Or Day II of the Amazing Flying Disaster Cat
Well,
Those of you following the Disaster Cat Chronicles know that yesterday I decided to experiment with a self-help web site that promises to help you clean up and organize your home. This miracle is to be accomplished slowly and with "baby-steps," most of which are supposed to last between five and fifteen minutes at a time. Each day presents a few new additions to the mix of stuff you do. Here is my report from Day II....
This morning I managed to get most of the first assignment aka The Morning Routine done without too much trouble. I was able to get dressed, complete with shoes (shoes are supposed to be very important, they are supposed to be lace up shoes, but since my doctor prefers me to wear Birkenstock's I'm sticking to them anyway). Getting dressed should have been even easier because I was supposed to "lay out" my clothing the night before. I am trying to follow the program, really I am, but if I "lay out" my clothing in my room, by morning it will be lovingly decorated by hundreds of little orange cat hairs. It will even be pre-warmed for me, my cats do not believe that Mommy should put cold clothing on in the morning. But furry is OK with them...go figure? Anyway, not wishing to start out the morning wearing a fur rug, I compromise and place the clothing selection stacked in a drawer beside the bed. Which would have been all right except that I was so sleepy, I forgot that I had done this and proceeded to gather up a second wad of clothing. I then discovered the first pile and had to decide which one to use. After a couple of minutes I went with the first one. Like yesterdays sink experience, this was proving just a bit more complicated than I expected.
After this, I decided to cheat on the Make the Bed part, since my nice cleaning lady is in on Mondays and she would just re-do it anyway. I don't have any bathroom cleaner yet to "swish around in my toilet bowl" so I skip that part too. And go down to the kitchen. ...where I face my second assignment of the day: FIND A HOT-SPOT What is a HOT-SPOT? According the the Fly-lady, this is a place in your house where clutter and junk accumulate. Most houses have several...I push back the thought that my entire house is just one gigantic HOT SPOT and try and decide which one to tackle first. Since I'm not supposed to do more than 15 minutes at a time on it, I want one that is not too big. And, since I have my cleaning lady today (who has a good back, whereas I do not) I decide to take advantage of this and go for a HOT-SPOT that is mostly heavy junk. And I have found just the spot...its is...TADA THE KITCHEN WINDOW...or rather, it used to be the kitchen window. It had been a very nice kitchen window once, with three bell pepper plants growing in large pots. I think they are still there somewhere, but somehow they have been hidden by two huge piles of reference books, telephone books, month old mail envelopes, a pop corn maker and the apple-peeler-corer thingy box from last week (see the Apples, Apples Everywhere Post for details)...I ask my cleaning lady to carry all the heavy books to the library, but I need to go through them first....which I start to to do...
I make the mistake of starting this "15 minute" project before brewing a cup of tea. I shall try not to repeat this tomorrow. After about 20 minutes I had managed to separate out my husband's jewelry making books from the local telephone numbers. And try to figure out what to do with year old financial statements and wonder just how they got in the window...I pile the separated books on the table and then start looking for place to put the popcorn popper, apple-peeler-corer thingy and the new vacuum sealer I had now found lurking underneath everything else. I think to myself that these appliances should all go somewhere "appropriate" unfortunately, a check of my selves shows that currently no such place exists, and is not likely to, at least not until I have about 1,555 more "15 minute" periods of de-clutter time. So, I settle for the only vacant spaces (besides the table and the window) which is: The top of the Fridge. I'd use the top of the freezer but it already contains a wine rack, several jars of husband's protein powder and my purse. Not a lot of room left on that one.
So, I now have a wonderful, bright, clean cheerful widow full of only somewhat dried out and neglected bell pepper plants. I am also delighted to discover that the Aloe plant is still alive somewhere beside them. I guess being a catus helped it survive being lost and unloved for a few weeks.
Things will be just fine, as long as everyone is very careful when they open the fridge, otherwise a few small appliances may fall down on their heads. But my window, my window is clean! And cheerful...both husband and house-mate comment on it.
Tonight I dutifully did my dishes and once again cleaned my sink (sink cleaning is supposed to be very important...) and now I get to look forward to the day's final assignment...a hot bath and go to bed. I think I can manage that one...I just hope no one decides they want to get a quick glass of milk from the fridge at least not without turning on the light first....
Stay Tuned for the Continuing Adventures of Disaster Cat
Disaster Cat