Tonight I was a house working wonder. It slays me that I can work for 5.5 hours straight and get so much done, but every other day of the year (when company is not imminent) I can't get ANYTHING done, I mean it, day after day after day . . . ZIP. WEIRD.
I'll tell you what, run to the Dollar Store and get your supply of Zwipes MicroFiber dusting gizmo's. I'm impressed. I've been dusting with the one that has the orange handle and a head like a mop, lots of soft white twisty ropey looking thingys. Boy, it leaves NO dust behind. No more rags for me, this works far better than the other cloths I've used in the past, the ones that supposedly electro-magnetically attract the dust. Did I say that right?
AND, I REALLY REALLY like the Swiffer WetJet. Of course, I get spray happy and squirt it all around and hit the furniture and baseboards. The sprayer has Umph, it travels! I even spray by accident 'cause the spray button is RIGHT THERE where you hold the handle. Nevertheless, this is WAAAAAAAAYYYY easier and faster than hands and knees with an old washcloth. AND, this cleaner is no rinse and it really shows you your dirt. It was shocking at first, the dirt, but I've adjusted. I'm well-adjusted lately. I think just using water on my floors for years has taken a filthy-dirty toll. But never fear, WetJET is here.
SOOOO, my friends, this is why my cleaning is going better than usual. WAAAAAAYYYY better. I have the equipment, People! Hoo-Ray! And the Rays won tonight again, they are still in FIRST place in baseball, tied with the MN Twins. Rays lost last night, but of course they did, they had to fly all night, as in AM all night and then play the same day. Even then, they had a huge rally and just fell short. I'm telling you, THIS is the year. The team is DOING IT!
I'm doing it, too. I've cleared clutter besides cleaning. I've gotten the guest room ready, and I'm just in a thorough state of shock, as mentioned earlier. For Pete's sake, I ground coffee beans and everything. We are talking BASEBOARDS. I cleaned the rubber edges (what is that called?) along the fridge doors. I even wound up the excess telephone wires and secured them with coated wire that I have been collecting, lo, these many years -- have hundreds of them, you know, when you buy stuff and they use it in the packaging . . . well, if you need some, you know where to find it. ALSO, for my new vac I had bought an extra attachment (remember, the girl was so nice changing out my floor brush that I felt I should buy something). GOOD MOVE. It's a 5 inch soft-bristled brush and it covers area WAAAAAYYY more efficiently than the little tiny round number that comes with the vac. Oh boy, no comparison. Plus, the new model of round brush is stiffer and harsher and smaller than my old model round brush, which I retained. It seems like the bristles on the old one might be worn down, but it'll be good for dirty work, as in nasty dirty.
Even put the blue checkered vinyl table cloth from the Dollar store on the table. It's an exact fit. Give me a break. The hardest part of this was smoothing out the air pockets (we are talking VERY THIN vinyl). We'll see if it stands the test, but it looks okay right now.
Okay, my poor little body is beat. More to do tomorrow, but life is currently under control. If MIL showed up this second, I would not disintegrate. Maybe while MIL is here I will do something really spectacular like go through recipes and music. And old newspapers. Well, one can always hope. Need to clean the oven and back of fridge, too. Gruesome.
A Kleaner KEM (her house, that is, somehow she never showered yet today, PEE-YOU!)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Happiness is a perfect avocado. You never know what's going to greet you when you cut into one of those little suckers.
Progress Report: Big Fat Zero. I greeted the day with no strength. Did get to Target at night and bought those cleaning pads for WetJet. Tip: Shopping while talking on the phone with your sister results in coming home with two jars of the same face moisturizer. You would think I might have easily tossed two into the cart because my coupon said I got a free face wash, too, and I was studying all the different flavors, all the while gabbing away. BUT, you would think I might notice at check-out that I put TWO of the same Olay on the feeder (can't think what you call it, but it rolls your junk up to the cashier) PLUS the face wash.
