Day 8 - good intentions

I started Monday off pretty well really. I dove into PCCX with my silly diagram and started on one end of my kitchen. But I didn't get back to it after the first 45 minutes I spent on the buffet. I think I spent the majority of the afternoon/evening playing on the Wii. Boy, I'm just doing great here, aren't I?

As it turns out, as nice as it was to start at #1, I should have started at the other end of the kitchen, because I spoke to the insurance company over the weekend and we should have an insurance adjuster coming to look at the hole in the ceiling. That end of the kitchen is what I call "the pit".

Have I mentioned the hole before? I don't remember if I have and I'm too lazy and it's too late to go looking. There's a leak in the roof. Don't know where or how; Chris has been up there on the roof and didn't see anything. Of course, he doesn't see the mustard that's on the shelf 6 inches from his nose. Anyway, leaky roof begets hole in ceiling, hole in ceiling begets leaking kitchen, rain begets larger hole, more rain begets ever growing holes and cracks, and unseasonable storms beget ceiling crashing down in the middle of the night. That was Friday night I think. Anyway, we're going to see if there will be any help in getting it fixed. I'm of two minds about that, because we don't have the deductible but at the same time a real fix is better than a temporary fix. We'll see.

Zone 1 - before

Area 1 is the north edge of my kitchen, where this lovely teak buffet once belonging to my grandmother resides. It is/was supposed to be the home to all my Christmas dishes, but it was full of large silver pieces and empty boxes some of the Christmas plates had come out of this past year. Reasoning that the boxes would just take more room and I wouldn't want to bother putting them in and taking them out every time, I chucked the boxes.

Oh wait, this is the before post. Ok, so there's the buffet with all the Christmas stuff scattered and stacked; the microwave which looks like a before picture but is really an after since A cleaned it a week or so ago; the horribly small and virtually unusable corner where large trays and things are stacked, including the hanging pot rack I so desperately need, still in the box, 3 years later; the opposite, larger corner where the humongous popcorn maker is supposed to go, and hey, that's where that extra trash can went; and the popcorn maker itself. The area surrounding is cheap paneling, lousy linoleum, and old windows. One of which, you can sort of see, is home to a HUGE wasps' nest, which really needs to be taken care of, like, yesterday. Any ideas that don't involve getting close to the darn thing?

So today I'm beginning to tackle this zone, one piece at a time. News at 11. Actually that's probably a pretty accurate estimate.

So far, so...well...

I did my dishes before I went to bed and I made my bed when I got up. Unfortunately those two events were far too close together. I was up until almost 2, and really not all that ready to sleep at that point. I was still awake 40 minutes later, and then awake again an hour after that, just in time to watch the lightening.

This morning when Chris's alarm went off at 7:45 I had to decide which would have a more detrimental affect on my productivity today: lack of sleep, or getting up late. I chose the former. Hopefully it won't backfire on me. And now to breakfast - awaaaay!

I almost forgot

Thursday in the regular group I declared my dungeon to be my laundry room. In all of the previous seasons as far back as I can remember my dungeon has been my storage shed. Guess what? In every season it's either too hot, too cold, too wet, or too overgrown out there to even set foot in it. This time around I decided the laundry room was a more achievable goal and in nearly as much need as the shed. I think it's #9 on my diagram, so after my kitchen (#1-8) that will be where I go. Of course, if I play my cards right I'll be doing laundry all along and whittling away at the mountain taking up half the "room". It's really a back porch closed in enough to make a breezeway between the house and what was the garage. The door to the outside is blocked by laundry. The door to the back yard is nearly always open for the dogs. So it's hot down there when it's hot outside, but not quite as hot as full sun. Anyway, that's what I'm planning. We all know how well that goes.

Days 5, 6, and 7 - what happened?

Somehow I lost 3 days. I know where today went; I was shopping. But Friday and Saturday are a useless blur. Week one down and not a darn thing done. So tomorrow is Monday, Chris is back to his regular schedule (messed up last week due to the holiday), and I refuse to be sucked into tv shows or video games or sitting and doing nothing all day.

I know that I want to start in the kitchen. Based on my zone diagram there are 8 sections of the kitchen to be dealt with. My first choice would be to simply start with #1 and move through the house in order. However, over the weekend the ceiling at the other end of the kitchen finally caved in. The insulation and drywall were picked up right away of course, but I kinda need to get the area cleaned up if an insurance adjuster is coming over. Of course, I have no idea when that might happen so maybe I will start with #1 and if I need to switch gears I can.

I do really wish I'd had the sense Friday and/or Saturday to clean out the fridge and pantry *before* shopping today.

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

Day 4 - a plan of action

Today is/was E's birthday. I'm not exactly sure how that meant that I didn't get anything done, but that's what happened in the end. I did, however, create an ingeeeeeenious (insert maniacal laughter here) diagram of my house, sectioned off into 30 colored blocks indicating what areas should be cleanable in a single stretch of hard work. For instance, the living room is all one color as it doesn't require much beyond your average mop and polish. The kitchen has 8 sections because it's that awful. And so on. I think if I can pick a block and focus on it and just it within these boundaries I might be less overwhelmed than thinking I have to mop the *whole* kitchen perfectly in one go. So, it's a plan, and it might not have been worth the time and effort but who knows? Maybe it'll be that last magic piece of the puzzle.