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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 4:30 am
Maybe a dumb question, LK, but how do you clean the duster? And does it get into tight spaces? Our household doesn't (ordinarily) generate much trash. I fact we put out trash only once a week even though it's picked up twice a week. But I'm happy to cut down on expenses.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 8:26 am
Luck, LK!!! BTW, what are Elba drawers? My linen closet pantry could use a little help in arranging all those different supplies. It's so full it's hard to oversee. Care to share that Lemon Fish Recipe? Purple, that skin cell thing may be all you are dusting, but the parallel street to ours has been closed off for constructing a Home Depot which increases traffic around here. Wish all I were dusting lately was skin.LOL ACK!!! Can't find the link to the following, but I copied this off the Flylady site some time ago: "Caring for Your FlyLady Feather Duster Keep four things in mind when using your duster: If the area you are dusting for the first time is kind of greasy or really thick with dust, wash the area first with your rag and an all purpose cleaner or dusting polish. Then use your duster to keep the dust away! Do not use any dusting sprays on your feather duster. These are not necessary. The natural ostrich feathers create their own static to pick up the dust. Gently move your duster across the area your are dusting. Once it has picked up the dust, go outside and shake out the duster (bless the world). Washing Your Feather Duster So, you think your duster is dirty and needs a bath? This is actually not something you need to do very often. I have had my duster for over a year, and it has not been "bathed" yet. But, if your duster has been dragged through mud, jam, and other sticky smelly stuff, have no fear, you can wash it! I have never actually washed a duster before, so you will have to bear with me. Some people choose to fill their sink with warm soapy water (mild dishsoap or baby shampoo works well), and then they gently swish the duster in the water to loosen the dirt and the trapped dust. I chose to wash this duster with running water. I washed the feathers gently with some dish soap. Be careful not to break the feathers. Then rinse with water and gently squeeze out the excess soap and water. Now, you can either stand the feather duster up in a vase and let it dry overnight (ploof it up with the blow dryer the next morning), or you can be impatient like me and take the hair dryer to it. I used my timer to see just how long it would take to dry. After the first minute, I have to honestly say, it still looks like a wet rodent with a wooden tail! Three minutes, and then six minutes later it is starting to look a little better. Hmmmm, this takes longer to dry than my hair! After about 10 minutes, the FlyLady Feather Duster is back to its former glory. It got a little "staticky" while I was drying it, so I waved it across the steam over a pot of boiling water. That added a touch of humidity to the duster, and the feathers stopping sticking to each other."
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 10:37 am
I live in a hermetically sealed house, Lum. Air conditioning on 10 months a year and heat on for 2. Sometimes windows get opened for a week or two in October or November and then again in March or April. But not usually. I don't like the idea of shaking out the duster outdoors. I even hate shaking out the rugs outdoors. I always come back in choking and gagging. But I think I'll give it a try. I guess it should stay in the garage when I'm not using it because of the 2 grandchildren with asthma?
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 11:24 am
Purple: It does get into tight spaces--which thrills me to no end. I don't know if it would have to live in the garage. I currently have it in a vase on the entertainment center and the cats are forever burrowing their faces in it. None of them sneeze--not even the one WITH dust allergies. Elba is the brand of wire baskets with runners that Organized Living sells. I have one tower that I absolutely love, and since they are sturdy, and reusable, I wouldn't mind getting them for the cabinets. We tend to generate trash when we do convenience foods. It's my hope that once I get the house cleaned out that our trash amounts go way down.
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 11:41 am
Every once in a while I think about going back to cooking again. And then I think better of it. A bowl of soup and a sandwich or salad doesn't take much time or generate much trash and it's all we need.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 11:48 am
LOL. I find that when I cook, I generate a lot less garbage. I also tend to lose weight, and DH's blood pressure is lower. So, for us, my cooking is really about the only option. That's not to say that it is that way for everyone...just me.
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 12:27 pm
LK, I think you eat a lot less as you get older. I have coffee and a bowl of soup for breakfast. DH goes to Denny's for what I call his "Old Farts Club" and has coffee and a bowl of grits. If I have lunch it's usually some celery sticks dunked in blue cheese dressing or whole wheat toast spread with Laughing Cow cheese. DH forages for his own lunch, so I'm not always sure what he's eating and, since he cleans up after himself, I don't see the evidence. Supper, as I said, is usually soup and/or sandwich and/or salad. I'm sure that if I got even a modicum of exercise I'd lose a lot of weight but I'm very sedentary. Except when I'm in a cleaning frenzy. Right now I'm making myself go into my office and do SOMEthing whenever there's a commercial on. Little by little it gets done. I know when I get into the sewing room I'll be in a frenzy because I really do want to get back to sewing. But I'm not letting myself do the sewing room until all the other rooms are finished. I still get pleasure looking at the oiled and polished dining room table and hutch. I'm determined not to let it get piled up again.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 1:12 pm
Purple: That is entirely possible on the eating. I am the same way with my kitchen--I don't want to see anything messing it up. I talked to DH about putting narrow shelves under the breakfast bar (we can't use it for eating; it tilts from left to right and from back to front, so whatever you're eating lands on the floor next to you) and he supported it. I'm going to put my books there. (DH's are in his office, but there is definitely no room for mine in there. In fact, there's barely room for HIM in the office.) That gives me more room in the chifferobe for art supplies, so that will be a good thing.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 2:01 pm
Purple, all I do is vigourously rub the handle of the duster between my hands to clean it out. The trick is to know where the wind is coming from.LOL Then it gets hung up in the closet. Don't think you'll have to worry about the grandkids too much. The only spot in my house I can't get it to slip in is on top of the fridge. There is very little room between it and the cabinet. As for airflow in the house, I made sure our new windows open a lot more than the old ones. I like the house well aired, even in winter. Unfortunately, dust is a side effect of that, but for me the lesser of 2 evils.LOL Our city has started recycling - finally! So we do the compost, paper, plastic/tin thing. The plastic/tin bin is forever full although I tend to cook from scratch. With DH refusing to go back on his Lipitor I have to use every trick in the book to lower fat intake, and DS is still living at home, too. So full and nutritious meals are still important around here. Not that we don't cheat here and there, esp. on weekends. Perhaps in time manufacturers will become more environmentally conscious. They did in Europe once hte onus of paying for the recycling of their packaging was put back onto them. Making the consumer pay for levies does not force the manufacturer to refrain from using "sham packaging" (all box, little content). It has to hurt their bottom line.