Tomorrow had better be a happening thing, that's all I've got to say. At least I wasn't cleaning wee out of the grout today. Jazzi is now asked every three minutes if she has to go potty outside. When we become millionaires, I'm going to have my grout professionally cleaned AND SEALED. I've had it, HAD it, I tell you. My entire downstairs, which is most of the house, is tile. Meaning, grout. Val-Toad has some neat kind of smooth-ish stone tile, forget what you call it, but her tiles are almost flush one to another and there is only a hairline of grout, you can't even see it. Val-Toad did it smart. I've heard pros and cons about whether or not to seal grout. After 12 years of fighting grout, I am 1,000% for sealing it. I truly don't care if my grout can breathe or not. I wish it would just die.
It might be cheaper to move to a house with hardwood floors. Easier on the old back, too.
Lately I've been reading the Psalms. Very slowly and carefully. I'm up to Psalm 30 (although my read-your-Bible-chronologically doesn't have all 30 in a row, some are tucked into different books, like Kings). Psalms are for savoring. They are more than praise and worship to God. I have been humbled, rebuked, challenged, inspired and educated. Psalms entering your soul are life-changing This is very cool for me as normally I kind of gave the Psalms a cursory read-through. Once I noted that someone said Psalms was their favorite book of the Bible. That struck me as odd, but now I can see it.
I've noticed that I hyphenate a lot. Wonder what that means.
Olay-KEM
Progress Report: Big Fat Zero. I greeted the day with no strength. Did get to Target at night and bought those cleaning pads for WetJet. Tip: Shopping while talking on the phone with your sister results in coming home with two jars of the same face moisturizer. You would think I might have easily tossed two into the cart because my coupon said I got a free face wash, too, and I was studying all the different flavors, all the while gabbing away. BUT, you would think I might notice at check-out that I put TWO of the same Olay on the feeder (can't think what you call it, but it rolls your junk up to the cashier) PLUS the face wash.
Tomorrow had better be a happening thing, that's all I've got to say. At least I wasn't cleaning wee out of the grout today. Jazzi is now asked every three minutes if she has to go potty outside. When we become millionaires, I'm going to have my grout professionally cleaned AND SEALED. I've had it, HAD it, I tell you. My entire downstairs, which is most of the house, is tile. Meaning, grout. Val-Toad has some neat kind of smooth-ish stone tile, forget what you call it, but her tiles are almost flush one to another and there is only a hairline of grout, you can't even see it. Val-Toad did it smart. I've heard pros and cons about whether or not to seal grout. After 12 years of fighting grout, I am 1,000% for sealing it. I truly don't care if my grout can breathe or not. I wish it would just die.
It might be cheaper to move to a house with hardwood floors. Easier on the old back, too.
Lately I've been reading the Psalms. Very slowly and carefully. I'm up to Psalm 30 (although my read-your-Bible-chronologically doesn't have all 30 in a row, some are tucked into different books, like Kings). Psalms are for savoring. They are more than praise and worship to God. I have been humbled, rebuked, challenged, inspired and educated. Psalms entering your soul are life-changing This is very cool for me as normally I kind of gave the Psalms a cursory read-through. Once I noted that someone said Psalms was their favorite book of the Bible. That struck me as odd, but now I can see it.
I've noticed that I hyphenate a lot. Wonder what that means.
Olay-KEM
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Two things today, no, make it three.
Swiffer WetJet. Used it today for the first time. You cannot believe what that little baby picks up. I managed to use the entire bottle of cleaner for just the dining room and kitchen. That can't be right. It says a 2 or 3 second squirt will clean 10 sq. ft, which probably translates to the one bottle should have lasted me all year with weekly cleaning. I saturated. Well, this means out to Target in the morning to buy more. WetJet is easy to handle, I like it and it made me feel like a 1950's housewife who took pleasure in using the latest cleaning gadget. Plus, you get to throw out the filthy little cleaning pad and Velcro on a new one. Not that Earth Day would approve of that. Bottom line, my hands and knees damp mop with just water in the dining room, 4 months ago, no cleaner, leaves much to be desired. I do mop the kitchen more frequently. Still, much left to be desired.
Went into the bedroom where mother-in-law will reside. Oh goody gumdrops, Jazzi had wet in there. And who knows when, it was kind of concentrated by now. And if I thought yesterday's wet in the entry way was a pain, HA!, it paled in comparison to this mess. How one little wet can run down so much grout, I should love to know. Even under mother's-in-law "sacred" cedar hope chest, which we had refinished and can never leave the family. Apparently the little wet is not so little. I'm telling you, taking the time to scrub doggy tinkle out of grout is really cramping my style. I need to be WetJetting the living room, for crying out loud.
