Friday, February 14, 2020

Clean on Friday

Today, I spent a relaxed morning, enjoying a cup of tea, replying to blog comments, reading other blogs, etc.  Breakfast was a bowl of sauteed garbanzo beans.

In the afternoon, I did some cleaning.  I started with my bathroom, dusted the top of my chest of drawers, tidied my desk, did more paperwork and filing, hand washed the last wool sweater, and dusted the living room and the dining area.  The dusting wasn't on my To Do List for today, but, one of the down sides of keeping windows open to air out the house is it gets dusty quickly.

Lunch was a bowl of salad.  Dancer enjoyed his own salad of three spinach leaves without any dressing (he would have eaten more, but, that's all I feel comfortable giving him at one time). 

Later, I showed gardener friend M the round piece of metal (the unidentified flying object) and, together, we decided that it was what some of you had suggested it was - the top of a chimney.  Not from any of my chimneys, but, from one of my neighbor's (which is probably why it landed in her backyard and not mine).  We put it in the recycling bin!   I also showed him the lantana plants that had yellowing leaves and seem to be withering, and we checked for spider mites, but, we didn't find any.  We are going to leave them in place and see if they revive.  After that, he tidied the garden for me.

After tea, I watched news and went through three file folders and decluttered them.  Decluttering my file cabinet is a long term project!  I keep too many papers, but, I am getting better at  tossing old papers.  Later, I practiced the piano.

For dinner, I made coconut flat bread (pol roti) and had them with some of the beef curry my friend had brought to the prayer gathering.  I had some avocado pudding for dessert. 

Today, I am grateful for:
- A sunny, warm day
- What I was able to accomplish
- My heated rice filled neck warmer
- M helping with the garden
- Medications I no longer need to take

Today's joyful activity was reading a magazine (as part of my birthday gift, last year, my daughter gave me subscriptions to four magazines, so I receive new magazines to read each month!)


Friday's To Do List:
- Clean my bathroom - DONE
- Continue to tidy my bedroom - DID SOME (wiped the top of the chest of drawers, tidied my desk)
- More paperwork/filing - DONE
- Practice the piano - DONE
- Have M  check on the lantana and pot up the rooted lemongrass plant - DONE; decided it was too cold at night, still, to plant the lantana, outside.

Saturday's To Do List:
- Vacuum
- Finish tidying my bedroom (dressing table top).

How was your Friday?  Did you celebrate St. Valentine's Day?  What are your plans for the weekend?

24 comments:

  1. Nice that the UFO mystery was solved! Too bad about more dusting. I don't like to do that chore at all. I am glad you are making time to practice. Playing is good for the soul!

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    1. I'm relieved that the UFO didn't fall off my roof! I go through phases with the dusting. I'm often quite good at turning a blind eye to it, but, once a surface has been cleaned, then, I like to keep it that way. Besides, now that I am playing the piano on a regular basis, I like to have it dust free. Yes, playing is good for the soul. :)

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  2. I love homemade flat bread served with curry, so yum! I should try to make the one you mentioned,too. Have a lovely day☺

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    1. If you wish to make the coconut flat bread, I posted my directions for making it, here:

      https://bless2cents.blogspot.com/2016/09/coconut-flat-bread.html

      I don't have a recipe, as such, because I rarely measure things when I cook, especially Sri Lankan food (but, there are probably recipes online, if you want more exact measurements). Today, I made the roti with whole wheat flour (trying to eat a little bit more healthily!)

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  3. The annoying thing about housework is that it never stays done. As you're doing it, you always know that you'll have to do it again soon! You seem to be doing really well with staying on top of your cleaning routine. Are you pleased with how it's going?

    I envy your sunny day. We are in the midst of Storm Dennis ... the house is rattling all around me and I can't settle to anything so I am hoping it blows through quickly.

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    1. LOL, yes, housework never stays done, does it? Even if you are good about daily tidying, the furniture gets dusty, the floors get dirty, and dust bunnies magically appear! But, the weekly cleaning schedule does help. I don't keep to it, strictly; there are some weeks when I skip over certain tasks and, sometimes, I do things in a different order than what I wrote down, depending on energy levels, what else I have going on that day, etc. But, on the whole, the cleaning routine is helping.

      I hope the storm dissipates quickly and doesn't cause any damage! Stay safe, warm, and dry!

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  4. Gardner friend M sounds like such a handy, nice person. I would like a post that tells us more about him.

