Tag Archives: Flylady

Simple Sunday

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We are in for some very cold weather and snow is even predicted for Thursday.

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This is a pretty picture of Tahoe though with snow.

Ugh!! I do not like cold weather. It was 41 degrees this morning walking but with a jacket( I have a North Face polar fleece I bought like 8 years ago), it was comfortable. But when it gets to 29 degrees like it is predicted, then that is cold.

So today is a gym day and then some light chores. The zone is the bedroom this week and closet, so I’ll work on the pantry/closet again. It’s just always a work in progress. Our bedroom only has a bed and Heywood dresser, so it’s pretty easy to just tidy and dust and wash the windows.

I downloaded a fun ebook by the author of ‘Decluttering at the speed of Life’

This one was her first one ” How to manage your home without losing your mind’

She is really hysterical to read and I gleaned a few good ideas.

Tomorrow I get my 6-week labs so we shall see. It’s sorta like Russian Roulette. Will they still be normal or will it have changed? Who knows , right??

Tonight I’m making another Skillet recipe from Cook’s Illustrated ‘The Best Skillet Recipes’. I’m making skillet lasagna.

 

Minimalism, Creating routines

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, Uncategorized by

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Thoreau says it all in this quote, I think.

We need to think about what we buy, what we consume and what we do with it all after we no longer need it. Plus, how many hours did you work to get that new whatever. It’s certainly food for thought.

But today in my minimalism series, I want to address routines. So you’ve decluttered, purged, donated, thrown away, and organized whats left. Now comes keeping it going by creating routines. Daily, weekly, monthly.

When I started my minimalism journey it was Flylady that helped me get going. I was starting a new chemotherapy after remission of 4 years. The chemo was fairly easy to tolerate 21 days on 7 days off. But the steroids were tough, so I found FlyLady and started implementing the 15-minute rule and followed her weekly zones.

There are 5 zones and every 5 weeks you go thru your whole house. Since decluttering and purging, tidying and housework are a breeze. My biggest zone, and by that I mean the most time consuming, is the kitchen.  I can do all the other rooms in about 10 minutes.  I also do the weekly home blessing which includes washing mirrors and dusting.

She also has an evening and morning routine.  I do the morning one based on what I need. For instance, I do 1X of laundry a day, I swish and swipe the bathroom in the morning, I make sure the counters are clean and the sink as well. Of course, I make the bed daily. I think the evening one would be especially important if you have kids going to school and need to plan lunches etc.

I think it’s important to create your own routine based on what your life looks like. If I had young children, I’m sure it would be different, working professionals will look different too. Start with the basics

  • make your bed
  • tidy the living room or any room that needs picking up
  • 1X laundry a day, done from start to finish
  • clean sink
  • wipe bathroom down
  • empty dishwasher
  • plan dinner

I plan dinner with a weekly rotation but I plan specifically in the morning what I ‘m doing for dinner.

Keep at it. It took a while to get my routine down and it will you too.  Do the most important things first and then schedule 15 minutes for the rest and see how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes.

There are tons of Pinterest ideas for routines to check as well.

 

 

 

Tidying up

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It’s been a busy and productive morning. I always try and keep Monday mornings open since I do my Flylady weekly home blessing, cook some things usually for the week ahead, and tidy. Tidying up different areas that might need it or whatever zone I’m in that week.

If you don’t have a weekly cleaning plan or you’re looking for more of a routine I ‘d recommend Fly lady at least for the basics. you don’t have to do the whole think ,just what works for you. Since I’ve mostly decluttered everything, cleaning the zone is a breeze. This week it is the bedroom so I dusted washed the 2 windows and tidied the closet.  It may take you a while to declutter your bedroom but I’d suggest just having your bed and a dresser. I have a small Heywood nightstand that I keep my water on and my pills in.  Right now since I don’t need a pharmacy next to me at night I can get away with just my two pills. I have one lamp on the dresser. The dresser is B’s and it’s an older Heywood probably mid-1940’s. I keep my clothes in baskets in the closet or just hang my t-shirts and pants. I don’t have a lot of clothes, plus I don’t work so it’s very simple. I would suggest working on the bedroom to tidy it up and simplify it.  You really don’t need 3 dressers, night stands, TVs or any extra stuff in the bedroom. It’s best if it’s serene and calm. I think it’s a good room to start decluttering because it can be done relatively quickly and you’ll see results.

