Archive for house cleaning
June 26, 2010 at 9:22 am · Filed under allergies, chores, coffee, domestic help, garden, house cleaning, ice cream, laundry, naps, personal helper, photographs, sisters, sleep, the Exfactor, tv, Tyke, walks, weather
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For a change, I slept the whole night again. That was such a nice thing to happen. No waking up in the very wee hours of the morning and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I could tell by the way the trees cast shadows on the blind that it was a decent time to get up. I made sure I was all done sleeping, in case there was something left in my body, but then Tyke snuggled very close and made breathing almost impossible so I had to get up. He does have all that woolly fur that gets in your nose and your mouth.
So, now I’m sitting here with my second cup of coffee and I’m slowly getting myself together. I watched a wonderfully gruesome “Silent Witness” last night and I’m surprised that I wasn’t scared to go to bed and sleep on my own. I guess I don’t scare as easily as I thought. As soon as the program was over, I put all thought of it out of my head. And when I say gruesome, I really mean it.
Yesterday was a nice day. The weather was warm, though there was a pleasant breeze, and the sun was shining all day. Tyke and I ended the day by going to my sister’s garden and watering all the potted plants there. All the plants looked good, though, and they don’t seem to have suffered from the hot weather. All the blossoms were lively and bright.
The day started with a visit from the Exfactor and he was kind enough to go to the store and buy me some ice cream. Oh yum, that was so delicious, but I don’t want anymore now, because it’s very dangerous to have in the freezer. When I know it’s there, I hear it call my name. I have no self control at all. I’m an ice cream addict and I better not have it around me. It will cause me to gain a kilo or two. I should never have food in the apartment that I like a lot.
My personal helper got here next and while she was here I cleaned out two drawers of the dresser and found numerous photographs of whose existence I did not know. It means that I will have to get several photo albums. Well, several may not do it. Quite a few, actually. It depends on the kind I get. I threw some things away too in a trash bag that I will add to as I clean out the rest of the drawers. At least I know what’s in the first two drawers now. I simplified the contents quite a bit. I even found some pieces of embroidery that I can work on when I get in that mood again. I had quite forgotten about them and haven’t done that kind of work in a long time.
The personal helper and I took Tyke for a walk in the warm sunshine and she tried her best to keep up with us. I have to make sure Tyke doesn’t walk too fast. He walks through the tall bits of grass and weeds and is always covered by pollen, but I seem to be over my allergies completely and am not bothered the least bit.
Just as the personal helper was about to leave, the domestic help got here and merrily set off to work with a bucket of suds. She spent a lot of time cleaning what I thought was a clean bathroom and then told me that the bathroom was coming along well. She must know something I don’t and see dirt that I don’t see. I always clean up after myself real well when I have showered or used the wash basin. I think I leave the bathroom behind spotlessly, but I guess I don’t. She then dusted the apartment and hoovered and mopped the floors and was one whir of activity. I feel her back ache when I see her at work. She’s amazing.
Today I have to do the dishes and hang up a load of laundry to dry and possibly change my bed. I do want to start using that new washing powder as soon as possible, but I have to use up the old one first. Waste not, want not. If I change my bed, I’ll have another load of laundry to do and I can hang it up outside to dry. That brings me closer to using the new washing powder. Oh, for Pete’s sake. I’ll just use it anyway and throw out the old one. There’s just a little bit left. Things you can get worried about, really. Talk about taking it to an extreme.
Alright, that’s all settled then. I’m putting clean sheets on the bed and that will be nice for tonight. Yesterday afternoon I took a nap on the sofa. It was very pleasant, but I worried about not being able to sleep at night. Well, I need not have worried about that, because I slept very well. I think I will have another nap this afternoon. I feel in my bones that there is one coming up. Never let it be said that you can have enough sleep on any given day. There’s always a good time for a nap. Eight hours of sleep is not enough. I need at least two more.
Have a great day.
Ciao,
Nora
June 21, 2010 at 3:00 pm · Filed under airplane traffic, alarm clock, cigarettes, coffee, domestic help, early morning, house cleaning, laundry, medicines, middle of the night, neurosis, obsession, tobacco shop, Tyke, weather
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I was up for a while during the night, but I had enough sense to go back to bed when it was still early in the morning. I set the alarm clock for 10 am and woke up a little bit before that. I wanted to have time to go to the tobacco shop and to do a few chores. First I had to wake up properly and I took about 45 minutes to do that with a cup of coffee and some cigarettes. They weren’t home made, so they didn’t taste as good. I don’t know what manufacturers put in ready made cigarettes, but it tastes like junk. Not at all like when you make your own cigarettes from plain tobacco, and they’re expensive too. They’re almost 3 times as expensive as home made.
