There was an old commercial that I remember seeing when I was little; I'm pretty sure it was for Rice Krispies. It had a young girl showing her younger sister/brother how their mother made Rice Krispy Treats, and when the task was done, she wiped her brow in mock frustration and said, in the sweetest little high-pitched voice, "They're finally done!"
That's about how I felt today: a scant (?) two months after starting this great project, I've finally finished...and it's a really fantastic feeling. I think I've grown a great deal as a homemaker; I've learned a lot about how to clean, how often to clean, and when cleaning can wait. Yes, I ended up with a cleaner house, but I also feel like I ended up stronger, wiser, and more patient. I think that's a pretty good set of results, considering I was armed with cleaning supplies and a broom for the past eight weeks and I STILL managed to keep my family fed, clothed, and entertained.
I think my next step is to come up with some sort of schedule for consistent cleaning, so that I don't end up with this kind of overwhelming and drawn-out task before me again (or at least, not in the near future), so I guess that means one more post. Otherwise, friends, thanks for your attention and support for the past few weeks; it's been really fun!
Showing posts with label vacuuming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacuuming. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Baby Boy's Room
I put off cleaning Baby Boy's room until almost the very end of my great endeavor. I really did have a logical reason: it's easiest for me to clean while kids are sleeping, and he sleeps the most often, but I can't clean while he's asleep in his room. Basically, today I took advantage of a rare opportunity: he was awake, but content to play alone in his infant bouncer; the girls were both asleep. Also, it was pretty incredible to see that, once I finally got started, this may have been the lightest cleaning job I've had yet!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan
2. Clean windows and blinds
3. Clean door frames
4. Dust furniture
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
As I started at the top, I realized that Baby Boy's room was probably the cleanest in the house. Why? We painted it right before we moved him in there, which was a short six months ago (only I would call six months "short" in regards to cleaning). Before we painted, we cleaned the entire room, so it was in pretty good shape. I started, as I always do, by washing the light fixture globes and wiping down the fan blades (which I cleaned with ACV).
I moved from there to Windexing the only window in the room and cleaning out the window tracks. Again, it was reasonably clean, which surprised me; I'm not an expert here, but it seems to me that the east/west facing windows have been significantly less dirty than the north/south facing ones. Also, the windows that face the neighbors' house are cleaner, and this particular window fit both criteria. There were no dog nose-prints, no dead spiders or frogs in the tracks, and even minimal outside dirt. Another happy surprise was that the blinds didn't need cleaning at all; Mini-me used to be in that room, and had pulled down her blinds a few months before. We bought new ones (more specifically, she did), and they have been closed and hidden behind light-blocking curtains ever since then.
The dirtiest place in the room ended up being the outside lower surface of the bedroom door. Years' worth of grimy fingerprints had definitely taken their toll, and it took a cloth with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe, followed by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to clean the door to my satisfaction. After that chore, the dust that I wiped off the surface of the frame seemed like nothing.
Again, the furniture was relatively dust-free, and I am seeing a pattern in Baby Boy's room and the girls' room: they have less surface area and less clutter ON the surface area, so there's less dust. It was really quick to clean all his furniture -- like, less than five minutes. Hmm...maybe I should reduce display items in other areas of the house as well, if it's this easy to clean. On second thought, that would mean doing yet another purge of my books, and I don't think I've got the stomach for it...
I finished up by quickly wiping down the baseboards, which, again, were much cleaner than other baseboards in the house have been. I moved all the furniture to do a thorough vacuuming, used the hose attachment to get a few stubborn bugs in a corner, and was done with the entire project in less than an hour (about the time, incidentally, that Baby Boy decided he was tired of being alone and was ready for dinner).
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan
2. Clean windows and blinds
3. Clean door frames
4. Dust furniture
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
As I started at the top, I realized that Baby Boy's room was probably the cleanest in the house. Why? We painted it right before we moved him in there, which was a short six months ago (only I would call six months "short" in regards to cleaning). Before we painted, we cleaned the entire room, so it was in pretty good shape. I started, as I always do, by washing the light fixture globes and wiping down the fan blades (which I cleaned with ACV).
