June's Something Different!

Wow!  What a month!  It seemed from the very first day to the last, I didn't have a single day free to scratch or to myself; and once I went to bed, I zonked quickly into the dreamworld... only to be awoken by my alarm or my neighbours slamming their way out of their house to go to work at 6am.

On 1st, June, I was off to Doug Cartwright's house bright and early to help him design a blog for an interstate artist.  Once we got it under way, we ate lunch with his house mate and another visitor who had dropped by and Doug let me into his lead lighting studios to make a gorgeous little jewelery box from his design.  It took all afternoon, but the end result is absolutely wonderful and I use it to house my rings and Grandma's watch.

Within the first week of June, we had some really cold

weather.  But that's okay really.  I like the cold and enjoy getting out into it.  It makes me work harder to keep warm and keeps me going at what I want to do for the day.  And one of those thing was to go out and see the Ron Mueck Exhibition.  I had heard about it on the radio and television and resolved to go and see it when it came to Brisbane.  And so, I did; taking my camera with me.  What an exhibition!  I loved it!  Actually, I had a pass-out stamp on my hand in case I had to go back in... luckily I got one because some of the photos were blurry and I wanted to look at some of the stuff again.  

By the 8th, June, I my fortunes had turned around and things were beginning to happen in a positive way.  I checked the mail that day and found I had won a double pass to see 'The A-Team' the night before it opened from Triple-M radio!  And I took Mum with me.  It was so much fun!  She loved it that I chose her to come with me.  

But on the previous day, I had picked up 'The Golden City' by John Twelve Hawks from QBD at Garden City and by pure chance brought home a 'Clifford' dog with me... he just looked so cute and bright red by the register that I knew he'd find a good home amongst my books!  And now, he's guarding my Mt TBR with vigor; making sure I read as much as I add to it.

Also, my 'Mixed Favourites Book Baggie' came home from its extensive trip around Australia.  And a lot of books arrived home in it that I wanted to read; as well as the pencil case I sent off in it being so full I couldn't repack it once I had opened it!  What a lot of stuff there was in it!

I began 'The Big Tidy-Up' around my house.  This is

happening due to the success of 'The Big Clean-Out' in February.  And so, I've cut up my big jobs into little jobs and put things away in such a way where they can't get messy anymore.  It's a good way to do a clean out and a tidy up at the same time where I may have missed a spot in February.  But this has turned out to be a little harder than I first expected.  Downstairs is going okay; but upstairs isn't.  I think I have to look at it from a different angle up here as a lot of things don't get moved around here for a while and then suddenly they do.

During the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend, I had a good go at cleaning up downstairs.  It was good.  The kitchen was three-quarters there, as was the lounge room.  Then, I jumped on the piano for about an hour or so (I lost track of time to tell the truth).  And I decided to try out the new book full of exercises for both hands to follow each other.  Well, not long into them, I found them really challenging and my neighbour went off her block about me stopping playing (which I didn't until 10 minutes later when I realised I wasn't going to be a genius at them immediately).  I went for a walk and she watched me leave and watched me come home... what a creepy person to live next door to... really creepy.

On 24th, June, Mum and I attended the Epilepsy Symposium at the P.A. Hospital.  It was a completely full day of information from researchers, professors and neurosurgeons and neurologists alike.  Also, I got the chance to talk to people who were living with the disease/condition and parents who cared for children with it.  So, it was a good day, but very tiring.  The best thing about this kind of day is that you can talk to the guest speakers about your medications, operations, the Ketogenic Diet, lifestyle and other things that may improve on what you're already doing free of charge (well it does cost to go to one of these, but not as much as an appointment with one of these people).

The shortest day of the year was yesterday... a day after Michael Jackson died last year (and the television stations played all his movies and concerts) and Mum and I went out to a photo course at Photo Continental on Creek Road.  But when we got there, it had been cancelled and it seemed that us and on other person were the last to know.  That put us in a bind.  We could've stayed home and slept in.  