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    1. He has been a wonderful friend over the years. He is my late neighbor Katy's nephew. When I went to the hospital to have my daughter, Katy had M mow my front lawn as it was overgrown. After that, my mother and I decided to have him help us with the garden on a regular basis. He's been doing the garden ever since. It will be 27 years, later this month! Yes, maybe I'll do a post about him, one day. :)

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  5. What a thoughtful birthday gift from your daughter. Do you pass on the magazines when you are done with them, or are you like me who likes to reread them occasionally from cover to cover?

    I find it amazing that Dancer loves his greens so much. Ha,ha.

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    1. It was a lovely birthday gift. I do tend to hold on to the magazines for several years, but, eventually, I pass them on.

      Dancer loves his greens! I guess they provide him with some micro-nutrients he needs. The only problem is, he doesn't realize that houseplants are not meant to be part of his diet! I have to keep all houseplants out of his reach!

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  6. A sunny warm day!? I'd quite like one of those. 😆

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    1. Today's high is supposed to be 67F. But, next week, we'll have highs in the mid 70s, according to the forecast. :) I wish I could send you a sunny warm day. :)

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  7. The ubiquitous dust - sometimes I think they should add it along with death and taxes as being unavoidable. The one time I daren't open the windows is a certain time in spring, which is sad as I love to let the fresh air in. But our whole area suddenly becomes yellow with pollen and it coats everything outside, which means garden furniture as well, of course. Oh well, at least we don't have to shovel it, like the white stuff, but it makes for a lot of cleaning.

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    1. LOL. Some say we return to dust upon death. I saw a cartoon, once, about not dusting because it might be dear departed grandma, visiting! :D

      Oh, yes, we get the yellow stuff, here, too!

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  8. Decluttering is very cathartic. We have a large filing cabinet of paperwork that badly needs sorting through. I often intend making a start but then look at it and feel overwhelmed....so it just keeps getting more and more full :(

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    1. I have a tendency to keep paper. I think it goes back to an event in my childhood when my mother was required to provide documentation that she purchased certain household items with her own money (rather than the family funds) in order to be able to continue to keep them. She wasn't a keeper of receipts and being unable to provide the documentation cost her a lot. But, I am getting better at letting go of paid bills, etc.

      A whole full file cabinet can be overwhelming. Maybe just limit yourself to going through a couple of file folders at a time? Or, a file folder a day, three days a week? Baby steps. Before long, you'll find you've made a dent and then, it won't seem quite as overwhelming.

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    2. Sounds like a plan, Bless. I MUST make an effort.
      PS - I couldn't keep away - I'm blogging again!

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    3. Yay! Glad you are blogging again! I will pop over and say, Hi! :)

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  9. You are so good about cleaning. I need to get busy and catch up on mine.

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    1. Thank you; I'm trying! I just need to do a little bit, each day.

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  10. My decluttering has come to somewhat of a halt. I seem to have spurts of doing well, then nothing. I hope you manage to get some done! I have trouble with papers. I hold on to them 'just in case' lol

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    1. I think it is hard for us to maintain the same pace when we declutter. Some days, we are in the mood to declutter and we do a lot; other days, we find it hard to declutter.I wouldn't worry about it, too much. I have a goal of 30 items, this month, and I'm about a third of the way there.

      I, too, hold on to papers, "just in case"! I've a lot to clean out in the filing cabinet and stored in the garage!

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  11. You continue to do well caring for your home. It does feel good to take care of the things we put off - for me there's no reason other than laziness lol

    I have been pretty good at getting rid of things over the last few years. I still have lots more that needs my attention but I have worked on my own feelings of needing to hold onto things that I really need to get rid of.

    Last year my bank had a big shredding event. That helped a lot as I was able to take a couple boxes of old paperwork and have it dealt with.

    I was concerned about safety, even though the bank had vetted the shredding business. After all, all of my personal info was on those documents.
    I said something to the bank official that was there and he had the guy engage the shred button on the big truck as I stood there. lol

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    1. Thank you, Debra. I'm feeling more motivated to clean, right now, so I am trying to take full advantage of that motivation! LOL.

      That feeling of wanting to hold onto things is something I am trying to work on, myself. That's good that you were able to take advantage of the shredding event at the bank. I've been shredding papers by hand (cutting up the stuff with more personal information); it's slow going, but, it will get done little by little. :)

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