My kitchen is sparkling

And bare. Today is Friday which is clean the kitchen day but it is also the 8th which is wipe down appliances (the 6th was dust anything hanging on the walls and the 7th was Windex all other glass - maybe too similar...). Since they hit on the same day I decided it was a double whammy and I SCRUBBED my kitchen. I took EVERYTHING off the counters and stove and scrubbed the counters. I took the utensils out of their canister and the pasta out of the jars and the tea out of the tin...and I washed it all...well my dishwasher is washing some of it. Don't forget that your dishwasher can be a workhorse: Surprising Uses for Your Dishwasher Real Simple. I cleaned the inside of the toaster oven and scrubbed the espresso maker. I even washed out the recycle bin.

The only thing I didn't do was my fridge. Clean the inside of the fridge and microwave is the 20th and I was out of space to put all of the pictures that are on it so I will wipe it down that day too. I forgot I had a special day for the inside of the microwave so it will get done twice this month.

Almost an hour later I am relaxing and wishing I could make a latte (but can't because some of the parts are in the dishwasher).

New Plan

In 2010 I have a new plan for keeping up on my least favorite domestic duties: the ones that involve cleaning!

Each day I am going to have a weekly chore and a monthly chore. For example today was a Tuesday so I did my 1st floor floors and today was the 5th so I cleaned the inside of my windows.

Here are my weekly chores:
Monday - Laundry
Tuesday - 1st floor floors
Wednesday - pick up upstairs (downstairs gets done nightly)
Thursday - upstairs floors
Friday - shine my kitchen
Saturday - orgainze the entry way (put away shoes, clean the drop zone and hang all coats)
Sunday - meal planning

I will post the monthly chores later but so far I have:
1 - check in with my finances, bills, receipts
2 - update calendars and display board
3 - clean light fixtures
4 - dust ceiling mouldings
5 - windows

So far so good :)



I am still trying to do 1 thing a month for myself and last month I got a new haircut that I love:

Back to cleaning

After so many projects, today was a cleaning day. I got back on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor in the entry way. We really hadn't cleaned up from the dust caused by drilling so it was easy to watch my progress. I feel like that room is done. For about a 10 square foot space we have packed in a shoe cabinet that holds more than a dozen pairs, 6 double coat hooks, a mirror and a umbrella stand doubling as a scarf, hat and mitten holder (yes, I have become an umbrella-less true northwesterner).

Ewww

Today I cleaned the bathroom exhaust fans...ewwww. At this point I can't think of anything worse to clean then a dusty, grimy cavity above my head with lots of build-up to scrub. I am guessing it had never been done - or not in a looooong time - so I shouldn't need to do it again for awhile. :)

To balance that out I am making a cake. It is a 3-layer cake but I am only going to frost two and freeze one. My Grammie told me when she was first married she would bake 1 layer, cut it in half and frost it like a two-layer cake. I thought it was ingenious. I am having some friends to dinner tomorrow so I will serve the proper two-layer cake then.

Counters

My counters are laminate made to look like stone. And they are green. For the most part I don't think about them and when I do I remember I don't like them; except for one thing. They hide crumbs. When you look at them they always look clean; but if you get down on eye level you can see the crumb collection. Today I cleared them off and gave them a good wipe down, including the lip at the back. I gathered the crumbs from behind the pasta jar and the fruit bowl and bid them good-bye. When I sat at the table to finish my morning latte I noticed a few missed spots in the middle and gave it another wipe down...sat back down and saw a crumb clinging to the edge so I nabbed him...while it may be nice that they hide crumbs, they sure make it hard to clean.

Sore knees

I did it - I scrubber my kitchen floor. Actually, I did the kitchen and about 1/3 of the dining area before I had to get up. I don't know how Cinderella did it! I will have to finish the dining area and maybe get the entry way another day. I got the important part, under the high chair, and even tacked on the vent under the fridge for good measure. My knees are sore and wet, my feet cramped and my back aches. I am a cleaning wimp.

