KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

[Deleted User]

maryb wrote: »

We have a Vax steam mop which - doesn't. Steam, I mean. So I looked up your rotating mop on Amazon and I'm very tempted. We have a tiled kitchen floor and the grouting gets very grubby. Do you think it would do a decent job on that, Kittie?

yes Maryb it would. I got the microfibre one with the bucket. There is a spinner in the bucket and also a pouring hole. Its got to be the best design ever and I found it was a better buy straight off the vileda site. My tiles are hard to clean but grouting is harder again. I only used washing up liquid last night but have ordered stone wash from dr beckmann from his site. I need gentle stuff on my stone. I think with grouting I would do a bit at a time with a toothbrush, over time, just to get you back to nice grout but in the meantime, the mop would be good

julliet, the nematodes only go for the baby slugs, nothing else really. My worms are safe

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Just came in from spending a couple of hours at my pal's junk shop (drinking tea, mainly ) and then got a phone call from the alternative health practioner. I'd spoken to him yesterday afternoon and claimed his first available appt (14 days' time) and he'd asked me, if he got a cancellation, would I potentially be interested in sooner? Definately, was the answer.

:jAnd I have now got a mid-morning appt tomorrow, thank goodness, how serendipitious was that? Very pleased.

Didn't get in til nearly 11 pm last night so have decided not to go allotmenteering this afternoon as am going out again just after 4 pm for archery. Will have a re-visit of the clothes, methinks. The kondo-folding in the drawers is holding up very well (and deosn't it make packing a bag or a case an absolute wheeze?) but we're on the cusp of seasons and I think I need to bring some lighter garments forward and think about putting some warmer ones back for a few months.

kittie, our weather has been about the same as your weather, very dry for a very long time. I haven't seen more than a handful of slugs for several years, since I committed slug-a-geddon in the horrendous summer of 2013. They seem to be avoiding my plot for some reason. I garden organically but do put some slug pellets on the slabs inside the cold-frame as slugs can and will come up the crevices of the slabs if given half a chance.

I thought this absence was probably uniform across our site but a chance convo with a plot-holder when to-ing and fro-ing from the communal grain pile revealed that he's being plagued by slugs even now.

:mad: Oh, and that wood pigeons aren't as daft as they look, as they've worked out how to force down structures holding nets well above brassicas by landing on them one at a time until they sag. Once they're flat enough for their beaks to reach the veggies, they sit their stuffing their beaks. He's witnessed this collaborative effort with his own eyes.

silvasava

GQ my fruit bed is netted but a blackbird found a way to get in - I didn't have the heart to shoo him out as his Mrs was nesting in the garden and he looked so riffy from hunting and feeding the chicks I thought he needed some respite. No loganberries, blueberries or strawberries for us that year!
Ive also kondoed my pea and bean netting this year as I found birds tangled in it - have gone for the more robust clematis mesh instead. Saw on FB an clip on how to do rose cuttings in a potato - may give it a try as I've a really old rose that I'd like a few cuttings from. Not today though as that wind is bitter - even here in the sunny south

GreyQueen

You were kind to that blackbird.

I saw one repeatedly trying (and failing) to get under my strawberry net several years ago, it was obsessed with a very large half-red strawberry and kept trying to get at it depsite me gardening nearby.

The following day there was a blackbird's worth of feathers where it had been (and the strawberry was unmolested) - I reckon it was so focussed on the fruit that it didn't see a cat stalking it.:(

I have two strawberry beds now which are on notice - produce or die. They're flowering heavily but I'm not confident of getting much fruit for myself as I don't net them anymore (bird-tangling fears) and all critters seem to love a strawb.

Just been sorting out my computer desk, the bits which aren't under the pooter itself aren't large and are major attractants to kipple and clutter. The top shelf of the desk is also the To-Be-Read bookshelf and that is thinning out. Why, I've even been able to move a pile of seven paperbacks off the back of the sofa to join this shelf.:rotfl:

ETA; and a small dish leapt from my marigolded fingertips and flung itself onto the kitchen floor - nothing much survives landing on tile over concrete, and this wasn't the exception. One less thing in the household, yay!

[Deleted User]

Are you seeing many, or any bees around the plot? I have seen one bee and two bumble bees. I do know I am surrounded by yellow rape and he was spraying insecticide the other night, must have been nicotimide, I bet the bees have been killed. I normally see a lot, anyway my comfrey will be flowering soon and I will know for sure then

I am so glad that I bought a lightweight aluminium step ladder with a top step safety rail, only cos I have a hugely massive and very heavy single curtain to hang and the rail was great for taking the weight. I took it off thinking that it would need to be out of the way for some window work but didn`t need to, however I am glad because I now appreciate the fact that it was very good at hiding a cable jumble and drawn right back, it is fine and it will never come down again, it was only a bit dusty, not dirty and I can deal with that but I could not deal with manhandling it in five years.