I moved from there to Windexing the only window in the room and cleaning out the window tracks. Again, it was reasonably clean, which surprised me; I'm not an expert here, but it seems to me that the east/west facing windows have been significantly less dirty than the north/south facing ones. Also, the windows that face the neighbors' house are cleaner, and this particular window fit both criteria. There were no dog nose-prints, no dead spiders or frogs in the tracks, and even minimal outside dirt. Another happy surprise was that the blinds didn't need cleaning at all; Mini-me used to be in that room, and had pulled down her blinds a few months before. We bought new ones (more specifically, she did), and they have been closed and hidden behind light-blocking curtains ever since then.
The dirtiest place in the room ended up being the outside lower surface of the bedroom door. Years' worth of grimy fingerprints had definitely taken their toll, and it took a cloth with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe, followed by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to clean the door to my satisfaction. After that chore, the dust that I wiped off the surface of the frame seemed like nothing.
Again, the furniture was relatively dust-free, and I am seeing a pattern in Baby Boy's room and the girls' room: they have less surface area and less clutter ON the surface area, so there's less dust. It was really quick to clean all his furniture -- like, less than five minutes. Hmm...maybe I should reduce display items in other areas of the house as well, if it's this easy to clean. On second thought, that would mean doing yet another purge of my books, and I don't think I've got the stomach for it...
I finished up by quickly wiping down the baseboards, which, again, were much cleaner than other baseboards in the house have been. I moved all the furniture to do a thorough vacuuming, used the hose attachment to get a few stubborn bugs in a corner, and was done with the entire project in less than an hour (about the time, incidentally, that Baby Boy decided he was tired of being alone and was ready for dinner).
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Our Nest
Weeks after I cleaned out my closet and scoured our bathroom, I was finally ready to return to finished cleaning the master bedroom. I mentioned before that this would probably be the case; I was much more likely to make the rest of the house presentable. After all, no one sees our little nest but My Love and I.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan blades
2. Clean doors and door frames
3. Clean windows
4. Dust furniture
5. Wipe down baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
I had been a bit reluctant to clean the fan blades because our fan is directly over the bed; I assumed that when I cleaned the blades, showers of dust were going to fall on our comforter and be impossible to remove. When I finally started the job, however, I was again pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the accumulated dust was. I certainly hadn't cleaned it in the past month, but definitely within the past year. A quick wipe with ACV and a trip through some soapy water for the bulbs, and the fixture was done.
When I started to clean the high areas of the room, like the tops of the door frames, Mini-me wandered in and asked to help. Since I was cleaning with ACV, I let her get a washcloth and start wiping down the baseboards for me. It wasn't a very thorough job, but it was certainly a start, and I appreciated that she wanted to be involved!
The door frames were no more or less dusty than I expected, but I again encountered dirty door surfaces. At toddler-level I found crayon marks, fingerprints, scuffs, and discolored flecks. After scrubbing at the particularly stubborn spots for a while, I reached for my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, though, part of the way it works is to actually remove a tiny layer of the paint...or something. Because I stopped scrubbing to discover several places where the stain was gone, but where I could also see the raw wood of the door peeking through the white paint. Oops. I put the scrubber away and hoped for the best when My Love came home; repainting is his department.
There was nothing more shocking in the windows than I found in any other part of the house; it's a little sad that it no longer surprises me to find a dead frog trapped between the panes of glass. The blinds were particularly dusty, but my current cleaning technique seems to be to buy a new set, so there was nothing to do about them at the moment.
Mini-me had done an admirable job with the baseboards, but her commitment to the job lasted about ten minutes (pretty good for a four-year-old), and I had to finish up for her.
Why is it that I vacuum the bedroom less than any other room in the house? Again, I suppose it's that no one knows except My Love and I. But every time I DO vacuum, I an so enamored of the results that I vow to do it more often. Maybe this time it will stick!
