December goals

This is what I have managed to achieve this month:

• Get the Christmas decorations up.

I have done this.

• Find a Christmas tradition that I can do with the wee ones.

I have made out a list of traditions, and while I have not done many of them this year I will make sure that next year I will plan out things better and get them done (I am far too good at putting off doing something until it is too late to do them)

• Celebrate the winter solstice.

I did this. The wee ones enjoyed it as well. It is the first time that I have celebrated the winter solstice.

• Clear as much of the clutter away as possible. 

I have done this. while I still have a mountain of clutter to go through I can actually see the progress that I have been making. that is keeping me motivated and ensuring that I keep at the task until all of my clutter is gone.

I think I have done well this month. I did set myself achievable goals. This is what I need to do all of the time so that I always manage to achieve what I set out to achieve.

Getting inspiration

I have been watching the cleaning programs on the TV to inspire me to clean. They really do help me cdlean at night (along with my Japanese lessons)

Happy Christmas

We had a fun day celebrating Christmas. It was far from the supposed perfect Christmas (There were no Brussel sprouts or roast potatoes), but we had a nice time.

I kept off the computer and even though I did not get much sleep last night I was not snippy with the wee ones.

I actually enjoy Christmas day. I like to keep it as relaxed as possible. I always intend on taking them out for a walk in the afternoon but before I knew it, Christmas afternoon had come and gone without it happening. Ah well better luck next year. It would be nice if we could do something together on Christmas day, however relaxing together is also doing something together.

The main thing is that we had a nice day today.

Christmas Eve

I left the Christmas decoration making until last minute (not something that is strange to me) but I thought I would have time to make some decorations, but once I started doing all of the jobs that needed to be done I realized that there would not be enough time. I will get them done in the next few days though and make sure that they get done earlier next year.

We did spend some time watching Christmas movies. Sadly it did not really go as well as I had hoped though. The wee ones would not sit still. I need to improve the selection of Christmas movies for them. I need more animated films and ones that do not last as long. I think that it will get better not only when they get used to the tradition but also when they are able to sit still for longer than five minutes. It will also help when I am able to keep calm better as well (I allow to let myself to be influenced by others emotions too easily)

Happy Winter Solstice

And there was a lunar eclipse this morning as well. Sadly I missed a lot of it as I am not good at getting up, but I did manage to catch some of it and I did feel like I was a part of it. I should have made the effort to have got up to have seen more, but I did at least see it.

I put the pictures of the goddesses up that I drew last night and I gave a present to the wee ones.

I have now lit some candles and I will meditate to welcome in the new solar year.

I will get better at this as we do it more often but I am glad that I took part in the winter solstice this year. The wee ones also enjoyed it as well.

Bright blessing to all.

Winter Solstice

I have been looking on the Internet to find out how the Winter Solstice is celebrated. I must confess that until tonight I had no idea how it was celebrated (I never celebrated it when I was growing up)

This is what I have found out so far:

1. I need to decorate my home with colors (Red, green and white) and herbs of ancient ancestries. Array plants of the season, pine cones, holly and pine boughs. Mistletoe above the entrance brings good luck in the coming year to all who enter.
2. Visiting people and inviting others to visit me. I time for sharing time with those who we love and bringing about an atmosphere that sparkles and sings.
3. Share food and thoughtful gifts with loved ones. Winter solstice is a celebration of generosity and goodwill. Laughter rings out in the warm glow of candlelight and hearth fires.
4. Light the yule log in the hearth and let the flickering of candles adorn my home with their laughing faces.
5. Decorate my home with the images of the Goddess who is renewed from Crone to Maiden. The following goddesses are appropriate for this time of the year; Isis, Horus, Tonantzin, Holda, Bona Dea, Ops, Lucina and Belfana.
6. Honor the new Solar year with light. I will need to do a Solstice Eve ritual by meditating in the dark and then welcoming the light by lighting a candle.