Pulled out the stove and cleaned under there and the drawer in the bottom and all that good junk. Another high-traffic visual sure to impress my MIL. Still, it allowed me to clean off part of the counter where all the cookie sheets have been molding away, lo, these many months.
Oh yeah, and I cleaned the sole plate of my iron and ironed two pairs of Mike's khaki pants. I'm in business.
Whoever said housework done properly will kill you, well, suffice it to say, Truer words were never spoken by a mere mortal. Heavy housework always turns my fingers into sausages. It's just unforgivable.
Sweet Tulsa Googled Chocolate Gravy and there are all sorts of interesting tidbits, like the idea for it probably came from Mexicans. And one man's experience of putting biscuit drenched in chocolate gravy and butter to lips was so life-changing that he decided he must persuade others to try it with a fervency along the lines of a country preacher converting souls. Something like that. My brains are fryed, or is that fried?, so you'd be better off Googling, it was said much more cleverly and with fewer words.
Anyway, at least I got the Company's Coming, Oh No! ball rolling. Tomorrow needs to be huge. HUGE. Mike shall have to bring me a pizza. Hey, in the paper there was a recipe for pizza with collard greens, cheese and egg fried on top, soft yolk. Something like that. I just might have to try that.
I missed my opportunity for real fame. On Mystery Monkey they posted a picture a woman had sent in. She was wearing her MM T-shirt. It was the first picture to come in. I'm telling you, that's 74,999 fans really snoozing. Of course, I haven't even ordered the T-shirt yet. So I'm just snoozing, I'm not even breathing.
Think that was more than three things. But who's counting?
Fried Brains, Fried Eggs, oh yeah, and I fried my arm on a bare light bulb today. I was testing my lamp that has had the switch (the roll kind on the cord) replaced three times because it gets so hot it nigh unto catches on fire. The lamp was on the kitchen counter. Then it came down on the floor to help me see under the stove. No lamp shade. Sizzle. I have to be sure it is safe before I put it in MIL'S room where there is tee in the grout. Oh, I also sliced the meat of my thumb on a sharp edge under the stove. Housework not only kills you and turns your fingers into sausages, but it leaves you bruised and battered, down for the count and war weary. Eating that fruit in the Garden was a VERY BAD idea.
Fried and Frazzled KEM
Swiffer WetJet. Used it today for the first time. You cannot believe what that little baby picks up. I managed to use the entire bottle of cleaner for just the dining room and kitchen. That can't be right. It says a 2 or 3 second squirt will clean 10 sq. ft, which probably translates to the one bottle should have lasted me all year with weekly cleaning. I saturated. Well, this means out to Target in the morning to buy more. WetJet is easy to handle, I like it and it made me feel like a 1950's housewife who took pleasure in using the latest cleaning gadget. Plus, you get to throw out the filthy little cleaning pad and Velcro on a new one. Not that Earth Day would approve of that. Bottom line, my hands and knees damp mop with just water in the dining room, 4 months ago, no cleaner, leaves much to be desired. I do mop the kitchen more frequently. Still, much left to be desired.
Went into the bedroom where mother-in-law will reside. Oh goody gumdrops, Jazzi had wet in there. And who knows when, it was kind of concentrated by now. And if I thought yesterday's wet in the entry way was a pain, HA!, it paled in comparison to this mess. How one little wet can run down so much grout, I should love to know. Even under mother's-in-law "sacred" cedar hope chest, which we had refinished and can never leave the family. Apparently the little wet is not so little. I'm telling you, taking the time to scrub doggy tinkle out of grout is really cramping my style. I need to be WetJetting the living room, for crying out loud.
Pulled out the stove and cleaned under there and the drawer in the bottom and all that good junk. Another high-traffic visual sure to impress my MIL. Still, it allowed me to clean off part of the counter where all the cookie sheets have been molding away, lo, these many months.
Oh yeah, and I cleaned the sole plate of my iron and ironed two pairs of Mike's khaki pants. I'm in business.