Try and minimize pictures on the walls too. One blog I follow, which is beautifully done and her house quite charming, but one wall of her bedroom is covered in framed photos. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I could sleep with all those faces staring at me. And their voices too. Back when I did Feng Shui professionally, I often told people, limit pictures of people as they become voices in your head. And those pictures of people have lots of memories. Some are great to keep but just limit how many.  Also, try to keep office stuff out of the bedroom. It interferes with the purpose of the room.

Creating a minimalist bedroom will lead to better sleep and nurturing.

Today I also made caramelized onions for the week and to freeze some. I made another loaf of wheat /white bread, and I’m going to grill some chicken to have in a big salad tonight.

 

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simple sunday

Posted in minimalism, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

It’s been a quiet day here. I went to the gym and it was really empty which is the way I like it. I’m working on 15 min. of cardio, then 20 -25 on the machines.  I have a little routine and I am being really careful. I think once you’ve had a compressin fracture and know the  pain it’s like a memory in your body. So I always lift carefully and never do something that feels too hard. Fortunately, with my Myeloma right now, i dont have bone issues but it’s always a reminder that it does happen. I’m especially susceptible in my ribs, where I have had fractures just from moving the wrong way. But for now since my numbers are all normal I feel it’s go for it so that when the inevitible happens I’ll be stronger.

Then B and my daughter went to Costco to pick up her dogs antiseizure meds, but alas, the pharmacy was closed. But they did pick up some fruit, and other misc. stuff. She still had to stop at the vets to get some meds refilled till I get back down to Costco.

All in all a nice Sunday.  I was doing the Minimalists decluttering challenge this month and right now I’m on 90 things. so far from the mark of 400. So if you want to try it , it’s 1 thing on day 1 , 2 things on day 2 , etc.  Most of my stuff was just odds and ends. I have our old flat screen in the barn my son was using so I’m going to take that to good will this week plus more Life magazines. Fly lady aones this week are the Living room and then on the 1st the entry way. Our LR is very easy, few knickknacks and so I dust and wash windows and that’s about it. Out entry is always a problem this time of year. Shoes, bags etc. There’s no place extra so it definetlry is a hot spot. Plus now the dog food bucket is there and off to one side is a covered cat box. Fortunately we use a cat litter called Swheat, which helps keep smell zero ( almost). So there you have it.

Tonight is pinto beans in the crock pot. Tortillas ,cheese and salsa. all the avacodas are too hard to add.image

July

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Well, it’s July. Half the year gone already. It’s been a good year so far, and now that I’m off Velcade I hope it gets better.   My blood work came in and looks great. Kappa light chains normal, lambda light chains, normal, ratio normal.Yeah!!!!!

I am going to try and walk a full 30 minutes a day and then try and increase to 2 miles a day a few times a week. Since I won’t have the ups and downs of Dexamethasone, I really hoping to do more exercise. Plus just getting dex out of my system will be great. Yes, I will need to go back on at some point, but that’s not now.

It’s very smokey here due to a fire and the air quality is awful. But maybe a breeze will blow some of it away.  Hopefully ,they will get the fire contained soon.

I made a breakfast strata with bagels for breakfast. What a great idea. I put it together last night and popped it in my new Cuisinart toaster convection oven. What a great thing. It toasts nicely, but the convection oven is amazing. No heating up the kitchen. I love it. I tried baked potatoes the other day and same thing.It works great. If you’re even thinking of getting one of these ,do it!!!  I did order ( on sale) the Lodge camp dutch oven.It might take learning curve using it camping but I ‘m going to try. Especially since I like preparing food ahead of time. The dutch oven is placed on the coals or Weber and then you cook whatever for a few hours.  I’ll probably try it at home with a few simple meals like chili or??IMG_0059IMG_0060

This coming week is the Flylady kitchen zone. Always the biggest zone I do. I did reorganize where I keep bread to above the new toaster oven in the cabinet. I moved the teas up and got rid of a lot of old tea. It looks good and then I moved the microwave over to the stainless steel counter. I’m not thrilled with it there but it’s convenient.