Wonderful husband

You may think I took the day off yesterday, but I didn't. I cleaned (tidied and dusted our bedside tables. I started with my husband's side, a square wooden table passed from my grammie to my mom to me. After clearing it off and dusting it I used to rag on the antique secratary, the only other finished wood piece in the room. As I wiped it down I started to notice the first signs of a migraine. My husband walked in and I told him "medecine and water, now"; he knew what I meant. He went to fill my request but I was determined to finish what I had started. I cleared off my round metal bedside table and started to wipe it down. My husband came in and gave me my medecine then asked why I wasn't laying down. When I told him, he told me to lay dowwn and he finished the job. He took great care of me the rest of the day.

Today I have the dull reminder of yesterday's headache so I am taking it easy. I cleared off the top of the TV. It is the gathering place for dvds and Wii games as well as anything else we want out of the baby's reach. Now it has nothing :).

Window sills

Today I didn't finish the appliances; I cleaned the window sills. I got out my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it was a piece of cake. Only the smallest amount of elbow grease and the dirt came right up. I keep forgetting how amazing those are for getting grime off paint. I am "lucky and only have 3 to do so this task took about 4 minutes (the family room window was disgusting).

Appliances

I was going to clean my kitchen appliances today but it is more daunting a task than I thought so I did the espresso machine, the toaster oven and the outside of the fridge. About a year ago we replaced our toaster oven (a cheap one from the drugstore) with a nicer one, mostly because we hadn't taken care of the old one and it wouldn't come clean. We promised to take care of the new one but we really haven't. It sits next to the stove top and gets splattered on occasion. I wipe it with a clorox wipe but it doesn't really cut the grease. I think there was also something burned to the crumb tray... I used a toan of soapy water like my Grandpa Bud taught me, but I didn't pull out the fridge, sorry dad.

Beating the heat

We have been running the ceiling fan in our master bedroom continually since, oh, about Sunday, but today I decided to dust the fan. I had heard a trick for the blades where you use an old pillow case so the dust doesn't just fall off the fan onto whatever is below, in our case a bed. As I didn't have an old pillow case, I used an old t-shirt and it worked quite well. You just encase the whole blade and pull back applying pressure along the top and sides (at least twice in my case since it has been more than a year since it has been done). I then used the shirt to wash the lights and motor area as well.

Last night we decided to use the grill for anything we might want to eat in the next few days. I cooked zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and kielbasa and mixed them with Orzo and feta for last night. I used left over zucchini and mushrooms in a lasagna with no cook noodles for the freezer (and one for our friends who are expecting). We grilled a pepper for tonights Boca burgers with guacamole and some ears of corn because my little man loves corn on the cob (maybe a corn, avocado, tomato salad for tonight as I picked about 2 dozen more cherry tomatoes last night). I will do something with the left over kielbasa friday, perhaps breakfast for dinner.

Ewww

Today I wiped down my cabinets, well, the outsides of them. My cabinets are a light faux wood and they hide grime much better than I would have thought. I am amazed at how many little things there are to clean. I do think I need to find something other than cleaning to do. I was going to back a chocolate torte for a gathering I had last night but there was no way I was using the oven on a 100 degree day. I still need to do something to make myself feel more goddess like especially since I have been avoiding the hair dryer and make-up.

Day One

I have been staying home with my son for 10 months. I think I am a pretty good SAHM but as I look at my house, I find I have been neglecting to keep house. There always seems to be something better to do when I am not playing with my boy, but more often than not it is on my computer where I get sucked into a time wasting world. So, here is my challenge to myself: Do one domestic thing each day before I "log-on" and post it here. Today I dusted the crown moulding downstairs. Mmmm...boring but important. So I am allowed to post and play on my computer.

In my quest for domesticity I grabbed a book I bought a long time ago but never looked at. It is How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. I want to be a domestic goddess. After about 2 minutes I put it back. Being a domestic goddess goes so far beyond the kitchen Nigella! I think the first step to being a domestic goddess is keeping. In order to move on to cooking magnificent recipes and having dust free moulding the rest of the house must be kept. The laundry and dishes done, the bills paid and the beds made. Since those come before I can achieve goddess status, those don't count as my one-a-day... well unless I am laundering my curtains or polishing the copper bottoms of my pots.

Another part of keeping is keeping myself. I need to do the things that make me feel like a goddess. This is also part of my goal to put my needs first. I am going to schedule myself a much needed hair cut!