I am exhausted!

I decided to deep clean my kitchen.  I try to do that at least once a year and usually in January.  This year I was sick the first part of January and then we went on a vacation and I never got it done.  I decided to just buckle down and get it done at the beginning of March.  I'm pulling out everything from cabinets and wiping everything down inside and out.  Then I go through everything and pull out things I know didn't get used that year and tossing out expired food etc.  I have a box of stuff to donate and a huge amount of trash going out. I already cleaned the stove/oven as good as I can but I can't wait until we can get a new one.  Eventually we are getting laminate wood flooring put in too but that will have to wait until after things settle down with the stock market and this virus epidemic.

This year I'm having to re-evaluate everything I have in my kitchen.  Since I have Psoriatic Arthritis I am having problems pulling heavy dishes and bowls out of the cabinets.  I ordered a set of lighter plastic nesting bowls (I got this Kitchenaid 5 bowl set in pistachio) so they match my mixer and other things. I was hoping to get rid of my heavy ceramic mixing bowls.  Remember those Corelle Callaway (ivy) dishes that so many people had in the 90's?  I no longer have the dishes but I have the heavy ceramic mixing bowls, like this.  There are also 2 different sizes of covered casserole dishes.  I love them but I just can't lift them anymore.  I pulled them out to donate or gift and my husband didn't want them to go.  So that extra room I thought I was getting got filled back up.  I had him move them to the top shelf since I can't reach it anyway.  I need the stuff I use to go on the bottom shelf.  Stuff that gets used less often can go on the middle shelf.

Also, since I'm doing the keto diet I'm taking this time to remove some food from my cabinets that I can't have and no one else will eat.  I tend to feel guilty that something will go bad if I don't eat it and ruin my diet so I tossed it.  I moved my 5 pie plates and 4 bread pans to the dungeon cabinets over the refrigerator that no one can reach.  Well, my son Jared can and he's the one that put them up there.  At least I know where they are if I need them and they will be with the other stuff only used during the holidays.

I got a lot done today so I'm ready to go to bed.  My larger joints are aching so I may have overdone it.  I might have to take a rest day tomorrow but that's okay.  I need a few days for the contact paper I ordered to come in.

Has anyone noticed that all the contact paper is ugly or just doesn't match anything now?  I had the hardest time picking some out.  Teal/turquoise seems to be a popular color now and I love that color but it doesn't go with my kitchen decor.  I had the same problem last year and ended up buying some contact paper with lots of fruit on it.  I put it under the sink and then realized I hated it so I didn't put it anywhere else.  I finally found one I liked (hopefully it looks the same in person) on amazon but found it for half that price on ebay with free shipping.  I really hope it looks good when I get it.  If not then at least I'm only out $6.  I have to get something though because my cabinets and drawer bottoms are getting scuffed up.

Anyway, I'm glad I felt good enough to get so much done today.  It will be great when I'm finished.

I hope everyone avoids the plague.

~Donna

Building Bridges

This is what I do.

When I think of all the things I want to do I feel like I'm standing at the edge of a giant ravine and what I want to do is on the other side.

It can be very depressing if you let it.

I've changed my thinking though.  It hasn't been that long since I got this inspiration.  I can change the way I do things, break things down into smaller projects or tasks and in the process I build a bridge to the other side and accomplish my goal.

The sun is shining and I am loving it so I'm slowly cleaning my house one wall, one window, one square of carpet at a time.  I used to chose a room or two to clean each day but now I know my limitations.  I think of what would make the biggest impact for me at the moment and do that.  When the sun was streaming in the window the other day I cleaned the window and put plants over there. That was the most I could do that day but it made a huge difference.  The next day I took it easy and rested. I have to recharge but I had one of my boys here so he helped.  I just had him move some things for me and take some bags of donations outside to be picked up.  He also cleaned up the entry way for me.

Today I'm vacuuming a little, dusting and running the vacuum because it has a hepa filter built in.

My living room looks great now so I am ready to move on to the kitchen/dining room area next.

I've been thinking about gardening a  lot lately too.  It seems warmer than usual right now and the sun is melting the snow.  The branches of the large spruce trees are full of snow that is slowly melting and dripping water.  From where I sit on the couch, looking through the trees, it looks like it is raining.  We usually have spring thaw in April and March is usually really sunny but still cold.  I think this is going to be a good year.  