You can see how Christmas has been created by using the winter Solstice. I think I can still do both though. I think that the present that we give for the Solstice should be something that we have made.

Christmas Traditions

I have been thinking about what I could do for Christmas traditions. Here is a list of potential traditions:

• Make Christmas decorations (From things that we have gathered from the local wood in the Autumn)
• Put up the Christmas decorations together.
• Make Christmas cookies.
• Sit and watch Christmas movies together as a family
• Go out for a walk on Christmas day together.

I think it would be nice to do some things together. Though I would also like to make sure that we also do more things together throughout the rest of the year rather than just once a year. That would also make the wee ones used to doing something like this. That will then hopefully stop the Christmas traditions becoming a chore.

Decorations

I have put up the Christmas decorations. I put them up last night. I think they look really funky and even though it is two totally different types of celebrations with their own special type of decorations, they do work well together (though then again I am am much more open minded about things being unconventional)

This is what the decorations look like:

December goals

I will not set myself much this month as I will have a lot to do.

Get the Christmas decorations up.

Find a Christmas tradition that I can do with the wee ones.

Celebrate the winter solstice.

Clear as much of the clutter away as possible.

Novermber goals

I have not been too badly with that. I have been managing to keep the living room and the wee ones room clean. that is about it though. I cannot seem to manage that with the kitchen or our bedroom. I have not really managed to clear out much clutter, but I have at least managed to get rid of one or two black bags worth of stuff on bucket day (that is much better than nothing)

I think it will be many years before I learn how to be the perfect housewife.

I know it will get a lot easier next year when the wee ones are at school, but then again something else will come along to challenge me. I will have to see if I can perfect it when this year.

November Goals

These are my goals for November:

All I think I should do this month is work on getting all of the rooms in the flat clean at the same time (it always seems that when I get one room really clean another one gets really messy...an no that is not because I have dumped all the clutter from the clean room into the messy room)

October Goals

This is what I have managed to achieve this month:

Gets housework organized. (Oops not done this one)

Sort the wee ones out (they are being cheeky, disobedient and running away when I let them play in the garden). (I have kind of done this, they are not totally sorted out but they are getting better at times. I just need to keep the work up and be consistent before I see results. And of course keep off the computer during the day as that is when they play up the most)

Find out what I can do with my boys (My eldest is so negative about himself and my youngest gets really angry) (I added this in later and not have the opportunity to see anyone due to being on holiday. I will move this to the next months challenge as I will get an opportunity to speak with someone at the school that they go to)

I am not really happy with what I have done. I will need to do a better job next month.

A busy bunny

I have been a really busy bunny today. I decided to stay off the computer and get the jobs done.

I managed to get lots of washing done (not bad considering that I am still hand washing ti) as well as cleaning the living room and kitchen. The kitchen required the most work. I spent most of the day in there. I really was tired at one point, but thankfully it did not take me long to recover.

One thing that did annoy me though. My partner has seen how much I have worked today but has not once said anything to me to compliment my work. when he does something then I always make sure that I notice it and say something. I wish he could do the same in return. the kitchen was looking really bad and now it is looking much better. It would be nice to have had my hard work appreciated.

Clearing the clutter from...

My desk.

I have had enough of the amount of junk around my desk so one day when I was cleaning while listening to my Japanese lesson I started on clearing the clutter.

There is still a fair amount to get rid of but it is looking much better.

My goal for this week is to get rid of all of the clutter.

October Goals

These are my goals for October:

Gets housework organized.

Sort the wee ones out (they are being cheeky, disobedient and running away when I let them play in the garden).

Find out what I can do with my boys (My eldest is so negative about himself and my youngest gets really angry)

Been a bad girl

Oops I have not done any of the goals that I have set for myself. I will have to do better next month.

However I have done something good. I sorted through the cupboard where the plates and glasses are kept and cleaned it out. I am not sure when I last did that. It is looking much better now and there is no clutter in there now. I just need to decide what to do with the stuff that is not to be put back in there.