Instead, we hung about at the shops across the road and waited for the Life Line to open.  Here we found 3 handbags that I loved and bought.  Mum found all these winter tops that I tried on and they fitted!  There was even a jacket that looked awesome!  So, all up, we spent about $70... I did put in $20 of that and mum bought around $44 of the rest... it was lovely of her to buy the clothes.  But she kept on saying that I had to stop buying handbags and coin purses.  When you're a collector, it's an obsessive thing that makes you look at them and buy them... then you have to find a time to use them all! 

Then, last night, we had our partial Lunar Eclipse for this year.  And what wonderful night for it!  Even though it wasn't the clearest night, I took some lovely photos of it and was up until midnight to watch the moon clear up completely.  And did it get cold!  Wow, it was freezing!  

Well, that was my month of something different.  It was most definitely a lot fuller than past months; and I'm hoping my life gets a little less hectic in the next week or so.  I want to catch up with some reading.  I've only read 8 books this year... not a good score compared to last year's 27.  Until next month!

The Big Clean Out - Day 9

It's been a while since I got back into cleaning out. And I found the best time to get back into it is during an afternoon thunderstorm... today. I decided to tackle the last room on my list: The Office. Yep, I wanted to bring upstairs the plastic set of drawers and put them in here, filling them with things that I could use during the year. Then, sort out the top shelf of the non-fiction bookcase by moving my photos of the UK from it and putting all my hand-written stuff in its place. The magazines that match the 51 classic novels I was given for Christmas a few years back were moved to the top of my medium bookcase (next to my Mt To Be Read) and then, it was time to put a few things back that I had tossed on the floor to see if it all fitted... fortunately, it did!

Last night, we had a stinking hot night! And I mean, it was rotten! I had the fan on 2 and the spray bottle of water next to Stevie in case she needed cooling down during the night (which she did once or twice; poor little thing!). She also needed rescuing from behind the new stereo unit! I let her have a flight around the living room - as usual - and she misjudged the cage and ran into the curtain; sliding straight down the back of the unit in the darkness of the skirting! I could hear her screeching her head off as though to ask where she was! And after moving her cage, the end table, a large vase of silk flowers and then sliding it out from the wall, Little Miss Stevie walked out from the side with a little coaxing from me. She jumped up on my hand and then my shoulder and didn't leave there while I put everything back. She snuggled right up close and nibbled my ear in the attempt to make sure I wasn't going anywhere soon; and neither was she! I had to laugh though as I panicked a bit because I couldn't reach her from over the top of the unit; and I wish I could have.

This morning, when I had a look, I could see that there was a lot of room for her to move around and she would have been okay. I most definitely have a tough little bird. This afternoon, while the storm grumbled around us, I got some reading done of 'Under The Dome' by Stephen King. I've been reading about 50 pages a day (which is around one full chapter). There is so much happening in this book that it is very much like 'The Stand' but it's all situated in the one small town; not spread out across the whole of the United States. But I'm finding that a lot of the characters are now being killed off or are dying... whittling it all down the few that are going to survive to the end. What's keeping me reading is that I'm wondering exactly who is going to be there in the end; and who's not. I found out this morning that Mum finished Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' and she loved it. She said that it was like reading poetry and she wants to read more of his stuff. I've recommended his short stories to her; and will have to lend her 'The Day It Rained Forever'. She will love it.

Well, there's still some washing up to do and the kitchen table to tackle. What I'm not looking forward to is shopping tomorrow. Shopping in the rain... blech! Not the best time to go, but if I don't, I won't have any food to cook for tomorrow night or snacks to take to the Logan Art Gallery on Thursday morning.

The Big Clean Out - Day 8

Well, yesterday was a great success. I checked the mail and found nothing in the PO Box. Then, once home, I added to the bags of goodies to take to Endos with Mum's charity bags. This clean out has been a great thing for me and my house. I can find things and I'm feeling better for it too! We took the load of stuff to the large drop-off at Logan Central and emptied the back of the Pajero - all except the bag of Christmas Lights that I untangled last week (which Mum almost handed to me to give to the man at Endos... thank goodness I knew what they felt like!). Then, we drove off and headed up Wembley Road and stopped at traffic lights where Mum saw the funniest sight! Hanging off the back rung of a ute were three or four pairs of socks; all tied up, looking like they had been wash and hung out to dry. Aren't they hilarious? She and I both thought so and I got a good photo of them too don't you think? The things you see when you're in traffic!
After I got home yesterday, I got in and cleaned the toilets and bathroom top to bottom! And I mean, I really cleaned them! It was the most exhausting hour and half of my day, but it got done. Then, I washed up a little and sat down and drank some water to rest; by that time, I had put on a one-man-quiche and I was ready to call the cleaning day to an end.

