Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Allergies Suck

 Today we finally figured out why I was not sleeping and so miserable lately.  It was my new hand lotion and perfume.  So we washed everything including my sleeping gloves and sweater. They are still drying because we are having a rare rainy day today. I also took down my spare pillow and am starting the night with a perfume free pillow. 

This whole thing left me completely bummed out  I really liked the scent of the new lotion and perfume. However I like my sinuses and sleep more.  

I will have to check my other sweaters for perfume residual. If they have any, they will be washed one at a time. When that sweater is completely dry, I will wash the next one. I only really need 2 winter sweaters in Tucson.  

So I am 12 hours lotion and perfume free.  I already feel better. 

Friday, January 12, 2024

Spoons

 Today’s blog is brought to you by spoons.  Spoons are what I never seem to have enough of.  Spoons are units of energy.  

As I am getting older my body is changing. This includes my feet.  I have changed shoe sizes. So I have found a brand of shoes that fit perfectly right now.  I can wear them all day.  So after buying 2 new pairs of shoes, I knew it was time to clean out my closet of the shoes and high heels which I can no longer wear.  I filled 4 boxes with shoes that no longer fit and are still in great shape.  So I think I moved ahead of the clutter curb.  I have also run out of big boxes.  John will take the boxes to Goodwill tomorrow.  I will see what else I can add tomorrow.  

This evening I also started putting my earrings away.  I plan on taking the earrings that are too uncomfortable to wear and the singles to make more stitch markers.  Not that I need any more stitch markers. I just thought it would be fun to do. That they would be more useful as stitch markers than collecting dust.  

Now I am too tired to do anything.  

Not to change the subject, but I am going to change the subject.  Have you ever noticed that the last 6 inches of a 6 foot long scarf seems to take forever.  Maybe I will finally finish it this weekend.  Which me luck.  

What is leaving forever, tomorrow.  Four boxes lined up to go   



Thursday, December 14, 2023

Busy is Good

 I had a busy day today.  I traded in some books for store credit at Bookman’s on Speedway. I used my credit to add 4 more pairs of socks to my charity project for next winter.  Then I dropped off the ai fryer we decided not to keep to a local charity Youth on Their Own.  Then it was off to lunch and knitting with a friend.  

Four dog pillows got stuffed and all I need to do is seam them up.  Then one of us will drop the pillows of at the animal shelter.  I am on the last 3/4 of an inch on a hat before I start the crown.  I am not going to update you on all my works in progress, but there are quite a few.

Tomorrow I need to do the laundry that I ignored all week. Then some general house cleaning and organizing.  Just maybe I can fill another couple of bags to take to Bookman’s on River.  I probably need to start another goodwill box too.  

Have a happy and productive day.  

Monday, July 24, 2023

Accidental Cleaning

 Today my plan was to go to the grocery store and then come home to weave and spin.  What actually happened was I started to put a few things away.  Go through some paperwork. Do a recall for my air fryer.  Before I knew it time had flown by and it was 4:30 pm.  I am not quite sure how it happened.  I was in a cleaning zone.  

Then all of a sudden I was tired and took a nap before dinner.  John graciously assembled dinner. After dinner I did manage to go through a few color changes on the scarf.  It is definitely going to be a one of a kind scarf.  I would be hard pressed to find the yarn to assemble another scarf just like this one.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  It will definitely go with everything I own.  


Wednesday, May 3, 2023

A Roller Coaster of a Day

 Life seems to be about taking 2 steps forward and 4 steps backward today.  The hand strengthening exercises, well, I wasn’t quite ready for those. So here we are are at almost the beginning again.  I am back to just mild stretching exercises once a day. 

So for now it will be just spinning and weaving.  At least with weaving, I am using up yarn faster than I am spinning it.  I have 2 scarfs completed ready for pictures.  The scarf that I started in January will have to wait a bit longer for those final rows.  Sighs! 

Since I could not sleep this morning, I spent 3 hours cleaning house before breakfast.  The results are 1 bag of trash and 2 bags of recycling out. Two loads of laundry completed. Five dog pillows finished and ready for delivery this weekend.  With lots of stuff going to their proper places.  Also 1 mile walked.  Did I mention that I also managed to fill one box for Goodwill too?