I kondoed chocolate brownies out of the freezer yesterday as my lost weight has stealthily come back on and I know they are the culprits :A I get mouth hunger unless I am busy and always in the afternoon. I didn`t say but they went into the bin, a whole ziplock bag of them, the lovely costco mix but I know how much oil I had to add :cool:

GQ I gave up with strawberries on the allotment, getting low under the net was a pain and the slugs always beat me to it anyway

ooh, there is a bird in my solar bird bath, they must be very thirsty

MMF007

Kondo'd a lovely lunch with ex-colleagues. They said i looked well and was a great ad for leaving an office job! They looked harassed Many employers are trying to work with too few staff, causing far too much stress. I felt very sorry for them indeed.

Whilst getting ready I realised that i have kept a few tops that are just too big, so never get worn, but were kept because I am between sizes so have very limited choice of ones that do fit, iyswim. But if i am not going to wear them anyway why are they taking up valuable space?? Looking forward to Friday afternoon when i shall do another round of kondo on those drawers. 'Ruthless' will be the adjective of the day

*confession* - I skived off art class today so I could do lunch with friends, felt really naughty :rotfl:

Have happily kondo'd dust and vacc'd through, cleaned hard floors and done 2 loads of washing this afto. Am about to make a tasty curry for tea with leftovers, some fresh cauli and courgettes and the last of the popadums from bargain pack bought ages ago.

Also planning to make more marmalade because the last will be given to friends on friday and I found 2 kg sugar for 88p so no excuses as I already have a tin of 'Homemade' marmalade in the cupboard awaiting cooking up!

Happy days

GreyQueen

Yes, lots of bees, thank goodness, all bumblers bar one honeybee.

My plot is between a housing estate and a common, towards the edge of the city and with no farmland for over a mile so we don't get overspray, thank goodness.

I have even, to my great joy, had bumblers nesting on the plot, a couple of times down mouseholes and, in 2015, in the cold frame which wasn't in use that year, stood at the back of the plot (where Ye New Courgette Bed is now) and was rather overgrown with brambles coming over the back from another plot. That was tree bumblebees, the others were the Early Bumblebees (the big 'uns with the red b*ms).

I leave flowering weeds such as white dead nettle, red dead nettle and dandelion on the plot as bee and butterfly fodder and they seem to appreciate it and visit constantly. My November-sown broad beans are also in flower and being pollinated by bumblebees, it isn't at all uncommon to see 3-4 different species out at once.

This year, for the first time in recollection, I've seen quantities of the orange-tip butterflies and Speckled Woods up there - makes a change from cabbage whites, which are one of the many reasons I don't grow brassicas.

Righty, off out to archery club - catch ya laters, GQ xx

greent

The previous owners of this house had a vented tumble drier, leading to a flappy brown vent through the outside wall. We have a condenser washer/ dryer in a totally different area and so just put tape over the flaps to stop them, well, flapping - however, one flap has been damaged and there is a gap into the 'tunnel' now - we were going to get it sealed up when our kitchen is replaced, as it made sense to have a small job done at the same time as that big job. For the past week/ 10 days, however, we've occasionally seen big fluffy orange-y (bumble?)bees flying in and out of there.... I'm guessing they've made a home....

silvasava

DH moved a wall basket for me that was underneath my kitchen window - some bees took residence before he could fill the screw holes so we've left them. I've got some lovely big early bumble bees and what are either honey bees or Italian bees - much smaller and paler. We have a house a few roads down from me that has some hives so they may have come from there.
GQ I had the same problem with netting so now I use the clematis mesh and thread my canes through it to make a fence and then tie wrap a couple of pieces for a 'lid' it's not completely bird proof but a lot kinder and I don't begrudge them SOME of my produce!
Got a couple of goldfinches visiting the birdbath regularly this year and I think I've spied hedgehog poo on the grass - I hope so as they'll certainly keep the slug population down.
Enjoy your archery GQ & hope your session with the practitioner is fruitful

maryb

Many thanks Kittie. As I hate doing floors (I'd much rather clean loos). I'll show it to DH and see if he'd be interested. I have a grout brush from Lakeland which is very good but the best thing is a blast of steam from the small nozzle on my Polti steamer. But that's a days job to set up and put away (slight exaggeration but only slight)