Today, after I washed up, cleaned the bathroom and toilets floors and checked the mail across the road, I had an energy saving guy come around to the house to assess my place; and see if I was doing the right things in saving myself money and energy. He had a look around the place, measured all the rooms, asked the right questions about the hot water system, my appliances and how many hours I used them all, insulation and even the air-conditioner. And when he looked at my gas and electricity bills, he was impressed at how much I paid with each; and more impressed that when I changed back to Energex, I was paying less in gas supply than with AGL. He filled out his booklet and gave me a few things on how I can improve my energy savings even more.
Then, he said that I'd get my report in 6 weeks' time and reckons I'd be near the top of the scale (which is good). I even put him onto Bookcrossing for his daughter because she's a massive reader... and he wasn't too surprised to see my room of books. He said that his daughter was reading e-books and he wants her to read real ones; so I said that Bookcrossing would be really good for her and she'd be able to make some great online friends and register books she'd like to trade or swap with others. He thanked me and then went on his way. For the rest of the day, I'm not going to do anything else; except maybe sit on the net and waste the day away a bit. After all, it's a Friday. What better way to glide into the weekend than stuff around on the computer?

The Big Clean Out - Day 7

Wow! I've been doing this clean out for a week, and I'm still interested in it! That's good! And that's a record for me too. Yesterday was a good day for me to clean; and as I said I do clean better in the afternoons. If I remember right, I was off-line at around midday and got into my cleaning soon after, starting with the coffee table by the front door and the piles of magazines on it. I went through them and found I had a stockpiled 2 years' worth of 'Good Reading' Magazines! So, I sorted out the last few months of last year's and tossed the rest. I also got rid of any 'Insight' and 'Witchcraft' magazines I had from 2005 and 2006... but I kept all the vegetarian cooking magazines and yoga magazines. I also cleaned out the shoes from underneath it and vacuumed up all of Stevie's bum feathers and little blue feathers with the dust-buster (now I know where she's been putting them!).
The next place I sorted was the lounge. I sorted out the pile of papers on the lounge and figured out which receipts needed shredding which ones could be tossed. I find that anything with my keycard or credit card number on it needs shredding (otherwise some smartarse out there can do some identity fraud on me and steal my money) otherwise, if I paid cash and it's on the receipt, well, they can't do anything. I also tossed out the junk mail and anything else that I didn't want; except stuff addressed to my house (that went into the pile for shredding. Thank goodness I got a shredder for my birthday last year!).
I washed up after sweeping the kitchen floor and then washed up everything and wiped down the counter. Then, I grabbed the stuff that needed shredding and the vegetarian magazines and brought them upstairs and found places for them and began to tidy up up here. I tossed out old envelopes, paper and other junk I didn't need. Then, it was books I thought that were from my Available bag from Bookcrossing and books that had fallen off the non-fiction bookshelf near the window that needed picking up. The space by the computer needed cleaning up. I sorted out the postcards from the Logan Art Gallery and notebooks and registered books that I had yet to make ready to send to off to new owners on the net.
While I'm doing that, I'm also sorting out stuff in the doorway of my bedroom where there are thing in 'green bags' that used to live in the medium-sized bookcase which was brought upstairs from the lounge. I haven't looked into those bags for while. This included a bag with two and half sets of sheets in it that Mum gave me (which is on the line now). By this time it's almost 4pm; and time to start thinking about dinner.
And Dad came over with a new perch for Stevie. It's thicker and stronger than the last one... and doesn't it look great! For dinner, I had stir-fry. I find it an easy meal to make when I'm tired. I've got a lot to do this afternoon... including the bathroom, putting away the paintings in the hallways of the kitchen and clearing the kitchen table. But this morning, there's the dropping off of the bags to 'Endos' Mum and I are doing. We both have bags to take there. The car will be packed!