This room also had a special project, which has been in the works for over a week. I wanted to do a thorough cleaning of our queen-sized bed. I removed all the sheets, turned the mattress, sprayed it with a disinfectant (I still haven't tried the baking soda idea I found), washed all the sheets and the dust ruffle, and re-assembled. I was stumped on our down comforter, though. Apparently, they can be washed, but my washing machine was too small, and it seems like an all-day job that would take lots of quarters at a laundry mat. So I decided to splurge and have the thing professionally cleaned...until I discovered it would cost $40! At that point My Love assured me that the comforter was clean enough for his taste, so (after having no blanket on the bed for a week) I caved in and put it back on the bed. Today, my mother brought me a comforter that she and my dad no longer use, and I'm looking forward to updating our bedroom with it.
I'm really enjoying how pleasant it is to have a clean, sweet-smelling bedroom (not that it usually stinks; it just SMELLS clean now!); I wonder how I can make it a priority for the future?
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan blades
2. Clean doors and door frames
3. Clean windows
4. Dust furniture
5. Wipe down baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
I had been a bit reluctant to clean the fan blades because our fan is directly over the bed; I assumed that when I cleaned the blades, showers of dust were going to fall on our comforter and be impossible to remove. When I finally started the job, however, I was again pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the accumulated dust was. I certainly hadn't cleaned it in the past month, but definitely within the past year. A quick wipe with ACV and a trip through some soapy water for the bulbs, and the fixture was done.
When I started to clean the high areas of the room, like the tops of the door frames, Mini-me wandered in and asked to help. Since I was cleaning with ACV, I let her get a washcloth and start wiping down the baseboards for me. It wasn't a very thorough job, but it was certainly a start, and I appreciated that she wanted to be involved!
The door frames were no more or less dusty than I expected, but I again encountered dirty door surfaces. At toddler-level I found crayon marks, fingerprints, scuffs, and discolored flecks. After scrubbing at the particularly stubborn spots for a while, I reached for my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, though, part of the way it works is to actually remove a tiny layer of the paint...or something. Because I stopped scrubbing to discover several places where the stain was gone, but where I could also see the raw wood of the door peeking through the white paint. Oops. I put the scrubber away and hoped for the best when My Love came home; repainting is his department.
There was nothing more shocking in the windows than I found in any other part of the house; it's a little sad that it no longer surprises me to find a dead frog trapped between the panes of glass. The blinds were particularly dusty, but my current cleaning technique seems to be to buy a new set, so there was nothing to do about them at the moment.
Mini-me had done an admirable job with the baseboards, but her commitment to the job lasted about ten minutes (pretty good for a four-year-old), and I had to finish up for her.
Why is it that I vacuum the bedroom less than any other room in the house? Again, I suppose it's that no one knows except My Love and I. But every time I DO vacuum, I an so enamored of the results that I vow to do it more often. Maybe this time it will stick!
This room also had a special project, which has been in the works for over a week. I wanted to do a thorough cleaning of our queen-sized bed. I removed all the sheets, turned the mattress, sprayed it with a disinfectant (I still haven't tried the baking soda idea I found), washed all the sheets and the dust ruffle, and re-assembled. I was stumped on our down comforter, though. Apparently, they can be washed, but my washing machine was too small, and it seems like an all-day job that would take lots of quarters at a laundry mat. So I decided to splurge and have the thing professionally cleaned...until I discovered it would cost $40! At that point My Love assured me that the comforter was clean enough for his taste, so (after having no blanket on the bed for a week) I caved in and put it back on the bed. Today, my mother brought me a comforter that she and my dad no longer use, and I'm looking forward to updating our bedroom with it.
I'm really enjoying how pleasant it is to have a clean, sweet-smelling bedroom (not that it usually stinks; it just SMELLS clean now!); I wonder how I can make it a priority for the future?
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...right?
In the old nursery rhyme, little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, today I deep-cleaned the girls' room, and let me tell you...there was not a bit of any of that in sight. What DID I find? Spiders, snails, and puppy dog [hair]. I think the writer of the nursery rhyme was confused.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Preventative Maintenance
Cuddles turned two on Monday. It's been difficult for me to adjust; I've been identifying her age in months for...well...24 months now. I can't believe I have a two-year-old!
