From Family Search: Finding Elusive Records

24 February 2018

More laundry...

And my first attempt to clean the dishwasher.  And yes, I did check the machine’s manufacturer’s instructions on how to properly clean.  My dishwasher didn’t come with a filter, and said to put 2 cups of vinegar in a dishwasher safe container on the bottom section of the dishwasher.

We’ll see how the rest of the day goes!

 

Decluttering Your Life

I've posted before about work/life balance, I'm glad to see this is still a priority with others as well.

Dining Room Table

Here is a picture of the cleaned and polished dining room table.

I’ve put, just for pictures at this point, the table runner and the trivel I got from the shop at Taliesin West.  The design is the Tree of Life from the Martin house Frank Lloyd Wright designed.  This is my personal favorite of the designs, given my affection for genealogy.

Why only for pictures?  Because the cats will most likely destroy it once they find out I’ve cleared the table.

Success!

Today I was going to go to the cemetery, but it’s really blustery out today.

Instead, I slept over by about 4 hours after feeding the cats this morning.

I’ve been watching Sophia’s Fly Lady videos on her channel, My Great Challenge.

It motivated me to clear off the dining room table, which hasn’t seen light in at least 2 years, probably longer.

Once I did that, I decided to finish unwrapping the last of my “gifts” to Jesus regarding the debt that has been gone for a little while now.  Bittersweet that Mom isn’t here to celebrate with me.

I still need to use the Pledge on the table, wash the runner and put a special runner on the table, for just a few minutes.

I also still need to clear out the area around the table.

The remaining “gifts” to Jesus.

The completed “gifts”!

Michaels And Best Buy Hauls

Back on February 9th (Friday afternoon and evening), I made a few stops at Michaels and Best Buy in the Tempe Marketplace on my way home from work.  For Michaels, I needed to pick up flowers for the graves.  For Best Buy, I had pre-ordered an 8 TB external drive (I prefer Western Digital) and a USB hub to be picked up at the store later.

While at Michaels, I also picked up a tote bag to create an idea I have, and a container that I have already put to work in holding Q-Tips in my bathroom.

Motivation

Mrs. Meyers All Purpose Cleaner

I finally tried out one of the items I purchased from Grove Collaborative, it’s the Mrs. Meyer’s All Purpose Cleaner, in Basil.

I love it.  It does a great job and smells fantastic.  I’ve now placed an order including one in lavender and one in mint.

In the picture below, its to the left with the green label.  I haven’t tried the rest yet, I’ll keep you posted.  :-)

A Few New-To-Me Jane Austen Shows

Ahhh.

Tonight’s Costco Haul

Most Costco hauls show food, mine shows everything else.  LOL.  I’m the last of the mohicans, so why would I need 20 pounds of meat?

Yeah, I can’t resist the book aisle.

Yummy

I thought I’d try this, without having looked at the label.  The QR code took me to this site   

Guided Meditation

I thought I'd try this out.

11 February 2018 - Final Tally

You’ve seen in a previous post the wonderful changes made to the master bathroom.

For the kitchen:

I got some expired foods out of the refrigerator 

I cleaned the stovetop, the microwave, and the toaster.

I cleaned some of the countertop, including the area under the microwave.  

A few empty items were removed from the countertop and food was moved back into the areas vacated.  I had newly washed metal straws on the stove in a mason jar, but the jar is back in it’s home and the straws are in their new home in a dollar store bin I had already bought a while back.

With five loads of dishes run, the cat food dishes and human food dishes have all been washed and sterilized via the dishwasher.  Thank God for dishwashers.

Several loads of laundry later, I’m caught up on my clothes and I’m finishing up on the towels and whites.  Next will be more of Mom’s stuff to get laundered.

Three bags of trash, several boxes of hazardous waste and two boxes of books, space is starting to appear that had felt overrun with clutter.  I’ve already started the next box for the hazardous waste day.

One note of good news on the HHW days.  The last one for the Spring season in April will be the last one for Mesa.  They have a new building under contstruction that is going to be the new year-round  HHW spot so there will no longer be these huge events that back up the traffic for the police to monitor.  I’m excited to see this.  Really excited.

A few pictures in the kitchen:

Some Information About Micro Fiber Cloths

Great.  I just bought a whole bunch, thankfully I still also have my cotton and terri cloth towels as well.

Amen.

I’m hoping those of you out there are either a care giver or an employer of a care giver, this is something you need to see.

11 February 2018

The master bathroom isn’t completely finished yet, but it’s getting there.

2016:

2017:

2018 (so far):

Saturday, February 10 2018

I managed to get a bunch of stuff over to the Household Hazardous Waste Day this morning, and unloaded a car full of stuff that doesn’t belong in landfills.  Small victory #1.

I also re-loaded the car with two boxes full of books for the McClintock High School Thrift drive, clearing the area in front of an end table.  The Liquid Plumber has also now been placed in their homes so that area is ready for some cleaning.  Small victory #2.

The kitchen probably looks much the same, except for less cat food dishes on the floor (two loads in the dishwasher) and less in the sink (although I did eat one of the containers with the leftovers from yesterday’s success.  Small victory #3.

