Confessions of a Grandma

Tuesday, for me, is a full scale mop of the kitchen day. I really cannot complain about Mike when it comes to helping out around the house.  He does his own laundry.  He makes the bed.  He helps with the cooking.  He doesn’t dust or volunteer to scrub the bathroom, but he takes care of electrical and plumbing emergencies and always says, “Call your brother,” when carpentry skills are needed. So don’t take this as a complaint.  It is just an observation. I was saying, “Thank goodness for old fashioned mop and bucket,” because the steam cleaner I had purchased last winter just did work after being stored for the summer months.   He looked at the floor and shrugged.  “How often do you ever mop anyway,” he says (not asks). That floored me!  (I know, I know.  Allow me to amuse myself.)  Really.  He must believe we have magically self-cleaning floors.  But he does tend to believe that a job done once stays done.  I k...

Today was the day to replenish my cleaning supplies.  With the mini financial crisis brought on by Mike’s medications and his position in the donut hole, we have been looking at ways to cut back on expenses.  And of course I have been a follower of Green Clean: the Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home (Melcher Media, 2005) for a few years now. I also usually have an abundance of lavender and thyme in my garden and I can use those herbs in some of the homemade cleaners.  I put a cup or so of lavender flowers and a cup or so of thyme sprigs in a quart jar and then fill with white vinegar.  Some times I use sage or mint, too.  After that steeps for a couple of days, I strain the vinegar into a spray bottle.  It is an effective disinfectant. I use this for a daily shower spray.  If you give the tile or tub enclosure a good scrub to start with, this will keep the soap scum at bay a bit longer between major cleanings.  Put 1/2 cup whit...

I really wonder what got into me today.  I woke up determined to clean the gutters on the back side of the house.  I dragged out hoses, cleaner, scrub brushes and ladders.  Yikes!  What a job.  It looks a lot better, but not perfect.  We shall see how long it will take for the little patched of green in the corner of the breezeway and garage to tip me over the edge enough to drag everything out again.  Actually, the front needs some attention, too, so it may not be so long.  Fortunately, I remembered that I had a really long pole that I could attach the scrub brush to so I spent very little time on a ladder.  That is a very good thing. Of course, I managed to splash the windows, but they need a washing anyway.  Life is hard sometimes. I was looking at Linda Reeder's garden pictures today.  Good grief, I feel worn out by the tending required by our yard and garden.  I was exhausted reading her blog.  (It is beautiful, ...

On a recent post, MerCyn wrote about house cleaning before taking a trip.  I happen to agree with her fully.  God forbid a burglar breaks into our house and has to cart off a dusty TV set, and I am quite sure the house sitters wear white gloves to test for dust on the door sills. Since we are planning a return trip to Vermont soon, I have started the housecleaning process.  Yesterday I dragged a step ladder in and took down each ceiling lamp (twelve of them), wiped out the bugs, washed and dried them, and put them back up. All the speed cleaning and efficiency advise says to go room by room, circling to the left and dusting, wiping, polishing, scrubbing, sweeping as you go.  But if there is an efficient way to do things, I am bound to think of a more cumbersome and difficult method, then stick to it like glue -- or whatever that patch of foot-trap is on the floor between the refrigerator and the sink. Ick I do one job through the whole house and yester...

It was just one of those days that seem to have less the usual 24 hours. Mike had a lucrative night on his e-bay site so that meant he was busy packing up things for shipping and I made the run to the post office.    While he was busy with his new listings for today, I wrapped up the  card and gift for his grandson who will be graduating from high school next week.  More packages to go out tomorrow. I finished up some paperwork I was completing prior to a meeting with our lawyer.  Since Mike and I were both out and about at the same time (!) we decided to go out for a lunch.  We drove into Burlington and went to a place we like near the lake.  Today it was a lot nearer the lake than it has ever been before.  The whole ferry dock is under water.  Another BIG rain storm headed our way and more flash flood warnings go out as I sit here.  This is getting tiresome. I had left the car at the Ford Service.  On Tuesd...

Random window, not my house... My least favorite household task is washing windows.  The streaks are always, always on the inside of a double pane--making it truly double pain (sorry, had to be said).  Our windows are old enough to be cantankerous and sticky--hard to take apart and hard to put back together--and that's when you notice the streaky smudge on the inside of the reassembled window.  I say, "I'm just gonna let that go," but I don't because I can't. I consider thick drapes pulled closed on all the windows, but we do like to see out our windows and actually have them open as much as possible.  I'm pretty sure that taking down window treatments to clean would quickly overtake window washing in the race for least favorite chore. I have made a concession in consideration of my age.  I bought a scrubber and squeegee on an extendable pole so that we don't have to drag out ladders, balance precariously at the top of them, and worry about fallin...

Chittenden, VT Camping Scene Today was a busy one. I made out Sunday morning breakfast and I was reminded of another Sunday morning ritual. Mike and I were visiting his brother (may he rest in peace) and sister-in-law (of whom I can say nothing nice, so I'll say next to nothing), and they toasted each other with orange juice in champagne glasses. SHE explained that they had a champagne toast on the Sunday after they were married in Las Vegas. So they celebrated that precious moment every Sunday morning, substituting the orange juice. This caused Mike and I to look at each other with major eye rolling, I'm sure even though I don't remember that specifically. What I do remember is that Mike and I had failed to celebrate out tenth wedding anniversary three weeks before that because we had both forgotten it entirely. We may not have an ounce of sentimentality between us, but we can, and did, silently communicate that we would not share that particular story at that par...