September Acres

Source It's that time again.  The time when we turn to Spring Cleaning.  I know, some of you still have inches, even feet, of snow on the ground so it's hard to think that Spring is about 2 weeks away.  But it is and Spring Cleaning is a big deal for many people.  It's a chance to get your house and garden spic and span.  Time to open the windows, move furniture, turn mattresses, wash windows and comforters and mattress pads.  Fun stuff, right?  Maybe not, but doesn't it feel good to do that deep yearly cleaning? I have a weekly schedule - a flexible one, but this is what it looks like on the 'normal' week: Sunday  - Clean the fridge (trash gets picked up on Mondays so I pitch what I need to on Sundays), empty trash cans, clean dog doo (LM does the last two), mop kitchen floor. Monday  - Laundry Tuesday  - Dust, clean bathrooms (2), mop floors Wednesday  - Laundry Thursday  - Change sheets, wash towels,Vacuum, dus...

The calendar says it's spring even if it doesn't feel like it in your neck of the woods,  so it's time to start thinking about spring cleaning.  Or maybe you are on the ball and have already finished yours.  I'm still working on mine - here are my key spring cleaning points. De-clutter.   I always start here.  I go room by room with a garbage bag and fill it with things that are broken, stained, never used, outgrown, etc.  I actually do this a few times each year, not just in spring, and am amazed that I always fill up a couple of bags.   Move it.  Once I've de-cluttered it is easy to move furniture away from walls and clean base boards and vacuum under everything.  I move the stove and refrigerator in the kitchen as well. I'm sure we all have stories about what we find under our fridges! Wash it.  Mattress pads, comforters, shower curtains, window curtains, small rugs all get washed.  They do get washed other times duri...

I spent most of today trying to clean my office.   I used to 'clean' it a lot.  You know, organize the desk, shred, file.  But with all the accumulation of scrapbook supplies and other seemingly necessary stuff it's not enough.  I wish it looked as good as this photo.  Sadly, this is not a one day project so I will plug on this week and see what I can accomplish. I started with the closet which, thankfully, is very small.  We have shelving in there which helps but oh, the things I found.  Cell phone boxes from 2 cell phones ago (empty)?   Check . Cords to heaven knows what?   Check .  Steering wheel to old video game?   Check . Electric bill from 1987 ? Check .  You get the picture.  Like I said, the saving grace is that the closet is small. I pulled everything out of the closet and am in the process of putting back only the things we need.  I hope it goes without saying that the electric bill was shredded. ...

This spring cleaning thing is moving along. Maybe a bit slowly but moving along anyway. You can tell by the ever growing trash bags in the garage. They should be dropped of at the Goodwill this week. There's also a bag of books and puzzles and games to take over to LM's old preschool. Moving right along. Simple Mom has had 'hot spots' the past few weeks: My closet - CHECK Paper clutter - NO check, yet. Kid's clothes/toys - HALF a check - still working on this. It's one of those things that keeps growing - I go through clothes and realize that her dresser/night stand needs to still be painted after we redecorated her room. An old art cart in the playroom needs to be changed out with a new one that still has all four wheels. Pantry - CHECK Whatever you want - you pick the area. How great is that? I vote for junk drawers! Yes, we have more than one. Confession #1: my pantry is done because I did this a few weeks ago. Probably about a week before the Project:Simpl...

We had a really Spring-y weekend here. The hubby was tiling the kitchen back splash with a friend which left LM and me with some time on our hands - a rare thing indeed. We bought some plants and seeds and started planting. And painting. This pot had been sitting outside without any flowers since last summer. I loved the patina it was getting sitting out in the element. I stenciled it with our house numbers but the paint ran a bit and didn't look very good - it actually would have looked good for Halloween with the little (big) drips of paint so I took a different route. I spray painted the bottom and then mod- podged the numbers I cut with my Cricut . I wanted to keep some of the patina showing so I left the rim natural. I think it turned out really nice. :) Next, I wanted to do something with this slate. I have had it for years (think 80's) and it was time to be freshened up. So using the same black spray paint/ mod- podged letters technique I made some changes... Lov...

I have tackled my closet in this adventure I like to call spring cleaning. You've heard of it. We all do it. Most years anyway, right? I am following along with the schedule at Simple Mom . I have finished week one - the master closet. She is on week 3 (kids' toys and clothes). I have yet to finish (start?) week 2 (paper clutter!) I know, I am a bit slow. Just give me time! Here's my closet - we have 2 very small closets in our master - this is mine. Quite the mess in this photo. I have had that yellow shoe bag since I was in high school and worked at Pappagallo . Talk about something made to last! I love it though and can't imagine life without a shoe bag. Here's my after. Pardon the poor photo. I took it in the late afternoon when the sun beats in our bedroom door. It doesn't look too different but I filled up a trash bag to take to Goodwill plus had a few things to put in the trash can. The way I stack the shirts up makes for a quick mess so...

I love reading Simple Mom and I love her latest project 'Project: Simplify'. Five weeks, five hot spots. Last week was our closet . As cluttered as I feel my house is sometimes one area that I do spend time on several times a year is my closet. I purge often yet it's still full. It is a relatively small closet but I still like to be able to see things and get to them. I haven't purged in there since before Christmas so it's about time. I'll admit I didn't do it last week but plan on doing it this weekend along with Tsh's 2nd hot spot: paper clutter . That should be my middle name. While my closet will be a 30 minute task the paper clutter could take 30 hours or more. I look forward to sharing my progress here. It's time to start spring cleaning and this seems to be the perfect way to do it. Time will tell...

Awhile back I mentioned that I was doing some spring cleaning. Well, I really did do some. Still a little bit to do but I wanted to share some of what I have done so far. Here's Little Miss' room. (I loaded the pictures incorrectly apparently so the 'clean' pictures come first, then the 'messy' ones.) After: Dusted, cleaned sheets, picked up various stuff, disposed of some stuffed animals (at the Goodwill now), vacuumed, cleaned windows (on inside). Before: Self explanatory! After: Same as the above after. (Please note Carrie Underwood poster. I am not a poster lover but it could be worse. ) Before: Playroom after. I didn't take a before picture but you really didn't want to see it. Suffice it to say that the rug and floor were not recognizable. That's all for now. The rest of the house is in pretty good shape. I cleaned out my closet the other day. I try to do this a few times a year. I am amazed that I always am able to purge a good a...

It's that time of year again! Spring Cleaning. Starting today. I will be taking pictures (even though the 'before' photos will be down right scary - consider yourself warned!). There's alot to do around here but I am up to the task. Visit Simple Mom for some good spring cleaning advice. And stop by to see me tomorrow and see what I have accomplished.