On Monday, we celebrated ourselves; Mini-me and I sang her "Happy Birthday" in the morning, and I made brownie cupcakes for a special treat after dinner. Her party, though, is today. All grandparents, aunts, and uncles are invited, and that means I'll have about ten people in the house. Time to clean!
Saturday morning, My Love took the girls to the park so that I could get some work done. I started the washing machine, then got busy. I assumed I had several hours' work ahead of me; that's been the description of most of my cleaning sprees thus far. However (I timed it), I had the house shining in an hour and eight minutes. Pretty impressive! And I can identify exactly why the job was so quick and easy: the house wasn't dirty...at least not dirty enough that I normally would have said it "needed" cleaning. There was no visible dust and no debris on the carpet. Still, I dusted all surfaces in all the common areas, swept the hallway and kitchen (I DID turn up a pretty respectable pile of crumbs there), and ran the vacuum. By the time my family swept back into the house at 10:38, I was emptying the dust pan into the garbage can and looking with pride at a clean house!
All members of our family have seen the home at its worst (specifically, when there was a newborn in the house), so there's no real need to impress them. However, it does make me feel good to hone my hostessing abilities and set a nice backdrop for Cuddles's party. She won't remember it, of course, and I hope that our guests will care more about the event itself than the clean carpets. I guess, in the end, today' activities were mostly for my own satisfaction, and I'm proud to report that housekeeping is fast becoming a habit!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Less clutter=less dust
Today I tackled the second half of our large, open "living room", the part which officially is the office/play room/dining room area. I had a few things going for me: first, since this part of the house is used consistently, it's also consistently cleaned. Second, the girls are largely responsible for keeping their portion clean, so I had very little clutter to deal with. Going into it, I assumed that this part of the house would be much cleaner than the rest has been so far. At the very least, I assumed I wouldn't have any significantly dirty parts to deal with.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Remove items from each shelf of eight-foot bookcase and dust
3. Clean window, valance, and blinds
4. Dust computer desk and office shelves
5. Dust china cabinet and buffet server
6. Wipe down floor boards and vacuum
Right away, I ran into a pretty major road block. In every room I've approached so far, I've moved from the highest point down. In this case, the highest point was a light fixture in our vaulted ceiling that I estimate to be about 12 feet off the ground. We have a step ladder, but it's only eight feet tall, and I was (understandably) afraid to climb that high without another adult to spot me or call 911 if I fell and fractured something. So I skipped the light fixture outright and moved on to the book case.
Our book shelf is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, largely because My Love built it himself. It's eight feet tall and eight feet wide, and it's been crammed with books, Bibles, office supplies, and toys in alternating proportions for the duration of our residence in the house. When I considered removing everything from it to dust, it was a daunting task, but I began it with my trusty can of Pledge and a cleaning rag. The lower shelves, as it turned out, were the cleanest. I suppose I'm more aware of dust and debris in the areas which the children can reach, though I did have to scrub away a few dingy fingerprints along the floor. My surprise came as I dusted the top of the bookcase, which has not been cleaned or seen since I first arranged a row of knick-knacks up there the day the book case was finished. Though nowhere as disgusting as the grime atop the kitchen cabinets, I was shocked at the amount of dust that could accumulate on a surface over time. It took -- wait for it -- FOUR cleaning rags to remove all the dust; each of them turned grey with use before I pulled another from the closet. Essentially, I notice that surfaces that no one sees on a daily basis are consistently the dirtiest. Also, I revisited a lesson from my kitchen cleaning experience: the fewer things there are to collect dust, the easier they are to clean. However, the book case doesn't boast dusty wine bottles that I can nonchalantly toss into the garbage. Instead, every whatchamacallit on the shelves has some sort of sentimental value: the alpaca will teddy bear from Ecuador; the samurai swords my father bought on a trip to Japan; the Winnie the Pooh figurine hand-painted by an old friend. I simply resigned myself to wipe down every surface more often and accept that it will repeatedly get dirty (kind of like my kitchen floor).
