Clothes Closet to Food Pantry

We designed our home years ago and I love it expect for one little thing. There was never enough space to store food!  The original part of the house had a very small kitchenette with almost no storage space especially for five people.  When  we  added the main section of the house we increased the storage area but there was still no place for a freezer or extra food.  We originally had the freezer and “pantry” area in the garage but that didn’t work very well  when we moved into the main house since it meant going outside to get to them.  We solved the freezer problem by moving it up into the old kitchen. It means going upstairs to get the food but that’s better then having to go outside and also opened up space in the garage.

The “pantry” was another story.  Last year we enclosed the breezeway so you no longer have to go outside to get to the garage from the first floor but the “pantry” area  in the garage was taken over with animal food and sports equipment and  other junk that I have not decided what to do with.       ( We all have things that we are not sure what to do with.) The old kitchenette is now a craft studio/laundry room so there is no place for canned goods in that area.

We needed a place to store food because every time we went shopping the kitchen counters and dinning room table would be covered with food.  In the past that was only a problem in the winter months when we would stock up in case of bad weather.  With this pandemic  going on we are trying to stock up so we do not have to go to the store as often and that meant we had food everywhere.  I needed to think outside the box and find a place to store things.

I thought about clearing out the area in the garage but decided it was too far away from the kitchen and the area has a temperature swing especially when the garage door opens in the winter.   I  also thought about using the old closet in the north wing but that meant carrying all those cans upstairs and then back down when I fixed meals.  Sounded like a lot of extra work especially since I was already doing that with the frozen food. I needed another solution!

We had a  “mudroom” cabinet built for the nook area near the back door to hold our coats since they always ended up on the hooks by that door and never in the downstairs closet. I had installed a few coat hooks by the front door for guest and to hold my “front” door coat. My “work” coat is on a coat rack on the enclosed porch. So what was in the downstairs coat closet? A bunch of older coats and our heavy winter coats which will be switched out into the mudroom cabinet, enclosed porch and by the front door  when it gets colder. The light bulb flashed on! I have been meaning to clean out the closet in the north wing since it  hasn’t been cleaned out since Shawn got married and moved out. It was half full of  clothes that he had left behind and anything I tossed inside.  I washed and folded all the clothes and placed them in  a box for him. (All the kids have a drawer in a tall dresser for weekend clothes.)  I now had a cleared walk – in closet. It would have stored lots of food but it works best for those winter coats. They only took one side so there is still room for guest to hang clothes is needed. That left the downstairs coat closet empty. A perfect place for a pantry!

Cans are heavy so it took four tracks and three additional shelves to hold everything. Bill did most of the work as I was busy carrying clothes upstairs and doing laundry. I think he did a great job!

 

I love the new pantry! Everything is organized and I can see what we have at the “store.” Also it is close to the kitchen so no climbing stairs or walking  two rooms over to get the food. So hopefully no more wasted food that I find years after the expiration date.

Best of all the kitchen looks so much better since I have more room to store appliances. Now only the  appliances that are used daily/weekly are on the counter tops.

I actually have counter space! It looks so good I hate messing it up by cooking.

Our dinning room table is back to normal.  I am so ready for a huge family get together around this table.

Why I added some weight

Yes, I added weight this year. Okay I will admit I have added some unwanted weight to my body but that is another story. This story is about the weight I added to my bed in the form of a weighted blanket.  A weighted blanket is simply a blanket that weighs between  4 to 30 pounds. They are  filled with discs, poly pellets, glass, or polypropylene plastic beads. The weight of the blanket  mimics a deep pressure stimulation  which uses pressure to relax the nervous system.

The use of a weighted blanket can help to:

1. Reduce Stress
2. Help the Elderly
3. Reduce Anxiety
4. Help Balance Brain Chemistry
5. Help Manage OCD
6. Ease Restless Legs Syndrome
7. Improve Overall Sleep Quality
8. Sharpen Focus for ADHD
9. Help with Symptoms of PTSD
10. Promote Calmness with Autism Spectrum Disorder
11. Decrease Anxiety in Pets
12. May Help Alleviate Pain Associated with Fibromyalgia
13. Ease Symptoms of Depression

Weighted blankets may benefit people with anxiety, insomnia and other sleep disorders, those with osteoarthritis, people with chronic pain, people who suffer from PTSD, ADHD and autism.