Goals for the month

I need to get myself reorganized again:

This month I need to:

1. Set up a housework routine
2. Stick to the housework routine

I have made a start. I have started clearing through the clutter around my desk. It all has to go. We do not have enough space for it.

Been a bad girl

Oops I have been a bad girl. The place is getting disorganized again.

Though it has not helped that I have had Bells Palsy and Shingles in the last month.

I am getting better. Now for a plan of action.

Clearing the clutter

I really feel that I am beginning to get the upper hand with my battle with the clutter that I have got.

Today I spent some time in the shed and I have sorted out two black bags of clutter to get rid of. I really have had enough and it all has to go. It takes up too much room and it does not get used. I am pleased to be making progress though.

I must confess that for the last few days I have been a bit lapse. I really need to give myself a kick up the bum and tomorrow I am going to set myself the challenge of clearing the clutter from the sides in the kitchen.

I did see something on the TV that I thought would be cute to make. I like all sorts of crafts to make for the house (even children's crafts)

Pixie pot

Balancing act

That is how it is. I need to perfect that as I am allowing myself to get distracted with a cute computer game at the moment. However it is a game that I can leave for some time. I need to learn to be able to leave it and go do some housework and then go back to it just once an hour.

That would mean that I could still maintain my nice clean flat. I need to do that as things are starting to slip again.

I am pleased that I managed to clear some clutter out of the shed. As long as I keep working at it I will eventually win (though it did not help that I bought three TARDIS money boxes when I am supposed to be keeping things bought to a minimum...oops my bad)


I think I will have to set myself a project for the next week. I need to sort out a system for myself and read through a book that I have got. It is  ten minute housekeeping. I will see what tips there are for quick house work.

I will also have to have a look on Flylady as well and see if there is anything there to help.

More space

Now that I have got rid of the majority of the DVD boxes we have got so much more space. The entire DVD collection are now in one cabinet. This has freed up a computer tower which is now being used to store computer games as well as a shelf in a cupboard in our bedroom.

Today I moved my eldest sons clothes from the drawers that are buckled and put them onto the shelf where the DVD's were. I have put some things in the drawers but they cannot take much anymore but at least they still can be used.

Another thing that I did today was with something that I got from the pound shop. I got some storage with the aim of putting my partners books in them and storing them under the bed. Sadly that original plan did not work but when I thought about it I realized that it would be idea for storing the younglings autumn/winter jackets. I was able to get the ones in there that I wanted and store them under the bed. That has now reorganized the area under the neighbors stairs.

I have been thinking about making some bags recently (one for my Tarot cards)

After a quick look on the Internet I have found some guides on how to make some bags. I might end up on making a bag for when I go to my friends wedding.

Henriettas handbags

Purse patterns

Make your own clutch purse

Clearing the DVD boxes

I got some more DVD cases today and I moved all of the DVD's out of the boxes that needed to be moved.

I am so pleased that my partner was happy for me to do this and now it has meant that we have now gained so much more space.

Here is a picture of the DVD boxes that I will be getting rid of and how much space they now take up (The DVD's are now in the cases to the left). All I need to do is write a list of what DVD's are in what case.

It was very cute when my daughter wanted to watch a DVD. She knew which case I had put it into.

I really do have to sort out my desk though. I have been dumping clutter around it so it has to go. That will be my task for tomorrow.

Here are some funky Craft sites that I have found:

Craft at home

All free crafts

Make stuff

Craft ideas

UKTV Home crafting

Easy craft projects

Trendy crafts for the home

Never ending

I have been so busy and while I can see an end in sight it still does feel like a never ending job.

Well it is feeling like that I am seeing the end but then I realize that there is in fact another 100 meters to go.

I will get there though and it will feel great when I do.

Once I have got there I will need to set up systems so that I can keep it tidy. I had written up something before but I think I will assign tasks for each day so that I can keep.

