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Archive through March 13, 2006

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan. 2007 ~ Mar. 2007: Home and Garden: TVCH's Home & Life Organization (ARCHIVES): Archive through March 13, 2006 users admin

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Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Monday, January 30, 2006 - 10:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Serate a private message Print Post    
Does anyone know how to get those flylady reminders off the Yahoo calender? There is so much on there, I can't see the forest for the trees.

Maybe FlyLady needs to work on not creating electronic clutter.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 7:45 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Hmmm, I don't have that feature, Lum, so I have no idea. Is the point that you want the Yahoo calendar, but you don't want all the reminders?

My banker is coming for a 6 p.m. meeting here in my dining room tonight. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Anyway, I was feeling quite nervous about the housecleaning aspects and decided that I would just wait until this morning to deal with it... Thing is, that there is nothing to "deal with." Thank God for having plans and procedures in place...the only thing I have NOT done faithfully on this plan is to get dressed to shoes every day. But I assure you that I will have done that by 6 tonight! LOL

It is quiet in here...where's Laurie? Everybody? Anybody?

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 6:13 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Let me just say that if your banker ever wants to meet you at 6 in your dining room, forget it! What a fiasco that turned out to be. Sometimes all that we have to do is to bite the proverbial bullet and not be too interested in the "quick fix." Too bad that my house was clean for this snake-in-the-grass.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Friday, February 03, 2006 - 7:46 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Okay, on to more edifying things...

Just wanted to share this new web site that Marla (FlyLady) is endorsing. It's from one of the original SHE's that you may have heard of...the ones whom Marla considered her mentors...I thought it was fun and I think you might, too. So visit *The Brat Factor* when you have time to explore.

Happy fluttering today!

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Friday, February 03, 2006 - 5:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
The day may have started out slow, but we made up for it. We tamed our inner brats and egged eachother on to get some serious housework done, 15 mins at a time. We flew!!! Good thing, too or I wouldn't have made it out of those comfy jammies again today.LOL

From your lips to Flylady's ear, Serate! At first I kinda liked those reminders on the Yahoo calender, but now they are just annoying and I want to get rid of them; just can't figure out how.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 9:06 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Hiya, Lum...hadn't noticed you there. You know, after chatting yesterday, I realized that I could benefit from the Baby Beginner Steps all over again. Thought I'd provide the link in case anyone else was in the boat with me.

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 9:29 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
LOL, that's what I have been doing the last few weeks, adding a new old habit` to the routine, since I had gotten quite sloppy in that department. Thought I was the only one.

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 12:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
Hi Lum and Vee! (Hi to everyone else too!) Sorry to have been gone so long. I've lurked a bit. I really want to be back and I hope others stay!

Vee, thanks for the links. I put the Brat website and Flylady's baby steps on my favorites to look at later. I have to get my butt in gear! I was so motivated for so long but real life just didn't give me enough hours. I haven't been motivated much the past couple of weeks. Our garage is never going to get redone at this rate. I told my two youngest that they are going to help me out there today. That is the only way we can turn it into a master suite so they can have their own rooms, I just don't have the time to do it all by myself. It has a lot more stuff in it since we cleaned it mostly out a few mos. ago. We did rent a storage unit and so the Christmas stuff etc. can go there. Maybe today will give me some motivation back. I forgot my 12 yr. old has a horse back riding lesson today and will stay a few hours to greet a new horse arriving. But, they don't have school tomorrow so they can stay up late and have free time late and still help me with the garage later this afternoon.

Another thing about my two youngest, they really want our Christmas light down. Yep, they are still up. I took all the extra decorations down before my daughter's birthday (she begged me) which was Feb. 2. The outside house lights are still up along with the huge Ho Ho Ho in lights on the front of the garage. I am going to attempt to get that down today. I don't have tools though, so we'll see how it goes.

Vee, not only did I not mail the Christmas cards to Noel, I didn't even get them in the mail in time for anyone to get them by Christmas. They did all get them a day or two later though. I think that is becoming a tradition for me. I am determined not to have stressful holidays though. I figure, I never mind getting Christmas cards late.

I hope LK is doing well. LK, if you're around, we'd love to hear from you! I read all the way back to the last time I posted and am surprised to see nothing from her.

I love baskets too, but I don't have a lot of them anymore and didn't use them for storage so much before. I may again someday. I used big ones for kids stuff, board books and toys, etc. on the floor when they were really little. The dog has the only one left on the floor now. It's for her toys. I am always tempted at craft stores when they have sales. I still have a lot of decluttering to do before I give in to the temptation though.

Scout and Biloxi, your china is beautiful.