I'm starting to plan how I will plant my garden outside.  My husband is going to get some wire fencing for me.  In the front yard we only put a decorative rail fence around the right side and planted grass in there since the neighbors on the left had something encroaching on our property.  That got moved before they sold it but the new neighbors don't seem to realize that half of what they thinks is their driveway is our yard.  I want to define that corner better and put up some wire fencing that I can plant vining plants up like sweet peas and scarlet runner beans.  I love how that looks.  I could also plants some other things over there but it is a bit of a slope.  The property is gradually sloped down towards the road and on the sides to allow water to run away from the house so I shouldn't really change that.  It could still be fixed up to look nicer.

I would also like to plant some sunflowers.  I'm going to look online to find a good variety to grow here with our short season.  I'll also look for tomato, beans, peas and lettuce.  There are so many things I'd like to plant but I really need to just pick a few things and focus on taking care of those.  I don't want to get in over my head.  My husband can't always help since he has to work.  My boys can help but they are usually not very willing helpers when it comes to yardwork.

We didn't even use our backyard last year since it rained so much so I'm anxious to get back there and clean up.  My boys mowed it but the trimming didn't get done like it should have.  My shrubs need to be cleaned up and pruned.  I want to set up an area for composting. I've watched Ray on the Praxxus55712 channel make compost and he makes it look like something I could do.  I even got a tub to try composting in the garage.  I got one of those tubs with the two hinged lids that meet in the middle so that lets some air get in there.  I put plant clippings in there and veggie scraps from the kitchen.  Oh, and coffee grounds.  My oldest son goes through a LOT of coffee.  I just can't wait to get out there.  Can you tell I'm chomping at the bit??

Spring Fever

The sun was out and shining beautifully today.  It is March in Fairbanks, Alaska so we will still have snow for a while.  I have definitely been bitten by the spring cleaning bug.  I decided I wanted to have more clear space in the living room so I had the boys haul off the old coffee table and an end table.  That really opened up some space and it looks nice.  There was another piece of furniture that we used to have below the front window but we moved it at Christmas time to put the tree there. Now I don't want it to come back.

Fishy Business and Bones

I finally started feeling better yesterday and then I promptly overdid it.  Since the shoes with the arch support seemed to keep my feet from hurting I decided to get some exercise on my stationary bike.  I did 15 minutes while I read.  15 minutes is a lot for me.  I also did a load of laundry, mopped the bathroom floor and cleaned a little in the bathtub.  Then I told my husband we should go on a little date tomorrow and go eat somewhere.  I should never do that because every time I do I can never get out of bed the next day.  I hurt all night and couldn't sleep for a long, long time.  After I finally fell asleep I was out all day.

I woke up to an asthma attack around 7 pm.  That was fun.  <-- sarcasm  I can only assume it was set off by the bleach I used.  I really need to quit using that stuff.  

My husband was super sweet and made dinner.  He made potato soup in the crock pot and has Rhodes (frozen) bread rising.  If he didn't make something one of my boys would have.  Son #2 likes to cook things like pizza and spaghetti.  Son #1 often makes stir fry/fried rice or chicken fettuccine. I'm very blessed.  

I've been sitting here staring at my 55 gallon fish tank for a few minutes and trying to count my fish. Not long ago I bought about 16 or so new fish, including 6 male guppies. The prettiest one with the royal blue body and aqua tail was dead by morning but that was the only guppy I've removed.  Now there are only 2 swimming around but no floaters or sinkers.  I think Sid, the Bala shark, is getting hungry or something.  They said they should be fine in with him but since I'm not finding any dead guppies....  or parts of guppies...  hmmm  I need to turn the castle over but I hate to freak out Waldo the upside-down catfish and Raymond the super-skittish plecostomus.  I checked the water and things look good there.  I don't think I'll be buying any more guppies.  They were not intended to be feeder fish.  

