Old habits die hard

As many of you probably know, old habits are hard to get rid of.  Today, unfortunately, I fell back into my old daily routine habit of sitting around in my pajamas doing "nothing".

It started out ok. I think I got up around 7:15 but I didn't get dressed right away because I wanted to take a shower first. My bathroom was a little chilly, so I didn't take my shower right away but put a load of clothes in the dryer so the room would heat up. Fixed my breakfast and sat down with my Kindle withe the expectation of taking my shower after I finished my breakfast. Well............that didn't happen. I wanted to finish the chapter and it was longer than I thought and I think I kept reading another chapter. I think I finally walked out the door with Ginger around 11 and it could have even been 11:30. By now, I have no desire to do any housework at all. When I got back in the house, I looked at Facebook and YouTube and my Criminal Case game, probably even read another chapter. Before I knew t, it was time to do my grocery shopping and take Ginger out again. While I was out, I made a video for my Vlog Every Day group on Facebook. 

Tomorrow is Saturday and more than likely I won't do anything extra for the weekend. Just maintain what I've done so far. 

Monday, start over again and try to keep it up the whole week.

Here are the progress photos from Wednesday

I put away all the beers that Marco received for his birthday. That made a big difference.

It still looks a huge mess but I cleaned off the ironing board and got started on that basket of ironing. The basket was beside the dog cart that was under more ironing. I took the cart downstairs to our storage room and deflated the silver exercise ball. Also cleared some stuff from the table and tossed some magazines that were on t he shelf out of the picture.

Days 3&4 of Taking my apartment back

I'm bad. I didn't write yesterday and now today is nearly over and I REALLY don't feel like writing this update but here I am anyway.

Day 3

It's hard to remember what I did when I didn't write anything down but here goes.

I got up and got dressed right away (7ish). As usual since I started this "challenge" on Monday, I looked at Facebook, YouTube and my detective game while eating breakfast with the expectation of taking Ginger out at 9.

I had an appointment with Anne at the doctor's office. I've been seeing her while Kathelijne is on maternity leave. These appointments are just to have someone to talk to about things that are bothering me. Neither of them are psychologists but Kathelijn is the social worker and Anne is a physician's assistant. This appointment put a bit of a wrench in my plans for the day even though I didn't have anything written down. I guess that's the whole point though, no plans, no expectations so I don't get overwhelmed by what I need to get done.

I ironed 2 shirts before he appointment and 1 more when I got home. I purged some magazines from the shelf by my ironing board and did some decluttering from the table in the room. I took a picture from the door like I did on Tuesday and there wasn't a whole lot of difference and that didn't make me happy, so I deflated the exercise ball and removed the dog cart that has been in the apartment for months. A neighbor was going to look at it but she never came over. I finally took it back downstairs. Now, there's a big difference in the room.

Took all the beers Marco received for his birthday off of the dining table. We can now eat at the table again!!

Day 4

Ended up not doing any decluttering today. Had my weekly Women's group meeting and stayed too long afterwards and didn't have time to do anything today. Oh well.

Tried to add some photos from yesterday but I couldn't figure out how to add them. The other photos were added via the blog App and right now I'm just on the web browser of my iPad. Guess from now on, I'll write my draft on the App.

Day 2b of Taking back my apartment

Well, for some reason, I couldn't edit the draft for today to add the rest of the day, so here it is.

Like I said before, I hate housework and I hate ironing. I cleaned off the ironing board and set the timer for 15 minutes. How many shirts can I iron in that time? It turns out, I need a few extra minutes and I've got two shirts ironed. Well, that wasn't very much so I set the timer again and got two more shirts ironed. Better stop now because I've got other things I want to accomplish today. 

Folded the clothes in the dryer. All the folded clothes are on our bed to be put up before going to bed. That's just the way I'm doing it right now. 

Swished and swiped the toilet and sink as well as the sink in the bathroom. We have a separate room for our toilet and bathroom. Swept all the floors and mopped. There were two bags of pictures and maps that our niece and her boyfriend used for their vacation two years ago still on the floor in the hallway. I've just been picking them up and moving them to the bedroom whenever someone comes over and then back again. I'm bad, I know. Today, I finally put them back in the closet in my sewing room. Not sure that's where they belong, but that's their place for the moment. Hung up a cork board picture in the kitchen that I bought several years ago to hide the spot where the geyser was. 

