Coming Out of the Gloom

Damn, it's been longer than I thought since I posted here - and where is anyone else, btw?  I could run on for a while about this excuse or that, but I won't bother.  The fact remains that I haven't been doing what I should for months and now I'm trying to reverse the trend.

To that end, I have drafted my older children (8, 10, 13) to help me PCCX the house this summer.  Partly because the place is a DIS-AS-TER and partly because we all need an exercise in project completion and follow-through, I intend to run through the entire list to the extent that it is possible.  We won't be delving into repairs or redecorating because that's beyond the scope of time, skill, and finances at this point.  Here are the rules as I laid them out, in case anyone's interested:

• They will get the first week of vacation off.  The project begins Monday, June 11.  That actually gives them a week and a half off, but I like starting neatly at the beginning of a week.
• They have to each put in a total of 40 hours of work-time over the course of the project.  If we get going and haven't finished enough of the list for my satisfaction in that amount of time I will consider "overtime pay", but there is no compensation for less than the full 40 hours.
• The 40 hours must be completed before the first of them (A) goes to camp in July.  Therefore the end of the project is Sunday, July 8 for a total length of 4 weeks.
• For each of them who completes the project I am offering $100 cash to do with as they please, paid no later than the week before school starts, or by Sunday, August 19.  I'll have to save up in case I end up paying all 3 of them. :)

So that, in a nutshell, is my summer plan.  In amongst the cleaning we have the library program (2-3 times per week), almost daily trips to the pool, Chris's work schedule, regular chores, and other normal summer stuff.  I'll be blogging the progress along the way, of course.  In the meantime I have to work on getting - and then keeping - things picked up better.  Wish me luck.

January PCCX

I'm using the room-by-room track.  This month I'm doing the kitchen and dining room.

Challenges:

• The giant hole in the ceiling.  It's something I'd like to see repaired by the end of the month but I don't know if that's likely.
• Really bad linoleum, coming up in pieces in several places.  There's no hope of repairing that this month and probably not this year.  I should be able to trim back the loose places and at least make it look a little better.
• Difficult to work with cabinets.
• A whole lot of extraneous china and crystal that is never used and much of it isn't even mine.  There is no flinging allowed, so it's just a matter of cleaning it all and reorganizing so it hopefully takes up less space.

I'll spend this week catching up on basics and then head into deep-cleaning and organizing.

Is anyone else working PCCX at all this year?

What's Coming in 2012

Hopefully good things for everyone.  More specifically, I have some plans.

I'm going to (try to) send out regular challenges to the PCC group, beginning today with a resurrection of the 21 Days of Clutter series.  I'm also planning a few PCCX reminders each month because I want to actually go through it for a change.  I'll get some posts and emails scheduled in advance so I don't forget or skip it; hopefully that will help with my follow-through.

I have a few other thoughts brewing about other things to do, I just haven't decided which ones will apply to this group/blog.  What are your plans for the year?

T-23

As usual, I start something and then it's 4 days later and nothing else has been done.  So, Thursday I did start in the bathroom, but I didn't get very far.  I dealt with about 2 square feet in the back corner between the toilet and the tub.  My "after" looks like a normal person's "gee, this hasn't been cleaned in months, I'd better get on it."

In my (minimal) defense, a large part of that is issues we inherited with the house, like lousy caulking that won't come clean no matter what I do, and a floor that is a project unto itself.  There were 3 layers of linoleum in there when we moved in.  The bottom one is cemented to the wood floor and after trying to scrape it up I gave up about a foot into the door.  There's no removing that stuff short of a sander or new planks.  Above that was another layer, and above that linoleum tiles.  The tiles were relatively easy to get up, and the middle layer only a little more difficult.  This back corner had never been finished though, so I had two layers to remove.  I have tiles I bought years ago but don't know if they will help or if I can put them down any better than this bottom layer is.  Anyway, while I was down there I cleaned the bottom of that side of the toilet and tried to clean that seam between tub and floor and about then my back and knees decided there would be no more of that.

The weekend blew by uselessly.  Today I'm back on it...as soon as I eat something.

