Cleaning - December 4, 2012

Went away for Thanksgiving and came back sick with a cold that includes a cough and plugged ears.  Not the best way to start my unemployment.  So last week was a bust.

But, feeling better, I'm getting a ton done on my cleaning list.  After today, I have four items left on my 39 item cleaning list, and it's only Tuesday!

Big item today was cleaning the washing machine.  We live in a rental, but we have an in-unit washer/dryer.  Today I used one of the Pins I noticed a while back and cleaned the machine.  It's actually had a little dirt buildup on the internal agitator where the water would fill up to in a large load.  The pin said to fill the machine with hot water and add one quart of bleach, let it agitate for one minute, then sit for one hour, then run on the longest cycle.  Repeat with one quart of white vinegar.  When the vinegar is sitting in the machine though, take a scrubby sponge and clean any gunk you can see.  I scrubbed the dirt off the agitator, some crevices around the lid hinge, and around and inside the bleach cup dispenser.

Then, since I was on a roll, I took a vacuum to the dryer.  All the dryer lint that got missed by the lint trap got vacuumed up.

Oh, and two days ago, I got the BF to change the vacuum bag so that machine is working like a champ now.

Off to do more cleaning!

Thanksgiving - November 22, 2012

My camera in the hands of a 3 year old.  These are some of the artistic photos she took.

And the one I took.

I think hers were better.  They really captured the essence of the day.

Dry Erase Board - November 21, 2012

My mom has an ugly dry erase board in her front hallway.  She uses it to inform the parents of the children she watches of any important dates, such as her vacation days.  It's ugly.  It's white and boring and just sits on the bookshelf in the entryway leaning against the wall.  I found I had an extra large picture frame and decided to make her a new "white" board.

I just took a scrap of thin cardboard and some scrapbooking paper, added some letter stickers for a title, and put the frame back together.  I'm going to add a strip of velcro to the frame to attach the dry erase marker.  Also considering attaching a clothespin so my mom and the parents can pass notes (or checks) back and forth without anything getting lost or misplaced.


One Christmas present for mom, done.

Organizing - November 20, 2012

Knowing I have all this time on my hands, I'm finding that I'm more excited about cleaning than about crafting during this first week.  The cabinet under the bathroom sink has been bothering me for quite a while now.

Cleaning supplies are a disorganized mess on the right.  Extra shampoo and soap, etc, are a disorganized mess on the left.  And I don't know what I have or what I need.

So I pulled all the bins out and organized them in the living room while watching TV.  I don't need to buy shampoo, Windex, Swiffer dusters, or deodorant any time soon.  But I do need to pick up some Ibuprofen.

I don't know if it looks it in this picture, but this is after organization.  It feels good to know what I have and what I need and what I should buy during my next trip to the store.

Salad Prep - November 19, 2012

I saw this salad prep idea on Pinterest.  The pin was actually about making salads in mason jars.  I have mason jars on my Christmas list, but for now, the ugly tupperware will have to work.  I had bought some lettuce and spinach that isn't in a bag because I heard the bagged stuff should not be eaten.  Don't know which of my organic/paleo/freakshow of a friend told me, and I'm not sure I believe it, but I did it this time.  I grabbed a turkey breast from my parents from our early thanksgiving this weekend.  I sliced off some pieces for the BF's lunch and kept some for my salads.

I opened a can of chickpeas and shredded most of a giant carrot.

 I added some turkey, ripped the spinach and lettuce, and added it to the bowls; making four salads at once.

Then, when it's time to eat, you just flip the entire dish upside down into a bowl so the lettuce is on the bottom.

Add a little dressing and eat.

Looked at the original Pin again, and I'm looking forward to including cherry tomatoes and some pasta into the salads next time.