Whoever said housework done properly will kill you, well, suffice it to say, Truer words were never spoken by a mere mortal. Heavy housework always turns my fingers into sausages. It's just unforgivable.
Sweet Tulsa Googled Chocolate Gravy and there are all sorts of interesting tidbits, like the idea for it probably came from Mexicans. And one man's experience of putting biscuit drenched in chocolate gravy and butter to lips was so life-changing that he decided he must persuade others to try it with a fervency along the lines of a country preacher converting souls. Something like that. My brains are fryed, or is that fried?, so you'd be better off Googling, it was said much more cleverly and with fewer words.
Anyway, at least I got the Company's Coming, Oh No! ball rolling. Tomorrow needs to be huge. HUGE. Mike shall have to bring me a pizza. Hey, in the paper there was a recipe for pizza with collard greens, cheese and egg fried on top, soft yolk. Something like that. I just might have to try that.
I missed my opportunity for real fame. On Mystery Monkey they posted a picture a woman had sent in. She was wearing her MM T-shirt. It was the first picture to come in. I'm telling you, that's 74,999 fans really snoozing. Of course, I haven't even ordered the T-shirt yet. So I'm just snoozing, I'm not even breathing.
Think that was more than three things. But who's counting?
Fried Brains, Fried Eggs, oh yeah, and I fried my arm on a bare light bulb today. I was testing my lamp that has had the switch (the roll kind on the cord) replaced three times because it gets so hot it nigh unto catches on fire. The lamp was on the kitchen counter. Then it came down on the floor to help me see under the stove. No lamp shade. Sizzle. I have to be sure it is safe before I put it in MIL'S room where there is tee in the grout. Oh, I also sliced the meat of my thumb on a sharp edge under the stove. Housework not only kills you and turns your fingers into sausages, but it leaves you bruised and battered, down for the count and war weary. Eating that fruit in the Garden was a VERY BAD idea.
Fried and Frazzled KEM
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Here's something good from Shirley Dobson, which she wrote for the upcoming National Day of Prayer. I was encouraged and hope you will be, too.
Scripture provides abundant evidence that the Lord is attentive to our cries and that He moves powerfully in response to the fervent and contrite prayers of His children. As Martin Luther once said, "Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." What comfort and encouragement we can have in the assurance that our sovereign God is listening to our pleas, that He waits to intervene on our behalf, and that He is "mighty to save" (Zephaniah 3:17).
Well, that is a shot in the arm whether we are praying on behalf of the USA or our family and friends or ourselves personally.
Hey, guess what? I made biscuits tonight. 'Cause I had company tonight. I was going to make my friend's Very Fattening Biscuits. You know, I finally bought the sour cream so I could make them. But the sour cream has been in the fridge unopened ever since and the BEST BY Date is April 4. So, I didn't want to kill the company so I yanked out good old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, America's Favorite since the Mayflower. I knew Pioneer Woman's biscuits use buttermilk, which I don't have. I needed ordinary milk biscuits. The BH&G cookbook's recipe was called Biscuits Supreme. It called for buttermilk, but let you use milk if you are lame, like I am. 1/4 cup less milk. It used butter, not solid shortening.
I am here to tell you, they WERE supreme, the best I ever made. Which got me to thinking, why don't I just stick to the book and take all my recipe clippings littered all over the house and properly dispose of them. My dinner guest was telling how she was invited, way back when, to spend a weekend with a friend from boarding school. My guest was led to believe that the girl practically lived on an estate with stables of horses, where a groom would have your horse waiting for you when you stepped out the front door in the morning. Oh, she couldn't wait for this dreamy weekend.
So, the first clue should have been when the principal called her aside and said, Don't over-expect. Turns out the "estate" was a rundown shack of a house where all the kids used the same bath water and guess who got to go last? I think they had an outhouse, too, and the TP was a Sears' catalog, just rip out a page. Do you see where I am going with this?
Well, what do you expect from someone who made the last two days of housework (changing my sheets and changing the ironing board cover) look like she should receive a medal of valor compared to what was done today. Nothing was done today, except more fiddling with the iron board cover which . . . doesn't . . . quite . . . fit. I don't know what I'm thinking, seriously, I do not. Did Jinny this morning and company this evening. I like to live dangerously, no two ways about it.