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Progress is Good

 A good but all around tiring day.  I had knitting guild this morning.  Followed by lunch with John.  Followed by a long nap.  Followed by lots of small cleaning tasks which lead to some great progress.  

I raffled off my last spare yarn swift at knitting guild. Now it just the Shepard’s Woodworking squirrel cage for me.  That makes me very happy.  That cleans out a bit more room.  I am finding that taking many smaller steps in cleaning and decluttering are leading to bigger strides.  

Which has lead me to break down bigger tasks in my head.  I will have to see if this works out.  

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

One Project Finally Finished

 The bookcase in the den is finally finished.  Even dusted.  Before you ask the cookbooks are not in any order. It still shows that I am missing one of Julia Childs cookbooks.  The cookbooks are not organized in any way. Not by region, country or regional style. They would not pass the library test.  

What it is about is being dusted. No books stacked on top of others.  Junk removed.  Parts of audio books tossed if the other parts could not be found.  In general neater.  

That being said the fiber arts books are organized.  John’s shelf was camera shy.  


Sunday, January 1, 2023

Happy 2023

 I would like to start out by saying that I have not bought any new crafting supplies this year.  Today would have been a perfect day for on line shopping. I was having  a bad body day because of my stupid flare up.  I am not the biggest fan of arthritis.  I usually shop to make myself feel better.  No shopping was done. 

Instead I napped. Did two 20 minute cleaning sessions. I also found the time to work on three different projects. I did not complete anything. If I have the energy tomorrow, I will warp a loom for a scarf so that I don’t have to figure out where to store the yarn, this might involve more than 1 scarf.  I always have bags of hand made items for children that leave the house every so often.  I just love the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. They find homes for everything that I make. 

Use more stuff up is going to be my motto for the year.  Also as I complete more projects, if I am not in love with the project bag it will be filled with yarn and given to other knitters at our monthly Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meetings.  If you live or visit Southern Arizona, this would be a great reason to join.  

Sunday, October 30, 2022

A Relaxing Sunday

 At a very slow pace I managed to get a lot done.  Laundry, shopping, finishing  4 projects for small holiday gifts so no pictures tonight.  I even cooked dinner for 2 nights.  Even some random acts of cleaning.  

Tomorrow I will set up the Halloween goodies bags.  I will have a table out side as I have the past 2 years. I get to watch the trick or treaters on the outside camera.  Not quite as much fun, but with COVID19, Flu and RSV numbers really high. Yes, high enough to make national press coverage. This is the safest way for me.  I will also let the kids take what they want.  Pencils, erasers and bubbles seem to go faster than Candy.  All the leftover candy will be sent to work with John.  All the leftover non perishable things like pencils and erasers go back in the closet for next year.

Friday, September 23, 2022

Redesign Progress

 A lot of progress has been made in my knitting room.  If you were here on Monday, by today you would not recognize it.  I will take some pictures tomorrow.  John did all the heavy lifting. All the space created by the donation to our community food bank is now filled with yarn. This s makes my yarn more accessible.  I have moved every single roller to a new spot in the room.  

When I went to get my afternoon snack, it turned out that it was dinner time. How did that happen? So while dinner was cooking I did some organizing and straightening in the dining room.  It was a good day to get rid of clutter too, John was kind enough to take that all out for me and Roomba the knitting room while we cooked dinner   

I spent the evening knitting.  Only 1 project got finished today. My 19th charity hat for the year.  Another operation gratitude scarf is a few rows from being finished. You guessed it, I cast on another charity hat too.



Wednesday, September 7, 2022

The Downside

 There is a downside to almost everything.  Take cataract surgery for instance. We all know the upside, better vision, possibly no more glasses, the ability to read printed books easier with cheaters in some cases.  Being able to read smaller print again. The list goes on and on.  

What they don’t tell you is that what you though was light brown hair with a touch of gray is actually very gray hair with almost no brown hair left. That the walls that looked perfectly cleaned are really a few hour scrubbing job to get them to what you saw before the surgery.  Which will have to wait until I recover from surgery. Dust bunnies that were too small to see before are now very much in need a chasing. 

