7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 227)

It's late here, but here's a post!

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As I'm doing Jennifer Fulwiler's 7 Quick Takes Meme I'll also mention one of her other posts from this week that I rather liked: Organizational hacks for the rest of us you know one of those posts that makes you sigh with relief when you realise it's not just you that struggles with perfection - LOL.

The notion that I have a medical condition (Housework ADD!) that prevents perfect housekeeping was just the excuse I needed for my chaotic ways.

I am unable to stick to a schedule, but I LOVE putting them together. A Home Management Binder! It will be beautiful.  I like making the folder, spending hours picking the font colours, working out how long each task should take, colour coding each task dependent on its nature, etc.  Such fun.  I never finish it though. I think I have about 4.  Equally, I am unable to stick to my perfectly thought out schedules.

Here's why:  Say I decide to clean my kitchen, it can go one of three ways...

1) I start off cleaning, then I notice my cupboard is a bit dusty inside, so I take all my pots and pans out, but then I notice that some of the pans at the back of the cupboard are grubby with rust spots, so I then get on the internet to see how to deal with rust spots on cooking equipment, I find an article but notice that it links to another article about learning to crochet and I would like to learn how to crochet, but I wonder how much hooks are on eBay so I look them up, then I remember I need to finish off in the kitchen, as I get to the kitchen I notice the time! It's 3.25pm and I am late for picking Squidge up from school, I leave the kitchen in a state of devastation, messier than it was before.

Or, 2) I start cleaning the kitchen, I notice the light fitting has cobwebs, I clean the light fitting, whilst I'm up on ladders I notice the top of the cupboards are a bit mucky so I start to clean them, but because the kitchen air is greasy the tops of the cupboards aren't just dust - I need some Vim, so I get more cloths out and a bucket to start cleaning with that and then notice that mucky water has splashed on the cupboard fronts, so I start to clean those, as I'm cleaning the doors I notice my cupboards are really grubby inside, so I empty them all out, I then notice the clock and it's 3.25pm and I am late for picking up Squidge from school and I leave the kitchen in worse devastation than it was before.

Or, 3) Knowing that my kitchen is a Pandora's box and quite possibly one of the seven circles of hell I avoid cleaning it and spend all day pottering about generally wasting time only to finally look up after getting distracted by the boxes of children's artwork, deciding to sort it out and spending hours reminiscing about their childhood and how cute their pictures are or some such nonsense to see that it is 3.25 pm and I am late to pick up Squidge from school and my kitchen is in a worse mess because I have, during the course of the day, contributed more pots from lunch and snacking, plus I now have artwork strewn about the living room that wasn't there before.

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If you read all of --1-- and its excessive use of commas and never ending sentences, you deserve a reward.

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So how do I manage my Housework ADD (or whatever)?  I set a timer.  15 or 10 minutes per room.  I put on some jolly bouncy music to motivate me.  My aim is to do everything as quickly as possible so that I get lots done before the timer goes off.  First I have to tidy the room (I have a box to throw things in that belong in other rooms, which I return to their correct location when I reach that particular room), if I still have time left after tidying I start to clean the room.  As soon as the timer goes off I have to move onto another room.  After I've been through all the rooms (I don't have a big house) I have a nice break.  I then do 15 minutes ironing, or something else.  If the house needs a thorough cleaning I will start again at the beginning with the timer.  I can use the timer on other projects that tend to get out of control, like filing or sorting photos, etc.

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We've been in Cornwall this week.  It's been lovely.  The cottage we have stayed in is comfortable and roomy.  But I'm really looking forward to my own bed.  There's nothing like your own bed is there?

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I have a new camera and have been playing around with various settings.  Here are some macros I took:

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I'm looking forward to picking up Boots from the cattery.  I do miss my cat!  Sad I know.

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It's Chatterbox's birthday soon.  She'll be 12! Moving closer to those teenage years.  I'm not sure I'm ready. :)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!