Our happy little Rays are on a happy little on-the-road winning campaign. Mystery Monkey is still at large and just celebrated his 75,000 Facebook fan. I should get DTD one of the T-shirts, he, he. Well, that's all the exciting news here in St. Petersburg, Floriday. Except I found a dead rat in the front yard two days ago and forgot to tell Mike about it. Now he is in New Jersey.
Your favorite Bloggetter,
KEM
Scripture provides abundant evidence that the Lord is attentive to our cries and that He moves powerfully in response to the fervent and contrite prayers of His children. As Martin Luther once said, "Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." What comfort and encouragement we can have in the assurance that our sovereign God is listening to our pleas, that He waits to intervene on our behalf, and that He is "mighty to save" (Zephaniah 3:17).
Well, that is a shot in the arm whether we are praying on behalf of the USA or our family and friends or ourselves personally.
Hey, guess what? I made biscuits tonight. 'Cause I had company tonight. I was going to make my friend's Very Fattening Biscuits. You know, I finally bought the sour cream so I could make them. But the sour cream has been in the fridge unopened ever since and the BEST BY Date is April 4. So, I didn't want to kill the company so I yanked out good old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, America's Favorite since the Mayflower. I knew Pioneer Woman's biscuits use buttermilk, which I don't have. I needed ordinary milk biscuits. The BH&G cookbook's recipe was called Biscuits Supreme. It called for buttermilk, but let you use milk if you are lame, like I am. 1/4 cup less milk. It used butter, not solid shortening.
I am here to tell you, they WERE supreme, the best I ever made. Which got me to thinking, why don't I just stick to the book and take all my recipe clippings littered all over the house and properly dispose of them. My dinner guest was telling how she was invited, way back when, to spend a weekend with a friend from boarding school. My guest was led to believe that the girl practically lived on an estate with stables of horses, where a groom would have your horse waiting for you when you stepped out the front door in the morning. Oh, she couldn't wait for this dreamy weekend.
So, the first clue should have been when the principal called her aside and said, Don't over-expect. Turns out the "estate" was a rundown shack of a house where all the kids used the same bath water and guess who got to go last? I think they had an outhouse, too, and the TP was a Sears' catalog, just rip out a page. Do you see where I am going with this?
Well, what do you expect from someone who made the last two days of housework (changing my sheets and changing the ironing board cover) look like she should receive a medal of valor compared to what was done today. Nothing was done today, except more fiddling with the iron board cover which . . . doesn't . . . quite . . . fit. I don't know what I'm thinking, seriously, I do not. Did Jinny this morning and company this evening. I like to live dangerously, no two ways about it.
Our happy little Rays are on a happy little on-the-road winning campaign. Mystery Monkey is still at large and just celebrated his 75,000 Facebook fan. I should get DTD one of the T-shirts, he, he. Well, that's all the exciting news here in St. Petersburg, Floriday. Except I found a dead rat in the front yard two days ago and forgot to tell Mike about it. Now he is in New Jersey.
Your favorite Bloggetter,
KEM
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
"House Shaping Up" Progress Report for impending mother-in-law visit: Cleaned up my ironing board, which resides in a bedroom corner upstairs, which my MIL has never been upstairs in my house in her life, except maybe before I married her son she took a gander, when just he lived here, for the one week before the wedding, ha. I have been wanting to do this smallish task for, oh, many, many months. See, many months ago I washed my old ironing cover and the felt pad beneath it. Remember, the felt pad came out looking like Swiss cheese. The only problem with my accomplishment today is that now I might have to actually start ironing. And, just so you know, the new ironing board cover doesn't . . . quite . . . fit. Funsville. Well, maybe now I can iron the placemats. Honestly, when you don't use things for years, like placemats waiting to be pressed, and then you finally get around to it, well then they seem like brand new again. What are these?, you say? Aren't they pretty? And they may as well be brand spankin' new, for all anyone knows. Kind of a good system.
Sweet Tulsa sent me an alert today. She picked up that I was going to use her chocolate gravy on ice cream. She set me straight. Chocolate gravy does not go on ice cream, no, it goes on biscuits for a breakfast treat. Furthermore, you add a pat of butter in the middle of the chocolate puddle flowing over the sides of the biscuit. And then it's total YUM-O.