The reason I ended up with a Bala shark is because I went into Petco (only place in town to get fish now besides Walmart) and they had some small ones.  My tank was almost empty since the ones I had were very old.  I asked about the Bala sharks (which were only about an inch long) and told them the size of my tank etc.  Well, she sold me 6 of them but didn't think it was important to tell me they could each get 10"!  My tank is not big enough for that but next morning a few were dead and I went back in to talk to them.  Turns out their tank had ich and a bunch at the store had died too.  I started to notice some white spots on a few of them and I treated the tank.  I ended up with only this one surviving out of the 6 and Sid still acts a little weird at times like it affected his widdle-bitty fish brain.  Sometimes he looks like he is chasing his tail going in tight circles.  He could be a circus fish! They told me to wait a certain amount of time (weeks) to let things normalize in the tank before getting more but insisted that I get at least 4 more so he can school.  When I finally went back in there there was a different girl and she looked at me like I was crazy.  She said they are like tinfoil barbs and get the same size (10 - 12").   So now I just have the one and he seems to doing okay. Since the other girl was obviously clueless I don't know if the weird spinning in circles thing is normal for that type of fish or not.  I *think* he seems to get agitated and swim around fast while kind of flipping side to side when he is hungry.  That is a guess but usually I put food in there and then he seems to settle down.  He eats a lot and seems to like blood worms the most.  I really like him so I'll keep him as long as I can.  If he starts eating or picking on my larger fishes I'll have to take him back for adopting out.  I'd be sad though.

Anyway, here are a few songs from Bones Season 3.

From Episode 5 - Young Men Dead by Black Angels 

I like the 70's psychedelic feel this group has.  If you like it and have some time you can keep listening.  This is a playlist with a TON of their music.

From Episode 7 - Bandstand in the Sky by Pete Yorn

 

It turns out that this song was written after the death of Jeff Buckley who drowned.  Very sad.

From Episode 8 - Sail Away by Madrugada

I just want to sail away

From it all

Freedom is impossible

This I know

From Episode 10 - a very fitting video called Bones by the Killers

My favorite part is at 3:10 - 3:12

From Episode 13- Fountain by Sara Lov

I hate to say it but I really find this song annoying.

 

Mops, Mice, and Bones

My computer mouse broke and it is driving me insane.  Trying to do things with the track pad on my laptop is so irritating.  I do have a touch screen so that helps some but I'm still out of my element.  I ordered a nifty new mouse but I have to wait for it to get here and I am not good at waiting.  Sometimes the darned thing will work for a little while.  If I get angry and throw it down on the floor I think it gets lonely after a while and feels bad for being so stupid.  It isn't working now though.  I think it is on a permanent strike but it will really feel bad when its replacement gets here ha! Until then I'll just have to deal with this darned trackpad, which is so irritating!  Whenever I try to use the trackpad to open my bookmark menus I allllllllmost get to the one I want and then it all just disappears for no good reason.  AAAARRRGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!

I did order a new mop as well.  I read this blog post about using natural cleaners to clean your home and she talked about how she mixes up a little vinegar mixed in water for moping her floor.  I love my Swiffer Wet Jet mop but I hate that I have to buy their refills for it.  One time I actually punched a hole in one of the bottles and had a rubber thing I used as a stopper but if it got knocked over it would leak and the hole wasn't really large enough to dump out what I didn't use.  I'm allergic to everything so I am always trying to avoid strong chemicals to clean with.  I like that the newer swiffer pads have the magic eraser stuff on the pads and it cleans better with less soap but I hate that they are disposable.  I try to avoid contributing to the landfills as much as possible.  Well, on that blog post she adds her vinegar mixture to this mop from O-Cedar.  It is just like the Swiffer Wet Jet mop only you can fill the bottle up with your own cleaner AND it has a reusable microfiber cover that you can wash.  I am sure I will be able to find someone else to take my Swiffer.

So last night I finished watching the end of the second season of Bones (again).  This song by Poco was on Episode 18.  I hate it when there are blaring mistakes in a show I love.  I remember this one episode from season 1 where they dug up this soldier who I believe was also a well known basket ball player.  When it showed them examining the body it didn't look like a body that had been buried for a year..... or a soldier/basket ball player.  It was a tubby white guy.  I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be so "white" if he had been buried for a year already.  Anyway, on episode 18 (season 2) Bones had secretly speed-dialed Booth when her felon father showed up with cookies for her.  So he was listening in when her father talked about "the trying song" and sang her a little bit (which was pretty sweet).  Then at the end of the show when Bones is telling Booth about the song it is like he was clueless about it or why she brought it up. I guess they forgot he was on the line.

 

Here are a few more songs I liked.

From Episode 19

 

From Episode 20