Today's View

As I was sitting here thinking about my lack of goals - always a weak point - I decided I'd just do a little bit of a pictorial with a few comments.  

My creativity space that is sorely lacking a clean, open space to work in.  I really need the cabinetry that was originally planned for the wall where the printer is.

I've been craving something gooey and sweet.  This was making its rounds on social media so I thought I'd try it.  I needed two cans of peaches but had only one so used a can of fried apples as well.  It wasn't as ooey-gooey as I'd hope, but still, it tasted good.  Next time: a smaller pan, I think I'd like it 'deeper'.

These still need to be done. 

These are clean and dry and just need to be put away - plastic doesn't always dry in the dishwasher, so that's why they're on the counter.

It's not 'perfectly' cleaned off, but it's far better than it was first thing this morning.

"To Be Posted" accumulates all receipts to be entered into Quicken, "Ready to file" is after is has been and/or reconciled.  Posting done, filing not done.

This got dusted but not polished...another day.

This part of the bathroom got cleaned!  The toilet and floors did not.  Ideally (in my world) even this would be cleaner - this was all new about three years ago but in my absence, and with our awful water, there is build up around the fixtures that needs a little more elbow grease and de-scaler applied.

This is just a taste of a few areas around the house.  My mind is as scattered as these photos - every room has an area or areas that need deep cleaning, not just surface cleaning.  Who knew it would be so hard to get back on track?  The dust is prolific - I could dust half a dozen times a day.  

I fight with myself between "playing" at whatever hobby calls me and striving to get caught up on all that needs to be done with the housework.  I get frustrated constantly doing the same chore over and over and over.  I know, and accept, that as a 'housewife' it IS my first priority to care for my home, but the frustration is deep of dealing with what I perceive to be inconsideration from the others living here.  I'll give one example that weighs on me.

The 6-bag laundry sorters.

The upper section where I hang clean laundry as it comes from the dryer.  Grunge towels are kept on the upper shelf, baskets (notice there's only one - the other is in the 17 year-olds bedroom STILL with clean clothes that were to have been put away & basket returned), and clean rugs.

In my mind (and it would work with their cooperation) I have a laundry system.  It IS in place, just not followed.  I have asked ONLY that they bring their dirty clothes on a daily basis and place them on the washing machine.  One of them walks right past the washing machine to get to his car!  Once there, I will sort them into the respective bag so that when any bag is full enough for a load, I will do that load.  Ideally, I would be doing no more than a load or two every day.  Nope! One piles his laundry up in one area of the bedroom floor, the other leaves his wherever he removes it on his bedroom floor.  One is 61, the other is 17.  Eventually, and often after I either go ahead and gather the laundry myself or they eventually carry their big armloads down, it gets to the washer, where I then have a much larger task of sorting and by then all the bags are full and need to be done, so it becomes a marathon day or two of laundry.  Mind you, I'm only asking for their clothes!  I gather towels, bedding, etc. because those are done separately.  

That concludes today's ranting and whining.

I just had a series of texts from Nick - his school had a special career outing event today.  He had to be at the school cafeteria by 7:30 this morning dressed "business casual" and it was mandatory.  They were bused from the school to the event location.  He texted because, the event is now over, but the bus driver was no where to be found!  About 10 minutes later, he texted that the bus was finally there, so it'll take about 20 minutes to get back to the school and then he gets to come home for the day.  He'll be hungry as he had no lunch with him and it'll be after 1:00 p.m. before he gets home.  

He's doing well in most of his classes with As and Bs, but Spanish, that's another story.  This is his 2nd year of Spanish, and he finished the semester with a D!  After talking with two other mom's, one's son is at a different high school and the other's son is at a private school, both also taking Spanish, and their sons are also having the same problem and they've talked with other mom's too whose children are having a problem.  We wondered if there isn't a city-wide problem with how Spanish is being taught in the schools.  