I got dressed and took my wallet and a plastic bag and Tyke and some baggies. Off we went on our merry way. It wasn’t too cold outside and the weather is supposed to be improving soon. When we got to the tobacco shop, Tyke tried to jump into the bin of candies, as usual, and I got my tobacco and filter tubes and some lighters. I must always have lighters. Tyke had the audacity to bark at someone he decided not to like, which happens rarely, and we left the shop at high gear. I needed two baggies, one on the way over there and one on the way back. Tyke always dawdles. He thinks he has to sniff at every bush and blade of grass. I am patient, but sometimes I just drag him along.
When I came home, I started making cigarettes and then the domestic help got here. A cat had killed a bird and brought it home and I had cleaned it up and disposed of the dead bird, but there were still some little feathers lying around. She didn’t comment on those and just vacuumed them up. Domestic helpers ask no questions. They’ve learned not to be curious. For all she knew I had slaughtered Cornish game hen in there, but not a word came over her lips. She did say that the apartment looked tidy and I said that I’d done it myself. She saw in the workbook that nobody had been here on Friday, so she was surprised. Now she could see for herself that I’m really a neat person.
I may be a neat person, but I haven’t got the laundry out of the washing machine yet. I may hang it up to dry outside, because no more rain is expected. The temperatures are supposed to get higher each day until it will be hot by the weekend. I don’t know how I feel about that. I suppose I have mixed feelings. I am happy because of the sun, but I am less thrilled because of the heat. I am curious to see if I will be less tired. The sun has already come out this afternoon, although there are still big clouds in the sky. It’s getting a little warmer inside too, which is good, because I was about to put another cardigan on and may still.
I had taken my medicines real early this morning, rather then taking them late when I would wake up at 10 am. Subsequently, I didn’t take them again until 12:30 pm and the gap was too big, because I started to feel awful. I became neurotic and obsessive and I couldn’t at first figure out what was wrong. I didn’t think anything was wrong, but that the grievances in my head were legitimate and that I should act on them. I was making all sorts of plans to put them into action, but then as time went by, they started to disappear as snow for the sun and that was because my medication had started to work. Finally, there was nothing left of them and I felt silly for having had them and lucky for not having acted on them. You see how precarious this all is. Imagine what would happen if I accidentally missed a dose. I could get into deep sh*t.
By the way, does anybody know what that volcano in Iceland is doing? I never hear or read about it in the news anymore. I just heard another airplane fly over and it reminded me of it. It was so nice and quiet when air traffic was banned for a while. I sure miss those days. The airport is close by, so we have a lot of noise from landing and departing airplanes. It really irritates me and the airport is only going to get more busy as it becomes more international. It does have restricted hours, but you hear airplanes fly over from 6 am on. It can’t be much fun for the people who really live close to it. That airport was not one of my grievances, by the way, but I wonder what happened to that volcano in Iceland. I suppose I could google it.
It’s time to take Tyke for a walk. The poor thing must not be neglected. I’m trying to teach him that when Gandhi is sitting on my lap, she’s not to be molested. Actually, I wish she never was, but she’s partly the blame for that herself, because she does seek the danger and doesn’t get out of the way on time. She’s not mean enough to fight him properly like Toby does. Toby uses his claws.
I hope you’re all having a good day and that you will have an equally good evening.
Ciao,
Nora
June 17, 2010 at 5:29 am · Filed under books, chores, hairdo, house cleaning, ironing, nap, shopping, Tyke, vitamins, weight loss
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According to my new digital scale, I have lost 3 kilos. I bought my scale at the housewares store and I got it on sale. It is an expensive scale that also measures your body fat and body water content and muscle/fat percentage. It was marked down to the price of a cheaper scale. Of course, I have to program it to do all those things, but for now it tells me my weight and that is good enough. The rest will come later.
I now have about 4 kilos left to lose to reach the weight that the Obesitas Specialist said I should aim for, but I am going to try and lose more weight and aim for an additional 5 kilos, but if I lose the 4 kilos, I will have lost a total of 40 kilos, which is the equivalent of a small person.
I had planned to do more things, but I was so worn out from making that one purchase, that I laid down on the sofa and slept for 3 hours. Yes, I can´t believe it myself. I didn´t know I was short of sleep. I thought I was all caught up. Without realizing it, I was very tired and needed those extra hours. I felt a lot better when I woke up, but still pleasantly drowsy and tired enough to want to go to bed on time in the evening.