You will be getting a series of blogettes for the next few days, I am certain. I have just fully squandered two days of MIL preparation on changing my sheets and changing the ironing board cover, two items that will impress my MIL for sure, seeing that that makes such a dent in the deep cleaning, you know, and that she won't ever know, you further know. Okay, this blog is going downhill fast. DTD thinks I'm crazy. Maybe she is correct. It wouldn't be the first time.
Chattahoochee KEM
Sweet Tulsa sent me an alert today. She picked up that I was going to use her chocolate gravy on ice cream. She set me straight. Chocolate gravy does not go on ice cream, no, it goes on biscuits for a breakfast treat. Furthermore, you add a pat of butter in the middle of the chocolate puddle flowing over the sides of the biscuit. And then it's total YUM-O.
You will be getting a series of blogettes for the next few days, I am certain. I have just fully squandered two days of MIL preparation on changing my sheets and changing the ironing board cover, two items that will impress my MIL for sure, seeing that that makes such a dent in the deep cleaning, you know, and that she won't ever know, you further know. Okay, this blog is going downhill fast. DTD thinks I'm crazy. Maybe she is correct. It wouldn't be the first time.
Chattahoochee KEM
Monday, April 19, 2010
Drum roll, please . . .
Here, finally, is Sweet Tulsa's Mother's Chocolate Gravy Mix:
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
8 Tblsp flour
salt
To make gravy -- put into skillet or pan 1/2 cup mix and 2 cups milk (add slowly). Stir well, cooking until thickened. Add vanilla and butter to taste.
I think this calls for some Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream.
Today I judged some elementary piano students at my old school. This campus has atmosphere. It's tucked away and draped in Spanish moss. Well, the highlight was when I asked one little girl how many kids were in her 4th grade. She, who was chubby and friendly and jolly looking, with rosy cheeks and a long blond braid down her back, said, Sixteen. I said, Do they have two 4th grades? Oh yes, she replied earnestly, with big eyes and wisdom beyond her years, One class would be a train wreck.
Ha, ha, I can see stuffing the two classes into one would be nothing but a train wreck. It's interesting to me how classes have personalities. My class was really laid back, even sort of boring (the individuals were far from boring, but somehow has a unit nothing much happened), even in high school the guys sat on one side of the room and the girls on the other. Mr. Allison our teacher thought something was wrong with us, LOL. My sister's class was super silly. Some classes are really rowdy. But 32 kids in a classroom, HELP! Of course, in days gone by I do believe that was an average size class.
I worked hard getting ready for my mother-in-law to visit. And in the end the only thing that happened was the sheets on my bed got changed. Hoping for better things tomorrow.
KEM of unceasing hope
Here, finally, is Sweet Tulsa's Mother's Chocolate Gravy Mix:
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
8 Tblsp flour
salt
To make gravy -- put into skillet or pan 1/2 cup mix and 2 cups milk (add slowly). Stir well, cooking until thickened. Add vanilla and butter to taste.
I think this calls for some Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream.
Today I judged some elementary piano students at my old school. This campus has atmosphere. It's tucked away and draped in Spanish moss. Well, the highlight was when I asked one little girl how many kids were in her 4th grade. She, who was chubby and friendly and jolly looking, with rosy cheeks and a long blond braid down her back, said, Sixteen. I said, Do they have two 4th grades? Oh yes, she replied earnestly, with big eyes and wisdom beyond her years, One class would be a train wreck.
Ha, ha, I can see stuffing the two classes into one would be nothing but a train wreck. It's interesting to me how classes have personalities. My class was really laid back, even sort of boring (the individuals were far from boring, but somehow has a unit nothing much happened), even in high school the guys sat on one side of the room and the girls on the other. Mr. Allison our teacher thought something was wrong with us, LOL. My sister's class was super silly. Some classes are really rowdy. But 32 kids in a classroom, HELP! Of course, in days gone by I do believe that was an average size class.
I worked hard getting ready for my mother-in-law to visit. And in the end the only thing that happened was the sheets on my bed got changed. Hoping for better things tomorrow.
KEM of unceasing hope
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