Weighted blankets should NOT be used in children under the age of 2,  people with sleep apnea, asthma, or those that are claustrophobic.

Weighted blankets work best if you choose the right weight.  A weighted blanket should be 5 to 10 percent of your body weight. Most adults need a blanket between 12 to 30 pounds.  Use a 3 to 8 pound blanket for a child weighing between 20 to 70 pounds. A 30- to 130-pound child, a medium weighted blanket should weigh from 5 to 15 pounds. Older adults may want to use a lighter blanket of  5 to 8 pounds depending on now healthy they are.

I was having trouble sleeping and usually stayed up until 2 to 3 in the morning or until I felt sleepy enough to fall asleep. I would try going to bed earlier and I would end up staring at the clock until 3 or 4 in the morning. I just could not go to sleep.  The last time I was at the dentist I noticed that the lead “protection”  bib made me feel calmer and actually relaxed. I mentioned that I was thinking about getting a weighted blanket to  Doug.  He got me a 12 pound blanket during the Thanksgiving weekend and it has made a huge difference. I no longer dislike going to bed because I don’t fight sleep. In fact I actually look forward to getting in bed and  pulling that blanket  over me. I immediately  feel calm and no longer toss and turn as the weight of the blanket “holds” me in place. It feels like a huge hug all night long.

Three Days Unsupervised

Recently my husband was away on business for three days and I stayed home the whole time and caught up on a bunch of things. I never even stopped to get the newspaper or the mail!

The first day I wasn’t motivated until late afternoon and then  I cleaned all of the rooms upstairs and got carried away and finally rearranged  one bedroom. I have been thinking about moving stuff in that room for the last two years  but never seem to have the time or energy. The bed was in the center of the room and when the tumble bed was needed we could only pull it half way out. The desk was located  in front of the door and I would run into it each time I entered the room.  I moved the bed over were the new dresser was and dresser were the bed used to be. This allows us to be able to not only use the tumble bed but also the chair bed! So that room can now sleep three people again.   The desk was moved to the far corner which allowed for a lot of open space in the center of the room.

I thought I was done for the day but after Shoes went to bed I decided to finish the laundry. That led to working in the craft room until around three in the morning, but I did finish the felt Christmas wreath and the Easter wreath.

The next morning I started more laundry – time to wash and put away the winter stuff and wash the area rugs.  I cleaned both of the inside bird cages and added straw to the chicken coop.  All 18 wild bird feeders were empty and it was very cold so they needed the food. It  took a while to  filled them all and it was after noon by the time I got back inside.  I still had a lot of time to  clean downstairs.  Those  rooms were cleaned quickly  and I moved the tree from in front of the window to the corner.  I went downstairs to get the Easter stuff when I stopped short and looked around. They had not moved anything back to its original place after installing the new furnace!  I abandoned the idea of decorating for Easter and started rearranging the basement. The hardest part was moving a few exercise machines and that table.

 

I  still need to clear off the table but it was getting late and I had  animals to feed and chickens to put up yet.  Afterward I decided to relax in front of the TV with a nice cup of coffee: however, the coffee machine didn’t agree.  It refused to split  out any coffee so I had to take time out and clean the machine.

I finally got that cup of coffee only to kind that all my shows were re runs so  I worked on the computer and read a little before going to bed.

The third morning I found even more things to  wash  before  feeding the animals.  I spent the rest of the day decorating for Easter and spring.

I still had a few minutes before I needed to put the chickens up so  got out the spring colored afghans, hung the Easter wreaths and cleaned the iron pots by the fireplace.

Found a few packages on the front porch  containing supplies for my next projects.