I slept like a bear in hibernation, but I did get up early and doubtlessly that means I will have to take another nap this afternoon. I have to do some chores today and I will get those done in the morning. There aren’t that many to do, but just enough to make the place look cared for. My domestic help isn’t going to be here tomorrow because she is moving and I will have to do some of the cleaning myself. I really don’t mind. I’m more than capable of doing that.
I walked around the housewares store for a bit and saw all sorts of things that I needed, but it would have wiped out my budget if I had bought them all. A woman could go crazy in there, there was so much neat stuff. I saw the glasses I wanted and a new shower curtain and a new waste basket, but I just couldn’t spend the money. The bathroom scale was more expensive than I had counted on. I’ll see what I can buy with my next check.
Today is already Thursday and it seems that the week is flying by. Today is officially my day off. I never have any appointments on this day. Or very rarely anyway. I try not to have any commitments, but keep the day free for whatever I want to do. I think I will be reading a lot. I got “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” two days ago and I’m already fascinated by it, so I will read it. I’ve also got to go to the tobacco shop and buy two lighters, because the one the Exfactor got me is starting to run low on fuel and all I have is a box of matches that don’t work well. So you see we are the victims of shoddy products and just have to accept that because they were cheap.
My punk hairdo is still very punky. It only got more so by sleeping on it. I’ll rough it up a little more in a while and spray some hairspray on it. It should hold it sufficiently even when the wind is blowing. I like being just the slightest bit abstract. It matches my clothes. Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got to do a little bit of ironing today. There are some clothes that I want to wear that need to be ironed. They will look a heck of a lot better if I do. There’s no getting around it. I have to put distilled water in the steam iron. Our water is too hard and it plugs up the holes on the bottom.
I’ve got to take my medicines and get dressed. It’s time to take Tyke for his walk, though he is sound asleep on the coffee table. No doubt he is just waiting for me to get up, but at least he’s not breathing down my neck. I’ve taken my vitamins and minerals pill an hour ago. I want to see if that way it doesn’t interfere with my medication. I would be good if it doesn’t, because I really need that those vitamins and minerals for my health. It would be very foolish to completely do without them.
I hope you have a nice day.
Ciao,
Nora
June 15, 2010 at 1:09 pm · Filed under brace, diet, dog food, domestic help, food, grocery shopping, house cleaning, moods, spare bedroom, SPN, the Exfactor, Tyke, weather
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I’m waiting for the Exfactor to show up. Since he never lets me know when he will get here, I can wait for hours and I have to keep myself busy in the meantime. I’ve done some chores and saw my SPN earlier this morning and now I’m sitting here with a cup of coffee trying to ignore Tyke who is breathing down my neck, literally. He is standing on the arm chair behind me and has his paw on my shoulder and his nose on my head. He is grumbling at me because I won’t budge.
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In the meantime, I’ve walked Tyke and the Exfactor has showed up. He has now gone to the grocery store with my list and my band card and Tyke is eating. He takes a bite and chews it while he walks around the living room. It’s called recreational eating. The Exfactor has got me an elastic brace that fits completely around the palm of my hand, including in the lower part of my thumb. It has been bothering me for a few days and I think it is due to handling the mouse of the computer. The brace feels really good around it and I will wear it for awhile and see if it gives me any relief. I can always go to the doctor if it gets worse. The brace also prevents me from making the wrong moves with my thumb, which is helpful.
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When I saw my SPN this morning, I could only conclude that I was in a completely sane state of mind. I was neither depressed not hypo-manic. I was as I wish always to be, completely “normal.” Whatever definition of the word you want to apply to it, but you will know what I mean. This pleased us both very much and it put me in a good mood. I felt very much relieved that I had reached that point after the downturn last week. My SPN said it was because I had recognized what was happening to me on time and asked for help on time, and I said that I’m better able to do it each time because I’m not embarrassed to. I don’t think anyone is going to think I cry wolf. So, I did alright then.
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I needed very little groceries and discovered that buying the dog food I always get is no more expensive at the store than buying it on line. As a matter of fact, buying it on line is more expensive because I have to pay delivery charges, and all this time I thought I was getting a good deal because I was buying it in bulk. No, I’m not, so burst that bubble immediately. From now on I’m buying this dog food at the store. The Exfactor had also brought a cigarette lighter with him without me asking for it, though I had meant to, because the one I had was almost empty of fuel. He must have gotten my telepathic message. That’s a neat trick, I’m going to try that again.
