schedule when we have a fifth week to play with.

The basement really consists of three rooms I need  contend with. The fourth room is Bob's mancave. 

My target this week is the center of the shower room where stuff just seems to get piled. The pile becomes an island we have to negotiate to get to part of the store-purchased can foods on the South wall, the beverage cabinet, home canned food shelves, pan/ cookware (the things you might use three times a on the West wall, the medical/ personals/ towel cabinet on the North wall then the tub/ shower on the East wall. Well nothing needs pitched, just needs better organization. 

The second room is the pantry room. Not much to do in there except to check stock for gaps in food prep items.

The third room is the furnace and under the stairs storage. That will wait for another month. LOL

I'm just trying to get as much out of Bob's way before I leave for retreat in two weeks.

How are you doing? Would love to know.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 4 - Office

 Hi friends!

This week, I'm back in my happy place. I'll be even happier when it's completely done!

This week's target is the corner that was originally going to be my writing space. Since I've been working and am set up on my long 4x8 work island, that space will be designated for working in my planners and storing office supplies. 

I started clearing the space out last year when I got rid of nearly everything having to do with the music business after walking away from music promotion. I still miss that part of my life but honestly, I don't know how I had time for everything that entailed to begin with. 

I need to pitch more stuff then figure out how to organize all of the planner things I have. I should probably do a destash. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

In the mean time, do you use a planner? Multiple planners? Inquiring minds want to know, and remember, this is a judgement-free zone. 

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 3 - Bedroom & Bathroom

 Hi friends!

I'm setting this up a couple weeks in advance so I don't forget. If I have to come in and edit progress (or lack there of) I will but for now, here's the plan!

The master bedroom needs a serious clean but most of that will wait until the first of April.

Beginning the first of the month in each quarter. we flip the mattresses a half turn to keep even wear on the mattresses. Do you rotate yours?

Aside from running the robot, we've not deep cleaned the bed, either the railing system or the floor beneath since we bought the split King almost seven years ago. Now that we're down to one cat (who loves to throw up under the bed when she gets overheated at 5 a.m.) I want to tear the bed completely down, give the floor and the bed frame a good cleaning so we can start fresh. 

Just running the robot requires getting down on a kneeling pad to unplug the bed, put all the chords up out of the way so Rosie Robot doesn't get hung up. Letting her do her job is my most important task for this week. I also didn't get to the deep clean on my night stand so Murphey's Oil soap will be used on that and the roll top desk. Beyond that, I can't do much more because I still have the folding table with the Christmas junk journal stuff there. I need to finish sorting everything and put on the scraprack or the 4-drawer cart. It's a process, but I'm making progress and that's what's important. 

We finally got the Christmas stuff all packed away and the bathroom surfaces are back in order. I need to do a serious pitch/ organization of the cabinets but not sure if that will happen this time. Right now, I'm more focused on getting seedlings ready for Bob to take care of while I'm on a Junk Journal Retreat gathering next month as well as getting An Ozarks Homecoming ready to publish in late May.

How's the weather in your area? Are in the spring cleaning mode? Let me know what you're up to.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 2 - Living Room & Dining Room

 Good morning, friends!

I think we'll be dry enough for a couple of days to clear out the living room. The task of putting the tree and other items away requires having at least one full warm day to pull Christmas tubs out of the warehouse, pack items away then put them back. 

Big news of the week is we got the roll top desk moved to the bedroom! Now to unearth the vintage office chair from the warehouse. It is a process. LOL

Bob took a day last week to detail the living room sofa (blowing residual dog/ cat air from the mechanisms, breaking down the kennel, putting the new vintage end tables in place, fixing one of the laps. We really enjoyed the sofa for 2 nights before I pulled everything out of the sewing corner and sorted onto the sofa and floor. LOL It's a process but we're headed in the right direction.

I'm taking a bunch of stuff to thrift this week then moving my planner tub (to be sorted and put away when I get to that corner of the office) so we can put the hassock beds there out of the way. We don't use them for hassocks. We bought them for Abby and Adrian to sleep on when they came to visit. Each one opens up to a single bed. Folded up and slid together, they were HoneyB's favorite place to lay with his chew bone or just stretch out and crash.