Cleaning the single window seemed like a breeze; I've done five now, and this one was small. However, I still haven't figured out how to clean the blinds or remove the screens from outside. I think I'm going to need to devote a Saturday afternoon to scrubbing windows and screens from the outside. (Right now, the windows don't look clean because of the outdoor smudges.)
I have heard that you're supposed to use a particular kind of cleaning product and cleaning wipe for electronics, but I don't have one around the house, and I assumed that a tiny amount of water on a slightly-damp soft cloth couldn't hurt anything. I wiped off our computer tower, monitor, and keyboard. The dust between individual keys was giving me fits; I think I've seen some kind of telemarketing commercial for a product that blows dust off a keyboard, and it must be the only thing that works, because a cloth just didn't cut it. I hated to do it, but I left the computer and computer desk only about 99% clean and added "computer keyboard" to my mental list of failed projects that I'll need to re-evaluate at a later date.
All the furniture in our dining room is wood, though it doesn't match; this is also the least-decorated room in the house. There's one photo of the girls in a large frame, and we also have an antique plate from my grandfather on a stand atop the china cabinet. That's literally it. Any guesses on how long it took to clean this quadrant of the room? Only about 15 minutes, but I do need to go back and clean the light fixture. It's a hanging one, so I can reach it, but it had been on all morning and was too hot to touch. I turned it off after dusting the rest of the room, assuming I'd let it cool and then come back to it, but it completely slipped my mind until I sat down to write this post.
I approached the base boards with Lysol wipes (I had to buy a new can over the weekend!), which seems to be the most effective way. Unlike in the kitchen, I didn't go back over them with a dryer sheet. I'm going to assume that there is less dust and dog hair blowing around the carpeted area than on the tile. And...a quick run with the vacuum cleaner, and I was done!
This portion of the house seemed to go by really quickly. Honestly, it was simple, to, but I didn't "feel" like it was clean when I was done. I'm not sure whether it was because I skipped a few areas, such as the light fixtures, or because it wasn't as dirty in the first place (which means there wasn't a huge change to notice). Regardless, I can now say that the common areas in the house are acceptably clean, and that makes me feel like I've accomplished a great deal.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Remove items from each shelf of eight-foot bookcase and dust
3. Clean window, valance, and blinds
4. Dust computer desk and office shelves
5. Dust china cabinet and buffet server
6. Wipe down floor boards and vacuum
Right away, I ran into a pretty major road block. In every room I've approached so far, I've moved from the highest point down. In this case, the highest point was a light fixture in our vaulted ceiling that I estimate to be about 12 feet off the ground. We have a step ladder, but it's only eight feet tall, and I was (understandably) afraid to climb that high without another adult to spot me or call 911 if I fell and fractured something. So I skipped the light fixture outright and moved on to the book case.
Our book shelf is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, largely because My Love built it himself. It's eight feet tall and eight feet wide, and it's been crammed with books, Bibles, office supplies, and toys in alternating proportions for the duration of our residence in the house. When I considered removing everything from it to dust, it was a daunting task, but I began it with my trusty can of Pledge and a cleaning rag. The lower shelves, as it turned out, were the cleanest. I suppose I'm more aware of dust and debris in the areas which the children can reach, though I did have to scrub away a few dingy fingerprints along the floor. My surprise came as I dusted the top of the bookcase, which has not been cleaned or seen since I first arranged a row of knick-knacks up there the day the book case was finished. Though nowhere as disgusting as the grime atop the kitchen cabinets, I was shocked at the amount of dust that could accumulate on a surface over time. It took -- wait for it -- FOUR cleaning rags to remove all the dust; each of them turned grey with use before I pulled another from the closet. Essentially, I notice that surfaces that no one sees on a daily basis are consistently the dirtiest. Also, I revisited a lesson from my kitchen cleaning experience: the fewer things there are to collect dust, the easier they are to clean. However, the book case doesn't boast dusty wine bottles that I can nonchalantly toss into the garbage. Instead, every whatchamacallit on the shelves has some sort of sentimental value: the alpaca will teddy bear from Ecuador; the samurai swords my father bought on a trip to Japan; the Winnie the Pooh figurine hand-painted by an old friend. I simply resigned myself to wipe down every surface more often and accept that it will repeatedly get dirty (kind of like my kitchen floor).