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Monday, May 17, 2004 - 5:10 pm
Okay, dusters are ordered. I'm a collector and if the dusters make dusting all my stuff easier, THAT will be a blessing! Cereal, not soup, for breakfast. Maybe the dusters will sweep the cobwebs out of my brain.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - 12:02 pm
A segment of the letter I sent to Marla today: "I wasn't happy with my sink, so I decided to do the full cleaning and apply the turtle wax to it. I wanted you (well, your sink trap) to have a nice shiny home. "What I didn't think about was the effect it would have on my spouse. He has come to accept the FlyLady icon as a reminder to either do something, or to NOT do something. He came to me in a dither last night: 'I can't do this anymore.' "'What can't you do anymore?' I asked. "'I can't handle trying to clean the sink out around the dishes. But if I don't SHE stares at me.' "I suggested that he put the dishes in the dishwasher and then wipe out the sink. He sighed and noted that his life was much easier before FlyLady because then he didn't feel he had to do anything about the apartment. 'But now, she stares at me like I should know that it isn't just your job to keep the house cleaned up after me and that I should clean up after myself.' "I have to tell you, Marla, I have noticed that he is cleaning up after himself more, but I never thought it was the clings (and now the strainer) causing it. Maybe I should order more clings!"
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 3:01 am
LOL, LK! You are too funny!
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 8:24 pm
So far, no response from Marla, but that's fine. I am amazed at how well this is really working. I've been feeling horrible all week--I'm hoping that with my meds now coursing through my body, I'll be able to finish off the dining room.
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Autumn
Member
10-29-2003
| Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 8:33 pm
LK ~ your DH is too funny! I love the letter, can't wait to hear the response!!! You take it easy - I MEAN IT! Don't make me fly there and force you!  (((LK))) (and hey, toss a "cling" into the dining room and maybe he'll handle that too. lol!)
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 9:57 pm
ROFL. I've thought about that. Actually, I think that when I finish decluttering the junk that he will be more prone to helping with clean-up. Me? Take things easy? What does that mean?
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Spinner
Member
10-27-2003
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 5:46 am
I went to Pittsburgh for a conference for three days and I came home to a shiny sink! (And a made bed.) My DH may not have caught on to what I'm doing (he's the one, you may remember, who has "noticed nothing,") but he's apparently absorbed enough to keep up with the essentials. I thanked him mightily for the good job he'd done with the house while I was away.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 8:25 am
Lk, hope you will be feeling better very soon. Keeping my fingers crossed on your worse half helping you out more. Just in case I'd keep the clings handy though. Let the Flylady guilt him into it if he starts slacking off.LOL "Taking it easy" is what we used to do pre- and then again post decluttering (at least that's what I am hoping, will let you know whenever I have finished those outer reaches like storage room, garage, shed. )
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 12:05 pm
Wow! That was FAST! My dusters arrived this morning. Now I'll have to wait around until something gets dusty again so I can try them out.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 1:06 pm
Purple: Did you find your FlyLady cling? Lumbele: Taking it easy = sitting on your butt? I can do that. Where did you find the cool smileys? The ones on smileycentral say they can't be used here.
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 2:07 pm
I did find it, LK. Where shall I put it? It just sticks to slick stuff? Send yourself an email with all the smileys you like in it. When you receive the email, right click on each smiley and save it as a GIF (or JPG, but most of them are GIFs). Then you can stick them in wherever you want.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 6:48 pm
Lk, I have a whole collection of smileys which I have either stolen from other posters or found at different googled sites including smiley central. Just right click them, "save as" or "copy" and paste to your computer. P.S. you hit that definition right on the nose.LOL Purple, come on over with your duster. I got plenty for you swing those feathers at.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Friday, May 21, 2004 - 10:35 pm
Purple: It will stick to ANYTHING and everything and will not take any paint off. I have one on my kitchen counter, one that rotates on the outside of the laundry closet door and the inside. (While climbing Mount Washmore, I occasionally forget the last load. If Flylady is visible, laundry is in progress.) I have another one that rotates to whatever the procrastination project is for the week. Coolness. I tried saving one of the animated gifs, but it didn't save well at all. Will they animate later, or is it a lost cause?
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 5:58 am
LK, the gifs don't animate until you put them somewhere. I like the idea about the laundry. I've been know to leave a load in the washing machine for more than a week. With just the two of us left we don't make enough laundry to wash every week.
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Spinner
Member
10-27-2003
| Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 7:27 am
Be careful where you put your flylady clingie on the dishwasher. I accidentally put mine too close to one of the vents where the steam escapes when the load is drying and (sob!) the escaping steam took all the color out of my flylady. I was left with this white thing.
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Purplecow
Member
12-08-2003
| Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 9:58 am
Dishwasher? In our house that would be DH, so I understand what you mean about not putting it too close to where the hot air escapes! 
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