Scent pouch

Take a pair of tights and cut of the foot. I would cut off at around mid calf length. You can the put something like lavender in or something that you like the scent of. Tie the top with a pretty ribbon and that can be placed in with your linen to keep it smelling nice.

Working on the kitchen

I have been working on the kitchen today. We was supposed to be getting work done on it today. the workmen arrived in the morning but they did not come back when they said they had to go away for ten minutes. No doubt the Landlord has been told to tell up something but he has not done.

I still spent some time cleaning the cupboards ready for when they do come back. It also meant that I was able to move things from the side and back into the cupboards where they belong. I have been working really hard today but I think it has been worth it.

It took me a while to clean the top of one of the cupboard though as I have never cleaned it since I moved in (I never thought about cleaning there) but it looks lovely now.

This is what it looked like when I started cleaning it:

This is what it looked like when I had finished:

It is nice to see the kitchen looking much better though as it really needed to be cleaned but there has been so much to do that it got put off.

I also cleaned the hall and entrance porch and washed the floorboards. That also looks much better.

Sorting through clothes

Today I sorted through the younglings clothes cupboard. There was so much stuff packed in there that I had difficulty finding the clothes that I wanted to find.

I took everything out and I cleaned the cupboard before sorting through them and sorting out for charity the clothes that no longer fit them, finding a new home for the clothes that should not be there due to them taking up too much room and then neatly putting away the clothes that can go in there and that they wear on a day to day basis.

I am really proud of what I have managed to do this morning.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looked like after:

This is the pile of clothes that I had to sort through:

This is the pile of clothes that went to charity:

The living room

Today was the turn for me to work on decluttering the living room. It is one of the most used rooms in the flat so it get cluttered very easily and during the day the younglings toy gets scattered around.

My partner took the younglings to him mums house today and that gave me the peace that I needed. I moved the computer desks out and I cleaned under them. I was very happy to not discover any mouse poo. I had got rid of a family of mice recently and it was a good sign that there are no more in our home. There was only dust and a few toys there.

I also started clearing the sides of clutter and moved things to better places (I moved board games to my computer desk where I had cleared some space)

I am really looking forward to the time when the whole flat is organized and nice looking together.

Freshening the kitchen sink

Once a week boil the kettle and put the boiling water down the plug hole to freshen it up.

Unblocking pipes

To clear a pipe that is not flowing away very well use a cup of bicarbonate of soda with two cups of white vinegar. Leave to soak for at least an hour and then pour some boiling water down after.

Housework while not well

It was a challenge getting the housework done while not feeling well today.

I did not get much done at all until the afternoon as I have not been feeling good. I have just done what I can get done. Thankfully though I have now picked up so I was able to get something done. Not as much as I would have liked to have done.

My step daughters friend is staying over tonight so I have managed to clean my bedroom where they will be sleeping. It looks great again, it will also mean that when I next sleep in it the room will be nice and clean again. I really have enjoyed spending time in there now that it is tidy. It feels so much more relaxing and it has made me determined to keep it like that.

Hopefully it will not be too much longer before I can maintain the whole flat like that. It is not easy when there are so many people in a small space then I should manage well in a bigger home.

I did do one thing today though. I cleaned the toilet. that is one job that I really do not like doing. It was not looking good, so after something that I saw on How clean is your house I gave it a good scrub and it is smelling much better. There is still some limescale that will not shift but I will eventually get rid of it. The thing that I saw on the programme was them mentioning about how smells can come from under the bolts that keep the seat on. I them took the toilet seat off and gave it a good scrub. I also cleaned it with old toothbrushes.

Here are some tips that I saw on How clean is your house

Polishing silverware

You can use toothpaste to polish silver (not silver plated) You polish like you would normally do but with using toothpaste instead of polish. You do need to wash off the toothpaste afterward.

Cleaning tiles

With really dirty tiles you can clean them you can clean them by putting salt on the tiles and them putting lemon juice on a cloth and wiping the tiles.