I'd better go work on something - one bite at a time :/

Birds and A Dining Room Project

I just can't believe how fast time is passing, it's mid-January, already!  And with the heat and drought, you'd think it was May.  85 degrees in mid-January in the Northern Hemisphere is NOT my idea of winter.  I did see a couple of Oregon Juncos in the backyard a couple of days ago, so maybe they're precursors to finally getting some winter weather, but the 10-day outlook isn't looking hopefully.  The first two pictures below are not Oregon Juncos, they are Ringed Turtle-Doves. 

I have not specifically noticed this bird here before, but it is common to our area according to my bird books.  We get the Mourning Dove (yep, spelled m-o-U-r-n-i-n-g) which has spots on its wings and no black ring around the neck.  We also get the far more elusive Band-tailed Pigeon which is really very pretty - not your common rats-with-wings aka pigeons, but a large, shy, lavender/purple colored (although the book says gray/blue-gray) pigeon with a black-tipped yellow beak and a white half-ring on the back of the neck and of course bands on their tails hence the name. 

Ringed Turtle-Dove

When I first saw the Ringed Turtle-Dove, I thought it was the B-T Pigeon, but I've never known them to be on the ground in the backyard and these are smaller.  The pigeons had partied in the tree in the past and hung out on the power lines, but never on the ground.  So when these guys were in the grass pecking at whatever, I grabbed my camera and snapped a number of shots through the very dirty dining room window using my point and shoot with zoom.  I was afraid they'd fly off if I got too close seeing me through the glass.  They do look sweet and peaceful don't they?  I understand that doves are not always so.

And speaking of dining rooms. Yeah, pretty rough transition there.  That has been my focus over the last few days.  This is true confessions time.  For a whole lot of reasons over the last number of years, I have let my housekeeping take a back seat to just about everything else in life.  Some of those reasons included remodel of bathrooms, addition of heating/A-C on the roof with entry to the attic crawlspace through the house when the ductwork was replaced and a variety health problems.  Additionally I had some attitude problems and rebellion, lol.  

The following pictures will give an idea of how hard it is for me to stay focused and on task with the way so much is out of order.  Do you remember those books by Laura Numeroff, If You Give A Mouse A Muffin et.al. where the mouse gets one thing, then will want something else and when given that will want yet another thing and eventually the story brings you right back to the mouse wanting a muffin where he started.  That's how house cleaning and chores are for me at the moment, so follow along.

Messy dining room...and some cat toys.

Above is the dining room.  To the left and somewhat behind is the one-butt kitchen without an oven.  The card table is where I had been sewing prior to getting my Sanctuary (quilt room) remodel.  I have removed the card table from the dining room along with the stuff that was on it, and on some of the other surfaces.  That stuff had to go somewhere.  There was stuff that had to go to the recycle barrel.  As I go to the recycle barrel which is in the garage, I continually pass by messy bags holding good handled paper bags.

They are now nice and neatly placed into these milk boxes from Costco - they fit perfectly.  They were not in the dining room, they were in the garage.

These are the messy bags, and some excess bags of varying types that I decluttered directly to the recycle barrel.  The barrel is getting full!  That's a good thing.

And this table, in the living room, I predestined to send to the dining room for my rearrangement project.  Of course, IT had to be cleaned off too.  Yes, there's still a ton of dust in the picture.  Most of that stuff is Nick's gaming platform stuff, or trash.  Who needs those empty boxes for computer components?  Or those plastic packaging items that you need a Skill saw to open.  They headed to the recycle barrel too.  And that purple exercise ball?  The one I bought a year ago to do exercises for my back...that I never did...it's now deflated and placed back in it's box, which had been in the dining room - yeah, go figure - and is now residing in the entry closet, but that may not be where it stays either.  Where does one put exercise equipment they don't use but think they may some day.  I can see the fireplace again, yay!!  Of course, it's way TOO HOT to have a fire and too windy to risk sparks flying up and out of the flue.  Red flag warnings are in effect for the next few days...in January...when it's supposed to be 20 degrees cooler...when it's supposed to rain.