The downside of stress cleaning is misplacing things. Take my clips that I hold seams together with when seaming found in a hat knitting bag. The U.S. size 8 by 16 inch knitting needles that I needed to do the increase for the hat at the top of that same knitting bag actually had a hat that was 2 inches away from the crown decreases. That is just a snap shot of the things going on around me. 

The superwash wool from a major yarn manufacturer that Felted resulting in 3 relatively new gloves being given one final wash before going into dog pillows   I am in the process of knitting the replacement pairs.. I am at 1 pair complete. One pair in progress. One pair that I will stash dive to find some yarn. 

I hope you experience more of the upside of life. 

Thursday, June 30, 2022

A Strange Week So Far

 This has been a very strange week for me so far. Somethings I will talk about, some things not so much.  Well here goes.  

I was at Whole Foods this week when a lady stopped me in the parking lot and wanted to buy my car right there on the spot. I suggested that she go to the dealership to see what they had. 

She said she did. However she wanted  my make and model which they did not have.

  I kept saying no.  I really have to learn to be ruder. 

She thought it was brand new. I reality my car is about 2 years old. It was bought just before the COVID19. Since it don’t go out much it sits in the garage a lot. It still looks new. I am about to cross the 5,000 mile threshold too.

She told me I could buy a Tesla and I said no, why not buy one for your daughter.  Maybe next time since the are in short supply I should just say I will sell it for some outrageous price like $ 1.5  or $2 million and if they are will to fork over that much cash, no financing, I would think about selling it.  I think I should be able to buy something suitable and add a little money to savings.  


I am finding that my hands are good for about 2 hours a day of crafting. Then they get too tired to move.  So I am rolling with the punches.  I decided to hand off 2 charity knitting projects at the next knitting guild meeting.  I am no longer going to finish a project for the sake of finishing a project.  I must love it or it will be handed off or tinked.  I must use my limited time wisely. 

I have a little more energy so I am very slowly trying to catch up with housework.  Well I am running out of battery and it’s time to plug in and turn in for the night. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Binge Cleaning

 After a bad morning dealing with getting older and still feeling very trapped by COVID19. I resorted to binge cleaning after lunch.  I did a pretty good job.  I filled the green rollout recycling bin 1/2 way full and added one trash bag to the garbage rollout. That made me feel a little better. 

After dinner I finished the same gloves I made a few months ago in pink. The picture is below. This time I kept copious notes and they were 1/2 inch too short.  So doing my thing, I will rewrite the pattern to suit my needs.  If they turn out good, I will type the pattern up. Wish me luck.  


Thursday, March 17, 2022

A Good Day

 Well I have reached the clumsy part of the flare up. No brain fog today.  The only question you have to ask is what did I not drop. That means I could manage more knitting today.  This afternoon I worked on a blanket until my hands got tired of tiny knitting needles.  Then I finished a hat, my 8th project of the year. Yes, I know it looks like a lot of other hats, I had a lot of this yarn.  One or 2 hats more in this color way.  Followed by a scarf for project number 9 tonight, pictures tomorrow in the sunlight.  I only started one new project today.

I sold a little of my stash for sale yarn.  1 box and 2 grab bags left the house.  Met with a friend for lunch outside and knitting.  Did a little cleaning.  Meet an on line yarn buddy. 

I also think I might have dropped my iPad one too many times.  It is acting really wonky on top of the strange colors.  It’s time to pick out a military grade case and the new configuration.  Plus back this one up.  I have had this pad so long I don’t think that they will give me any trade in credit.  I have to admit that I am not as prepared this time.  My current one was bought through gift cards that I save up.  


Sunday, February 27, 2022

Just Sunday

 I had a good cleaning spree today. Over the course of the day I got almost 2 hours of housework done.  

I am however completely ticked off by the realtor from California who called my cell phone at 7:30 this morning wanting to sell our house.  Waking me up after a very rough night. First off our house is not on the market. Second my cell phone number is unlisted.  Which by the current time difference she was making cold calls at 6:30 am in California.  What in the blank it ee blank was she thinking? There is something known as common courtesy.  Can someone from California tell me what time your state allows sales calls to begin?  Also to sell real estate in Arizona, you must be licensed in Arizona.  This was so wrong on so many levels.  I am still tempted to file a complaint. 

In knitting news, I got to the 4th color in the baby blanket.  This is the 3rd color change.  It is looking good.  

