5 & 1/2 Months Later

Yep, it's been over 5 months since I've posted which I just happened to notice because of Amanda's new post, so I'm posting an update and a few goals for the month of September.

I ended up slacking on the decluttering process back in April because I'd started college classes. Last week I'd finally decided that I was going to just have the garage sale with what I'd already decluttered and attempt to go through the garage as well (which I did). I'm pretty sure I sold well over 500 items, leaving me with 2 totes, a box and a rack of coats.

During the month of September, I plan to:

• Sort through the garage sale items and sort to donate or sell online.
• Drop off donation items
• Post items online for sale
• Scrub the shower & tub (I hate hard water...my tub is a "goldenrod" color (5 points if you know that color) and I'd like to see it white again
• Attempt to remove the paint from carpet in bedroom with goof off (pointless but going to try anyways)
• Begin job
• Start new college classes
• Clean out filing cabinet

I *intend* to post before/after pics now that I have a memory card reader again.

So I was talking to some of the girls the other day about my decluttering for my Memorial Day weekend garage sale.  Because I have such a headstart, I'm limiting myself to going through 10 items per day.  A box does not have to be completed in a day.  The attic does not have to be completed in a day.  I'm grabbing a box from storage and sorting into 4 piles: Keep, Donate, Sell, Trash  (Note: This is NOT 10 items per category. JUST 10 items per day) 

Keep items are packed away if I can (for my future move) or simply cleaned and put away.

Donate items are put into a box and any time I go into town, I drop it off at the charity donation center.

Sell items are priced, which can take more time to research online, but then put in the garage "staging" area for my future sale. 

Why am I telling you this?  Because it was pointed out that in one month, that's 300 items!  Just try it, you'll be amazed how quickly you can sort through 10 items!

Name That Kitchen Utensil

I admit that I've been really sucky at the pccx challenge even though I was so excited for it to start.  Now that I'm starting a new job tomorrow, I'll either get back on the horse and start getting stuff done again, or really enjoy my days off and do nothing, we'll see LOL

So since it was kitchen week, I went into my utensil drawer and pulled out 2 ziploc bags of crap that my father purchased from a garage sale.  Why he bought 2 is beyond me since the same items were in both. Needless to say, I tossed one in the trash and kept the other.  Now, I must try to figure out what these utensils are! 

The end of this is flat like a screwdriver. The circles near the handle are not large enough to put your fingers through. I'm at a complete loss.

Clearly a grapefruit utensil, right?

WTH is this?  Plastic; Open circle at one end; Corkscrew like at bottom with a pointed edge AND its hollow through the corkscrew thing. 

I know it shows both, but this image is for the cheese slicer?  Question mark because that's what I think it is, but I'm not really sure LOL

This looks a lot like 2 pics above, except its metal and the corkscrew plastic piece isn't hollow.  Still has the round circle at the top. Anyone know what it is, anyone?

Ummm??? Pouring spout at the top. "Teeth" at the bottom. Name this utensil. Please.

Easy Work in the Living Room

How often do you find yourself psyching yourself out?  You know, deciding a job is too big/difficult, so why bother even starting?  Remember, even 15 minutes of PCCX is 75 minutes for Zone Work + You get points for the PCCX job you did.  Even if you're not doing points, 15 minutes a day.  That's it.  That's all you have to do.  Wipe down a light switch or a door.  Polish a table.  Clean off a shelf.  These are all small jobs, but if you do one a day, it adds up.  That's why we're here.  I'm discovering that even the smallest of jobs is now making me smile when I walk by because it's done.

So, what did I do yesterday for day 2?  Well, I'm quite limited in my mobility because of the knee surgery on Monday, but I did manage to clean off and polish an end table, clean and polish the coffee table, wipe down all of the coasters, clean out one of the baskets under the coffee table (throwing out 3 magazines, 2 remotes, 1 coaster and something else I can't remember LOL).  I also wiped down one of the lamps and had a helluva time dusting the lampshade because it had so much cat hair on it (oops, didn't take points for that, will add to today's).  So it wasn't a lot of work.  It took me about 30 minutes to do it.  But the living room looked a LOT better, even if only in my eyes! 

Here's a few pics I took of the before/after:

One more day down, let's see what else can be accomplished...

PCCX: Day One for Kim

This was the day of my knee arthroscopy so I accomplished nothing. But we all knew that was going to happen, so I'm not going to beat myself up for it (okay, maybe just a little because I feel like I'm behind already).

I'm not sure how I'm going to get pictures done as it'd be too difficult at the moment with me wobbling around with a cane.  So maybe in the next couple of days I'll be able to get around to it.

Living Room Floor Part 4

Pics only as I'm too tired to be witty :p

Note: The Resolve after steam cleaning did in fact lighten the stain a bit more :D

I couldn't just move the furniture back when I noticed what the wood looked like...