The Big Clean Out - Day 6

Yesterday, I felt horrible and blah... I had no energy and so only did the smaller things I could and read half a chapter of 'So Many Book, So Little Time' by Sara Nelson. And this began right from the time I woke up; so it didn't just hit me from lunchtime onwards.

Today, I'm feeling a lot better. However, I did something yesterday that left poor little Stevie without a main perch. I noticed it had a massive crack running around the middle of it and so I thought to have a look to see how bad it was. Pulling it out, I flexed it and it snapped in two. Boy! Did I feel bad! Now, there was no way I could fix it or get another one until today. So, I hooked up a smaller perch - which caused all her toys, mirror, bells and millet to be crowded around her. And this morning, after breakfast, I walked down to 'Pet Country' and bought her another set of 45cm perches for $7.00. She's not too crazy at it being straight, but at least it's long enough that she can run along it and not smack into things all the time.

Also today, I'll be getting into washing the floors of the kitchen, bathroom and front door. Before that, though, I'll have to finish the washing up and wipe down the cupboards. And while the floor's are drying, I'll come up to the office and get into minimising the 'Green Bags' I have up here and adding the space I badly need here. Yep, there's a lot to do.
What I have done is pull in the wheelie bin, check the mail across the road and upload my photo onto 365 Project of a leaf after the rain. It's a good one too! Otherwise the place does need a tidy-up; just a little. I've checked up on my e-mails and chatrooms on Bookcrossing and have really done all I need to do on my internet for today. And now I'm two days behind in my clean out, I need to catch up with it all... and work harder on making sure it's all done.
There is another reason why I need to tidy up. I received an offer to get my carbon footprint assessed by the Federal Government about a month ago; and the guy is coming this Friday. Now, I have a day and half to have this place a little bit tidier than what it is. But I'm confident it won't take as long as I expect. I'll keep you posted about it.

The Big Clean Out - Day 5

I've found that I clean better in the afternoon; crazy but true. Then, once it's all finished up for the day, I can sit down and feel good about myself that at least I got something done. But yesterday wasn't one of those days. Instead, I ended up not doing too much. I found myself clearing out the fridge of food that had made friends with itself (ie: growing mould), putting out the rubbish before realising it was leaking (which meant the floors would need washing again!) and then, finding out that Stevie's main large perch has a massive crack right through the middle of it! So, this means, I have to find her another perch before it breaks... and with all this rain around, it's going to be hard to find a dry one!

Anyway, I did get some reading done yesterday of two books. One really got on my nerves and one was funny and light. The first one was 'Boundaries' which was recommended to me by my doctor. You see, after having one bad relationship, I have had judgement issues and boundary problems with people. So, I have needed to read something about how to curb them in the right situations. However, there isn't a book out there where the authors don't smack you around with the Good Book so much you feel like you're being preached at. This one was least preachy and I've been dodging the scriptures and references to God in it as much as I can (my Kingdom for a book that talks about just pure psychology of what works and what doesn't... nothing to do with spiritual healing, God or what Matthew did to John or whatever... please!). The other book - as I said - was a lot easier to read. It's called 'So Many Books, So Little Time' By Sara Nelson. It's about a woman who promised herself in 2000 to read as many books as she could; preferably one a week. Her adventures and misadventures of reading are funny and sometimes a little weird; but I can relate to a few of her stories. And I've been able to get through this book quite easily. So, unfortunately, I didn't get as much done as I wanted yesterday... that means, I'll have to work harder today. That's okay. It'll help me sleep better tonight; as I haven't been sleeping all that well. Until tomorrow's adventures around my big clean up tomorrow.