War, your gladware story made me smile!

Landi, your posts on never being clutter free reminded me of something I read recently and shared with my husband and three kids (15,12, and 9). It is written by Don Aslett in his book (one of many) called Is There Life After Housework. There is a section called "The root of housework evil". He says "Do you want to know what the biggest ugliest housework problem is? It's that 90% of all housework is caused by men and children - and 90% of all housework is done by women." He goes on to talk about how he "once viewed, with a certain critical eye, (his) wife and other women struggling feverishly to get the housework finished. (He) ached to jump in and show those "disorganized gals" how an expert could square things away." He soon had his opportunity when his wife went out of town. About his first day he wrote "The most famous house cleaner and best organizer in the West...had accomplished nothing!" (his day went 4am -midnight) I don't have the book. I was reading inside it on Amazon.com. I don't know why either. Anyway, when I read it, I knew I wanted to share it here. About a month or so I borrowed from the library the huge book on organizing by Peter Walsh (do I have the name right?) from Clean Sweep. I just renewed it for the second time. I haven't read any of it, but I want to.

Lum, you asked long ago tips on getting my husband to help clean out the garage. Well...counseling for one! I am joking and also not joking. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary and have been in counseling for about 16 mos. I had been trying to get him to go for years. It is hard, but we have had a history of mostly non communication. So, things are very slowly improving. I honestly think that although I never say anything to try to make him feel guilty about things, I think guilt does help him pitch in more. When I've had almost no free time for days (little for many years actually), and he comes home from work and spends hours and hours watching tv or playing computer games and I am constantly doing something like cleaning or checking homework or one of the hundreds of other things to help out our family and not just me, I think he's finally noticing and pitching in more. You probably weren't asking for such a detailed answer Lum! (oh, I do now take some free time for myself too and the kids have been doing more chores too in addition to their regular weekly vacuuming and dusting of the house not just their rooms etc. that they've done for a couple years at least. I tried calling the chores "cleaning activities", but it never caught on).

Lum, you also gave me some advice about the remodeling with blinders on! I agree! My husband remodeled our kitchen about two yrs. ago. It was completely gutted and we were without a range or cook top for about 2 mos, I think. Almost that long anyway if not more. It was hard, it was messy etc. We did ok. The blinders are good advice.

I will take pics of our garage remodel and figure out how to post them.

It feels good to post in here again. Just since the beginning of my post, I feel more motivated.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 12:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Hi yourself, Happymom.

Don Aslett makes a lot of great points and the one above is rich. Wish that more men would discover that truth. If it had not been for one of Aslett's earlier books, Do I Dust or Vacuum First? (Dust ), I would have no idea the how-tos of cleaning. My parents were good at telling us to do something, but not great at showing us so I found that I was almost totally ignorant when I became responsible for a home.

Oh, ever see Aslett's home? I saw it on some program...the most bland, modernistic, futuristic, unusual home I have ever seen. It was his own creation and was basically designed to be hosed down. LOL!

Glad that your dh is catching on, even slowly catching on is progress, eh? Best wishes as you continue your garage remodeling. Looking forward to pics and should you need any help with resizing and posting them, just give a holler.

Lum has been baking...I am been goofing...and what in the world is everyone else up to? Lk, hope that all is well with you.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 2:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tabbyking a private message Print Post    
did anyone else join the organizational program at hgtv? it's free. i signed on. it's a 6-week program that starts on march 2. i think they said 600,000 people have signed up to learn how to declutter and organize!
if you are interested, go to www.hgtv.com

Dipo
Member

04-23-2002

Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 6:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dipo a private message Print Post    
Tabby, I couldn't figure out where to sign up. Does it have a special name?

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Friday, February 24, 2006 - 8:34 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
I see the neat section on organizing, but I can't find the sign-up either, Tabby. Thanks for the link...it's great.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 8:10 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
That link has been a lot of fun...I have spent too much time there digging around. The closet shelves are making me envious because I have a wire closet organizer that is not nearly as nice or protective of things.

We're doing some recipe organizing around here. I like my recipes on recipe cards, preferably attractive ones, and placed in a photo album where I can slide the cards into the photo slots. I want to print my typed recipes (thanks, Lum) to a card and print them off.

*Here's a site* that I found that offers a free selection of recipe cards, shopping lists, gift tags, whatever. One of the recipe cards is plain so that computer recipes can be copied and pasted to it and then printed off. Thought someone else might benefit from this as well.

Should've checked out the FlyLady site earlier for the fun February scavenger hunt. I suppose I could do the entire month before March breezes in. LOL! Happy fluttering!