I’m making turkey chili in the crockpot for dinner mostly because I defrosted the organic ground turkey. Plus a salad.

 

Daily routines and simplifying

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We dropped a small load off at Goodwill and then took some very nice cookbooks to the ASPCA bookstore and those white dishes to their thrift store. I really like taking the nicer stuff to the Pet thrift store. They seem to have a very nice collection and seem to be doing well. I already have a few more things loaded into the van and if I’m up to it , I’ll go thru some more stuff in the barn. I know I’m going to get rid of more Christmas stuff and Life magazines  but when is the question.

My daily routine  started when I did Flylady. It’s still the same for the most part. having a daily routine ,morning for me, but some people do morning and evening,keeps the house and laundry tidy and organized.  If you do a daily routine it really helps  in the flow of the day. I make the bed(of course), empty the dishwasher if it hasn’t been done the night before, take out laundry and wipe the  bathroom with Costco wipes. If I need to prep for dinner such as crockpot Thursday I do that in the morning too. I make sure the counters are clear and things put away.  Also, put things away that might be out of place. Of course, we don’t have young children so it does make it easier.

Minimalizing has been a huge part of how simple my daily routine is since there’s not a lot of things to dust, or put away or maintain. I would completely advise minimalizing your things so as to simplify your life.  It’s certainly a journey and a process. But as I go layers of stuff and layers of my self a lot is revealed and let go of.  It’s interesting how different decluttering books speak to different parts of oneself.  the Don Aslett books are really fun and kinda quirky, but they Do get the message across. You really don’t need 12 rusty screwdrivers.  Or that family heirloom you think one day will be valuable. Then, of course, the Kondo way of does it spark joy.  Then now imageI’m working on the concept of ,if we moved would we take it.  It does force you to look at things differently. Of course, some things we wouldn’t take but still need now. So it’s all a process.

For me, the bottom line is I want a minimalistic home, lots of white space, and  more room.

 

Monday musings

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It’s warm but still cloudy here in Northern California. No rain, just cloudy.
All the leaves are popping out and things are growing. We’re still losing some ponderosa pines to bark beetles down in our woods and ost likely this is due to lack of water. Not sure what we’re going to do yet as it’ll probably be expensive. Since they’re not threaten ting the house, I think taking the big ones near the house( not infected, just too close) makes better sense.

Oh, good news! My daughter finally found the perfect car to commute into the sierras. A Honda crv 2007 with 85,000 miles. It’s very nice and with the awd, if she gets into snow she’ll be fine. Of course, now we’re moving out of snow season, but in a normal year Truckee, ca can see snow in June. Not happening probably this year. Then sometime down the road she can start looking for a roommate situation so she can stay up there 2 nights. But for now BCD will be her new best friend.

My 12 mg of dex, is tolerable, but I still had red face for a few hours and hyped out cleaning. Oh, well, that’s par for the course.
We’ve been eating out on the patio, and last night had a nice Cobb salad. Even my son, who’s never home it seems, ate with us. And tonight he said he’d be home as he has midterms soon. So I think ill just grill some burgers. I need some rolls. Or, I make make crockpot meatballs and make sammies. I have the meatballs in the freezer.

I have work tomorrow and then Wednesday I’ll have my daughter drive me too Winco in her new to her car.
We didn’t trade in her vw( too low of a trade in) and it works fine. So I may drive it for a while and then decide if we’ll keep it or sell. We could get maybe $3000 for it. So we’ll see. We’re going to pay her the $3000 to help her with the down payment and then if we sell we’ll keep that money.
My van that I love is 16 years old with 145000 miles. Still runs great but does need work so. Her VW is 15 years old, has had work done( new timing belt, tires brake stuff) but only has 84,000 miles. So we’ll see.