The plastic box is another photo storage box for my photo project. I am getting rid all the old photo albums that are falling apart and placing the pictures in these boxes after scanning them into the computer. I have been working on this project for over a year and this is the third photo box. I suggest doing this before you hit 60 years old if you still have printed photos. If no printed pictures than  make sure you have a good back up system in place in case your phone or computer dies.

The paint was a surprise. I have been selected to “test” this glitter paint.  It is interior wall paint that can be used on wood, drywall, plastic and metal. I like the way it looks on walls but I do not have any walls I want to glitter. Also  it says that you can paint over it but may need to sand the walls first. I have no intentions of  sanding any walls  so I will be experimenting on furniture. I have just the item to paint but that will be next weeks project since I must have the finished project done and submitted by the end of the month.

Moving the craft room.

Yesterday Bill left early to work at the apartment building and I used the whole day to clean. I started with the freezers – the little one connected to the refrigerator and the large one in the kitchenette.

I actually did a paper inventory again this year.  I also arranged all the food into baskets with the oldest food being in front and lined up according to expiration dates. All new food will be placed in the back of the baskets.  All cookies are on the door shelves so they are easy to grab.

I decided to move the craft table and items out of the  studio family room/guest room last week so it was time to clean and organize the studio.

I love the way this room turned out!   I can still work on crafts in here if I wish but the messy ones will stay in the kitchenette area. However the kitchenette/laundry room is a mess because that is where all the craft stuff went.

We do not use the kitchenette for cooking large meals so most of the cabinets were full of stuff no longer used or just plain junk. That meant lots of cleaning. I set up a sorting area with bins for donating, tossing, and keeping and started cleaning.

After working all afternoon I have one side looking good. Even the closed cabinets are clean and organized.

The other side is almost finished but I had to stop due to time. I just have the stuff on top of the counter to finish sorting and putting away.

Also the craft table,  under the sink and the sewing area sill needs to be cleaned off – but it is a big improvement. Only one room is messy now and not two!

Doug/Shawn’s Old Bedroom Cleaned

I deep cleaned another room this month and for some reason if a piece of furniture can be moved to another place I have to move it.   This room has so many memories including the time when both boy’s were sharing it  with their bunk beds against the wall. Then there was the time it was so cluttered that the only way to enter was a small narrow path.

Now it still gets used everyday as the office space for the rental business.

The other half of the room serves as a guest bedroom and get used regularly when one of the boy;s comes home.

I really like the open space better than the way I had it arranged last year.

Starting fall clean up

I am getting a late start on my fall “clean up” this year since most of my time has been taken up with working out to lose some weight but yesterday I actually spent most of the day at home so I started  decluttering.

I had most of the rooms finished but still had the closets to straighten up and remove what we no longer used, the office area, and the basement to finish. Yesterday I stared on the worst area – our main closet. I have been putting this off for a while since I have clothes in almost every size and I didn’t want to toss anything  that I could possible get back into.  I have been working out for over ten weeks now and have seen results and I know with some more time and work I will soon be able to wear most of the things in that closet so it was time to start cleaning it out.

All the “huge” sizes are either in the work clothes only pile or donate pile depending on the way they look. (We have already made one trip in with clothes donations.) All the super worn, torn, or paint covered clothes are in the toss pile. The things I do not really like anymore or things that have faded are in the donate pile and what I have left is getting organized.

Our closet is rather large so I have divided the work into 11 sections. Yesterday I got the first section cleaned and organized. That included my purse collection which I sorted though and tossed those that were too worn to carry.  It also included my jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses, sheets and gym clothes as well as extra PJ’s.

The next section to work on will be tubs and drawers of sweaters. These are the hardest to go though since I only wear them in the winter and some I have not worn since high school. So why am I holding onto sweaters I rarely wear? Simple answer they were all hand-made with love from my mother. Wearing one of those sweaters feels like a warm hug from her  (except for the two itchy ones which I haven’t worn in ages). My mother loved to sew , knit and crochet which is one reason for the large closet –  Hand made items never seem to wear out and the sweaters never really go out  of style. LOL I have a whole section of  her original designed sweatshirts which I wear often.