T-28

In 28 days my in-laws will be here.  For 27 days I will be in hyper-clean mode and see if it is possible to run through a whole pccx in a month.  Actually, I'm sure it is, but I'm not sure *I* can.

I don't always guarantee pictures, but I will post progress, hopefully daily.

I think I'll try to take things in order of the room-by-room track, so first up is the bathroom.  That's both good and bad.  Good because it's a very small space and therefore should take less time; bad because there is a lot of repair-type work to be done that I just can't right now.

More to come later today.

I'm cranky today

I won't go into why, just thought I should mention it in case anything in this post sound snippy.

I'll own up; I haven't started the deep clean.  I can't really call it PCCX anymore I think, because now the whole group, year-long thing seems to be that.  In fact, we discussed at some length what the X might now stand for instead of extreme.  Excellence, exchange, execution (as in doing something, not killing someone), exercise, expectations, expedition, experience, experiment, exploits, exploration, exposition, extension...any thoughts, votes, alternative suggestions?  Let's remember that the PCC stands for purple chat and challenge...not my first pick for a group name, but that's what we've got so let's go with it.

That wasn't exactly the point of the post, so moving on...

I haven't started on the back pages (annual deep cleaning), because I haven't yet done even a decent, much less good job on the front page (dailies), and I've ignored the middle pages (weeklies) too.  Figuring a mere 1 hour each on the top 3 priorities, 1 load each of dishes and laundry, a whopping 15 minutes of exercise, and around 130 for 3 special challenges, the total is a little over 3,000.  I should have far more than an hour in each of those priorities, and there's usually more than one load of dishes, laundry, or both.  Five days a week there are weekly tasks.  Accordingly, I've set my goal at 3,500 for weekends and 4,000 for weekdays.  Reasonable.  So far I've made between 2,300 and 2,800 each day.  Why?

My back has been giving me fits for weeks and most days I can barely move without pain, but that's just a lousy excuse.  For one thing, I've still spent hours sitting here at the computer, so why don't I have more writing and desk work hours logged?  Everyone else around here is able-bodied, so why isn't there more delegating going on (half points for those)?  The facts of the matter are that a) I'm inherently lazy, and b) I don't know where all the time goes.  Those are excuses too, and I'm really sick and tired of excuses.  It doesn't seem to make me get up and do...um...stuff, it just makes me irritable.  I'll leave it at that.

The next time I check in I expect to have some progress to show for the time.

Kicking off the new year

There's been a significant lack of posting around here, and I have a very good reason.  I've been burning the midnight oil getting a whole new plan ready to go for 2011, and I came in just under the wire.

The biggest part of this change is that PCCX as we knew it is now spread over 11 months instead of intense bursts 4 times a year.  The theory is that with more time per room at one time we'll be more likely to get things done.  Just to put it out there FYI, here's the breakdown:

January: playroom/office/den
February: bathrooms/laundry room
March: dungeon
April: attic/basement/storage
May: outside
June: porch/entry/halls/stairs
July: bedrooms
August: living room/family room
September: garage/workshop/autos
October: kitchen
November: dining room
December: nothing scheduled due to holidays

There's also a plan for similar tasks to be done together rather than a whole room at a time.  I don't know how many people will be using that one, but I wrote it anyway, just in case.

So this is the new schedule I'll be using, and I'm hopeful for this year.  How are your plans coming?

So, uh, yeah

PCCX went out without so much as a whimper.  Gee, that went well.  Congratulations to those of you who accomplished things.  I did too, a couple, but not near "enough".  Story of my life, great plans, lousy follow-through.

This time of year is both my least and most favorite.  Least because I'm looking back at what didn't get done all year, and most because it's a time for all sorts of planning and whatnot.  Yay, goals.

Speaking of this time of year, does anyone else realize that Winter PCCX is supposed to start in 3 weeks?  I had the thought a while ago that it might be time to shake things up and change the way it goes, but I've had zero ideas on how to do that.  So please, anybody, toss in your thoughts.  Please.  Pretty please?

A small triumph

I *finally* really tackled something.  And naturally I come to tell y'all about it and I find myself half an hour into a 2 hour image upload maintenance for Blogger and pictures are disabled.  So if you want to see pics you'll have to check my photo gallery (link in sidebar), the last 5 photos.