The cleaning bug

It seems that the cleaning bug is catching. My twins have started joining in with the cleaning. It is really sweet to see them cleaning. I have to be careful and watch what they are doing but they are doing a good job It is nice to see them learning from what I have been learning.

Sortting through the clothes

This has been delayed but on the Saturday (19th) I decided that I would organize the wardrobe. I spent most of the day sorting through and getting it organized but it was worth it. It looks so much better now. Hopefully we will be able to keep it like this for a while. It makes it much easier to put way clothes and find them.

I have had to put some magazines back in the cupboard, but they are nearly placed on the floor and they will be easy to sort through and can get that done once the kitchen has been cleaned.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like now:

After sorting though that my bedroom was sadly a bit of a mess with things that needed to be sorted that had been taken out of the wardrobe. I did that today. It is nice to see the room looking nice and tidy again. I was enjoying getting used to it being tidy so I did not want to get used to it being cluttered again.

I did do something today that I was very pleased about. Because it has been really hot today I managed to get nearly two wash loads of clothed washed and dried. As I was bringing them in I was sorting them out and putting them away. I have not done that before and that is how the clothes mountain builds up. I am really proud that I managed to put the clothes away so quickly. It did not take me much time (much less time than having to sort out the big piles of clothes) I must work hard that I keep doing this as it was much better.

I am also pleased with my partner. I think he is getting inspired by my resolve to keep our home clean. He cleaned his desk cleared and cleaned today. Hopefully he is able to keep it clean.

Still clearing through the clutter

I had planned on really working on the kitchen, however plans can often change when something else happens. I have done a little work in the kitchen, but it really does need properly cleaning. I think I will be spending time in there before I go to bed. I have cut up a lemon, filled with salt and put in the fridge. I have just been to check it and it smells lovely and really fresh. The smell of proper lemon is great.

I spent some time in the morning working out in the shed working clearing the clutter. I managed to get rid of five black bags of garbage and filled my neighbors bucket (I discovered that there was only one bag in when I put it out, and while I tried to ask for permission to do this, the bucket was emptied this morning so it did not become a problem)

While there is still lots of stuff in the shed, it is ninety five percent of the clutter that we have got. So it is not going to happen over night (especially as I have not got the help like what they do in the programmes) though to be honest I do not think I would like to have the help, I think I need to sort through the clutter myself (I do ask my partner if I come across anything that is his as it would be wrong to get rid of anything of his without him knowing)

I am managing to maintain a clean bedroom though. I am very pleased about that. It is so nice to be in my bedroom. I have found myself spending more time in there that I ever did before. It feels so serene. It will be better once I have sorted out the wardrobe. That is my challenge for tomorrow.

I have learned more cleaning tips from How clean is your house today. I do wish that they would show the other cleaning programme that I like. I cannot remember the name but I will know it when I see it. I will have to find out to see if they are showing it.

Anyway back to the point:

Cleaning the bath

To get off stubborn stains.  Take two cups of biological washing powder and put in the bath and fill it. Ideally it should be left overnight and then use a nylon scourer to clean (Never use a metal scourer as it will damage the bath - if it is plastic) Afterwards rinse the bath off.

A more restful day

I have decided to have a bit more of a relaxing day. I have still been doing some jobs but I just have not taken on a big job, that will happen tomorrow when I tackle the kitchen again (I just do not seem to be able to keep that room tidy)

I did however manage to look through the shed and get rid of a couple of black bags of stuff. The buckets will get emptied tomorrow so I thought it was the best chance for me to do it. I was really pleased that I did that. There was nothing that I needed but I am tired of having clutter.

I have got some records that I need to get rid of. I might try and sell them first on E-Bay first before taking them to a shop. I will see about selling them for £1.

Another thing I did was clear out the cupboard in the bathroom. I can now fit all of the toilettes in there. The top was black with dust, but it looks so much nicer now. When my partner ran the bath later he could not find the bath stuff as he was not expecting it to be in the cupboard.

