My Weblog

Still scrubbing..........

Well, I am on the third of 5 spots. Like an idiot, I attacked the lesser of the two spots in the dining area first. That was not smart. Now, here we are at 8:30 PM and I'm working on the worst one. And by now both hands hurt as does the right shoulder and forearm. In addition, my butt and thighs are ready to give testimony to the number of times they have been called upon to get down on the floor and then get back up as well as change position from time to time. Oy! This is quite the project.

Thankfully, the two remaining spots are small. If they were as large or as bad as spots #1 or 3, I might be tempted to give up!

So, tomorrow I have to go and be the shopper/gatherer. I haven't made up my mind whether to go to Costco or El Cheapo, but I'm leaning toward Costco at the moment. I can get dogfood at El Cheapo but it costs roughly double per pound what I pay at Costco and it is dogfood that MUST be purchased tomorrow. Yes, I need some other things, but the dogfood supply is really running low. I will refill their dishes before I go to bed tonight, but I will definitely be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I've also been thinking fondly of that salad with the poppy seed dressing that is sold at Costco that I enjoy so much. Haven't had that for at least 6 weeks and I think I am ready for some more. I doubt I can find everything I need at Costco in a reasonable size, but I guess I'll have to try.

I haven't done any design work at all today. I HAVE, however, unzipped a multitude of files and moved them to where they belong on the EHD. I've also attempted to at least stay even on the e-mails. It is discouraging to go to bed only to get up the next morning to 30-50 more e-mails than you had the night before!

I backed off the daily dusting thing yesterday and today. By the time I went to bed Saturday night, I knew my asthma was back up. It could have been pollen that aggravated it, but I suspect dust. I guess I'd better get back on that or it will be really bad when I start again and then my asthma will act up and we'll have started some whole new unhappy round robin of effedts. It's really kind of a quandry when not dusting is bad and so is dusting.......... It is so darned dusty in here most of the time that I actually washed the exterior of the vacuum cleaner. She cleans up pretty well, but boy did she look yucky before I washed her. Actually, you wouldn't have believed the layer of dust and crud that was on the outside of the little Bissell either. Honestly, I think they'd stay cleaner if I could store them in the garage. Must get back to weeding out stuff out there so I can do that..........

I think this is probably my last post for today. I'm pretty tired.........

Morning report.......

Well, it's actually afternoon, but I got up very late because I stayed up late last night. I have now reached the point where more shredding is impossible until, at the earliest, sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. I have TOTALLY filled the big trash bin and the receptacle that is attached to the shredder is full with nowhere to empty it. So, I am officially off shredding for at least 24 hours.

That's about the extent of what I've accomplished other than getting myself dressed and prettified. I did load some laundry in the washer. And I have continued deleting stuff from the hard drive and deleting e-mails. I think I am officially out of duplicates, for the moment, on the EHD. Praise be!

Oh, speaking of getting prettified------ I read not too long ago, something written by a woman who claimed that exfoliating the skin on her face had done away with blackheads. Yeah, well that sounded good. I started doing an exfoliation each morning. I will admit that she, whoever she was (I don't recall) was using a brush to exfoliate; I am using an exfoliator with a round foam disk and exfoliating cream. I am alternating between some cream I had on hand from Victoria Principal's line and some stuff I bought at Walgreen's ages ago. I have to tell you that I have NOT succeeded in eradicating blackheads. Here's what I DO think has happened: 1) I've gotten rid of dead skin cells that were waiting to be sloughed off. It seems my complexion is "clearer and brighter". 2) I've been seeing bumps arise under the skin as though I was headed for a break out of some sort, and then they go away. This MIGHT be the result of increased water intake. 3) Blackheads are caused by oils trapped under the skin which accumulate and cause the pores to expand to hold the oils. I think the sloughing has caused the blackheads to not be so large as the oils are better able to escape to the surface instead of being trapped. So they look smaller. I think it is not realistic to say blackheads are eliminated; my understanding is that once the pores have expanded, they are like tiny cups waiting to be filled up again. But, the closer the trapped oils are to the surface of the skin, the more likely they are to oxidize. This causes them to look black. So, they may not be as noticeable when the skin is exfoliated. 4) I exfoliate before I moisturize. I think this allows the moisturizer to be better able to absorb into the skin. Anyway, I'm liking how this part of the process seems to work.

