FLY LADY WEEK 1 - Kitchen & Laundry Room

 Hi everyone!

Welcome to May.

When I came in to write the blog post I realized weeks three and four never got posted. I thought I'd scheduled everything before I left. Was a crazy couple of weeks. ::: laugh :::

I had a great time at the retreat but am so glad to be home and really dig into this house. I have no travel plans until October. With that said, let's do this!

Bob's turn to be gone this week so I can really dig in. I've been busy canning stuff. (I'll show that post later in the week). As you read this I am working on canning #40 of potatoes I brought home from my trip. At least ten of the potatoes weigh just over #1 each! The skins are thin so they'll peel easy but that's going to possibly a two-day process.

Once potatoes are out of the way, my plan is to go through the bottom kitchen cabinets & purge (again) and to do a deep detail on the kitchen floor. Hopefully, wipe down the cabinets, too. The steam tool on my steamer should make that relatively easy.

The laundry room is pretty much the way it needs to be except for getting rid of dog stuff so I can store the bird/ cat foods in the tubs and off the counter. Crossing fingers. 

Since I'm not sure which day Bob is coming home I want to get a car load of stuff taken to Goodwill and the rest of my stuff out of the living room so we can both sit on the sofa and watch TV together.

As I get stuff cleared out, I'll have a more detailed cleaning list. For this week, take a look at your kitchen and laundry area. Are there things you could pitch? When's the last time you wiped down the cabinets? The appliances? Do you clean the inside of your washing machine? Clean the lint tube/ vent?

I'll see you later this week. promise :-)

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

FLY LADY WEEK 2 - Living Room & Dining Room

 Good morning, friends!

I did accomplish part of what I wanted to do last week.  The Santa Village is packed away and that side of the laundry room got a refresh.

Christmas

Everyday

I've made progress on the living room already today (Sunday).  

I'll post pictures of what we did. For most of last week all of my 12x12 scrapbook paper was in the living room/ dining room while Bob created new shelving for me so I could move stuff around.

Now to get holiday tubs (Easter/ St. Patrick's/ misc. Christmas) back out to the warehouse. I think we're just going to leave those stacked in the corner until we get a day later in the week to take them out to the warehouse. Some things will need to be rearranged first.

I'm trying to get as much writing on the book done as I can this week. Next week will be all about prepping stuff for the Junk Journal Retreat. I leave on the 18th. Blog posts will be scheduled so you can still clean in my absence. ;-)

Be safe, Be prepared, Be Blessed!

~ Kelly

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