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The domestic help did a good job cleaning yesterday. The spare bedroom is a damp room and as a result, the woodwork of the back door and of the window always gets very dirty with mildew and streaks from the water that drips down. She cleaned all the woodwork first and it looks like it has been freshly painted. Than she washed the window and the window in the back door inside and out and they are so clean that it looks like there is no glass in it. It’s wonderful. The curtain that was in front of the window in the back door went straight into the trash bag. It had a bad case of mildew and dust. It was beyond salvage.
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Now all that has to happen is for the Exfactor to move all his boxes and shelf systems out and that room can be wallpapered and painted and have furniture put in it beside the closet and the chair that are in there already. It’s a big room, so there is space for an extra bed and a work table. I promised myself that I would get artistic again as soon as I would have the space for it, so it needs to happen sooner rather than later. I think 2 years is a long time to wait for a room to get emptied out.
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Anyway, after much talk about his work and motorcycles, the Exfactor is gone again until Friday. He is a sweetheart, though, and I have to stay loyal to him. What other ex-husband would do the groceries once a week and come visit twice a week? Not many, I bet. I suppose I do serve a function in all of this too. I haven’t quite figured out what it is, but I won’t break my head over it. The arrangement is quite satisfactory to me, so I won’t complain. I see enough of him to get my fill and appreciate him for who he is. Which is basically a decent human being. Let’s not forget that. You don’t meet many of those nowadays.
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I asked him to buy me a bag of apples and I’m going to try and eat one of those. I don’t know if I can eat a whole apple, but I’m going to chew very carefully and eat as much of it as I can. I think I need the roughage and the vitamins. It will be a good addition to my diet. I haven’t eaten an apple in a very long time and I’m looking forward to it. I didn’t put them in the refrigerator because I like my fruit at room temperature. I think then you can taste the flavor better than when it’s cold. So wish me a lot of luck with eating my apple. I’m going to eat it with the skin on and all.
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I hope you’re all having a good day and nice weather. It’s turned sunny and pleasant here after a very cool start. It was freezing at 6 am.
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Ciao,
Nora
June 14, 2010 at 7:54 am · Filed under cat food, clothes, coffee, dog food, domestic help, house cleaning, milk, sleep, the Exfactor, Tyke, weather, weight loss
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I slept nearly 8 hours, so I’m satisfied. I wasn’t that tired when I went to bed, so I said to myself, “I’ll give myself half an hour to fall asleep and if I’m not, I’ll get up again,” and, of course, I was asleep within 10 minutes. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and repeated the same ritual and was asleep within minutes, maybe a few at most. One or two, maybe. Giving myself half an hour to fall asleep usually works very well, because I’m seldom awake longer than that. And it takes the pressure off, because I can just lie there and not worry about the time for a while.
Not too long ago, I would have gotten up in the middle of the night, but I have gotten over that bad habit and now go back to sleep like any ordinary person. I used to think that was impossible, but that was just a misunderstanding on my part and a fear of not being able to go back to sleep. That grew during my marriage and I hadn’t gotten over it yet. So it’s about time that I did. Doubtlessly it had to do with a heavily snoring husband or just another body in the bed taking up space. Now that I sleep on my own, a lot of that is much simpler.
I had a cup of coffee and am now drinking a glass of milk for my thirst, but I will have a cup of coffee again next. I need it to wake up properly, but I’ve already been out to take Tyke for his morning walk. There’s a bright blue sky and sunshine, so it looks like it will be a good day. I didn’t get to see a forecast, so I have no idea what the weather is supposed to be like, but I’ll assume the best. The most I can do is look out the window and see if there are any clouds gathering.
I don’t have much on my program today, except that the domestic help is coming and maybe the Exfactor will be by. I have to do the dishes before the domestic help gets here, otherwise she’ll feel compelled to do them, which I don’t mind, but it makes me look bad. The last thing I want to do is look like a lazy housewife. I try my best to have the place look good before she comes here. Isn’t that funny? It’s got to look clean enough so all she has to do is clean it properly. It does make sense. I’m not a messy person on my own. The dirt was old and I keep the place pretty clean. The Exfactor was like that character from Charlie Brown, the one who always had a cloud of dust and dirt hanging around him.
Oh, I’m yawning. It’s time for that other cup of coffee.
Tyke is refusing to eat the food I gave him. It’s something different than what he usually gets, because I’m almost out of that. This other food is really good, but he doesn’t appreciate it at all. How do you deal with something like that? Do you take it away and keep offering it? Or do you get the original food? It’s a mystery to me. I didn’t know that he could be so stubborn.