Once I put everything back into its place, my Dad said "Should we start taking bets on how long it will take me to spill something?"

I said "Sorry, but that will be your death date/time."

He laughed.

I wasn't joking...

Call Me Lazy...

It's okay. You can call me lazy. 

I've been taking this entire PCCX session to steam clean the living room. 

I'm still not done...

Last week I did another section. Kind of.  You see, what I actually did was pull out the couch and detail vacuum the area.  I didn't steam clean it.  I could have.  But I just wasn't feelin it after all of the vacuuming. 

First off in my defense, I think I vacuumed enough cat hair to create another cat.  Clearly there's visible stains there so I should have steam vac'd it.  Maybe next PCCX.  I still have actual floor that people can SEE that needs to be done instead.

Never Look Up!!!

I made a mistake...

I was sitting at the kitchen table, and I looked up.

Like I said. Never look up.

I couldn't very well just sit there and continue to eat my meals knowing what was directly overhead.  So, I filled the dishpan with soapy water, took apart the fixture and began the soakfest.  Then I grabbed some Fantastik and papertowels and went to work.

This is definitely one of those hated jobs that nobody wants to do.  In reality, it took me less than 30 minutes, with the majority of the work going into removal and put back of the bulbs (Not really the bulbs, but the light fixture but I didn't want to say light fixture because that refers to the entire thing which isn't what I did but but light covers....THAT's the word I was looking for....Light Covers!!!)  Whatever. 

Pretty!!!!  Now I look up and smile :D

Under the Sink

I hate the area under my kitchen sink. It's one of those most dreaded areas to clean. I organized it once since we moved here 2 years ago. A combination of my household cleaners and my father's Depression era thinking of "If it's on sale really cheap than I should buy it now because I might need more in 10 years and not be able to afford it then" has left me with cleaners in 6 different places in the house, stocked to the gills.  Not having household cleaners is not my reason for not doing PCCX. That's for sure.

Last year, we had a leak and my dear husband just threw things back in after he fixed it. Um, thanks? I've just not had the inclination to go digging in there, overrun by cleaners, sponges and the like. But I about lost it the other day. You see, if we're getting low on dish detergent on the counter, and my father doesn't have more sitting right there in the front of the cabinet under the sink, he must go buy more.

Clearly that bottle was not "in his face" because he bought 2 more. 

 

 

 

 

 So, with my Ipod fully charged and my playlist ready, I went in....

Yep, that big black spot is mold. Why? Remember I mentioned the water leak? Apparently my husband didn't bother to wipe it down. *Sigh*  Gee....I wonder if I have any cleaners to handle that...

Now, you may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.  Under the sink included:

• A furniture cleaning set that we got when we purchased our couch 7 years ago. It's never been used. I tried throwing it out 2 years ago but my husband insisted we might need it someday.  
• 3 boxes of Mr Clean Magic Erasers
• Vacuum bags (slightly water damaged)
• 2 different LCD cleaners & a bottle of a distilled water mixture for cleaning LCD's
• Can of air
• Furniture Polish and polish wipes
• Resolve, Oxy Clean floor cleaner and a Steam Vac Cleaner
• 4 plastics bags of various sponges (3 were opened).  After removing the plastic bags, I ended up with 37 sponges.
• Bug Spray
• 2 cans of Lysol disinfectant (which smell really bad, so we don't use it but keep it???)
• 4 brushes
• 3 pairs of latex gloves
• 3 bottles of window cleaners
• 2 organizing racks
• Strainer
• 6 bottles of dish detergent
• 5 various household cleaners
• 3 different lime/rust cleaners
• 3 boxes of steel wool cleaners (My father said we were out and to add to my shopping list, so I did and bought some, but he didn't see I did, so he bought some and we already had some *sigh*)
•  Murphy's Oil Soap
• A "garbage can" with more sponges in it....WTF??
• My coffee can of grease
• and lastly, 82 of those dish cloths/wipes (we don't use these)

Back to the problem of cleaning out under the sink and that nasty ass mold stain.  I grabbed the Lysol Kitchen cleaner (with bleach), grabbed a pair of latex gloves and one of the disposable dish cloths.  First of all, I hate latex gloves. With a passion. They're a pain in the ass to put on and your hand/arm sweat while using them. But I was NOT touching that mold with my bare hands!!!

Afterwards, I condensed as much as I could and put it all back all neat and organized and stuff. 

After 3 hours, I was DONE!

I....survived!!!

then...

my father entered the room and sat down.

He asked me about the black spot he saw under the sink while it was empty.

I explained it was mold from the water leak...

He then asked...

Did you use bleach?

*insert sigh of disgust here*

Yes Dad.

"Oh" he says..."I wasn't sure if you knew"

My brain went into overload...

Seriously?!?  Are you friggin kidding me?!?!?  I'm 40 years old!!!  *Insert swear words here* Old man...*insert more swear words*  Raised a family of three boys *insert more swear words* Only living here to help you out *insert more swear words* I need alcohol *insert more swear words*

My reply...