Dipo
Member

04-23-2002

Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 6:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dipo a private message Print Post    
Well, I have finally hung my new spice rack, had to take the first one down, and then hang them both (the first one wouldn't hold everything). It is so cool now, to have the spice racks on the pantry door, which frees up a bunch of room on my shelves. I have been wanting to do this for a long time!!

It has also helped in that I have been finding food I won't ever use or eat and some other stuff that I can donate to the food bank!!

Everyone keep up the great work!

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Monday, February 27, 2006 - 11:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
Vee, no I've never seen D. Aslett's house. I have to say, in some ways, I think I'd like it, but in others it sounds too minimalist for me, especially with his 6 kids. I am curious though, I think I'll try to find a picture of it. "Designed to be hosed down" is not really the look I'm going for. Thanks for the offer to help me with the pictures, I appreciate that. I may need to take you up on that. Thanks for that cool website too.

Tabby, that hgtv organizational program sounds very interesting.

Dipo, good job with the donating food. I need to do that too.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Friday, March 03, 2006 - 9:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
C Were you at all successful finding a photo, Happymom? I have tried and have only come up with the one you see here, which is an example of *Suspended Seating*. Aslett advocates it because there's no shuffling of chairs about. Now, I can see it at a library or a school cafeteria, but for home use it seems a bit over the top. Course, it would save time.

Don't forget to check out *FlyLady's March Habit*.
January - Shining your Sink
February - Decluttering for 15 minutes a day
March - Dressing to shoes every day

I didn't find a scavenger hunt for March, but February's was great if you need a fun way to get rid of a bunch of stuff. That reminds me of the title of one of Aslett's books..."Lose 200 lbs This Weekend" LOL!

Dipo, I'd love to see a photo of your new spice rack situation. I wish that I could come up with a way to store spices that would be more efficient in my small kitchen.

Happy fluttering, everybody!

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Monday, March 06, 2006 - 10:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
Vee, I did find something. http://www.aslett.com/
Click on home tour of hawaii house on this page or next page. Keep clicking next to see other pictures. I didn't see the one above there though although I think it was mentioned. That is a beautiful exhaust for the cooktop with the granite wall behind it. My first thought about the suspended seating was "cool!" I can see pros and cons to that, especially with his 6 kids. The more I look at that photo though, the less I like it. We have a kitchen island, smaller than that. I need to be able to move the stools around to use as seating or little tables in other places at times. Dog hair is always stuck to the bottom of the stool legs, the above seating sure would prevent that.

When you mentioned that Aslett book, it reminded me of the many book titles I saw when trying to find photos of his house. There were so many good ones, I'd love to have time to read them all. I am one of those people that if I see the word organize or clutter on the front of a magazine, it usually makes me pick it up. Actually, I think I really wish that just seeing/reading those books would translate into no more clutter/total efficiency here.

I just looked around on fly lady a bit. That kitchen island of mine is the worst hot spot ever. I have to deal with it today because my avon stuff will be in tomorrow. The island is very close to my front door.

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
fd


For Vee....here are 2 very pathetic looking feather dusters. They better look a lot better after drying and being steamed to poooooooofiness as per instructions. Mine are not flylady, but still ostrich, from South Africa I just found out.

Surprisingly, since I have been working with them for 2 years now, the water was not very dirty at all. I could have probably gotten away with just steaming them to splendour again.

To be continued.....

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Oh my! They look like drowned rats. The water wasn't dirty? Blast! You really do keep a clean house, don'tcha?!

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
And they s-t-i-n-k!!!!!!!!!!!! Had to bring the Lysol can out, which only helped temporarily. Ivan suggested hanging them outside - fry-dry 'em, he said. These South African ostriches just aren't used to rain, I guess.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landi a private message Print Post    
well i'm sure they smell just like a south african ostrich's butt. WELL HELLO! ya think the south african ostrichs said "oh give me a bath before you pull out my tail feathers to send to some lady in canada to dust her house?" ROFLMAO!!!!!! i couldn't resist and now i'm <running very fast> so i don't get slapped up the backside of my head.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
LOL! Did you dry them with the hair blower or are you leaving them to dry like that?

Here are *FlyLady's directions*. Not that you need them or anything....LOLOLOL

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
landi, they didn't start stinking until they were washed!!!!!!!
Vee, the instructions said to air-dry them and then steam them back to fluffiness. No mention of that wet ostrich butt stink.

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
I think that you can safely speed up the process, Lum. It'll take forever to get them dry like that! And, the added benefit will be no more stinky ostrich butt aroma.

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
I am not going near them until they smell better, Vee. I'll just close the bathroom door, turn on the fan and use the other bathroom.