The cats always get the exact same food and always eat it. They get the store brand fish menu. I never change it and they always like it. They are just dried kibbles, but it satisfies them and they have a great appetite for it. I suppose they aren’t finicky cats. I guess I got lucky.
Speaking of food, I know I’ve lost weight, because I can tell by the way my jeans fit me, but I have no way of telling because of the lack of bathroom scale. I have to get another one as soon as possible, because I’m really curious. I have to hitch up my jeans with a belt and put it on the last hole there is. I’ll have to find a smaller belt.
I have to get the show on the road now and decide what to wear. It will be fun to pick out clothes. I’ve got to put away the ones I’ve been wearing though, and in neat stacks.
Hope you have a great day!
Ciao,
Nora
June 7, 2010 at 3:08 pm · Filed under blogging, clothes, domestic help, grocery shopping, house cleaning, shoes, sleep, sunshine, the cats, the Exfactor, tranquilizers, vitamins
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My Monday domestic help is here and I think she is not pleased about having to clean the bedroom windows and woodwork. She doesn’t seem very happy anyway. She’s making it extra hard on herself by ignoring a very good cleaning product that I recommended and the glass cleaning product. She wants to be stubborn and do it her own way with an all purpose cleaner.
Oh, look at me, talking badly about my domestic help. That’s not very mice. I mustn’t do that and change my tune immediately. It’s the result that counts in the end and I will praise her for that. If she wants to use more elbow grease, then that’s up to her.
I’m expecting the Exfactor and really need to make a shopping list, but some things are already written down. They are mostly more cleaning products and vacuum cleaner bags. Those women do got through those things like crazy. Things that may last me a few months are gone in several weeks time. They prepare one bucket of suds after the other and spray cleaner and degreaser as if there is no end to it. I must say, though, that my apartment is very clean. I never got it that clean myself.
The Exfactor has gotten here in the meantime and has had a cup of coffee and has now gone to the store armed with my shopping list and my bank card. Before that, Tyke got a hold of his motorcycle glove and was chewing on it. It had been left in the wrong place. There was too much temptation. The Exfactor hit him over the head with it.
The domestic help has just left. She got the windows and the woodwork and the windowsill very clean and I praised and thanked her a lot. We were both pleased. It had been a tough job for her, I get the feeling. She’ll have to do the same job in the spare bedroom next week. I must always remember to be appreciative of her, no matter how stubborn she is.
I got 5 hours of sleep this morning. It wasn’t really enough, but I will catch up on the rest of it tonight. I didn’t want to be caught asleep in bed by anyone, but as it turned out, I had lots of time to wake up and do a few chores and walk Tyke. It never did cool off in the apartment more, even though it was cool in the beginning of the day. Now the sun is shining again and the light is coming straight through the living room windows, warming up the place.
The Exfactor fixed the blind that I had broken. I had moved it and caused the cord not to work anymore. I couldn’t pull the blind up, try as I might. I fiddled with it, but couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I knew I didn’t have the insight to repair it and that the Exfactor did and I was right. He repaired it in a few minutes and turned the blind over so the other side of it would show and did the same thing to the other blind. Now they hang free of the window and allow more of a draft to come through. Isn’t he smart? He has more technical ability than I do. That’s why he should have been an engineer. I kid you not.
Now he is gone again after he delivered the groceries and had one more cup of coffee. I’m all on my own again with Tyke and the cats. Toby is lying in the paper box and Gandhi is outside on the patio.
I can’t wait for my high tops to get here, because my feet are very sore from my shoes, but I have to wear them. Of course, I could try on some sandals. That’s what I’ll try next. Maybe they will be more comfortable. I have tan lines on my feet from my shoes. That’s how often I’ve worn them, with no regard to the health of my feet at all. I just ignore them and suffer. How silly of me.
I’m wearing a denim skirt and a silky black tank top with my black and red and purple scarf. I do like the feel of the scarf around my neck, it gives me a sense of security, like a kid with its blanket that it carries around. I did find my denim mini skirt. It was in the closet right where it was supposed to be in the stack of skirts. I must have been blind when I looked before. I think I was looking for a different color denim and just didn’t see it, it didn’t register. So, that mystery is solved. Well, there was no mystery, actually.
I’ve just had my last cup of coffee. One thing I mustn’t do is drink any more coffee now. I’m pretty sure that’s what kept me awake last night. I must stick to juice and milk tonight. The Exfactor got me some multivitamin berry juice and it looks very appetizing. No doubt it will taste great. My mouth is already watering for it. I do have to get my vitamins in and stay as healthy as possible. Sometimes I get a shortage of them.