The clothes hamper in the bathroom is now empty of my dirty clothes as I am doing multiple loads of clothes to get caught up there so I can move the new hamper into it’s new home.  Small victory #4.

Oh, and I filled a 5 gallon container of water while I was out today, small victory #6.

And still found time to take a much needed nap, take my allergy meds and vitamins.

Financially Preparing For Emergencies

Here We Go - What Can I Get Done?

My kitchen is a hot mess.  I do, however, have a few areas of organization, my area for Ziplock bags and Saran Wrap is one of them.

The hot mess:

The plastic wrap area (using re-purposed magazine holders):

The boxes (so far) for the Household Hazardous Waste day tomorrow.  I have some old VHS tapes of tapes that were blank but were recorded with movies I already have or no longer want.  I haven’t touched these in years.  The family reunion tapes are taken care of elsewhere, I separated those a while back to make sure nothing happened to them.  The tapes haven’t been gathered yet, but this is what I have so far:

The boxes for the McClintock High School Thrift Store donations:

09 February 2018

The pizza crock pot casserole was a big hit!    Very, very yummy.  Even so, there was a lot of food there, so as you can see, there will be a few days worth of leftovers to go through.  :-)

One update:  I forgot to mention that I didn’t realize that it was national pizza day until I got into work, so I guess this was meant to be!  LOL.

Here is the link:  

Slow Cooker Pizza Casserole

08 February 2018 - More Baby Steps

In an effort to be more social, I’m bringing a crock pot dish to work as part of our pot luck post Super Bowl lunch tomorrow.  Tonight I cooked up the hamburger and rigatoni for a pasta-pizza type of dish.  The kitchen is a mess, but at least I’m trying, right?

06 February 2018

Last night was a typical “I’m tired” evening, I did get a few loads of laundry done, and had gassed up the car on my way home from work.

Tonight I’ve done two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, after dropping off two items of mail at the post office on my way home.  I’m still tired, so I need to try to get to bed earlier.  I also need something for my headache after the day I had at work today.  All manner of craziness today, you would think there was a super full moon out.

I hope everyone else reading this can just do about 15 minutes, maybe even 2  15 minute cleaning sessions.  Oh, and I did take a bag of trash out.

Yep, it’s Tuesday evening.

Self Care Tips

On my doctor's orders:  I need to start taking better care of myself, not just physically, but also emotionally after the grueling end to my 2017.

04 February 2018

I’ve been making progress on a number of levels this past weekend.

You can look at my post from this morning regarding yesterday’s progress, today’s progress was going to Church and getting laundry mostly caught up to the point that I will be able to start within the next few days to getting the last bag of Mom’s clothes laundered and sorted, although I’m thinking most of what is in that last bag will be donated, but I don’t remember what is in that bag anymore.  We’ll see.

I have 1 or 2 plastic storage bins full of clothes that was boxed up during the bed bug period (they don’t have the bugs but had to be removed while the home got treated).  Those will go through a thorough laundering and then sorted to see how much I want to keep.

Also, keeping in mind that this next weekend is the Household Hazardous Waste dropoff and the McClintock High School Thrift donation drop off, so I need to make sure I’ve got everything boxed up, labeled and ready to go by this Saturday.

I realized this morning that it’s been over 6 months now since Mom died.  Man, this has gone by fast.  There are a few probate items I need to take care of, come to think of it.  That stuff is now in the notebook that I have my printed out Daily Task Sheets, and I believe they are listed on the to-do’s on the current sheets.  I’ll check on it tomorrow.

Progress.

BTW:  I didn’t watch the Super Bowl, but I did see a video on YouTube showing Pink singing the National Anthem.  Great job.

An Answer To The Tide Pod Challenge

My Mother refused to use Tide back in the 70’s when she learned it would eat through the plumbing. I have no idea if it still does (perhaps the newer plumbing is stronger), but ingesting this stuff isn’t just poisonous, but it does damage to the human body because our bodies were not made to handle those kinds of chemicals.

Please view the video below.  There are some of us “not so young” people who care and understand about building good relationships and trust.

3 Feb 2018

Yesterday was a busy day.

The cats and the neighbors woke me up at about 3:30 in the morning.  Of course, I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I stayed up until 5:00 which is when the cats normally get fed, so I went ahead and fed them, got a little something to eat, took my sinus meds and went back to sleep.  I didn’t wake up until 11:30 and I was supposed to be at AmeriCopy picking up my order at around noon.

I made it there a few minutes late, picked up my order of the printed out February and March Daily task schedules.  It took a while with road closures, construction and traffic for me to make it back home, even though traffic is usually lighter on Saturdays.

I got started on the laundry and just relaxed.  I was still tired and wanted sleep.  I did get a few posts written for my blog, and I started filling in the first few days for February and started trying to map out the coming week.  I checked emails and saw I got a 25% off one item at the container store, so I went and purchased the birch double bin hamper.  From $99 to $75.