The Big Clean Out - Day 4

Off and on the rain poured yesterday. But I ended up on the computer between 9:30 am and 2pm. I got a lot done here too. There was my e-mails to check up on, Bookcrossing and 365project to work on too. However, my mind was still thinking about what jobs had to be done; and there weren't that many. I had one major one that bothered me... and I sat on it every night. Yep, I had to find out exactly what was living in my sofa-bed. You see, for the last week, I've been killing itty-bitty spiders that have been running around on the lounge each night. Sure, they're cute, but I keep wondering where they come from. And yesterday afternoon was the day I found out whether I had a nest of them breaking out or not.
So, after I washed up from the day and night before, I put Stevie upstairs, grabbed the surface spray and pushed the lounge around so it faced the front window (it won't open in any other position now the piano's in the house). I pulled the pillows, blanket and crap off it; and finally the cover. Then, the cushions came next, and nothing... no big spider came running out, no roaches, no nest. So, I unfolded the whole thing and... still nothing! The mattress came off and I grabbed the spray and gave the joints, the insides and underneath (where the whole bed folds in) a good dose a poison so nothing can nest there. Nothing came running out to die. So, where these little spiders were coming from is as a good-a guess as any... but I didn't have to kill any last night while I was watching 'House'.
And that's a good thing!
After the lounge was put back together, I tossed out a fair bit of stuff, organised the bags of charity things I'm giving away and tried to make the house look a little more tidy (which is hard seeing I'm halfway through my clean-up and I've got bags of things I don't want around waiting to be taken away). Otherwise, I've yet to still sort out some thing in my bedroom, clean the bathroom out and wash the floors. The office still needs another look at before I run a vacuum cleaner through it and a duster. This clean out is going well. I'm taking my time and not rushing through anything that I may mistakenly toss out which I may need.

The Big Clean Out - Day 3

It began to rain yesterday, so I got a lot of computer work done; as I do when it rains. However, I also got a bit of cleaning out done before it really set in. I gotta say though, it was very humid and so it slowed me down a lot; which meant, I had to take my time. The first thing I did was get rid of the air conditioning box that held the Second Pantry here in the office. What a great day this was for that to happen! There were only three items left in it and so, I put two of those items into a string bag - which I've got hanging off the door handle of the office - and now the box is gone. It's been put into the junk area of the unit complex with other large boxes that can't be cut up for wheelie bins. I'm so happy there's more room in this room to use.
But I didn't stop there. I put away the bag full of Halloween goodies (these are things that I put into lollie bags for that particular night when kids come Trick-or-Treating), the two rolls of wrapping paper and the bag of Christmas cards, ribbon and sticky cards I use to wrap presents. All of those are in the wardrobe for another year. Yet, there's still work to do in this room to make the rest of the 'Green Bags' disappear.
Then, I got stuck into the folding of the basket full of laundry in my bedroom. I was cautious because I haven't done it for so long. And after half an hour or so, it was all done; except for the chair full of stuff that needs to be hung up. Unfortunately, I can't because I don't have enough hangers. So, they will have to wait for another day when I've gone out and bought them. Bummer!

Last night, we got hit by a late electrical storm at around 10:30pm. Fortunately, it was after I had watched two dvds of one of my favourite movie stars and I was about to head off to bed. But instead, I thought to wait out the storm by unplugging the television and computer and modem just to be on the safe side. Then, I grabbed the washing basket from the laundry and brought it upstairs and sprayed it with surface spray (just in case something had thought it was okay to hide there) and then I put all my dirty clothes I had dumped in the doorway of my bedroom temporarily into it.

By 1am, the storm had passed, I had read 25 pages of a book and I had turned out the light. Today, it's raining again. I'll be working on getting more stuff for charity ready to take over there this week; thus I'll have more room to use. The office will be completely cleaned out and I'll have a lot more room to move... not only here but also around the house. And then, it will be the case of trying to keep my collecting habits to a minimum.

The Big Clean Out - Day 2

Well, yesterday was a great success! I got off this here computer and got my butt into gear. First things was first... I had to clean out my kitchen pantry. And the amount of expired packaged food I had was amazing! There was white sugar, Sippa-Straws (An Aussie invention) and hundreds of packets of hotel coffee - all stale! So, I washed the big glass jar the coffee came in and another I found hardened sugar in and took out the container that usually held potatoes; and found I had huge amount of space for the rest of the food from my Second Pantry in the office. Then, I spent the next hour hauling food from upstairs to downstairs and putting it all away. And another hour working on putting other things from the Second Pantry in the bathroom, bedroom and other parts of house.