If you are going to use an exfoliating cream, you should do a bit of research. There are a lot of "natural" products used in these creams. For example, the stuff I bought at Walgreens years ago is made from Apricot kernels. I know some companies manufacture similar products from finely ground walnut shells. I have heard it said that these products have rough edges that can cause microscopic tears in the skin. That doesn't sound like it would be a good thing. There are also exfoliating creams with man-made grains of some sort. The theory is that these are precisely manufactured and do not have rough edges so no microscopic tears. You should research this a bit for yourself and then make a decision.

One other beneficial result I've found is that when done with a battery-powered exfoliator, the process feels a good bit like a facial massage which is always a very relaxing feeling. For those of us who no longer qualify for the term "girl", we need to keep in mind that as we age, the sloughing process is nowhere near as efficient as it used to be. So, a little help, with an exfoliator might help maintain a more youthful appearance. I can tell you that the dogs seem to think I look mighty fine.......

I prowled around the kitchen last night, trying to find something that tasted "different" from what I've been eating. I finally ended up with two soft boiled eggs on a piece of toast. I have no idea what I am going to eat for lunch. There must be something out there that is different........

It's gotten quite warm in the office. A bit early, I think, but I'm perspiring and that's uncomfortable. Maybe I should think about refugeeing to the east end of the house?

Oh, do you remember that I have one door to the outside that only works sometimes? This has been going on since last year. In fact, I had totally given up on ever being able to use it again until I was in a position to call in a locksmith. Well, guess what.............. Months ago, completely out of habit, I walked over and turned the lock and the door actually opened. It seems that it works better (sometimes) when it's warm. So for a while now, I've been able to enjoy having both doors open here in the office and to allow the fresh air to waft through the room. Unfortunately, as it gets warmer, this has to be relegated to the early morning hours. Still, it's nice to be able to get that bit of cross breeze going--IF I can get the door open, LOL.

Alright, time for me to go forage for food. I am going to have to go to Costco or El Cheapo sometime in the next two days or the dogs will be completely out of food. This is not a happy circumstance, but it has to be done. Perhaps while I'm at one place or the other I'll hit on something different and CHEAP that I can eat???  Off now......

The day after.....

Yesterday was mostly a day of mindless nothingness. I sat here and watched weirdo shows on Netflix. The one contribution I made to life as we know it was working on a big spot on the carpet in the hallway. Yes, I actually got the Little Bissell to work. And, in fact, over Saturday and Sunday, I spent over 3 hours working on that spot. I figure by now I am well on my way to having forearms and shoulders like a concert pianist. Unfortunately, I do have a pain in my wrist to show for it as well, but that will fade, I'm sure.

When Joe died, I couldn't get Punkin to come into the bedroom for anything. She still won't. Max would but he sheds without mercy so I don't let him in. Parker is even temporarily banned due to the white duvet cover that's on the bed right now. Being ousted from the bedroom and Joe's death somehow connected in Max's head to cause him to become territorial. Territorial and far more protective of me. In short, he lifts his leg in the house to mark his territory. And he has all the sneakiness that is inherent in the German Shepherd nature so I have only caught him at it once. I just find dribbles where Max has tried to prove that this house is HIS. I honestly think that most of it has been done while I'm asleep in my bedroom and he can't get to me.

If a male dog is neutered before or around 6 months, he does not seem to exhibit this tendency. However, we rescued Max and I have no idea how old he was then nor how old he is now. He has picked a corner right outside the bedroom door, which ought to tell us something--I am his and he belongs in there with me, I think, is the message.

First, I had to find out if the Little Bissell would work. Somehow the last time I used it, the holes got plugged up and it wouldn't lay down water/water+detergent, and it didn't seem to be sucking the solution up either. I soaked it for a number of days in hot soapy water, but was afraid to try it. Afraid that it wouldn't have worked and that I'd be looking at spending money on buying another one. Well, the truth is that it didn't work when I started, but it's doing okay now. Phew! I laid down a bunch of water and sucked it back up. DISGUSTING. I rummaged around in the garage and found a bottle of carpet cleaner. I soaked the spot again and spent hours soaking up more totally disgusting water. I refilled the container with largely water and soaked it again and worked again to soak up more totally disgusting water. All that was on Saturday. When I woke up yesterday morning, it looked just about as bad as it had when I started. So I started over again. It is now a totally different color than the rest of the carpet but I think it is because it's cleaner than the rest of the carpet.

Perhaps you have thought I was exaggerating when I said the carpet was full of holes. I assure you I wasn't. There is a rip in the hallway that goes completely across the width of the hall. That is intersected by another rip that goes about 15 inches up the length of the hall. And the padding underneath has holes in it, giving it a rippled effect. I could go on and on. It is not worth renting a carpet cleaner. It really isn't. The living room area is just as bad as is the office, torn places and holes. However, the spot was particularly disgusting looking when I started. As I worked I discovered that a lot of what made it look so bad was dog hair. Max is black and black dog hair has become embedded in the carpet fibers which are more of a cinnamon color. Oddly enough the little scrubby brush on the Bissell spot cleaner has loosened a lot of those. So, yes, I think this spot is now actually cleaner than the rest of the carpet. I don't think a vacuum cleaner works very well on a rippled surface and one has to avoid the holes and tears to keep the raw edges from being sucked up into the vacuum.

I had made up my mind I was going to keep after this one spot until the water came back clean. Well, it's been two days and we're not there yet......... And my interest/motivation/energy is flagging. I am going to go after it at least one more time. At this point, I primarily want to make sure all the detergent is out of there. If it's not, it will act like a dirt magnet...... Then, I will just have to work spot cleaning into my routine from now on. I know of at least 4 other spots of various origins which need to be dealt with. God help me if they too need the better part of 3 days to get clean..........

So, today.........

Design wise, my highest priority has to be the freebie I have planned to go up late this week. Second highest priority has to be an advertisement for a sale this weekend for NSD. After that, I need to make sure my upload for the CT is ready to go for next weekend. Then I can get back to finishing up that Father's Day kit.

Around here, I will give that spot one more major attack. Then I will work on the daily dusting. I still have not vacuumed in the hall as I don't want to take a chance on running the vacuum over wet carpet. That could result in lighting me up like a Christmas tree. While that might be a better look than my usual everyday look, I don't think I want to go there. If my arm and wrist will take it, I'll start on one of the two spots in the dining room. One disadvantage to the Little Bissell is that the cord is short. So, to move from spot to spot requires unplugging and replugging which just eats time and is an activity I don't want to engage in.

Beyond that, I need to do some work in the kitchen. And tomorrow is trash day so I need to drag the barrels of trash to the curb. I have now filled both of them with shredding. I MIGHT be able to get one more container full of shredding into the bin that's in the house now, but that will be the absolute limit. But, I did do a lot of shredding yesterday and I think I have gone beyond the halfway point on the shred pile I had accumulated. Unfortunately, I think I found more stuff to be shreded. If I am correct, these are Joe files, meaning a multitude of staples. While doing the feather duster thing the other night, I ventured into the corner between the table and the credenza on the other side of the office. This is a previously unexplored area and there is a box down in that corner full of file folders. I think those folders are old loan deals Joe worked on and if I'm right, I'll have to shred them because of confidential information and the possibility of identity theft. So, shredding really doesn't ever end, it seems.

So, that is the state of my life today! I just keep telling myself that everything I can drag out of here or clean is an improvement and someday this house will look the way I'd like it to look. And, hopefully, that will be before the good Lord returns for His church..........

Eye Candy? Yes, that should lift our spirits. I have some really beautiful layouts from the team this week. Wait til you see.....

This layout was done by SarahWhithers, aka Jen. She is showing us a photo of her cat, Gwen, taking a nap. I love all the little circle elements she's used here and there. The cutouts are fun too because they give spots of color in an otherwise rather neutral top sheet and show off the kit's papers to good advantage. How do you like the texture I achieved on the solids? I think that looks really good and adds to the overall look of the layout. Please leave Jen some love here.

Time for me to go see how the arm and shoulder and wrist react to going over that spot one more time. YOU be BLESSED today..........

Things are not going well here in River City......

My stomach is not doing well. I don't know what has it going but it's not a happy circumstance. I have done a lot more dusting. Dusted again with the feather duster and caught some areas with a wet cloth. I've got to say that so far I'm not happy with the feather duster on electronics and glass. It seems to deposit dust, not pick it up. It does seem to do a good job on other surfaces. Perhaps as I continue doing this daily, it will get a) faster and b) more effective. I hope so......

So far, I've spent about 30 minutes dusting the office, living room and the hall. Now maybe I'm being too detailed with all this. Or, maybe it is only necessary to be detailed with it because we started with SO MUCH dust. Or, in the case of the office, some surfaces are still cluttered which slows things down. We'll see. Anyway, this time I did not only the living room but most of the dining room, though that was not done really really well. I also did the wainscoating in the hall, the linen closet doors and above them, above the doors into the hall bath, junk room, guest room, and coat closet. Still, 30 minutes seems like a lot of time to devote to dusting every day, particularly when I haven't gotten to the bedroom yet......

Well, next up is the nastiest job of all, going after a spot on the carpet that really needs attention. NOT my idea of fun, particularly when I feel like upchucking......

Lunchtime randomness.....

Someone posted a photo of the group from the Law School that participated in Jennifer's moot court from Law School days. It brought back to me how very proud I was of her that day (not that that is unusual--I'm proud of her every day). But, for all her nervousness, she carried a heavy load for the prosecution and did a super job. It also brought tears to my eyes as I remember one of her "star" witnesses was Joe Evans, my husband. He even dressed the part of a farmer/small town guy in his best plaid shirt....... He didn't say much but he was pretty proud she asked him to participate.

My list of accomplishments for the morning is pretty short. I did accomplish going back to sleep. After a 5:30AM wakeup call, that was a biggie on my to do list. I have gotten myself cleaned up, dressed, teeth brushed, face washed and exfoliated, hair fixed. I have a load of clothes in the washer. I've done a bunch of shredding. I uploaded this week goodies to the ACOT store, posted in the ACOT forum showing how gorgeous they are and created the blog post above. I also posted a preview of the kit on Facebook. That's about it. But, as soon as I eat some lunch, I'm going to jump in to my dusting and vacuuming and spot cleaning. Right now I am trying to figure out what I want to eat.......

The shredding has been an experience. How does one explain a person who uses post-it notes all over everything and then staples them in place? Isn't that the whole point of post-it notes? That you don't need to staple them in place? That's what I've encountered over and over today. Bless Joe, he wasn't going to take a chance on those post-it notes falling off, LOL. I had two BIG piles of shredding when I started this last round. I'm about through one of them. If space in the trash bin holds out, I should be done with that first pile today. I am thinking that no one will be allowed to put anything in the trash til Tuesday, though. Both bins will be too full of shredding for that. Once I fill this one up, I'm done with shredding til Tuesday, next trash day. I have a horrible time with shredded paper. I cannot seem to keep it contained. It ends up all over the floor. And what I don't spill, Parker grabs out of the shredder bin. There is no way I'm going to try to put shredding into a garbage bag. That gives me visions of even more shredded paper to pick up off the floor.........

Alright, that's it for now. I guess I will go to the kitchen and look in the fridge and the pantry and see if anything strikes my fancy. Usually about this time, visions of some kind of fast food I can't afford are dancing around in my head, but not today. Nothing sounds all that good.........

Saturday is new release day.......

Scroll down for Blog Train!

I would love to tell you I sprang from my bed full of p & v at 5:30AM and I've been going strong since. I'd love to tell you that, but it would be a lie. I did indeed crawl out of bed even before 5:30AM, but once I got this week's kit in the store, I crawled back in. I've been in the process of easing into my day ever since. So, I'm a bit later than usual with this post, but here we go.........

Gorgeousness. At least I think so. This week's kit is full of gorgeousness. This kit is full of soft colors and beautiful patterned papers and lace and flowers--all intended to help you scrap one of the most beautiful mother's day pages ever, or even make a fantastic card for your very own mom or special lady in your life.

A Mother's Love is offered exclusively for sale in my A Cherry on Top store. It is 30% off on introductory special.

If you for some reason don't want the whole kit but would love to buy just the elements or just the papers or just the alphas, you can do that too. Here are the previews:

Of course the "separates" as we call them, the elements, papers, and alphas, are on sale 30% off as well.

Our stacked papers and word art are so popular. I can't help but think that is because they are so beautifully done and are such a great place to start your creativity flowing.

And, along the same lines, to jumpstart your creativity, take a look at the gorgeous templates we have to offer you this week:

Now tell me about the beautiful things you plan to create with all these goodies. Everything on sale....does it get any better? I don't think so.....

And don't forget the freebie, made with The Mighty Jungle Rewind, last week's new kit, which is still available. You can use the link above to get to my store and check out The Mighty Jungle in detail if you'd like. The freebie looks like this:

And you can find it here:  http://www.4shared.com/zip/RvN2sRbG/HFD_TMJ_Freebie.html

Have a wonderful week! If you stop by mid week or so, you just might find a new and different free item to enjoy.

 

Uploading at the crack of dawn...

No fooling. The eastern sky was still pink when I started this. But, it's new release day and these products have to get in the store somehow! We are now working on product #4 of 7. I promised myself that once I got the upload completed, I could go back to bed if I wanted, LOL. That promise was a good motivator!

We are working on a day with sunny skies and a high of 85. Remember when we were supposed to get rain on Thursday? Didn't get a single drop. At least not here. Someone somewhere in the Vegas area might have gotten some, but not my thirsty little lawn........

It was refreshing to come wandering out through the living room and not be overwhelmed by the dust on the furniture. It may not be perfect, but it sure looks better! I will run over it all again with the feather duster today and try to keep it looking better.

Oh, remember the other day when I was wrestling the king-sized mattress to install a new bed skirt? Well I thought you might like to see what I got. I really like the clean, tailored look of it. Here ya go:

Isn't that pretty? Well, at least I think so!

I voted myself a week off. I am exhausted and I need to lighten the load somewhat. So, I am not going to be putting a new kit in the store next week. I usually try to make this happen when we're having a month with 5 Saturdays, but I couldn't wait for June to have some downtime. It's a special weekend in the scrapbooking world, International Scrapbooking Day. Many designers are just beaten to a pulp about now because they are working their tails off on creating new things to sell or to give away. I am working my tail off, but it seems to center on this house, not design. I can tell when I need time off because my design organizational skills go to pot and the creative process doesn't flow. So, I will put the store on sale for NSD weekend and try to get a grip on this house. Might be interesting with one priority for a change, right????? Even if it is only for a week........

By the way, if you've called my cell phone and didn't get an answer or a return call, it's probably because I can't find it. It's been MIA since Thursday. I keep meaning to organize a search party for it, but then I forget and enjoy the silence without really realizing why......... My usual way of searching for it when this happens is to call it from my land line. I am thinking I should get on this today before the cell phone battery dies.........

I really would like to finish up the design work on the Father's Day kit sometime soon. Today would be nice........... And I need to do a New Release post and some other advertising things today as well. 

Around Tara, I am going to run through the rooms I've dusted (office and living room) and dust again with the feather duster and then attack the floors in the hall and master bedroom. Yes, I AM going to get down on my hands and knees and clean that bad spot in the hall. I REALLY AM! There are several reasons why I don't want to do that, but I'm not taking any excuses today.

Alright, remember that nap I promised myself? Well, the uploads are done and I am now deserving of my promised reward. I'm going to go tuck myself in and sleep another hour or two........YOU be BLESSED today!

 

 

No more cleaning today.........

Within just a few minutes, I will be off to bed. I did go over the entire living room with the feather duster. I was pleased with it in several additional ways I didn't mention before.

I don't understand exactly how it's possible, but vertical surfaces in this house get a coating of dust. One would think that without some kind of static electric charge (on wood? I don't think so), gravity would cause the dust to fall to the floor. The dust is not as thick, perhaps, as horizontal surfaces, but still, it's dust. Legs of furniture, sides of bookshelves, stuff like that and the feather duster cleaned those up really quickly. It also worked well on lamps and lampshades. It did a good job on Flora, the big bronze statue that I can't lift without a struggle. I found it also to work really well on odd places like the tops of drawers in furniture pieces. It got in those little grooves and got the dust out pretty darned well and it was much faster than wrapping a cloth around my finger and wiping it out. Another place it performed really well was on wainscoating. Yes, even wainscoating in this house gets dusty, but one quick swipe with the feather duster took care of that.

I did go back with a wet cloth and wipe the horizontal surface of the piano which is partially wood and partially glass. I'm not sure if it looked worse or not when I got done with the feather duster. But it's sparkly now. I also went over the big screen TV in the office with a wet cloth because it too didn't look so good after the feather dusting.

I found it odd that while it didn't clean the surface of the piano all that well, it did a great job on the piano bench. Could the material an item is made from influence how well that thing cleans? I don't know, but it did a bang up job on the vinyl upholstery on the piano bench. It also worked well on the vinyl cover that forms the surface of the Total Gym. I'll get this all figured out eventually.........

I changed out the air filter on the intake duct on the HVAC system. I would love to figure out how to get the dust and grime off of that vent cover without creating a totally horrible mess on the carpet that has to be cleaned up afterward. I still don't know how to do that. My only idea at this point is to put something on the carpet to act like a drop cloth to catch whatever falls. It's not that the carpet is worth worrying about but I just don't want to make one mess while cleaning up another. I tried the rubba scrubba on that vent cover and it helped but not nearly as much as I'd hoped. I may end up having to scrub that thing by hand while standing on a chair. That doesn't sound like my idea of fun........ I'm going to try the rubba sweepa on it next, the broomy thing I got from FlyLady. Dropcloth and broomy thing. Sounds like a reasonable combination. If that doesn't work, I'll be forced to risk a violent allergy attack and cuts to my fingers by climbing up there and washing the blasted thing. Ugh!Yes, folks, I'm allergic to dust and I live in the desert and I do my own cleaning. Great combination, dontcha think?

I've also decided to try the broomy thing outside the front door. There are a zillion spider webs there. I tried just hosing them down, but that did very little good. So, broomy thing, sometime soon.

So that's what I've accomplished today. That and deleting e-mail and deleting duplicate files by the hundreds and unzipping and organizing a bunch of files besides. And let's not forget shredding and dragging an overstuffed trash bin outside and an empty one inside to take its place.

Not my best day but not my worst by any means. I guess tomorrow I really will have to do a load of laundry and tackle that carpet in the hallway and in the master bedroom. Not looking forward to that but it's not like anyone else is going to do it for me.........

I'm outta here momentarily. See ya on the flip side with a morning post and a New Release!

Cleaning..........

Well, I did lie down for a while and I did pray for motivation and energy and strength. It has helped somewhat but it's a struggle. My new ostrich-feather duster came. I've been giving it a try out. I have to give it mixed reviews.

I will say that I am not so sure the deficiencies I am seeing are the fault of the ostrich feather duster. I think some of them, at least, are my fault. First, I had a REALLY thick coating of dust on pretty much everything. That is not the way this is supposed to work. If I understand it correctly, you do a really thorough dusting every now and then, and then, the next day and the day after and the day after that, you use the feather duster quickly to keep the dust down. So, it was probably a given that the duster could not handle the task I assigned it. The other problem I have with it is that it has taken longer than I expected. Again, that is probably due to the amount of dust that I started with and the clutter on surfaces which I have not yet dealt with. In some cases, I think it deposited more dust than was there in the first place, and this in spite of shaking it out numerous times. However, again, I may have to give it an excuse based on the amount of dust which was built up in here when I started.

What is good about it? For one thing, it has a long handle and I am able to reach things I could not otherwise have reached without a ladder. Spiders are a problem here and I was able to get to 3 of the four corners of this room with the duster to clear away spider webs. The 4th corner is behind a big screen TV. I couldn't reach around that, but 3 out of 4 is good, right? I also went around the walls where they meet the ceiling and it easily grabbed cobwebs there. This was all certainly easier than dragging out the vacuum cleaner attachments and dragging the vacuum cleaner around the room. While I would not say the room is "clean" I would definitely have to say it is "cleaner". I haven't done much in the living room yet, just the coffee table, but I definitely do not see the thick layer of dust on the coffee table that existed before, which could easily be seen from here. And, I've certainly seen a good bit of dust flying when I shook the thing outside. So, it's got to be cleaner. One other thing--I have some surfaces that are rough and hard to clean. They catch on dust cloths and paper towels. I felt like the feather duster did a decent job on those areas with less trouble. It took me 15 minutes to get around the office. I cannot imagine how anyone, even someone who just did this yesterday, could possibly dust their whole house in 10 minutes unless their house is the size of a dog house..........