Feeling good about my accomplishments. Now off to the store for groceries and then take Ginger out. 

Day 2 of Taking back my apartment

The day started well. I got up when Marco did. Got dressed right away including putting on my support hose. I hate those things but it's not summer anymore so I don't have an excuse for not wearing them. This much is a big change for me. Normally, I get up after Marco leaves. I prefer to hang out in my pajamas until it's time to take Ginger out. This is a big part of the problem. Sometimes, it's nearly 12 before I finally get dressed and take her out.

I'm taking a little break right now to write this blog entry even though I won't publish it until tonight. It's 11AM and I've actually gotten a lot done even if you can't see it.

1. Up and dressed at 7AM.

2. Made my bed (just neatly pulled the covers up)

3.  Load of clothes in the dryer folded and put on the bed (I'll put them away later).

4. Part of the load needed to be fluffed up a bit, so back in dryer for 30 min.

5. Load of clothes in the washing machine.

6. Transferred some of old paper to another bag so I could carry it downstairs when I take a Ginger out.

7. Took Ginger out.

8. Folded clothes that were fluffed in the dryer.

9. Put washed clothes into the dryer.

10. Drank a cup of coffee while looking at Facebook.

11. Wrote draft of today's blog post. Will finish it and publish it tonight. 

12. Took some before pictures of my main trouble areas. 

I really feel good about what I've accomplished so far today. 

Now, I'm going to iron a few shirts. I detest ironing but unfortunately, it must be done and that's one of the hotspots in my sewing/craft room that needs to be eliminated. 

My kitchen hot spot.
My sewing/craft room.
My dining room table.
The area next to the table.

It's out there now for the world to see. I'm a horrible house keeper. I've always hated it. I'm a very good stacker. 

I'm taking my apartment back

I'm taking my apartment back from the Clutter Monster!! Yes, you heard me right. I have had it with the constant mess in my kitchen, in my sewing/craft room and my dining room table. There's more clutter but if I can get these places under control, the rest will follow.

I've been trying for years to do this. I even got started with Fly Lady a few years ago and that was helping but for whatever reason, I never really got into it and got my house uncluttered. Last night, I was looking at Pinterest and found a post about decluttering. I clicked on it and clicked through and found the person's blog. Unfortunately, I didn't write anything down and when I went back to save the pin, I couldn't find it. I'm so ticked off. She seemed to have a very laid back way of tackling her clutter that I though, hey, this is for me. I hope I can find that post again.

I had high hopes for today. I was going to get up and get dressed right away and basicly do my House Blessing according to Fly Lady. That always worked for me in the past. Well, I didn't get dressed right away but I did strip the bed and put the bedspread in the washing machine. Good start. I fixed breakfast and fed Ginger and then looked at my iPad while I was eating. I made the mistake of looking to see if episode 6 of Outlander was available on the site I've been watching it on. It wasn't but last week I watched it on another site so I search for that site and sure enough, the episode was available. I probably wouldn't have been so excited to watch the episode except this was the episode when Claire and Jaime FINALLY meet again after 20 years of separation. All housework, etc was put on hold until I watched the first hour, then I was able to pause it and get some work done.

So, aside from watching Outlander and taking Ginger out twice, this is what I did today:

1. Stripped the bed.

2. Put the bedspread in the washing machine.

3. Swept the floors and living room carpet.

4. Vacuumed the apartment.

5. Cleaned the toilet.

6. Tiny bit of declutter from the kitchen counter.

7. Took out the trash.

8. Grocery shopping.

I know it doesn't really look like much but it's a lot for me. Tomorrow, I'm shooting for two 15 minute declutter sessions and mopping the floors. 

Rianna's finished quilt

It's hard to write about pictures when you didn't post things right away.

Rianna is the daughter of one of my Dutch friends, Berbel. Although Berbel was first Marco's friend, she has become a good friend of mine too. I asked her to be one of my witnesses when Marco and I got married in 2003. Rianna was already a year old when she finally received her quilt. The new butterfly on top turned out nice.

New title for my blog

I see I haven't written on my blog since 2013. I'll try to do better. One thing I changed was the title. I no longer want this blog as a quilter's blog. I'm not saying there won't be quilt pictures any more but only that quilting is not my focus anymore.  I want to add more art things to my blog since that is what interests me the most these days.