Yes Dad, I knew.

Pantry

Yeah, I suck.

Daily PCCX posts.  Right. As if.

I'm in a funk that I just can't seem to get out of.  No matter how many times I say "I'll start tomorrow," tomorrow never happens.  I need to get back into a daily routine. I'll start tomorrow.

But I did do something today.  I organized my pantry. Exciting stuff, huh?  Yeah, it wasn't really that difficult to be honest.  In fact, it probably took longer to take the pictures and edit them.  Still, its one job down.  So, without further adieu, he are my before and afters:

Top 2 Shelves Before

Top 2 Shelves After

Bottom 2 Shelves Before

 

 

Bottom 2 Shelves After

Steam Cleaning Part 3

I know I haven't posted a part 1 and 2, but I've done the work and posted it under ummm...my last post, which was Monday, or Tuesday. Tuesday...yeah, that's it. Cuz I was a day late posting. Right then. On to the tale...

So as stated previously, I'm detail vacuuming and steam cleaning in sections. Partly because its easier than having the entire floor wet and trying to move furniture around and mostly because I'm too lazy to do it all at once.

Oh if only there was a magical steam cleaner that would get rid of the cigarette burns too.  These burns are along the main walkway (although normally covered by the red rug) because Dad used to have a rocker in the area and would fall asleep while smoking.  So, now its time to start moving the rocker and lamp.

Anyways...back to the living room I go and move the lamp.  Now, I'd like to point out that I DO vacuum several times per week, but only the "middles" as suggested by Flylady and leave this "detailed" vacuuming to PCCX.  We won't discuss how I never finish PCCX.

I love my cats. I love my cats. I love my cats.

So I spent about a good 20 minutes just vacuuming the floor and along the baseboards.  I followed that up with about an hour steam cleaning the section.  Overall, it came out pretty well.

 

So, that's my blog post.  I haven't done anything else PCCX wise because its been too hot or I've felt lousy.  But, I'll *try* to do at least 1 project per day, even if its just to wipe down a light switch so I can blog about it and keep Amanda from nagging me. LOL

Summer PCCX

Whose dumb idea was it to have PCCX in the summer? When it's hot? VERY hot!!  It doesn't matter where you are in the U.S., July is the hottest month of the year.  So, let's sweat our asses off and clean like our mothers-in-law are coming over in 2 days.  Except, we're gonna clean for 6 straight weeks.  Thanks so much for remembering Amanda.  Appreciate it.  Really.

Anyways, I actually started pccx a few days early.  I decided my living room is easier to do in sections to detail vacuum and steam clean because of moving furniture around and let's face it, its easier to say "avoid this 4x8 section of the floor" then "NOBODY walk in the living room for the next 8 hours!!!"  Besides, the bathroom is off of the living room, and the cats don't listen. So, I'm doing sections.

Now, I'm going to apologize in advance.  I rarely remember to take pictures for the before/after effect.  I usually remember while in process or after I'm done.  Maybe I'll get better at it if I do this daily, right? Right???

So, to begin. I have before/after pics of my front entry.  Mind you, hardly anyone visits that area because we strictly use the back door.  The cats however, like to throw up there. Often.  Leaving wonderful stains for me to clean up because nobody else in this house has the balls (Yeah, I said it. Three men in the house and I'm the one with the balls).  I digress.  So, my only visitors to that area are perfect strangers that don't know any better and come to the front door. Isn't this the site I want them to see when first meeting us? NOT!!  So, I took everything out (a bench and about 50,000 boxes because my Dad can't bear to throw them out because we'll need a box that size one day).  THEN remembered to grab the camera

So, that was Friday.  Saturday, I did the section near the bathroom, about 4 x 8 in size.  Do you think I remembered the camera? Nope.  So, no pictures, but I swear, I did it.  Sunday I tackled the section across from the bathroom where we have a desk/computer.  If you own a pet, you'll understand the amount of pet hair in the before picture. (Oh, and I remembered RIGHT after I did one sweep of the vacuum LOL)

The next day, I took a break from the floor because I ran out of cleaner for the steam vac (except I found out last night that I do have another small bottle under the kitchen sink, which means that 1.) I can work on the living room floor again tomorrow, and 2.) I need to clean under the kitchen sink and see if I can find other cleaners and maybe Jimmy Hoffa.  Anyways, I decided to tackle the microwave.  Didn't get a before pic, did get an after shot though :)

My last group of pictures are strictly after shots, you'll just have to trust me that I did the job.  Why? Because I'm too hot to get up and take a pictures because its JULY!!! These shots are in the entryway. Today I decided to look up and dust. Can I just say, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...never look up!!!

Okay, so that's my last 5 days. Even though PCCX technically didn't start until yesterday. So, consider me ahead by starting a few days beforehand, or late because I didn't post yesterday LOL