Then I went to Home Depot to get a filter for the new HVAC unit (I bought one as I’m not sure if it will fit or not) and ended buying more necessities for my home and a few tools to keep in the car.

I stopped off at Walmart and ended up doing a bunch of grocery shopping and picked up everything I needed, plus a few snack items.

I had just gotten home when the Bishop of the Ward I attend stopped by for a social call with his sweet wife.  They are such nice people.  We chatted for a few minutes.

I started on more laundry after they left.

The noisy neighbors woke me up again last night, so we’ll see what happens with that.  If it continues, I may need to video record it and contact the police.

Now that I am home from Church, I need to start on the laundry some more, so I can clean out the bathroom and switch the old hampers for the new one.  Progress!

Some YouTube Favorites

Years ago I cut the cable tv cord.  I do still use cable for my internet, but I use the antennae for local channels and my Apple TV for pretty much anything else.  There are a few movies on DVD I haven't digitized yet, so on occasion I will pop a DVD into the player, but for the most part any viewing I do is through the apps on my Apple TV.  Namely YouTube.

On occasion I will binge watch certain channels, sometimes for news, other times as a mental getaway.

Here are a few channels I watch.

Decorating - Home Maintenance - Cleaning - Minimalism - Zero Waste

A broad group, but basically anything having to do with home or lifestyle habits.

Abundantly Minimal:  She's down to earth, a great sense of humor and she's further into the minimal process than I am.  Compared to how things were for her when she got started, I'm definitely in the hoarder category.  She gives me hope.





Arm & Hammer Baking Soda:  A great place for cleaning tips using their baking soda project.





Anna White:  Set in the Alaskan wilderness, Anna designs furniture and is now moving into the home building realm.  They are finishing up on their new home while raising a growing family.  Anna is also very down to earth, does a lot of her own woodworking (inspiring for me to learn some of that someday) and is extremely creative in her use of small spaces.





At Home With Nikki:  Nikki has great style and great ideas for decorating, organizing and maintaining a home.  She's a military wife who has lived the frugal life in the past and is running her own home organization and decorating business.





Clutterbug:  Cass is an organizational consultant based out of Canada.  She's crafty, she's fun with great tips and tricks to making a home look great.  She also has some great tips on cleaning.  Be sure to watch to the very end of her videos, she includes easter-egg type stories at the end.
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Clean My Space:  Melissa Maker runs a cleaning company out of Canada, so who better to give you great tips on products and techniques for cleaning easier and more effectively?




Do It On A Dime:  Katherine is wonderful, funny and clever!  Her family is adorable.




Well, that's enough for now.  I'll post more channels that I watch soon.

Update To Daily Task Schedules For 2018

I've been printing out the Daily Task Schedules and realized there are lines that don't belong, so I've cleaned it up.  Here is the link to the PDF's:

2018 Daily Task Schedules

Today’s Tally

This morning I was up around 6 am with the cats fed and me out the door for a doctor’s appointment by 7:15 this morning.  The doctor is further away from me, so essentially I had to leave about the same time I leave for work.  While at the doctor’s office, I had fasting blood work done.

On my way home, I stopped by the Schlotzky’s/Cinnabon place and got a classic Cinnabon as a breakfast treat for myself.

While at home, I ran 2 loads of laundry, took out 1 bag of trash and ran 1 load of dishes while waiting for the HVAC guy to come and replace the blower motor on a brand new HVAC system I had installed on January 17th.

While he was working, I got some blog posts written, with some scheduled for the next few weeks.  I hope they will be as helpful for you as they are for me.

After he left,  I gathered what I needed to the car and got a document notarized for Mom’s probate.

Afterwards, I went to the Water and Ice place I go to and filled up 1 5 gallon container of water for my emergency/daily usage stores.  Next door is a burger place that was boasting they were voted the best burgers in Arizona, so I decided to try them out.  I had a cheeseburger with sautéed onions and mushrooms, minus the pickles.  I’m not a fan of pickles.  The burger was really good.  I’m sad that I’ve had a sinus thing and needed throat lozenges so it messed up my tastebuds, but from what I could taste, it was really good.

A few pictures:

After that, I went to Costco for gasoline in the car and a few essentials for the home.

By that point, I was feeling really drained, so I went home for a little bit.

Once home, I rested for about an hour before I brought everything up from Costco and the water place.  While doing so, I took down the filled up box of newspaper recycling.  Once I put the Costco stuff away, I left and drove to the recycling spot and emptied out the box.  I forgot and left the box in the car when I got home, but it’s not a big deal, I’ll get it when I come in tomorrow from work and grocery shopping.

I’ve fed the cats and I’ve taken 1/2 a dose of the ibuprofen pm I had gotten after Mom died to see if that will help me get to sleep tonight.  I don’t want to take an Ambien as I don’t want to be groggy trying to get up for work.

I did check on messages and emails at about 5pm, and found that the procedures I thought I would need to create might be a mute point.  I can still make them tomorrow before the meeting in the afternoon where I will be presenting something on the new stuff coming out.

At any rate, that’s my tally for today.  Not bad for 1 day off.