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Almost Done

 Most of the knitting room is finished.  All I have to do is make some dog pillows and do a charity drop off later this week.  I just have to pull out my sewing machine and bring it to the knitting room. The table I use for the sewing machine is currently occupied.  

I am exhausted.  I only had the energy to do four hours of cleaning today.  I hurt down to my finger tips  so I am going to bed early   

After the dog pillows are finished I will start pulling out the cones of yarn for weaving that I don’t think I can use in a reasonable time frame.  I have a feeling it is going to be a lot.  

My biggest project was combining 2 accessory bags into one roll.  I won a Twig & Horn roll up accessory holder. It took me a few hours to work things out. But here is what it looks like.  By the way I just love it. As you can see I did not fill all the pockets but put everything I need in it. You will not be surprised to know that between the 2 bags that I condensed down , I had 5 measuring tapes. Oh, and I did add a pen after I took the picture.  


Friday, February 11, 2022

More Deep Cleaning

 Before lunch John and I cleaned out both freezers.  We got rid of everything that had freezer burn.  Unfortunately that was a lot of stuff.  Since I changed my diet very drastically at the end of 2020 and we were stocked for a pandemic a lot of stuff got thrown out.  This is just a gentle reminder to check the bottom and backs of your freezers.  Not every two years like we did but every few months.  We now have a better feel for what we have in the house.  Every thing is more organized too. Yes, I can find things too. All deserts are in the back freezer, just in case you wanted to know.   

Other than laundry not much else got done today.  No knitting either, my hands were tired all day.  

Sunday, January 23, 2022

An Outing

 Today we went for a drive going north on Oracle Road. Truth be told I am going stir crazy at home.  Did I mention that there were over 1,000 new cases of COVID19 in Pima County today, yet again.  We drove all the way to Pinal County.  There is an over 55 community up there. Although it looks nice since we don’t golf or play tennis it probably would not be worth the monthly maintenance fees.  Did I mention that not one person we saw was masking up? Although if one could snag a house overlooking the golf course that might be worth it. It is basically out in the middle of nowhere.  15 minutes to the nearest grocery store.  A definite lack of places to eat out.  Since it is an over 55 community there would be no trick or treaters at Halloween.  I really love watching the kids grow up. It’s not for us, we are staying put.  I love being part of a multi generational community.  I love being close to things. 

I thought I would be on the next color strip on the baby blanket. I am almost there.  Tiny needles plus fine yarn equals skeins that go on forever.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the day for the next color.  

I had the energy to get a few things done around the house.  Although it required a rest afterwards. Yup, still in that blank ity blank flare up.  I think I will freezer dive for dinner tomorrow night.  Since I managed to snag a few ready made meals the freezer is full. That will be about my speed too.  

Monday, November 1, 2021

A Low Energy Day

 Today I had more plans than energy.  So after an early morning run to get groceries, putting together dinner and putting the rest of the food away it was nap time.  I was really to tired to even eat lunch before my nap.  So the rest of the day I did small chores in little sprints.

On the good news side, I finished the first 3 sections of my new pattern.  Now that I don’t have to do the math for every row, it should go much faster.  Yes it’s one of those geometric patterns that I like to walk, talk and knit at the same time it’s easier that way.  

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Starting to Feel Better

 I am just starting to feel better.  I found getting things done 30 minutes at a time helped a lot. 2 plants got new pots and John planted a cactus out front for me.  My new sheets got washed replacing a set that I wore out.  I also started but did not finish a new organizing project, I have finally found a place to put all the masks and stuff. I think COVID19 will be here for a while. 

 I did start a new scarf today, so far I am liking that it is a stash buster.  I am 20 inches in and have almost used up 1 skein of sock yarn.  Yes, at one time I thought I would be knitting a lot of my own socks, not so much.  So I am always happy to find a pattern that uses sock yarn up.  I have also used up 1 1/4 skeins of worsted weight cotton yarn.  The cotton yarn is good for 17 inches between color changes so I think 5 skeins should just about finish the scarf. After I finish the skein of sock yarn I will start on partial skeins to change things up.  I will have to finish weaving in the ends of the scarf I finished yesterday so I can drop it off for a friend to take to guild for me.