My home is a mess

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies.
I`ve been working all weekend (the clock-change was most welcome!!) just one day off today, in tomorrow again, but then off for 3 so hope to get more done then...now to catch up first -

FarmersWife- thanks for telling us about the kestrel that survived. I love it that you cared enough to pop in on your days off to find out, too.
Bearcub - I hope your mum is fully recovered, and I`m sure NOT missing her haido would have helped! Nice for your DD & her BF to be shut of their dodgy landlord and in their own place, Bless`em. Good luck with your story writing too,
Sonastin - you`re right, Christmas `tat` (& Halloween `tat`) are taking up way too much shopping display space in these parts too! Very irritating.
CatsLcats- I reckon you have every right to feel virtuous! (even without doing the fridge!)
Procrastinator - I`m glad you feel better. I understand the bit about feeling upset though, then thinking it through. I find other posters here very supportive and helpful.
Alec E - your posts and advice are particularly worthwhile reading because you are happy to be open about your previous domestic chaos, and that you`re a living example of Getting on Top of Things... You never come across as judgemental or unkind - which many `reformed` folks do. (like ex-smokers etc..)

Chez-Emm?
A wonderful thing happened here on Friday, and it `enabled` me to add another item to my `basics` list, kept up so far!
I`d been thinking about making a kedgeree for a while, but decided to get it out of my system on Friday. Also cooking a piece of lamb for Saturday`s supper in oven.
Got distracted while poaching the smoked haddock in milk, pan boiled over & flooded the gas hob with fishy milk! NASTY!!. The cooker is a very Dark Brown to begin with, and was already truly manky but in a way that I`d been able to (shamefully!) ignore. DS is the worst culprit, spills stuff when he uses the eye-level grill, doesn`t clean up, etc. but it`s also been one of my worst `Pu-Offs` items, despite my recent winnings in the kitchen. The burnt on mess reaches a sort of equilibrium where it doesn`t actually seem to get any worse...until it gets flooded with Fishy Milk. And this cannot be left. No, it can`t.
I scooped & scraped, used a whole roll of kitchen towel, an old pallet knife, and 4 sponge scourers, 3 old pairs of DGD`s knickers, and a lot of spray-on Stardrops.
The hob is lovely again, and surprisingly it didn`t take all that long. (I think it helped that the oven was on too). No fishy burnt milk smells. Ds spilt some baked beans on it last night and cleaned them up straight away.
The kedgeree was lovely, by the way!
I`ve also done a successful experiment - got home last night with supper un-planned and literally `threw together` some stuff - cooked `rubber chicken` pieces, leftover cooked baby potatoes, a couple of tired red peppers & 3 very tired tomatoes. Half a tin of `Eesy` onions needed using up, and a tired sweet potato (so tired it was hard to peel) cubed. I slung in half a jar of Harissa paste and stirred it all together, put in oven and thought `shall I add some wine?`. (red winebox...) No, that might be a bit overdoing things, so I drank some instead. The `Harissa casserole` was lovely!

Today I`ve washed uniforms, dog-rug & cushion, and loads of undies. (3WM loads), poo-picked, filled the bird-feeders, & prepped a roast chicken dinner for tonight -
plus my daily `basics`. Upstairs is still a tip, but it`ll keep.
Now going to mooch up to the co-op to look out for YS items.
Laters...

alec_eiffel

Thanks Emm,

I'm glad to hear that my experience is useful to other people, I see it as a kind of "pay it forward" thing as although there was no specific thread like this when I was sorting myself out there were many people online who helped me, whether they knew it or not. I can never repay them for how they helped me to change my life so if I can in any way offer something positive to other people then I'm happy.

Plus, I'm still far from "perfect" so need reminding to keep on moving sometimes, I'm not totally reformed!

Today Dh finished painting the ceiling I did some laundry, deep cleaned the rabbit pen and we put the living room back together. Thankfully I cooked today's food yesterday so all I have to do is heat it up, we're both worn out! Hope you're all having a good day.

farmerswife75

Hi messies!!

I washed the car and hoovered it out this aft - we live on a farm, you can imagine how dirty it was!! Haha!! It's now all shiney and ready for our trip across the country to a tennis comp tomorrow, i'm giving another tennis mum and her daughter a lift so that was part of the reason for cleaning it!!

This morning i collected 3 Le Creuset dishes off a lady in a nearby town, i bought a couple off her a while ago - she's selling them and replacing them with a different colour because she likes red rather than blue!! Not very mse but good for me!!

Emm - you are doing very well, keep it up!!

Jx

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

FW, I sympathise with the car, we have the same problem. In fact everywhere is just mud at the moment. The kids went to play footie outside this aft and I was about to stop them then thought oh bless them its half term. An hour later I have two sets of filthy clothes.

