Organised or not?

Not - in this case. The socks turned out looking like socks ...

Looking good

Still looking good

Whoops

… but my poor workmanship can be seen around the heel. My picking up of stitches leaves a lot to be desired. Ah well, back to the drawing board. I think I'll use four needles next time.

Not organised (as normal) on the crocheting front either. Crocheting blankets is very relaxing so I decided I needed (no I don't need) another one and this time I've chosen to go with shell stitch.

Colours are rather difficult now as I'm getting to the end of my DK single balls of wool. My approach to projects is somewhat laissez faire, organic, creative - I really can't find the word. I start with only one outcome, in this case a blanket, choose a starting colour and hope that I've got enough balls of wool to finish the blanket, whatever their colour may be. The same approach applies to the size of the blanket. I just crocheted a foundation row until I got fed up (making sure it was a multiple of 6 plus 2) and then started the pattern.

Four rows done and it looks very smart but how it will turn out I haven't the faintest idea. I think I shall call it my January blanket.

Organised or not?

xx

Cleaning Schedule

Cleaning checklists

Chore charts
Cleaning routines

There are plenty of them out there on t'Internet.

I have researched a fair few and come up with my own schedule which is personal to our house. It involves 'not a lot' of work each day and these little steps gradually build up so the whole house cleaning task becomes just a simple daily routine. 

My Tasks

Do one from the following list each weekday

* Wipe a skirting board.

*Wipe a picture rail.

*Tidy a cupboard (this includes the fridge or microwave).



* Tidy a drawer.

* Tidy a shelf.



(I've found that once started on a set of drawers, sorting one spurs me on to do 'just one more'; once starting on one shelf of a cupboard, sorting one spurs me on to do 'just one more'. Wiping a skirting board in a room is so easy that I tend to do the picture rail aswell.)

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Clean a toilet and a sink.

Saturday/Sunday

Clean the hob or oven

Clean the brass on the front door

As and When Needed

Do the washing

Dust

Mop

Vacuum

Each Day

Sparkle one room.

(Put things away in the correct place and have a quick flick round with the hoover or duster.)

In our house it's -

Monday - the back room

Tuesday - the kitchen

Wednesday - the hall and stairs

Thursday - a bedroom

Friday - a bathroom

Keeping to the list ensures that eventually you will have cleaned the whole house. Once that happens Sparkling becomes a doddle and everything is in its place so now needs very little tidying.

xx

PS  Galant asked whether I took my Filofax around with me in my bag. Sorry, I don't have a handbag - the organiser stays at home.

Mac and Janet asked whether a Filofax would be able to keep them organised.

(chetongueek)

Oh yes!!!!

 :)

xx

Organised or what?

Organised probably. Organised hopefully. The start of the year sees a new (to me) Citrus Piazza Filofax containing the first 3 months of 2016.

Happy New Year to me.

Inside there is a yearly calendar - are we up to the 11th already? Nearly half of January has gone!

The birthday pages come next.

I've made a January divider from a home made Christmas card and put a verse on the front.

This verse I've not tampered with.

A small easily transferable insert holds my cleaning schedule telling me which rooms to sparkle each day.

This schedule has morphed from this post which listed my daily tasks - 

* suggested daily tasks to clean one toilet, one sink and vacuum one room with a choice of either cleaning a shelf, cupboard, drawer, skirting board or picture rail (which I've called swing tasks). I also aim to focus on a very quick overview and tidy of one room each day. The theory is that I'll have sparkling loos and sinks all the time and over time all my cupboards and drawers will be sorted and kept in order. :}

The dingle dangle is an old ear-ring of DD's. (Colour co-ordinated with the organiser of course!)

Right, I'm all set. Organised or what?!

xx

Rain, rain and more rain

Rain

It's raining, it's pouring

But life is not so boring

I cook, I read,

I stir and knead

Take my time getting up in the morning!

Rain

Rain, rain, go away

I really want to go out and play.

And more rain

This one's an original from my Sunday School days. I've still got my music book somewhere. (Child Songs - Carey Bonner)

Down came the raindrops,

On a cloudy day,

Wetting all the pavements

Washing dirt away,

Waking little brown buds

Thirsty seeds aswell.

Right into the blades of grass

The tiny raindrops fell.

xx

Warming food, friends and family

Leek soup made with leeks from the garden today. I added a potato, an onion and some veggie stock. Fry, boil, whizz and eat. DH had this for lunch and I had a combination of yesterday's and today's soup.

Plenty left for tomorrow.

Well, so far this year, the iron's packed up (yeah - no ironing) and the fridge is on the blink (frozen eggs are not edible). Now what will go next?

My 'best bit' today has been birthday greetings from friends and family.

Hope your year's working well for you.

xx

Another visit

A quick visit to Jackie in Canada today from Johnnyjumpsup blog. I liked reading her comment about eating up leftovers. I think my tastiest meals come from playing around with different combinations of leftovers with a few more added ingredients.

For example my soup today was a concoction of cauliflower cheese, mashed potato, chick peas and stock. It tasted fine and I've more left for tomorrow's lunch. We're having roast beef tomorrow for tea so the left overs from that will be a basis for the next few meals. I don't meal plan, I just go with what's in the fridge or freezer. Ain't life exciting at our house!

:)

xx

Best blogs from best blogger blog lists

I'm off on my bloggy travels this year and shall be visiting other blogs found on my favourite best blogs' blog lists.

While visiting Our New Life in the Country, I hopped off to a few blogs on Sue's list and the one that caught my attention was Tanya's at Lovely Greens. I'm sure she was a follower of mine once upon a time, or commented now and then. Here post was delightful and I loved the very simple home made Christmas cards. I need to make a few more for next year as some of my Everlasting (look up 'everlasting cards'  in the search box) ones are becoming full with greetings and need to be retired. My earliest ones have been back and forth from 1996, I think.

xx

PS I couldn't find a place to leave a comment on Tanya's blog.

PPS Why do I have to be on Google Plus in order to leave comments on some blogs. I don't want to sign up to Google Plus but I do want to leave comments.

xx