Puttering, Tidying, and a Solution to the Mystery!

 Ok, I have a new plan.  Ever since I broke my arm a year and a half ago or so, I have become much more sedentary.  It is easy to do when your knees hurt and your feet hurt and your arm doesn’t work and it has become my new “state of being”.  I feel my physical strength and stamina ebbing away and, honestly, I think I am harboring some simmering depression.  I am not happy about any of this because it is taking a toll on everything.

So, as I said in an earlier post, I am making an attempt to accommodate these physical changes so I will be more apt to move around and regain some strength and stamina instead of just sitting around crying into the cookie jar.  Yes, cookies are my weakness and my go-to comfort food.  Aren’t they good and so convenient!  I digress.

So, I did a fair amount of thinking yesterday about my mom, how I grew up, how she approached things (when she was young and well) and I realized that I am holding those standards as the norm and not taking into account the differences in, well, almost everything.

When I was a child my mother was death on a clean house.  When I say clean I mean she bleached everything.  I still can’t stand the smell of bleach, by the way.  She would clean house daily.  We didn’t have a washer so she washed clothes in the huge, cast iron kitchen sink, hung them out, starched, sprinkled and ironed them all in a day.  She cooked all our food from scratch.  She was a domestic powerhouse.  She was also 5’1” and weighed 108.  She was like Peter Pan.

Our house was also 950 sq. ft. of post-war tract housing — two bedrooms, one bathroom, living room/dining combo and kitchen.  My house is 3900 square feet on two levels — four bedrooms, four bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, game room and media room.  Over kill much?  Uh, yeah, but I needed to move closer to my kids and my husband would only consider it if there was something in it for him and this house has a 5 car garage.  So, you can see how this went.

There is no way I can clean this house every day.  And we are messy — by “we” I mean “he”.  So…….I need a plan.  And I have one.

Remember “Fly Lady”?  Yeah, I didn’t get it either.  It simply didn’t make any sense to me but there are a couple of things about it that I did find useful.

The main thing is “get dressed to your shoes”.  I am positive that if I get dressed — all the way dressed — first thing in the morning — hair, makeup, etc — I am much more productive.  

And the whole premise is establishing a habit — like making the bed when you get out of it — even if you fall out of it.  That sort of thing.

I am also a firm believer in doing laundry daily and not waiting until you have everything in the house to wash.  That is just too labor intensive.  My husband doesn’t agree with my thoughts on it, he says it is wasteful, and I reminded him that they have water levels to choose from for that very reason.  I plan to continue with my way of doing laundry.  

So, anyway, I am calling my method of housecleaning Puttering, Tidying and Clean It When You See It.  I am going to devote a day a week to sprucing up the two bedrooms that are guest rooms and nobody goes into.  They need to be dusted and vacuumed and that shouldn’t take too long.  I might even been able to get both done in one day.

The study — my husbands space — well, there is no hope for it but I do need to throw things away on my desk.  Yes, I have a little corner of the study for my own.  Maybe I can set an example for him.  hahah! I have been setting an example for 50 years and his mother’s hoarder tendencies are just too strong for me to overcome.

Then, I need to spend a day, or an hour out of a day, sprucing up the entry and dining room.  Again, we don’t really use those rooms much so it shouldn’t be such a big deal.

That leaves the majority of time spent on our main living space which requires something daily.  It may be dusting or running the vacuum because Trixie likes to carry kibble all over.  Sometimes I think she thinks she is a squirrel storing up for the winter.  

Anyway, I think I can just about manage this plan if I don’t let my mother into my brain.  She was 30 when she was doing her domestic chores — I am 72.  I think it is like comparing apples to oranges.  I could do the same when I was 30 with a smaller house and lots less stuff.  But, that was then and this is now and I think I have to adapt and adjust and change my way of thinking.

Today starts the great clean out.  It is really time to do some purging.  I am feeling good about it and don’t think it will take too long.  

I also have a plan for some of the multitude of fabric that I have.  I used to quilt.  I don’t anymore but I have lots of fabric.  I also, sometimes, seem to be sensitive to tissues so, at one point, I made some flannel hankies and I love them.  I googled what kind of fabric to make regular hankies out of and lo and behold it said nice quilting cotton!  I mean, handkerchief linen would be great but I have LOTS of cotton so I am going to make handkerchiefs.  And maybe some cup towels.  It is better than just donating the fabric and I think I can get my head around  sewing four hems.  Even if I do them by hand which should be relaxing.  

So, that is on my list of things to do.  The hurdle is making myself do it because my joints hurt so much but they aren’t hurting any less by just sitting — in fact, I think they are worse.

Now, I think I have figured out why we have both fallen out of the bed.  Recently we bought new beds — we sleep in twins because our sleep requirements are completely different — and we bought adjustable bed frames.  We have both slept with our heads raised and I think it is putting us at a weird angle and it makes it hard to turn over.  I am a side sleeper and I think the other night I had slid way down in the bed and when I tried to turn over I was on the angle and I think that is why I fell.  Last night I slept flat and didn’t have any problems so I think it had to do with the bed being raised.  I mean, seriously, I have been sleep in a bed without sides for about  70 years and don’t ever remember falling out — now, with these new beds we both fall out?  Coincidence?  I think not.

Ok, off to putter and tidy!  Have a wonderful day!