No doubt I will be writing another post in no time at all. I seem to be a bit addicted to blogging right now. This in spite of the fact that I do turn the computer off as much as possible and do get other things done. It is a temporary addiction, possibly, maybe because I’m a bit hyper and high strung. I’m not going to worry about it. I don’t think I’m in any sort of trouble. I just need to drink less coffee and more milk. Warm milk, preferably, and I’m going to take a tranquilizer in just a minute. Just one to slow me down a bit.
Have a terrific rest of the Monday. I have to take my medicines and walk Tyke again.
Ciao,
Nora
June 6, 2010 at 11:29 am · Filed under absentmindedness, blog, clothes, glasses, house cleaning, nap, nature, shoes, the Exfactor, Tyke, Uncategorized
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I’ve walked Tyke and washed the dishes and changed my bed. Then I fooled around with the look of my blog. You know how it is, while I was waiting for the washing machine to get done, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and I found a great website with lots of blogger backgrounds. Well yes, I am fickle and I do change my mind. That’s my prerogative as a woman and I must be very feminine. Not that I hadn’t noticed that before, but I do exaggerate sometimes. At least I don’t wear nail polish on my toe nails. I haven’t quite gone as far as that. I’ll let you know when I get to that point.
I’ve even changed my glasses and put on the pair that I thought I had lost, but that showed up in the box of art supplies. They are rectangular, as opposed to my other pair which are oval. They look quite different and until I get comments on them, I don’t know how I feel about them. You see, I can’t make up my own mind. The woman in the shop helped me pick them out, but once I had them, I got enormous doubts about them and didn’t wear them that often. Well, just often enough to lose them for a while. I thought they weren’t meant to be until I found them again.
I’ve misplaced a denim mini skirt and I have no idea where it is. It’s not in any of the usual places, so it’s a mystery to me. How can a mini skirt disappear? It’s not that little. I did have to fit into it. It will probably show up in some odd place where I haven’t looked yet and that is completely illogical for a mini skirt to be. I’ll let you know when it shows up.
I just walked Tyke again in the hot noontime sun. The clouds that were here earlier burnt away and now we have blue skies again. There are some clouds at the horizon, so there may be rain yet, but I doubt it. It doesn’t look threatening enough. It’s hot in the sun and I didn’t make it a long walk. We did that in the morning when it was still cool. There’s all sorts of shrubbery blooming now, which I can’t identify, but which smells good. Most of them have white flowers. That seems to be the most common blossom here, except for the fruit trees which are pink and white. Some of them are still blooming too.
I should now get the laundry out of the machine and hang it up to dry, but my feet are sore from walking. I want to get some black high tops with white laces and wear those with my black leggings. I think they will be comfortable to walk in instead of these summer shoes and sandals. There’s always some area of my foot that’s being pinched by something.
Well, I took care of that quickly. I just ordered some on line and they were very reasonably priced and I bought them on credit. They will be mine in less than four payments. That’s the way to do business. I will pay them off quicker than that, though. I don’t want to walk on unowned shoes and I can’t buy anything else until they’re payed for. That’s my rule. It will be nice to walk in something comfortable and not be pinched everywhere. My toes and my heels will be very grateful, I’m sure. So will the soles of my feet.
I will try not to take a nap today, even though I got up very early. It’s better to be totally beat tonight. I think I will just find more chores to do instead. I’ve cleaned out that cabinet I was talking about the other day. It turned out not to be so much work. I just needed a plastic bag for the junk and a paper bag for the obsolete medicines that can go to the pharmacy. The rest of the things in there needed to be organized and that was done quickly.
I need the same kind of initiative when I clean out the chest of drawers. It just needs to hit me that it is what I’m going to do and then nothing will stop me. Actually, the Exfactor needs to look through them first and see if there’s anything that belongs to him before I throw it away, because I’m ruthless. I have no mercy when it comes to tossing things out. I don’t like to hold on to useless items.
Speaking of useless items, I have to remember to put the trash out tonight. It’s that time of the week again. Last week I forgot to put out the recyclable paper and I now have a big box of it sitting in my hallway waiting for the next pick up day. These used to be the Exfactor’s jobs and I’m still not used to doing them and have a tendency to forget. I’m only reminded because I see other people’s stuff sitting out on the curb. Then I walk inside and forget about it again. I’m very absentminded. It’s a good thing my head is screwed on tight. If I live carefully and pay close attention to the details, I do okay. An agenda is a very handy thing to have, though. Especially if you look in it every day.
