Tag Archives: housework

the challenges of a domestic goddess

9 Dec

Bloody steam mops ….. I’m sure I have whined about them  before, but I feel the need to vent again. steam mop

After these few  weeks of storms, steamy weather, Christmas festivities and packing preparations …keeping the floors in ‘old style shiny clean condition’ as any Domestic Goddess might, is a bit of a challenge. Despite the regular vacuum, sweep and mop … it feels like there is need for a more aggressive attack to clean away the remnants of the weekend so out comes the wizz bang, super beaut, fandangled steam mop… BUT it’s a DUD !!!!

Just when you need that extra quick sparkle you end up with puddles… the fear of electrocution ….as well as the odd steam burn.

Suffice to say it’s G_O_N_E … and a note to Santa to say don’t bother replacing it   !!! (please)

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stuff it ….

25 Oct

rearrange deckchairsHow is it, that we seem to accumulate so much STUFF ?

I almost feel embarrassed at the amount of useless junk that is tucked away in this house ‘just in case’ …. So today, while finding homes for a couple of lovely birthday gifts, I was thrown into that ‘moving deckchairs on the Titanic’ spin.

Now I’m pretty good at being ruthless, can easily discard stuff and clear those decks … but somehow the stuff just comes back. And the time has to be just right… today just wasn’t that day.

I opened cupboards and draws to discover stuff that I had completely forgotten…. and have probably forgotten again, 8 hours later…..stuff that I no longer like … stuff that I never did like…and stuff that no longer serves a purpose….so WHY do I need all this STUFF ?

Yeah, I know I’m beginning to sound like a hoarder … but no I’m actually far from that, I’m just an outa-sight-outa-mind stuff 2kinda girl, so once things are securely stashed… I’m likely to overlook them (unless they’re a daily essential). I love to be surrounded with a minimum of clutter, so the temptation to hide things if there’s a gap or a bit of cupboard space is very tempting.  I’ll find a way to fill it, stash it, or jam it in, in an effort to maintain the calm visual exterior.

BUT I feel a massive cupboard detox coming ~ just waiting on those planets to align and then …charity bin look out ….again !!

 

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fly swatting…

23 Oct

While engrossed in domestic chores today, I began to wonder about the seeming abundance of dead flies that needed sucking up the head of the vacuum cleaner. Now, it’s not as if I haven’t swept or sucked for months, in fact it’s only been a week…and yet today there were a small number of fly corpses lying on the carpet  in front of each of the loungeroom windows.  flies

I imagine that they made their sneaky entrance over the weekend when the spring weather was warm, and the doors were open to welcome it inside.

What I can’t fathom is why they were dead !!

Don’t get me wrong I was thrilled that they were …. BUT it looked as though they were headed for the windows in an effort to escape…but for some reason, they perished en route.It’s not as if I had pulled my usual trick of adding to the hole in the ozone layer by drowning the flighty creatures with insect spray ….so what killed them ?

I know stuff …. but I don’t know that !!

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round the S bend…

20 Oct

A little toilet tale with a twist …. I’m not complaining about lack of loo paper or failing pelvic floor muscles, nor am I commenting on the cost of inflation hitting the humble toilet roll …. or any other cubicle contemplation for that matter.loo cleaner 2No… tonight it’s all about cleaning…and where is YOUR  line in the sand ?

After a good squirt of sweet smelling, disinfectant that’s guaranteed to ‘give your bowl that extra sparkle’... I proceeded to  giving it a good scrub. BUT in my enthusiasm, I lost the lid of the cleaning gel in the loo.

Without a moment of hesitation, I dived my bare hand in to retrieve said lid, before it vanished around the S bend …where it would be guaranteed to cause harm to our enviro-cycle.

It was a completely selfless rescue, no second thoughts at all, but it did make me wonder who would shake my hand if they knew?

 

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flat out ….ironing

13 Oct

Tonight I’m feeling a little curious about my ironing technique…well not so much my ‘technique’ really …. more like my competence. You see for some reason I seem to be  very hard on electric irons ….but I’m pretty sure it’s not through over-use.

woman-ironing-in-kitchen2I noticed today that another one is about to bite the dust …. it’s not heating properly and not really steaming the way it should…and it makes me wonder if these days they are just like other electrical domestic tools ….with built in obsolescence?

Unlike a few of my friends, I DO still iron a few things, and while nothing compared to the ‘bad old days’ … it’s still my Sunday night ritual. So after spending almost an hour with my finger on the ‘power surge’ or ‘shot of steam’ button only to see the shirts looking like they have been slept in …. I figure I need to buy another one.

But here’s the thing ….what DO you do with old irons ? I figure it does still  work, just not well. So do I ditch it? donate it or deposit it along with the last 3 that are tucked up in the linen closet (in case of an ironing emergency) ?