I would still be in their working but blew the light bulb so hopefully I will get the closet finished by the end of the week. I have all ready found a bunch of clothes that I had forgotten about and can now wear again – it’s like free shopping!

Warm days – appointments

The last few days have been warm and perfect for working outside however I have not gotten much outside work done due to different appointments. The good news is that all the medical appointments have turned out great. No cavities for me and Bill’s test showed no problems.

The timing of the appointments made it difficult to work outside – either I didn’t have enough time to begin working and still be able to make the appointments or I was too tired from getting up before the sun.

I did manage to begin making seed mats for the main garden and I begin to play around with the first stepping stone. Both are things I can do indoors and are not super messy. Of course the stepping-stones will get messy before they are finished. This will be a large project and I am looking forward to creating each work of art. The first one will be a flower which represents the Earth and will be placed at true north on the path.

I have the flower drawn on the stone and am experimenting with arranging the tiles to get the results I want. I will take photos when I decide on the final arrangement.

Each stone will take a long time to create so this project will not get finished quickly.

I also finished deep cleaning the beds and started cleaning the rest of the bedrooms. I am getting a running start on spring cleaning.

 

Home Alone

After a whirlwind weekend with Doug being home sick and Bill  working on his pathway it was very quite here with everyone away for the day. I do not get a day alone often so it was difficult deciding what I wanted to do.

The weather was fairly warm so first on the list was to open the bedroom windows and air out the rooms. I also decide to repeat the bedroom cleaning in the master bedroom. So I stripped the bed and cleaned the mattress and took all the bedding including the pillows to the laundry room before feeding the animals. With laundry started and the animals fed I decided to stay outside and work on the front strip garden on the est side of the porch. I never even got my first cup of coffee until after 7 pm!

The “new” strip garden is actually the area that was previous planted before the new path. However it was overgrown and hard to maintain. The Vinca which was not supposed to climb upward was having to be cut away from the siding constantly alone with the poison ivy. Also no one wanted to sit on the front porch for fear of the creeping poison ivy grabbing their ankle or a huge black snake slithering out of the Vinca and across the porch to the goldfish pond for a drink. Every year I vowed to redo this area but never got it done but the new path has forced the issue. I usually have a plan drawn out on how I want an area to look but not this time. I know exactly how I wanted it to look I just needed to do the work.

This garden is in the south sun so it is a priority  to get it finished before summer when it will be too hot to work out there for very long.

This is the mess I was faced with after the path was complete.

The crepe myrtle needed to be trimmed, the dead rose-bush needed to go, the area was uneven with a huge low spot in the far corner, lots of half buried rocks, and smashed down Vinca.

First I removed the dead rose-bush which did have one small off shoot way away from the original bush, which I transplanted to another location. Than I removed all the dead material from the crepe myrtle and pruned it up since this is the time of year to prune them. They only flower on new growth so hopefully the trimming will help produce more flowers this year.

The next major item was to move the rocks which I wanted to keep. In case you have not noticed I love rocks! Now it was time to add more soil and level it off. I never pulled up the Vinca but I did cover every last bit of it with soil. I will wet the area down and then lay contractor heavy-duty landscape fabric over the whole area before adding the stone mulch.

By the end of the day I had the dishes unloaded and put away, six loads of laundry done, the master bedroom put back together, and the front strip garden ready for the fabric.

I added a few yuccas around the back side of the crepe myrtle and a row of iris in front of the yucca but behind the statue. The rocks will be rearranged so that they look better after I lay the fabric. No need to move them more than necessity. I left lots of clear space between the house and the plants so that I can get to the siding in case the poison ivy tries to return,

Not bad for a days work but I still wasn’t done. I started working on the next section of the strip garden. It has a huge crepe myrtle tree that needed a lot of pruning. I was working on that when Bill came home. It didn’t take me long to go upstairs and get ready to go celebrate Valentine’s day by eating out.

 

Cleaning Bedroom Pillows

Yesterday I cleaned the mattresses and the pillows.  Pillows should be washed at least every three months and the outer cover should be washed at the least every three weeks.