We have this "desk".  I use the term loosely because it's badly proportioned and arranged and is basically unusable as an actual desk, as in to sit at, even without a computer.  It was A's for quite a while to just store stuff on but then she got a big art desk and didn't need it (or have room for it) anymore.  Since then it's been in the corner of the living room holding some books and some of B's larger school stuff and the board games.

It's been bugging me for a while because in addition to being badly designed it's also not terribly well made.  The bottom shelf, both sides, and the slide out "keyboard tray" (which no one could really use for a keyboard) were all coming apart and it was only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed.  Nothing was missing or broken, the pegs had just come completely apart, and the tray was off the track.

I got some wood glue - don't know if it'll help anything but it makes me feel better - and forced everything back together on the bottom.  I cleaned it off the best I could, everything but the paint splotches.  It's simply not worth the time or effort to try to get those off and it's not a showpiece or anything so they stay and I'm not fussed about it.  I found a disturbing amount of junk under it and got rid of all of that.  I moved the books to another bookshelf and put what was left on the upper shelves away from E, dusting off as I went.  I wanted to get rid of those guitars (Rock Band and Guitar Hero) altogether but I don't have anywhere else to put them so I did a cursory dusting of them, what I could reach.  I should've mopped or scrubbed or otherwise cleaned the floor while I had the desk out but I was somewhat limited in time and frankly didn't feel like breaking out more tools.  I can get under it now without moving the desk so I can still do the floor later when I do the rest of the room.

So there's my first big push...only 3 1/3 weeks into PCCX.  Yay?

I did it!

I finished PCCX in living room. It looks so nice in this one room. Everything is dusted and organized and clean. Now on to the dining room/entry/front porch.

I've been called out....

Ok so I haven't posted to the blog yet this PCCX, but there was no reason to call me out. I've been working on keeping up with the house work, homeschooling my son in preschool and trying to finish up my college classes.

I've done some PCCX, I moved the furniture and detail vacuumed the carpet, I need to shampoo it but have to borrow my friend's carpet cleaner first. I washed the living room window and cleaned the tracks. I polished all the tables and the entertainment center, including the electronics. I haven't done any of the holiday tasks except printing out lists. I still need to clean the furniture and organize my books and DVDs. Then the living room will be done. Then it's on to the dining room and front porch.

No pics this time around, I don't feel like taking them. Maybe I'll do afters when its all done.

A slow start

Here's a shocker: I haven't really started yet.  That's right, you heard me.  7 days of PCCX behind us, and I've cleaned nothing.  I did - finally - get my general set of before pictures done last night.  If you go look let me just say that no rumbles were done in advance of those shots (as if that weren't patently obvious), so on a day when rumbles are done it doesn't look quite that bad.  The really surprising bit is that B's room seems to be the cleanest one in the house.  Or at least the most picked-up room.  I assure you, it still needs to be sandblasted and scoured.

In better news, I have done all but one of week one's holiday tasks.  Yay me!

One way or another this place will look better than those pictures by Thanksgiving.  It may require a flamethrower or a bulldozer, but it will be better.

Anyone else have progress to report? *coughcelestecough*

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...

Reader poll

For curiosity's sake, what room are you starting with?  Do you move along as it's written (corresponding with Flylady's monthly plan)?  Do you start with the worst room and move toward the easiest, or vice versa?  Do you mix things up and go wherever you feel like on any given day?  Or maybe you lump all similar jobs together for the whole house, doing all the floors at the same time, for example.  Let us know how you work - or plan to work, if this is your first time around - and why.

Getting the ball rolling

I've done all the administrative voodoo - ok, most of it - and I'm halfway through preparing my own files.  I still have to take, edit, upload, and link a full set of pictures (my last "befores" are from, I think, 2008?) before I even get started.

I hope some of you have been a little more on-track than I have in starting this challenge.   My dh is currently out of work and has been informed that he will be assisting this time around.  I hope (plan) to get my pictures done tomorrow so we can start working on the living room.  I've decided to work more or less in order as written this time.  You know me, every round I have to change something and it never works...but I keep trying. :)

I just realized, this is our 20th PCCX!  Um, 20th time's the charm?

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.

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