Putting them behind the sofa in the corner will open up floor room so I can use the Wii again. 

I won't do much in the dining room this week except empty things out of the sofa cabinet that can be donated and if I'm lucky, clean out the girls' dresser of things that we no longer need.

What is on your cleaning list for this week? Are you getting the spring cleaning bug? Boy, I am. 

The geese are flying north, the skunks are coming out of hibernation meaning Spring is on it's way!

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 1 - Laundry Room & Kitchen

 Good morning, everyone!

We're in for a rainy week, making this the perfect time to really dig in and start the spring cleaning.

My ribs are nearly healed. They don't bother me anymore but I know a wrong move could set me back. Can't have that. I think the knee issue last week was a result of almost 30k steps over the course of two days while I worked on the office. I was sorting everything on the largest flat surface in the house - the bed, so lots of trips back and forth across three adjoining rooms.

The sewing corner is nearly finished. However, the top of the cube unit where the sewing machines will go is currently a plant stand.

I got all of my quilting templates hung on the wall and paired up the sewing machines with their foot pedal. Once I can sew again, I will be able to find things.

I am so ready to dive in to these two rooms. 

My main goal for the laundry room is to get rid of a lot of the pet stuff we no longer need. We're just down to Tabby so all the dog stuff can go. I'll reserve one bin for the outside birdies, one for Tabby then everything else can go.  I'm hoping to pack up the santa village and put the laundry shelves back in order but we're in for rain every day this week so I might not get to the warehouse for tubs, or if I do, will be too muddy to take them back. We shall see. Finally, detail the floor across both of the room.

For the kitchen, I'll sanitize the drains and the sink tubs. I also want to strip everything down off the tea shelf and degrease.  One thing I've always hated is we don't have a hood vent for the stove. When the people who first built this house, they put an addition off the East side, blocking any opportunity for a hood vent. 

If you don't have one, have you noticed how that steam settles everywhere (even in the cabinets!) then attracts all the dust in the air? So tea shelf and fan blades are also on the list. 

I was raised a 1950s housewife and I'm trying to get back to that efficiency throughout the house, excluding my office (but that's another issue all on it's own)

I'll leave you today with a house cleaning tips video I found yesterday:

When you take a break from cleaning, I hope you'll be able to see the Lunar eclipse. You'll find the information HERE.

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 4 - Office

 Good morning, friends!

Last week was a busy week. At least the ribs are healing. If I remember to take Advil Dual and pay attention to how I move ( still requiring Bob to lift or bend for me), I'm accomplishing quite a bit.

We started last week with getting the end tables for the living room. A little modification was needed to make them fit the height we needed because of the sofa arm rests but that's okay. I'll post pictures next week (if I remember lol)

I got the night stand cleaned off and washed down with Murphy's Oil Soap. The big thing was getting stuff moved from the bedroom back to the sewing corner in the office and the roll top desk in place in the bedroom. That's where I'll spend most of my Saturday's creating in my 'list' documenting traveler's notebook in Listing With Layle class. relaxing way to take time out to document milestones. You can check out her YouTube channel HERE as well as her Instagram HERE.

This week is all about progress in the office. 

As much as I'd love to work on the sofa side of the room and begin emptying book cases I really want to get the planner desk set up and my HP printer Bob got me for Christmas in 2024. Does that tell you how behind I am. The printer finally got moved to where it needed to go last October but is still in the box. I'll be printing editing copies of Book 2 and being able to just hit print and let that go through while I do something else would be very helpful.

As we move toward the next Full Moon, this is the time to bring in what I want/ need to acquire in my life. For me this month, that is getting more stuff put in the pantry. Both in jar meals and canned. I may have more seed potatoes than I wanted since I hurt the ribs after buying #10 that are now starting to sprout. At least I can grow new potatoes and can them later this year. I'll just have to watch for potatoes on sale around Easter or Memorial Day and try canning the seasoned potatoes again.

With each phase, I'm getting the house in order. I just have to remember I can't do this all at once or alone. I have to remember to ask Bob for help and not push myself. Yeah, we'll see how I do. LOL

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly