A new broom ...
February 19, 2006 at 5:47 PM
by Ashleigh
... sweeps clean. I feel like I may well be a new broom! I have had such a busy day.
Kids woke up at 6.30 am - which is a whole 2 hours before their usual waking time! I think its getting lighter earlier as when I got up at 7.30 it was already light enough that I didn't need to switch on every lamp in the apartment. Anyway, I gave them breakfast and then sat and stitched for an hour or so., and phoned my dad about our new car to get his advice on a couple of things.
DH got out of his bed somewhere between 9.30 and 10 am and I got the wise idea of sorting through our closets to throw away clothing that was old, didn't fit, etc. I have dropped from a EU size 54/56 down to a 46/48 so I had loads and loads of clothes to go through and decide if I wanted to keep or not. I went through my winter clothes, then I got the boxes out from under the bed and went through the summer clothes; and then I did the same with the kids and sorted clothes that were too small, shoes that I had kept from Seb for Joe that weren't going to fit in the right season, coats, raincoats, sleeveless windbreakers and so on. I put away all the gloves, hats, scarves and mittens except for one set each. I ended up with four full garbage bags of clothing taped up and ready to go to the clothing recycling! I wrote a bit about recycling in the NL back here if you want to take a look.
Anyway, all the moving around of clothing made me want to reorganise my (tiny) closet so I did that, and I freed up enough space in the chest of drawers that had my sewing stuff in it so that I could put all my underthings in there instead. During all this I had the vacuum cleaner out to chase away the dust-bunnies under the bed! DH and I then took the paper recycling downstairs to the paper bin, detoured past our downstairs storage to get all the empty coke bottles out the storage so I could put them in the car ready to take to the supermarket (there is a 25c tax on bottles here), and then we took the clothing downstairs too. Unfortunately I'll have to take a separate trip to the recycle bin with the clothes as there are too many and its a distance from our apartment.
After that (yes, there's more!) we got the hanging baskets out the storage - I have nice ones with a coir mat in the bottom - ready for me to fill up with spring blooms this week. The potted rosemary plants came back from the balcony to the entrance and I swept the balcony clean and got rid of most of the rubbish that had accumulated there in the winter. These are things like broken plant pots (thanks cat!), dead flowers etc. We got the table and chairs out of the store room and put them on the balcony - not erected yet, but flat against the wall ready for the first sign of springy weather!
I cleaned up and filed all my paperwork, prepared some envelopes for posting and gave the apartment a thorough vacuuming. I've been out of action for a week as far as vacuuming goes and there was so much dust that it filled up the container on the Dyson! Then I ironed all DH's shirts and pants and cleared the clean laundry basket that had loads of stuff waiting to be put away.
Tomorrow or Tuesday I plan to go to Ikea and get a mirror for my chest of drawers so that I can get back into the habit of wearing make-up again, and have a space to apply it. I got some finished stitched pieces out that are 'springy' so I want to make those up. I have assembled all the bits and pieces I need for finishing and I've taken my quilt out so that I can finish that before spring really comes. Its a lovely pattern and will look great on our bed and I only have about five rows of quilting left to do before I attach the binding.
I have plans for the study involving getting rid of the desk we currently have and instead getting a worktop cut to fit the width of the room. There's still menus to make, dinner to cook, kids to bathe, washing to do ... and the kids are on vacation this week.
Now I'm tired ;)
Comments
I am exhausted just reading what you did in one day. Your house must now be soooo organised. I think a well earned rest today and some stitching would be good. Have a good day. Anne L
Wow--you inspired me to get with it today. I've been stitching or reading or knitting instead of cleaning, and my house looks it. After reading your blog about the new broom I feel so energized. Thanks!! (and there is something about having a little extra light that helps, isn't there. Here in the No. Va./DC area, it's getting light earlier also, so even though it's pretty cold, it's sort of feeling like spring.
WOW Ash! You were a busy, busy bee! We did some cleaning on Saturday, clearing out junk in the garage, and it does feel good, doesn't it? I didn't do nearly as much work as you, though! :)
This is inspiring! What a great way to make a fresh start and get ready for spring. There's nothing better than shedding all the useless things that weigh us down and straightening up all we love. Now I'm going to have to set aside a day or so to do the same around here.
Gosh Ashleigh, should you be doing all that moving and lifting so soon after your op?? I wasn't that active for weeks!!
February 20, 2006 1:17 AM