I was watching How clean is your house in the evening while I was cleaning the living room (I have to wait until the wee ones have gone to bed before I do so.

I have managed to get some useful tips from it:

Cleaning the washing machine

Put a cupful of white vinegar in the drum and then put the machine through a normal cycle to get it nice and sparkling.

Freshening the fridge

Get 1/2 a lemon and scoop out the fruit. Then fill the empty half with salt and put that in the fridge.

Freshening the room

Turn the light off at the wall before handling the light

Get some essential oil (one drop onto a cloth) and wipe onto the light bulb. You will get a nice smell every time you turn on the light.

Cleaning the bedroom

I have been meaning to clean my bedroom for ages but today I decided that I would actually do it. I shut myself away in the room in the afternoon and I managed to get it clean and it looks so much nicer. I still need to sort through the wardrobe but it is great to get something done.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what is looks like now:

I am really proud of what I have managed to achieve today. I just need to make sure that I maintain it as I know that it will be lovely to sleep in this bedroom. I am looking forward to getting it decorated as well. That should hopefully get done in September. My mum and dad are coming up to help us decorate the whole flat.

I have also found a funky looking website with some home craft projects to do. Once I have got the home sorted out I would love to get some of these done.

Craft at home

Decluttering like a woman possessed

I have been in the process of decluttering for years.

We have got lots of DVD's and many of them have not been watched for a long time. I am a member of Love film so I have started renting out DVD's instead of buying them. I think it is much better as there are things that I want to watch but after I have seen it I do not want to watch it again/

I decided today that I would go through the DVD's and get rid of a lot of the ones that not only had not been watched for a while but would be unlikely to be watch again. I managed to get a big pile of DVD's and it cleared out one the places that were used to store them. That place is now going to be used to store computer games.

This is the pile of DVD's that I have sorted out.

I have discovered something interesting today. I was making soup and I started cutting up the onion soon after I had got it out of the fridge. Part way through the job I noticed that my eyes were not watering as they normally do. In fact by the end my eyes were only stinging a little. That is much better than normal as they are normally streaming at that point. I will try it out again but it seems that cutting the onion when cold seems to work out much better.

This is the recipe that I used:

Onion and Lentil soup

Ingredients

500gm Lentils
1 onion
1 medium sized carrot
2 ltr water
Vegetable stock
2tsp yeast extract
Sunflower oil
Whatever herbs you would like to add.

Cooking instructions

1. Put the oil into a pan and cut up the carrot and the onion into small pieces. Cook until soft.
2. Add the vegetable stock to the water and add to the onions and carrots along with the lentils.
3. Add the herbs and simmer the soup until the soup is ready (I must confess that with this soup I do not time it but I just see when it is ready (the lentils will be soft and the color will change)
4. Add the yeast extract.

I make up a lot of soup. This will easily serve two adults and three children and still have lots left (I like to keep some for meals the next day) The recipe is easy to adapt to make less. Just reduce the amount of lentils, liquid and yeast extract.

This soup is the most popular of the soups that I have made. All of my younglings love it and my stepdaughter will eat it as well (she is very fussy)

The perfect housewife

When I was growing up I was never taught how to keep my room clean or much about home making. So I never learned about it. I have been for a large portion of my life been a messy mare.

Before I had my younglings it did not really matter, but now they are here it is very important to maintain a clean and well organized home. There are five of us in a two bedroom flat so it is especially important that I clear all of the clutter out as soon as possible. I know we have not got much space but if things are set up properly we can make the space work for us.

I have over the last few years been doing my best to learn how to be the perfect housewife (I really got told off by my twins health visitor after a home visit about the state of my home) I do not think I will do it by the book but I would like to find my own way of making things work.

Recently though I have been watching Anthea Turners perfect housewife and How clean is your house. It has inspired me to really finish of the job that I have been doing for a while. I have started looking through sites to find information on how I can make my job quicker and easier.

I have started this blog as a way of recording my progress as well as putting any useful tips, recipes and home crafts that I have find.