Cat Bathroom

I needed to show this, please excuse the dust - we're dry here, remember?  I was probably putting away some office supplies.  No, no, not in the cupboard but on the upper two shelves that conveniently aren't in the picture.  But what I wanted to show is, as we have no utility room which would be the perfect place to keep the kitties' litter box, and my bathrooms are way too nice to put a litterbox, not to mention pretty small, several years ago, I came up with this idea.  The armoir was a freebie from a family across the street that moved.  Not being in the greatest of shape, smelling like smoke, but quite usable, I had Marty cut a mouse-hole shape at one end, bought a large, high-sided plastic storage tub, cut an opening at one end of it and placed it inside the cupboard.  The doors open easily for cleaning the litterbox, the cats have LOTS of room, and there's some room for storing the scooper, an air freshener, and a little broom, which, ahem, needed to be used on the floor, obviously.  

The blue grate catches most of the litter from the kitty feet, and the container of clean litter is right there too.  Out of the picture at that "southwest" corner is the sliding door to the backyard. The kitties do not go outside, strictly indoor kitties.  While there when I took this picture, I probably scooped the litter box, which then led me back to the garage, where I set the used litter in another bag next to the recycle barrel.  Then I go to the bathroom and scrub my hands.  Clean hands after scooping litter is a must, and I must use the scrub brush.  For no specific reason, that has become nearly obsessive.  I cannot just lightly rinse with a little soap and water.  So once in the bathroom...

I remember the clean towels were still in the dryer, so back to the garage again.

The old-as-dirt dryer.

And my dryer works, which I'm thankful for.  Especially since it's about a year older than my 29-year old microwave oven. I have no clothesline outdoors should it stop working.  Notice there is water on the garage floor to the right of the washing machine.  That's one of "those issues" Marty and I stopped addressing, which bugs me, which I can't do anything about at present. 

The new layout, still lots to be dealt with.

The dining room table now has even more stuff on it. The table was rotated from it's previous orientation which will make it easier to get to the microwave since it's now farther from the one-butt kitchen than it's ever been.  I moved the two bookshelves over to and under the window.  I left the TV & stand pretty close to where it was.  The floors of course had to be swept, where does all the dirt come from? And they had to be mopped - hope that got rid of some of the dust. The 6' long table is against the solid wall.  That microwave oven is much heavier now than it was 29 years ago.  And I know it can't be because I'm 29 years older and not as strong.  I'm sure it's gained weight over the years, just like I have! 

Another angle of new layout.

I also have my bread machine on the long table.  It would be so nice to have home-made bread again.  I don't like using the machine to bake it, but using it to make the dough, priceless!  Watch for a future Toaster Oven Tuesday featuring bread baking...hope it's not a flop.

A plastic green and white plaid table cover was put on the long table.   It has to look better than just the bare table would.  

This was all worked on yesterday, and I did not get to my Sanctuary until after dinner.  There's still lots to do.  I didn't make any progress on it today as I had to do some Walmart grocery shopping, and then put groceries away and realized I had to clean the refrigerator and pantry, and update my inventory list. 

There were a lot more trips up and down stairs returning things at least closer to their "place for everything, and everything in it's place" locations.  It's a long road to travel, and will take time.  I may be cluttered, and dusty, but I don't think I qualify for an episode of Hoarders...but then again, you haven't seen my guest room, or a complete shot of the so-called '3rd' garage.  Three-car garages only hold one car, shelves for camping and sports gear, a workbench, and all the stuff you don't know what to do with when you can't make up your mind if you want to keep it for the day you need it, or to send it to a charitable organization, or whether to have your very first garage sale where you work up the courage knowing you'll have those who will want to haggle over every penny you hope to gain from your valuables you've outgrown or don't like any more.