So many questions …. so few answers…

 

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doing it old style….

24 Aug

God know what possessed me…but today I took to my knees with a scourer in one hand…gumption in the other and scrubbed the bathroom floor.

No fancy schmancy steam mop today …just good old fashioned elbow grease and sore knee-caps.

There I was head down & bum up, stuck beside the toilet bowl and it got me thinking…scrubbing 3. THIS was the way our Mums and our Mums’ Mums did it, back in the ‘olden days’  (maybe not the toilet bowl bit, ’cause that was usually out the back). But that was their life, often with hair in rollers and a hairnet, down on their knees scrubbing floors til they were clean enough to eat off….at LEAST once each week…. every week.

Well, we’ve come along way with all our mod-con products and gadgets,  BUT the question is …’is my bathroom actually any cleaner today, than if I had just used the steam mop’ ?…. well I’m not about to eat off it, but I reckon I might be.

That said…. the experiment is now over and I think  I’ll happily return to 21st century. I rest my case (and my scourer), and take my hat off to Mum and all those great scrubbers before her.

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there’s a goddess in the laundry…

23 Apr

Today I was playing domestic goddess ! Transported back to my childhood in the 60’s laundrywhen my Mum and Nan managed to fill their entire day with getting the laundry done.

As I have admitted here before …when it comes to laundry I am not a match on my forebears; in fact when it comes to most things domestic … I get by… but I am certainly no Martha Gardener.

Anyway today was a perfect autumnal day, I had a pile of washing AND a pressing assignment to write. Now as many of you have heard me say…there is no better motivation for housework than a looming essay. I managed to get several loads of washing done and hung… then shuffled and rehung…then folded and (no …not yet ironed) while contemplating whether or not to start writing.

Here I am writing to YOU while still thinking about where to start the essay. Good thing I work best under pressure, eh?

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another epic fail….

15 Mar

So you would think that after 34 years of domestic bliss, I might have mastered (or mistressed) the art of doing the laundry.washing

I know I have made confessions in the past regarding failure with keeping up the ironing, and button maintenance ….BUT this one involves the actual washing.

You know lifting the lid adding clothes and detergent then pushing a button.  How hard can it be ???

Well you see,  I have had one of those terrifying colour runs. A very special two tone panelled sweatshirt that was a much loved souvenir from the Guinness factory in Dublin. ..And you guessed it …It’s not mine (oops).

In finally getting life back in order after our spontaneous trip to New York City (did I happen to mention that I WON a trip to New York ??? oh yeah, I’m sure I did … just pinching myself)…. I did that last load of washing and …well, the rest is history.

I haven’t had the heart to tell ‘Mr 50 Something’ yet… but if he is keeping up with the blog, I guess he will know before long…. Sorry Darling  …(looks like we will be off to Ireland again in the near future).

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the lost art of ironing

16 Feb

When I think back to my childhood, I remember the laundry being a feature of Mum’s life, something she took great pride in. Getting things soaked, washed, hung out to dry, back in and ironed all in the one day was a marathon that she ran with ease…. often competing with my live-in Nan for the gold medal.laundry

So why is it that staying on top of the ironing is such a hurdle for me ?? …how DID I miss out on the ironing gene?

I go through fits and starts… but anyone who knows me well, knows that there will always be one (if not two) baskets of clothes tucked away in the laundry somewhere waiting on their turn to be pressed and returned to their spot in the wardrobe.

Not really a big deal, until … 5 minutes before  time to walk out the door ‘Mr 50 Something’ has his heart set on  wearing a particular shirt …and it’s nowhere to be found.Chaos ensues and stress levels rise, until ‘said shirt’ is discovered in last month’s ironing pile …then the trusty appliance is heated and creases vanished, by which time we are running late. ….again!

Where’s Mum when I need her ? …

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homemaker….or making home?

25 Jan

Now I’m no Martha Gardener, but I do my bit to keep the place in a reasonable state of liveability; and while it may not be cobwebssanitised, sterilised and anti-bacterialised… with every germ destroying product that’s meant to turn you into the perfect ‘homemaker’  … the place is safe and no-one has succumbed to anything terminal following a visit.

BUT that said … I do have to wonder, “where do all the cobwebs come from?” I mean …as I was vacuuming today I found so many cobwebs , some with spiders and some without ….all carefully constructed by ‘daddy longlegs’ who were lurking somewhere. … but where ???

Come to think of it …. what IS the purpose of the daddy long leg? Such a fragile harmless looking creature, with that tiny tiny body and all those gangly legs…what does it do all day? (other than setting up home on my cornices…, just to be sucked back down again at first sighting).

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