Cleaning the single window seemed like a breeze; I've done five now, and this one was small. However, I still haven't figured out how to clean the blinds or remove the screens from outside. I think I'm going to need to devote a Saturday afternoon to scrubbing windows and screens from the outside. (Right now, the windows don't look clean because of the outdoor smudges.)
I have heard that you're supposed to use a particular kind of cleaning product and cleaning wipe for electronics, but I don't have one around the house, and I assumed that a tiny amount of water on a slightly-damp soft cloth couldn't hurt anything. I wiped off our computer tower, monitor, and keyboard. The dust between individual keys was giving me fits; I think I've seen some kind of telemarketing commercial for a product that blows dust off a keyboard, and it must be the only thing that works, because a cloth just didn't cut it. I hated to do it, but I left the computer and computer desk only about 99% clean and added "computer keyboard" to my mental list of failed projects that I'll need to re-evaluate at a later date.
All the furniture in our dining room is wood, though it doesn't match; this is also the least-decorated room in the house. There's one photo of the girls in a large frame, and we also have an antique plate from my grandfather on a stand atop the china cabinet. That's literally it. Any guesses on how long it took to clean this quadrant of the room? Only about 15 minutes, but I do need to go back and clean the light fixture. It's a hanging one, so I can reach it, but it had been on all morning and was too hot to touch. I turned it off after dusting the rest of the room, assuming I'd let it cool and then come back to it, but it completely slipped my mind until I sat down to write this post.
I approached the base boards with Lysol wipes (I had to buy a new can over the weekend!), which seems to be the most effective way. Unlike in the kitchen, I didn't go back over them with a dryer sheet. I'm going to assume that there is less dust and dog hair blowing around the carpeted area than on the tile. And...a quick run with the vacuum cleaner, and I was done!
This portion of the house seemed to go by really quickly. Honestly, it was simple, to, but I didn't "feel" like it was clean when I was done. I'm not sure whether it was because I skipped a few areas, such as the light fixtures, or because it wasn't as dirty in the first place (which means there wasn't a huge change to notice). Regardless, I can now say that the common areas in the house are acceptably clean, and that makes me feel like I've accomplished a great deal.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Living room
Day 3: The Living Room
The living room is longer than it is wide, so we have partitioned it off with a couch and a book case. One side is considered the actual living room, and the other side is our office/play area. Today, I tackled the living room itself.
Here's the action plan:
1. Take down and wash curtains
2. Attempt to clean the blinds AGAIN
3. Wash insides of windows and window tracks
4. Clean fan and light fixture
5. Clean fireplace
6. Dust all furniture
7. Vacuum floor
8. Steam clean carpet
After cleaning the breakfast nook on my first day of work, I knew what to expect with the windows. When I removed the curtains, I encountered dust and cobwebs. That didn't particularly please me, but I also wasn't surprised. A quick trip through the washing machine ended up taking care of the curtains, but I still have yet to find a successful way to clean the blinds. I earnestly tried to wipe each individual blind piece down with a cloth, but they still didn't come clean. My Love says that this size blinds cost $5.95 at Lowe's; there may be a few new sets in our future.
Cleaning the fan and lights was an uneventful task except that I was unable to hide the fact that I was climbing something from the kids. Mini-me stood at the base of the chair and kept up a running dialogue: "Mama, what are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning, sweetie."
"What are you cleaning?"
"I'm cleaning the lights and the fan."
"Oh...how did they get dirty?"
"They just did. They got dusty, and I need to get the dust off."
"Oh...can I help?"
"No, honey, you're too short."
"But I can climb up on a chair like you and reach them."
"Sweetie, you'd need a bigger chair than this one to be able to reach the lights."
"Well, you could go buy me one."
Eventually, I set she and Cuddles down at the dining room table with some play dough that they had found in an Easter egg hunt at their grandparents' house over the weekend. They were content to make "crackers", "pancakes", and "pretzels" for the next half hour (at which point, obviously, it was time for lunch).