Sunday Happenings

I've no quilty anything to report, so I'm not linking up anywhere.

I went to church "online" today, and it was a really good sermon from Ecclesiastes 11 & 12.  Marty drove in to church, staying for both "hours", which is really 3.5 hours.  He was meeting up with some of his guy friends after 2nd hour for lunch....needs all the encouragement he can get right now.  He didn't get home until close to 4:30 then decided to go for a drive to try to get some photogs of some clouds that had formed over the hills nearby.  On his way back from there he stopped and brought home dinner.  We've been trying to cut back on the take-out meals.

Today I've also cleaned up the kitchen and done a few loads of laundry, and played on the computer, cleaned the litter box, made sure we had all the necessary supplies for Nick's return to school on Tuesday - there are still some items that need to be purchased, and I covered all five of his big, heavy textbooks, using brown grocery bags.

It's been a busy week with getting things done before school starts.  Tomorrow is orientation day and we'll lug those heavy books and supplies to the school, and meet the teachers for this year, get his locker assignment, and all that stuff.  

Design Wall Monday and other Activities

(Quilty stuff at bottom)

CHORES:  It's Monday and up until fixing my lunch, which consisted of only putting my leftover Panda Express meal from last night's dinner into a bowl and then into the microwave, I've done nothing but chores today.  Gathering, sorting, washing/drying, folding, hanging and putting away laundry - 4 loads so far!, picking a chicken carcass for home made chicken soup, putting a beef roast into the crock pot for dinner - either tonight's or tomorrow's, as yet undecided.  I've cleaned the cats' litter box, reviewed my pantry inventory, and of course took Nick to school before any of that. 

NEWS: As I sat eating my lunch, I turned the TV on and of course, learned about the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  Yet another sad day for our country.  My prayers go to the Lord on behalf of those suffering directly from this incident. 

GENEALOGY:  I've mostly taken a break from all things quilty the last couple of days and have instead worked on some genealogy - I am paying for that Ancestry.com membership, so NEED to be using it more than I have been lately.  I once was invited to attend a focus group, and for doing so, received a full 1-year membership for free, but sadly that was a year I didn't get as much time in as I should have on the branches that would have benefitted, especially for the databases included in their world membership level.  

The branch I'm currently working on is my great-great-grandmother through my mother's father's side of the family.  Her maiden name was Lind.  I uncovered a whole lot of info - this computer age makes it so relatively easy to find out information even on younger, living individuals.  Sometimes it's almost scary knowing what can be found about people (now you know why I prefer to keep my true name hidden here on the blog where one never knows who may be viewing).   I uncovered a 3rd cousin-once removed, who lives here in my same town but on the other side.  Who knows whether we may have crossed paths somewhere over the last ump-teen years of my living here. 

QUILTY:  I'm thinking I really need to get this quilt finished. 

"Cumberland Mountain" pattern from Fons & Porter's For The Love Of Quilting pp10-13

Some of the quilting - 1/4" from seam lines, straight lines echoing zigzags - it's that line that crosses the vertical rows I'm not gung-ho about.

Not the best shot, but shows from the back how I started with straight lines the length of the quilt and then started following the zig-zags.  AND, the backing doesn't look very smooth in some spots - they WERE/ARE pinned, maybe not closely enough

My friend Lois had given me 'tons' of fabric from her years of making her own clothing - yardage and scraps - back in September 2006, and as a thank you to her, I started this quilt using many of those fabrics just two weeks later.  I worked on it off and on in 2006/2007, sandwiched it in 2008, and started the quilting in January of 2009.  At the time, I wasn't pleased with how I was quilting it, so stopped and put it away.  I'm embarrassed at how long ago that was and yet amazed at how much time has slipped away - doesn't give me much hope in getting all the quilts I WANT to do DONE in my lifetime!  I think at this point, I need to just press on and get it done so she can have and enjoy it!  Head over to Patchwork Times for more Design Wall reports.