Well, I’m going to hang up the laundry now and dust the living room. It looks pretty spotless, but you never know… A domestic help sees hidden dirt. Dirt that an ordinary person is unaware of. I see some myself now on the baseboard under the radiator.
Have yourself a nice day. I will take some pictures of the living room and post those soon.
Ciao,
Nora
April 12, 2010 at 8:58 pm · Filed under domestic help, house cleaning, nap, sleep, the apartment, the Exfactor
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My stove (cooker) is amazingly clean. It has seen a lot of elbow grease today and a special soapy scrub sponge. Since I never cook, it was still caked on dirt around the burners from when the Exfactor lived here and used to cook and the thing hasn’t been so clean since we bought it. It plain sparkles. Little does the domestic help know that this is years of neglect that she is cleaning up. The Exfactor always cleaned with a lick and a promise and I didn’t do much better, because I was depressed half of the time.
Slowly the apartment is getting the cleaning it deserves and it’s going to make me less embarrassed about having people over if they aren’t wearing roller skates and passing through very quickly. Well, maybe it wasn’t as bad as all that, but it wasn’t great either from a decent housewife point of view. You’d think I had never cleaned house in my whole life and that I never used to run a household in a large house with a husband and two kids and assorted animals and all the rooms that held all that life and its accompaniments. Pulling out the vacuum cleaner used to be one of the first things I did in the morning. You wouldn’t believe that now, would you? Maybe I will even get motivated to paint the baseboards now that everything is starting to look so nice.
I took a little nap sitting up on the sofa with my head resting on my hand which was resting on the arm rest. I was trying to watch the six o’clock news but missed it completely, so you see, I still need my little naps. I took one this morning too after I had been up for a while early in the morning. My psychiatrist asked me if I slept well and I could positively answer that. I do love to sleep lately and look forward to going to bed, especially since my duvet has been washed and my bed has clean linens on it. I am constantly washing sheets and pillow cases and changing my bed, because I do look forward especially to going to sleep in a clean bed and I do always have to think of dust mites, microscopic as they are. They bother me, the knowledge of them. I think I wiped out a large colony by washing the duvet and will do it more often now that I know it fits in the washing machine. Buying a second duvet will also be a good idea to use as a back up.
I was so very much not looking forward to the domestic help coming here this afternoon and in reality it wasn’t bad at all. It has been the same girl for the third time in a row now and I’m getting used to her. She ‘s not bad to have around. She says thee to me and I say you to her. That shows our mutual positions to each other and I am comfortable with that. We don’t need to get any closer than that. On Fridays someone else will be coming and hopefully that will become a regular person also. They should have scheduled it that way, anyway. It was hard when it kept on being someone else on Mondays, but now it is much better.
Well, it’s time for me to go to bed. The Exfactor is coming tomorrow and I do want to be up when he gets here and not look like a bewildered woman in my bathrobe with my hair sticking up all over the place. I look that way with my clothes on too, but at least I’m dressed then.
Have a good night and sleep tight.
Ciao,
Nora
March 28, 2010 at 2:58 pm · Filed under balance, blog template, coffee, house cleaning, moods, nap, sleep, springtime, time, Tyke
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I just woke up from a long nap on the sofa and feel like a normal human being now. I was up earlier, but it was a disaster, because I had not slept long enough and I was in a terrible mood because of the shortage of sleep. Of course, instead of going straight back to bed, I was stubborn and convinced that I should stay up and function and do things, even though it was clear that I was not doing them well at all. I thought I should just have another cup of coffee and then I’d be okay, but that second cup of coffee didn’t help me any more than that first one.
Finally it dawned on me that what I needed, for everyone’s sake, was sleep. I laid down on the sofa and thought I would just rest with my eyes closed and that I would not really fall asleep, but I was wrong and as usual, I feel a lot better now and am a much friendlier person to be with. All my kindness has returned and I don’t feel like the end of the world is coming and I’m the doom sayer to tell you. Goodness, that’s a rotten job.
Now, of course, I’m dealing with that hour of adjustment in the time. It’s really an hour earlier than it says on the computer clock and my watch. I haven’t changed the clock in the living room yet, but it is dark and gray outside and it is raining, and it could be any time of the day. Still, I feel like the day is going by awfully fast time wise. I feel like I need to hurry up and do a lot of living in the few hours that are left of the day. I don’t think it will happen, though.