The "most dirty place in the room" award goes to our fireplace. I found that incredibly interesting, since it hasn't been used since we moved into the house over four years ago. It doesn't really get cold enough to need fires around here, and we also don't want to worry with cleaning up ashes or keeping little fingers out of the grate. I figured I might find some dust in the fireplace, but no real dirt. Oh, was I wrong! To begin, I removed a decorative candle stand that we keep in there to keep it from looking stark. The top few coils were laced with spider webs covered in dust. As a side note, I abhor spiders. They make me scream and run the other direction. I almost stopped cleaning right then, but the fact that the webs were dusty led me to believe that the spider had likely already met his or her demise. I was correct; I later discovered his/her body underneath a candle that had been lit at Valentine's Day. As to the task at hand: I wiped down the candle stand with ACV, which was equally effective at removing dust, spider webs, and ash. I then wiped down the inside of the fireplace itself. To my surprise, our flue was open (and I have no idea how it got that way). I closed the flue, and when I did, a shower of ash fell into the fireplace. It was actually quite a chore to wipe it all out; when ash gets wet, it simply makes gray and black streaks, so I went through multiple cleaning rags and bowls of ACV in order to get it clean. My last fireplace task was to dust our screen. This proved to be the most difficult thing I've done yet other than cleaning the blinds. Dust particles clung to the mesh screen when I wiped them with the ACV. I ended up brushing the screen vigorously ("Mama, why are you hitting that?") to dislodge the dust. That just made the dust float in the air, but I was hoping that whatever surface it landed on would be easier to clean.
A quick pass over the furniture with Pledge and a rag, and I was ready to vacuum. Yes, again...the Beast had left a trail of dog food crumbs from her bowl to the couch, and the floor looked just as dirty as it had before I vacuumed yesterday. There was no help from the kids today, as they were busy with peanut-butter-and-local-honey sandwiches (which they would rather than than just about anything else I could make). And then I paused; in a strange twist of events, steam cleaning the carpets has become My Love's job. (The one time I tried I left puddles in the carpet.)
It was really pleasant for me to discover that most of the house isn't going to be as dirty as the kitchen was; dusting and vacuuming are chores I actually keep up with pretty consistently, and I'm hopping it will pay off as I work toward having the entire house cleaned at one time.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
"Ah hep yoo"
I already mentioned that Mini-me is learning to help with housework, but I am pleased to announce that Cuddles is getting in on the action too. The girls are responsible for cleaning their own room, which they share; there are also sometimes fights over who gets to feed The Beast, and Cuddles, especially, loves to help unload the dishwasher (which means I rush to unload everything breakable while she spends twenty minutes emptying the silverware basket).
This morning I needed to run the vacuum in the living room area. When I got it out, Cuddles came running over to me, saying, "Ah hep you." She's almost two years old, and our pediatrician says that a stranger should be able to understand about half of what she says. Mama, however, gets closer to 80%, and in this case I figured it out after about three repetitions: "I want to help you." The "ah" sound universally means "I want" when it comes from her, as in "Ah Daddy" or "Ah cookie." And, like most two-year-olds, she seems to only say the first part of most words (the important part, right?). So "Daddy" is actually "Dahyee", for example, and "help" is, apparently, "hep".
I was in the process of vacuuming when she squeezed herself between me and the vacuum cleaner. She reached up as high as she could and could almost touch the handle with her fingertips. After a few passes, she gave up on that. Her next technique is the same that she uses to push a big yellow toy dump truck around the house: she placed both hands on the base of the vacuum cleaner, leaned forward, and pushed with all her might. It was cute, but it meant that I couldn't propel or steer the vacuum at all, and she was almost stepped on twice. I re-directed her to hold onto the hose attachment, and that seemed to make everyone happy.
Cuddles stayed with me for a full five minutes or so, which is more than twice as long as I should expect her to do anything, according to a recent article I read in Parenting magazine (or maybe it was Parents; I can't remember!) that specifies that young kids usually have an attention span of one minute per year of age. Those five minutes would normally have allowed me to finish my chore, but I moved at such a slow pace to accommodate her that I was only about halfway done. When she left, I finished vacuuming quickly, then she came running back: "Ah hep you." Now she wanted to help me coil the cord around the clip that holds it in place (a favorite task of Mini-me's too, incidentally). Again, I let her "help", but the task took at least twice as long as it should have.