I did most of my fly lady zone ( the bathroom ) already and yesterday I finished the kitchen zone because last week on Monday I had the bladder infection, so nothing got done.
B has my shelves ready to go up on the one white wall and it’s going to make my vintage catherine holm really pop. We need to buy more pait for the rest of the kitchen . Probably 2 gallons as we’re going over a green.
But, I figure one wall at a time is all I can do.
I’m loving the idea of the white space as in the future touch ups re painting will be very easy.
Well, off to do something.

Minimalist Monday

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I did most of my fly lady stuff yesterday, just a few things today, like vacuum and steam mop. It’s the bathroom zone , so because ours is so small and minimalist, there’s not much to do. It takes 15 minutes too to deep clean. Also our bedroom is sparse do 5 minutes tops to straighten, make bed etc. 

Today, it’s just those few things and I’m going to plant some marigolds. There’s one load of laundry. I might go to target for a few food items I like to get there, but I may not. B still needs to get out the patio umbrellas and we need to see what kind of shape they’re in. 

We had BBQ turkey burgers and griller for the vegie. It was good. Tonight I’m making a cheese soufflé as I need to use up some gruyere and I have lots of eggs.

im also getting my LLS insurance stuff ready to go out. They are an amazing organization and any of you out there who are runners and want to help raise money for the leukemia lymphoma society , it’s called Team in training. Thank you all who do it as my grant comes from these dedicated people. 

Well, off for the day, another beautiful day in Northern California .

Thursdays news!

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Well, nothing new really. Walked this morning, then Flylady ‘d the house. Made brownies, but my eyes weren’t working cuz I added 1 1/4 c water instead of 1/4 c. When I put it in I thought ,that’s a lot if water. Oh well, the chickens will like it. So I had to remake, or rather, I had my daughter remake a batch. Then into town for lunch with my bestest friend. She is my oldest and dearest friend. It was nice to catch up. Now I’m home , cleaned up again, and I’m going to rest before starting afternoon stuff. 

It’s getting cloudy again, so no nice sunshine. 

We had old coyote come around again this morning, but thankfully my husband has fixed the gate where the one chicken gets over, or she’d be gone. One of our inside cats was out on the deck and totally freaked. He’s still looking out the window for the coyote. Humm, I wish the coyotes would just go somewhere else.

Still walking…….

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Sunday started week 11, of walking some everyday. I think the “just walk” has really worked for me. and i am now doing 2 miles. I like challenges and actually need them. It’s more like mini goals. I like to set them almost every day. I think this started when I first was  on chemo. I had a list of one thing I needed to do. I felt good if I did that one thing. So, then a while later I discovered Flylady. Her program opened up a whole new way of cleaning house. Her motto is ” 15 minutes at a time” . I realized I could do a lot in 15 minutes. Try it some time with a timer and you’ll be surprised. So I started doing her zones and it was wonderful and I could do it. Her lists gave me focus. So this is my 4 th year doing Flylady and it still works. 

Flylady also started me on the path to decluttering.  I started with just stuff and now I’m trying to embrace minimalism. I’ve gotten rid of tons of stuff and I I think when you start looking at your space this way ,you start seeing the possibilities. I don’t think there was way to much stuff, it’s just it was too much for our space.  Back in our old hippie days, B and I really wanted the wabi Sabi look and a Japanese clutter free space. That didn’t really happen,but interestingly enough minimalism and mid century looks very similar.

  • so, maybe a full circle. But back to lists…. 
  • Walk
  • work
  • wait for revlimid to be delivered
  • Finish organizing the bathroom drawers( the bathroom is this weeks zone.)
  • Put up new shower curtains

So, I’m a list person, and I like having a notebook to write them in. I use mostly Martha Stewart  notebooks and in the aqua blue which is my favorite.