I’m supposed to be doing my share of the house cleaning, meaning that I have to dust, vacuum and mop the apartment and clean up the kitchen, but I am so completely not able to do that right now. I think I will have to be excused and have the help do that work herself, because what else is she going to do? If it’s raining, she can’t wash the windows, except for the insides and those will be done in no time. The first girl who was ever here set up that schedule and I think she was a little bit confused. It’s time to throw a wrench into the works.
Oh yes, I’ve changed my template. Of course, you can’t help not missing that. I was over at Eye in the Sky and saw her link to Free Blogger Templates and, of course, I had to go have a look, and you know me, once I go have a look at free templates, I go see if there’s one I like. I tried on a couple for size, before I settled on this one. I thought that maybe the other ones were a little bit too garish, although they had their appeal too and I’m not firmly decided yet. Let’s just say that I’m thinking about it and things could change any minute. There was one I really liked but the tags were gobbled up with the text and I don’t know how to fix it. If this one stays all depends on how much you like it. Thumbs up or thumbs down? You can’t vote for the toad. Just for the unknown.
Tyke is lying by my feet, occasionally snoring. The back door is open, so he has been running in and out. There are bits of cardboard spread all over the living room and bedroom from an earlier adventure with a cardboard box. I get to pick up all those pieces. I think he has grown since I’ve had him, because he doesn’t seem like such a little puppy anymore, although he still is in his behavior. He’s getting less destructive, though, and more aware of what are his toys to do with as he pleases. He does like to steal things that belong to me, to tease me and to see if he can get away with it. I’m just waiting for him to get this stage behind him and become more normal, to whatever point that is possible. I think he will always be a little bit of a stinker. It’s in his nature to be the clown.
The sun has come out again, though it isn’t very warm out. There’s no abundance of nature happening out there. Everything is late. It’s just all sort of dreary looking, as if it’s been fall. There is no eruption of green yet, nor are there bright blossoms of daffodils. Spring has forsaken us. At least I don’t live in certain regions in Canada, where people still struggle with the cold and the snow and the wind. I would find that unbearable, but I guess you get used to anything. I suppose we don’t have it so bad here.
I’ve had 3 cups of coffee and I will make myself a decaf now, so as to not upset the delicate balance of my psychic system. Ha! I’m only half kidding. I feel good now and I want to keep it that way. I mustn’t upset the applecart.
Have a good afternoon. Don’t forget to let me know what you think, or otherwise I’ll start to act independently.
Ciao,
Nora
February 10, 2010 at 5:13 am · Filed under books, dog food, early morning, friends, Gandhi, gastric band, grocery shopping, house cleaning, the queen, Tyke
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It’s early in the morning again and I have been up for a while. I thought I would take the opportunity when I felt rather good and write a post. That is, if my little dog is going to let me. He is playing with Gandhi right now, but wants to involve me in the game also. Oh, he’s decided to lie down by my feet now and be quiet. That’s good, it helps if he doesn’t jump on the keyboard. It does enable better writing, technically speaking.
I didn’t sleep well during the night. My stomach was upset and that bothered me quite a bit. I had a slice of salami before I went to bed and that did not sit well. My gastric band wanted to reject it. The best thing to do was to get up and have things settle down there. A vertical position helps, so does drinking something. A cup of coffee works as good as anything, because it isn’t about acid, but about mechanics.
I have to clean house today, because my friend Yvonne is coming over tomorrow afternoon for a cup of tea. That’s a good motivation to get some things done around here. I’ll gladly clean the apartment if a friend is coming over. I can’t think of a better reason to. Well yes, if the queen were to come for tea, but she has yet to let me know if she is. Though why that should matter so much is beyond me. I am a republican, after all, and I don’t mean that as opposed to a democrat.
I’m also going grocery shopping with my sister tomorrow afternoon, even though I’m not out of supplies yet, having lived very frugally this past week. I don’t know how that happened, but it just did and I have made everything last. I do have to buy special puppy food for Tyke, because he’s been getting regular dog food now and I’m sure he needs the special nutrients that are in puppy food. He has a fantastic appetite and would eat nonstop if I allowed it and he likes everything. I’m not used to that.
I’ve not been reading much these past few days and am still stuck in the same book. I’m nearing the end, though, and will try to finish it today. Then comes the hard choice of what to read next, because I have so many unread books to choose from. I’m thinking of trying Anita Shreve next. I have quite a few of her novels. I was thinking of reading “The Pilot’s Wife.” Does anyone know that one?
Well, I’m going to take my medicines and lie down for a while. I may even eat some breakfast now that my stomach has settled down again. I’ll watch the repeat of the news while I do that. It pays to stay informed.
Have a good day!
Ciao…
Another Splendid Day 