Then, came my Mt To Be Read. It was looking very tatty and I thought instead of the books being forced to stand on their ends, it would be easier - have a less likely chance of them falling down - if they were piled on their sides with the bigger ones on the bottom and smaller ones on top... of course! And doesn't it make a difference?

Before all of this was done, I had all three loads of laundry done; this included the sheets off the bed, a pair of jeans, a mini skirt and a pair of shorts. But the whole clothesline was completely full! Then at around 2pm, I pulled it all off the line and did a load of kitchen towels; which dried completely by 4pm. Yep, it was hot enough still at that time of day to dry laundry then. By that time too, I had done the washing up and wiped down the counter and I then decided it was time the lawn was mowed (and this was before I put out the kitchen towels).

By 5pm, I had had a shower and gotten some of the garden's dirt off me and thought I had worked on the cleaning out quiet well. And doesn't it all look good so far? And the best thing happened all year! My little bird who wouldn't eat anything and is the fussiest eater ate a piece of apple. I had bought her a vegetable/fruit holder for Christmas, but she wouldn't go near it. But then, she wouldn't eat anything out of a container either (unless it's seed or her Harrison's Pellets) so, I thought to try out putting the apple on top of the cage and her next to it; and voila! She ran in circles, dodged around it than finally chewed on. The cutest thing was when she put her little foot onto it and really got into it! I just didn't get picture of her doing that part. But here's one of her being all delicate about it. And I'm so proud of her!

And today seeing it's been raining on and off, I'm going to keep going with a few other things around the place; then let you know how it fairs tomorrow.

The Big Clean Out - Day 1

Okay, put your hand up, who's ever said: "Right, this is it! I'm going to clean out my house of all the crap, all the junk and have just the necessities at my fingertips!". Then, you start to do it, find out it's too hard and toss in the towel before you even get to lounge room and decided that you like your junk? Come on, be honest.... yeah, me too.
And wasn't it embarrassing when push came to shove and you lost something important like that all vital Tax Card you have to take to the Chemist for your prescriptions, or your house keys (which, let's face it, are attached to your car keys, so you're not going anywhere without them!).

So, here's what I'm going to do... I'm putting forth a challenge to all us grots out there who either have never done housework, can't be bothered doing housework or have let it slip from our line of thought. Let's have 2010 be the year where our houses are reasonably clean and tidy. This means: we can have them ready for anyone to visit with 20 minutes notice; so we can tidy up a little and make sure it's not too untidy or cluttered.

Well, I've begun on my house; and because I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, I haven't taken the whole house on all at once. I began in the room I use the most - no not my office, that'll be last. I began cleaning out drawers in the kitchen and doing out the mugs I don't use anymore. I bagged up about 10 or 12 old kitchen towels somebody else could use, 3 mugs I haven't used in over a year and I'm going to send all of this off to a charity for somebody else to use. Then, cleaned out my pantry of unused, packaged food and tossed it in the bin. Now, I have the bottom shelf of the pantry clean enough for what's in my 2nd Pantry up here in the office to put food I've collected in. That's another great thing. I'm getting rid of the large cardboard box that holds all that food sitting inside my office door. And then, I'll shop for only what I need and not what I think I need. It'll be cheaper for me in the long run. I've still got things to do today. There are papers that I sorted out yesterday to shred, other papers that need filing, the kitchen table to clear up, the laundry to sort and fold, the bed to make up (I'm thinking of turning the mattress, but I may not yet as it's hard to do on my own) and the bedroom and bathroom to vacuum and dust.

And then, that'll be it for day one of this Clean Out. I hope you are endeavouring the clean out or fix up something in your house/unit/dorm that will make your life that little bit easier; even if it's keeping a journal, making a shopping list before going out to buy the groceries (believe me, that works) and not shopping on an empty stomach (and that works too!), or just organising how your books on their shelves are going to be kept. It all helps in some way.