Then the dog brings in the mud on his paws and I seem to get covered in it too!

Ah well mud aside I have had quite a productive day. Taking the kids out for the day tomorrow for a treat - stuff the expense for once.

Oh Emm, kedgeree, lovely, havent had that since I lived at home. Love the story about cleaning the stove, especially recycling the old knickers! My son is into fried eggs at the moment and he never manages to clean the grease off the stove top properly. His Crohns means he gets these wierd food cravings and thankfully we have moved on from tuna which was costing me a fortune!! I hope he stays on fried eggs for a while.

As for needing a gentle kick up the bum to get things done, yeah I think we all need a bit of that sometimes. I am terrible for wasting time and putting off the important stuff.

Well night all, arent these evenings long now its dark early? Might find my new library book as the kids have taken over the telly.

mcculloch29

A small victory today. I have a silver fine wire-mesh bin in the lounge that I didn't use a liner for when I first bought it. Stupid person.
It quickly looked decidedly manky - a friend suggested I buy a new one, it was that bad. I hid it with a bin liner. Today I replaced the liner ( large Wilko's bag!) and thought yeucch.. RIGHT!
I can report that a toothbrush dipped in Vim (yes, that Vim) works really well to clean a mucky mesh bin. Rinsed it well, dried carefully - and then realised I probably would have cleaned it even better using my wire brush from Poundland.

alec_eiffel

Today I'm deep cleaning the dining area and fridge. The fridge shelves are soaking as we speak and I'll do the rest in a bit.

Big news of the day is that I finished my quilt!!!

Have a good day everyone.

farmerswife75

Hello!

alec - well done on finishing the quilt!! One of my main problems is that i start things and don't get them finished!!

mcculloch - Vim??? wowza, i haven't heard of Vim since i was younger!! Glad it worked though!!

Today i've been to Sunderland for a tennis comp with my eldest daughter, she's just moved up to full court/yellow ball tennis, she was well and truly thrashed by a girl that's 3 years older than her!! But she was still smiling when she came off court!

Tomorrow we are selling some cattle at the auction, the kids are excited as it's half term this week and they get to go, and Mr Farmer always buys us some dinner while we are there (oh, life on the edge!!;))!! Fingers crossed that the trade is good tomorrow!!

We've given in and lit the woodburner tonight, lovely and toasty!!

Take care all!!

Jxx

Baileys_Babe

Not much done round here for a little while, well I've kept up with the laundry & dw and swept the floor occasional. Really need to get back to it, as when I was in the swing I wasn't just keeping up I was beginning to make progress.
Tomorrow I plan to:
-do the dw hokey cokey
-laundry
-clear draining board
-tidy & sweep hall floor
I realise that isn't much of a list but I thought it better I make it manageable and do it instead of listing everything that needs doing and do none of it because it looks to daunting.

Well done Alec E on finishing the quilt, is it for you or are you giving it as a present?

gilly1964

Where are we all?

I have checked Flylady - not there

Is it Half Term or the run up to Christmas that is keeping us away?

Come on Emm, FW, Alec E, Procrastinator, Bearcub, Sonastin, YL, Cats, McCulloch - let's all let each other know where we are at:beer:

I have planned a busy day to try and get some chaos back into the disorder :rotfl:

Kitchen - sides and floor need cleaning
Lounge - finish stripping wallpaper - ready for the woodwork to be done at the weekend
Hall - pack away bits and pieces - ready for decorating at the weekend
Ironing - mostly DS's stuff - so he can do it:rotfl:
Washing - keep on top of
Bedrooms - find floor
Cook dinner

Catch you all later x

alec_eiffel

The quilt is for DH for the bed in his dressing room, or more likely for him to cosy under when we watch telly. I have to be honest and admit that I'm not much of a finisher either, I start things with passion and gusto and they rarely get finished, so to have a finished and functioning quilt in only 5 months is really amazing to me. Maybe I have turned a corner!

Our visitors land in England today but are having 2 nights in Manchester first so I am in a deep cleaning... something. Frenzy would be too strong a word but it's getting done! Yesterday I did the job I hate most - cleaned the blinds in the kitchen, there are 3 to cover one window as it covers most of the front of the house so it's not fun. I also cleaned the living room windows which cover a whole wall so that also takes ages. But I thought "worst first".

Today I have a lot to get done -

Spare room - clean window and blinds, dust everything, make up the bed, put the other furniture back in, hoover, make sure it smells nice and turn the radiator up

Other bedrooms - clean the windows and blinds, dust everything, hoover

Stairs - remove paint from treads, clean treads (this is a good thing as my stairs are wood so I get to use my almond cleaner!), dust ornaments

Do some ironing, put laundry away, spot clean the carpet in the dining area and clean the porch. then I think that's probably enough for one day.