Deep Cleaning Routines

Angela wrote after reading my Shiny New Year post:  " Terri, could you please speak about your deep cleaning routine? I would love to eliminate the big seasonal clean. As I get older it is just not doable and I find myself always behind!"  Girl, I so understand!  The reason I broke my cleaning down into a 3 month long routine was to eliminate the seasonal deep clean.  Yes, it's nice to have all the house at once all clean and fresh but it takes too much effort the older you get.  I'd rather have it continually clean, rather than just once every six months or so.  You'll note too that I said I do these tasks every three months.

Daily routines are easy and accomplished in a matter of an hour or so.  I've shared before what my daily routine is.  It consists mainly of the top five: make the bed, clean the floors, wipe down the baths, empty trash, clear the dishes.


I divided my home into four zones (five really but you'll see why I say four in a few moments).  I allot one week (six days of cleaning) to each zone.  The final two or three days of the month are usually allotted to maintenance cleaning/clearing in the shed, so I can keep that in some semblance of order, hence that is my 5th zone).  I have monthly cleaning tasks and quarterly cleaning tasks 

Meal Plan for the Week

A quiet finish to the week in my home.  John is not feeling up to par.  He reminds me periodically that he is not sick but simply resting to keep from being ill.  It's cold and cloudy and very windy today.  Ever since we've entered winter season on the 21st the weather has been decidedly wintry.  I'm not complaining.  Winter here means cold days with freezing nights and bouts of rain.  We had rain again last night.  I noted that there was only a 10% chance of rain on the weather forecast.  I should be so lucky with a lottery ticket!

Meals...Nothing appeals to my husband just now.  So I am just making whatever I want myself and hoping he'll eat some of it.  I'm trying to plan meals that are Vitamin C rich, nourishing, aromatic enough to penetrate a stuffy head.

Tamale Pie, Green Salad, Clementines
I'll use thawed chili from the freezer and add corn to the mixture, then top with cornbread  and cheese.  I haven't made a tamale pie in quite awhile and don't want to make a big 9 X 13 pan of it this time, so I'll try to keep the proportions smaller.

Stuffed Cabbage Soup, Corn Bread, Peach Cobbler
Leftovers from our porcupine meatball dinner last week will be 'madeover' into my version of stuffed cabbage soup.  I'll make a peach cobbler with peaches that expire this month.  I hope it will tempt John to eat a bit more.

Sprucing up the Entryways

I wanted to put something on my doors now that the holiday season is over.  Typically winter is my 'bare door' time which is rather depressing when you consider that 9 months out of the year something is usually hung on the doors for decorative effect.  This year, I've decided that winter is not going to depress me with lack of flowers, door wreaths or  curb appeal.  So I've set aside money to purchase pansies to plant in the pots (and parsley and cilantro seeds to sow, nice cool weather herbs), and daffodil bulbs which should make their appearance in a few weeks time to add to the joy.

It meant a good bit of work to create the curb appeal, such as it is.  The leftover pots from summer and fall blooms had to be cleared away.  I had to move a few furniture pieces off the deck and onto the patio.  I rearranged what I left there and then arranged my pots.  Then I hung my wreath on the back door.  I mean to paint this door the same color red as the front door, which I love.  I got it at Walmart and it's a mix called Candied Apple.

All Shiny and New

That's the way I like to face the New Year...as though every last thing were all shiny and new and all the old things were swept away.  Well it's hardly ever so, is it?  We face the New Year with whatever cares were ours when we ended the old one.  I don't suppose I'm any different from all the millions that magazine publishers target this time of year...yes and telemarketers and inspirational speakers and weight loss companies and home organization experts.  There's good reason for all this focus and industry:  we all want change with the New Year.

However, I do believe that I have the power to improve my lot each year.  So what am I looking to improve in the coming year of 2013?

I've been walking through my home this past week looking at areas that just aren't working for me.  Some areas are merely cluttered and just need a little time and attention that has been sadly lacking in the past six months, like the back deck and entry, the bookcases, my clothing drawers.  Some have just never worked well at all, like the plastics storage area in the kitchen, that storage area above the trash/cleaning cupboard  and a few other small areas.  Some just need to be refined or completed; what's in place is working well up to a point: my closet, the baking area I set up, the storage area for appliances.

Coffee Chat - Post Christmas/Pre-New Year

Well...It's all over and done now isn't it?  It was a most lovely time for us this year.  We had a long weekend with the littlest grandchildren, and conversations with the older ones.  We had phone calls, and family gatherings of various sorts and of course, there was good food, cookies, presents to be enjoyed.  AND there was lots of hard work, cleaning, holiday work and long days to be got through as well.  It was a long, tiring, glorious time.  I felt positively exhausted in the nicest way when it was all said and done. Christmas night I settled in my chair as soon as John left to go to work.  I turned off the television, settled in my chair with what had become my go to supper in these hectic paced days, spinach dip and corn chips, a few Christmas cookies and small whiskey and Coke.

I gazed at the Christmas tree in all it's glory and decided I'd slowly undecorate it this year instead of all at once.  I decided to remove one set of ornaments each day.  That allows me to keep the tree up until the very last day of this month.  I never leave my tree up for New Year's day.  Not superstition but simply the feeling that I should start a New Year with a clean slate (and a clean house and no evidence of previous holidays).

My interest in leaving the tree up this year is that it's our last year with this tree.  It's shedding, and leaning crookedly no matter how much we straighten it.  The top portion ceased to light up last year, so we bought new lights for that section and this year when I plugged in the tree the whole middle section refused to light up but then suddenly did.  John announced this year as the last year.

This tree was 'ours'.  John chose it and ordered it in early August and it didn't arrive until just days before Christmas.  That was the year of the dock worker's strike and there sat our tree until the strike was over some months later.  It was a big change to go from an 8 foot tree that took days and days to decorate to a four foot pre-lit tree that took just a day to decorate.  I think this tree is twelve years old...It's lasted well. I just feel a wee bit sentimental over it.

Merry Christmas!

No snow for us. Rain and fog and today, thunder and lightning.  Not complaining.  The Blue House yard hasn't had puddles in eons and the rain is very much appreciated.  I'm doing just what one ought to be doing on Christmas Eve, sitting here gazing at the Christmas tree, watching A Christmas Carol and letting my mind wander over tomorrow's menu plan trying to determine if after all I can't come up with one more fab recipe from the pantry?

But then I thought of all of you.  Your comments, your encouragement, your loyalty and steadfastness.  Thank you.  And let me say quite sincerely, I wish you a Merry Christmas, a very Merry Christmas indeed.

Shabat Thoughts - Word Power

"You is smart, you is pretty, you is kind...."  This line from the book/movie 'The Help' has been echoing in my head today.  John often did much the same over our children: "You are smart.  You are handsome.  You are pretty.  You are intelligent."  He believes above all things that what he speaks over our children will be manifested in them.

He often cautioned me to be more careful of the words I spoke.  As a new Christian, I studied my Bible and I became more and more aware of why:

Proverbs 12:18  The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (NIV)

 Matt 15:18, But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.(ESV)