For some reason, I wasn't frustrated by all of that. Granted, it had taken me the better part of 20 minutes to do something that should have taken five, but I was really proud of my little girl.
First, it excited me that she wanted to help at all. How many adults don't assist when they see something around them that needs doing? That's a life skill I want to develop in my kids, and it looks like starting them out as toddlers isn't too early at all.
Second, it's a big deal to me that she (and her brother and sister) learns at a young age how to do her chores so that she can take care of herself, her home, and her family when the time comes. I'm afraid that it will seem like my house is dirty because I didn't know any better, but it's not true; my mother is an incredibly wise and talented woman, and she made sure that I knew the essentials of housekeeping before I left her house. (Imagine the state I'd be in without that education!)
And finally, I enjoyed that little moment of giving Cuddles my undivided attention, even if it was while doing a chore. We have three kids, and it's easy to feel like they don't each get the individual attention they deserve. I hope vacuuming the living room floor isn't the best memory she'll have of me when she grows up, but I do hope she will remember that our family had fun together and loved one another enough to help out when it was needed.
This morning I needed to run the vacuum in the living room area. When I got it out, Cuddles came running over to me, saying, "Ah hep you." She's almost two years old, and our pediatrician says that a stranger should be able to understand about half of what she says. Mama, however, gets closer to 80%, and in this case I figured it out after about three repetitions: "I want to help you." The "ah" sound universally means "I want" when it comes from her, as in "Ah Daddy" or "Ah cookie." And, like most two-year-olds, she seems to only say the first part of most words (the important part, right?). So "Daddy" is actually "Dahyee", for example, and "help" is, apparently, "hep".
I was in the process of vacuuming when she squeezed herself between me and the vacuum cleaner. She reached up as high as she could and could almost touch the handle with her fingertips. After a few passes, she gave up on that. Her next technique is the same that she uses to push a big yellow toy dump truck around the house: she placed both hands on the base of the vacuum cleaner, leaned forward, and pushed with all her might. It was cute, but it meant that I couldn't propel or steer the vacuum at all, and she was almost stepped on twice. I re-directed her to hold onto the hose attachment, and that seemed to make everyone happy.
Cuddles stayed with me for a full five minutes or so, which is more than twice as long as I should expect her to do anything, according to a recent article I read in Parenting magazine (or maybe it was Parents; I can't remember!) that specifies that young kids usually have an attention span of one minute per year of age. Those five minutes would normally have allowed me to finish my chore, but I moved at such a slow pace to accommodate her that I was only about halfway done. When she left, I finished vacuuming quickly, then she came running back: "Ah hep you." Now she wanted to help me coil the cord around the clip that holds it in place (a favorite task of Mini-me's too, incidentally). Again, I let her "help", but the task took at least twice as long as it should have.
For some reason, I wasn't frustrated by all of that. Granted, it had taken me the better part of 20 minutes to do something that should have taken five, but I was really proud of my little girl.
First, it excited me that she wanted to help at all. How many adults don't assist when they see something around them that needs doing? That's a life skill I want to develop in my kids, and it looks like starting them out as toddlers isn't too early at all.
Second, it's a big deal to me that she (and her brother and sister) learns at a young age how to do her chores so that she can take care of herself, her home, and her family when the time comes. I'm afraid that it will seem like my house is dirty because I didn't know any better, but it's not true; my mother is an incredibly wise and talented woman, and she made sure that I knew the essentials of housekeeping before I left her house. (Imagine the state I'd be in without that education!)
And finally, I enjoyed that little moment of giving Cuddles my undivided attention, even if it was while doing a chore. We have three kids, and it's easy to feel like they don't each get the individual attention they deserve. I hope vacuuming the living room floor isn't the best memory she'll have of me when she grows up, but I do hope she will remember that our family had fun together and loved one another enough to help out when it was needed.
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