Nevertheless I am going to persevere in this and see if I can make the system work for me. It works for a multitude of other people, based on the testimonials I read in my e-mail, so..........

While I haven't totally overcome the dust problem, I HAVE been shredding again. I think I've dumped the shredder bin at least 3 times and I finally had to give up on the trash bin I was dumping stuff into. It just wasn't going to hold anymore no matter how much I pushed on it. So, I took that one outside and brought the other one in. It won't take me long to fill it up too. However, I honestly think that when I finish this batch of shredding, I will be done with shredding til next year this time. I feel such a responsibility with regard to shredding old tax documents; I don't want anything to leave this house that could cause a client or former client identity theft problems.

Well, I'm going to go back to waving my feather duster around. I'm going to dust the tops of things like bookshelves and the base of the piano, places that are not easy to get to otherwise. And I'll do the best I can with other surfaces that are closer to hand. Better isn't "perfect" by any means, but it beats what I am dealing with now.

There were so many cleaning items I wanted to order from Fly Lady's site. And I would have loved to get one of those fancy schmancy insulated stainless steel water bottles too. Right now and for a long while now I've been using a plain old plastic Gatorade bottle. I know the plastic bottle isn't good for me but I'm careful to not allow the bottle to be exposed to heat which helps somewhat. So, for budgetary reasons, I limited myself to the duster, a rubba scrubba, and some more purple rags.

The rubba scrubba has proven itself on dog hair. It does require that I crawl around on my hands and knees, but it gets the dog hair that is right next to the baseboard or the bottoms of pieces of furniture. Areas the vacuum cleaner just can't get to. It also works well to remove dog hair from furniture and clothing. It's supposed to work well as a doggy brush but my dogs seem to like the wire brush so I'm not really planning on using it for that. I have one rubba scrubba, somewhere. I mindlessly laid it down somewhere and haven't seen it since. Geez........ So I ordered a second one. Believe me, when I find the other one, they'll both get plenty of use.

I also ordered more purple rags. I can't tell you how great those things are. I use them constantly while chasing dust bunnies. I was digging around at DDs new house the other day, trying to find something, anything, to use to wipe down the countertops, windowsills, etc. I finally remembered I had a purple rag in my van and went and retrieved it. It even took some paint drips off of her cabinets. That one really shocked me. And, the other day when I was moving furniture around and vacuuming in the living room, I discovered that the wall behind the love seat really was dirty. At the time I just used paper towels to clean it. What a bunch of paper towels I used! Expensive and more junk in the landfills. So, now I have 6 purple rags and I can afford to spread them around a little--one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, one in the van and the rest to grab when I'm doing my regular cleaning. To be honest, I wouldn't mind having one more pack of those.......

I think my best purchase from the Fly Lady site has been the mop. I bought that last year this time. It came with 3 mop heads and I bought 3 extra. That thing is invaluable. I use it dry to pick up dog hair on the kitchen, entryway, and bathroom floors. I use it wet to wash the floors in the same areas. I have even used it wet to clean some walls where I couldn't reach by hand. It does a great job. Then I just strip off the fabric mop head, shake it outside, and toss it into the washer and put another one on. No refills to buy and, again, no trash in the landfills. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the head of the mop is bigger than the Swiffer so you can cover a bit more territory more quickly. I would still like to get the dustmop head, but that will have to wait. However, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this mop and I expect to be using it still, years from now.

Alright, I need to find something edible and dust more of the surfaces in the living room and dining room. I might be back later. Depends on how well my energy holds out......

The crazies are still with us........

So I have this client. She and her husband do NOT get along. Why they are still together puzzles me. She came in to get the taxes done. They have separate finances. However, because it saved her money, she decided we should do a joint return which we did, which they signed, and which they filed. Now he is screaming about the taxes that were due on the return and who should pay them. She lied to him about what was the breakdown between who should pay the extra amount due.......... Somehow, I am supposed to figure a way out of this mess for her. Yeah, right...... I have til May 5th to wave my magic wand.....

I am not getting much accomplished today. I think I am just too tired to think straight. I can delete duplicates without too much thought and delete totally extraneous e-mails. But design, housework, it all sounds like more than I can possibly handle. I think I will take two ibuprofen, go lie down, and sleep a while and pray a while and see if I can wake up with a better attitude.......