We are not the prettiest people when we sleep – we sometimes droll in our sleep and sometimes we are too tired to wash our faces as well as we should and all of that grime gets grounded into the pillow as we sleep leaving behind dead skin, dirt, and body oils. Add the dust mites that love to hang out in tight little dark crevices and can really cause some very real health problems, namely unpleasant reactions in people who are allergic to the bugs.

Each pillow should be enclosed in a zipped pillow protector to help keep the pillow clean. Down filled pillows should be dry cleaned but all the rest should be able to be washed in the washing machine. Check the instructions that come with your pillow and follow the directions. Set your washer to the correct setting according to the label. I usually use the delicate cycle with warm water. Place two pillows into the washer to keep things balanced.

Use a small amount of low – sudsing laundry detergent (Woolite is excellent) and start the machine.  It is best to use an extra rinse to make sure all the soap is out of the pillows.

IF the instructions say to use a dryer add a few tennis balls to help prevent lumpy pillows otherwise lay the pillows on a flat surface for a few hours. On top of a working dryer helps speed up the dry time.

Replace the pillows at least every three years or whenever it does not spring back after being washed.

Don’t forget to clean the other pillows in the house as well.

Time to cleaned your mattress

When was the last time you cleaned your mattress? Your mattress is a big purchase but we all have a tendency to forget about the mattress once the delivery guys dump it on the bed.

Did you know that the mattress will last much longer if you simply rotate the mattress so that the head is now the foot of the bed every few months. This will help keep the valleys and sags caused by body weigh from appearing. Nor strong enough to move the mattress by yourself than change the way your sleep – switch sides with your sleeping partner or move your pillow to the foot of the bed and sleep with your feet towards the headboard.

Use a mattress pad and a waterproof covering to moisture, skin flakes, dust and body oils away from the mattress. Wash your mattress pad at least two or three times per year to keep it fresh.

Mattresses will last longer if you do not jump or stand on the bed and do not allow pets to sleep under them. In fact the area under the bed should not be used for storage at all. A bed skirt should be used to prevent dust, dirt, and per hair from getting under the bed. Wash the bed skirt at least once a year to remove accumulated dust and hair.

It is important to support the mattress so make it a habit to check the beds foundation regular. Broken or weak slats should be replaced.

Air out the mattress on a regular basic. On pretty days open a window as soon as you get up and pull the covers complete off the bed and leave them. Go eat breakfast and get ready for the day  – now before your leave the house close the window and make your bed. On laundry days leave the mattress air out for several hours.

At least twice a year and after any sickness deep clean your mattress.

1. Remove all the bedding from your mattress and toss it into the washing machine.
2. Vacuum the top of your mattress, the sides, and underneath the bed. Now lift the mattress  and vacuum between the mattress and the box springs.
3. Mix one cup of baking soda with a few drops of essential lavender oil in a bowl, then put the mixture in a bottle with a shaker top.
4. Shake the fragrance baking soda evenly over the entire mattress.
5. Leave the baking soda on the bed until your bedding is finished washing and drying.
6. Vacuum the baking soda off the mattress, and remake your bed with the clean bedding.

Clean all spills immediately.

To clean urine and sweat from a mattress you need to take all bedding off the bed first. Mix together one cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide, three tablespoons of baking soda and just a few drops of liquid dish washing soap. Stir until the baking soda dissolves. Once dissolved pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray the entire stained area, letting the solution soak into the mark. Air dry the area for at least an hour before vacuuming the area be sure it is dry first.

To remove blood strip the bed and spray the stained area with 3% hydrogen peroxide then blot with a clean towel. Repeat until the stain is gone. Let the mattress air dry before making the bed.

To clean a vomit stain remove all the bedding and toss it in the washing machine. Mix a 50/50 solution of water and white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the soiled area. Use a clean towel to blot and repeat until the spot is gone. Next sprinkle baking soda over the treated area. Wait at least an hour before vacuuming up the baking soda, Allow the mattress to air dry before replacing the bedding.

Take care of your mattress and it will help ensure you get a good sleep night after night.