November 17, 2012

Daily Calendar - November 16, 2012

It was my last day of work.  The girls took me out to lunch, then I went home.  Since it was only a half day, I didn't get to work on too much of my list.  But on Monday, it's going to look something like this.

daily unemployment schedule
wake, shower, dress
make coffee, breakfast, lunch for BF
coffee and breakfast while blogging
laundry/dishes
five or more cleaning items
exercise
lunch
send out resume
plan/start/shop for dinner
crafting/scrapbooking/christmas prep

Of course, it's up for changes, but I've been working on this over weeks.  I won't be tempted to turn on the TV for distraction since daytime television sucks, but the computer is always going to be a problem.  Especially with many of my items including the computer.  Besides, there's also this...

other unemployment activities
mail birthday/anniversary/holiday cards
plan meals and make grocery list
save all photos to exterior hard drive
convert VHS tapes to digital
select items to go to storage unit
freecycle or thrift extra junk

I am so excited for Monday!  I think unemployment is really going to agree with me.

November 11, 2012

November 10, 2012

It's my birthday!

I crafted in the morning, finishing up some ornaments I started months ago.  Then my wonderful boyfriend took me out to dinner.  Yum!

Cleaning Calendar - November 3, 2012

It's the end of my first week of cleaning.  While I didn't get all 39 items on my list cleaned, I'm pretty impressed with what I did accomplish. 

Some things are so quick and easy to do (emptying the trash in four rooms are four different items) that I did far more than the required 5 per day.  Other days I came home lazy and did nothing at all.

But tomorrow starts a new list and maybe I'll get a different combination of items done.

October 30, 2012

Cleaning Calendar - October 28, 2012

I really hate cleaning.  And I'm bad at it.  Though I dislike greatly living in squallor, so I do it occasionally.  But unless we have people coming over for a visit, it doesn't get clean or stay clean for very long.  So I created a cleaning list.  Every flat surface is its own line item, and even the bathroom toilet and the kitchen sink are on their own lines.  We have a small apartment so I managed to come up with a list of 39 items.  Divided by seven days a week, I decided I need to clean at least five items per day.

Day One of the cleaning week is a Sunday, so I should be able to get a few extras done.  In fact, today I got so excited about my list, that I got 12 items done during commercials and in between football games.  The first week is going to be the hardest though, as I'm starting from scratch with every surface piled high with junk.

I just really like lists.  And I like crossing things off of lists.  So this could be an interesting experiment.

October 27, 2012

October 25, 2012

Snake Wreath - October 4, 2012

Since I've decided to be a wreath person, I decided to make a Halloween Wreath.  I found the idea on Pinterest.  Bought a vine wreath at the fabric store and plastic snakes online.  All you need is some hot glue and you're done.

The glue didn't react well with the plastic snakes.  I'd maybe sand the bellies of the snakes if I made this one again.  Since some of the snakes were coming loose, I wrapped some thin black string around the wreath to hold the snakes on if the glue fails.  Kinda a nice effect, to be honest.  A little spiderweb-ish.

Enjoy!

October 3, 2012

October 2, 2012

October 1, 2012

Organizing - September 30, 2012

I woke up this morning and got discouraged by my boyfriend's desk.  He has a toppling pile of papers, receipts, and mail that has always disturbed me.  So I sat down to organize it.  Basically, I just put everything into a manilla folder; unfolded packing slips and receipts, opened junk mail and recycled what I could, and basically made a toppling pile into a manageable folder.

While I was sitting there, the idea (memory of something I read?) of a 15-minute cleaning plan struck me.  So, after my boyfriend woke up and had his first cup of coffee, I decided to inform him of the plan and set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes.  The goal was quantity rather than quality; do whatever will make the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time.

So he started on the bar, putting the bottles of alcohol away and closing the doors.  I started by making the bed and picking up the extra decorative pillows off the floor.  He continued on in the kitchen, putting away tupperware and filling up the dishwasher.  And I continued walking from room to room.

Again, the goal was quantity, so I put away the biggest items; shoes into the closets, dumping entire shelves into the junk drawers, and avoiding the laundry basket of clean clothes on the living room floor.  I'd pick something up and put it in its home if it has a home.  If it didn't have a home, I put it in the room it belonged in (we live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, so this doesn't require much walking).  We have some items that need to go into the car to head to the storage unit, but even just taking them to the car would have taken up our entire 15 minutes, so that had to wait.

Anyway, after the alarm went off, we stopped cleaning and each grabbed our second cup of coffee.  I started folding that laundry basket of clean clothes.  And we'll be heading to the storage unit later today.  The apartment is not clean, by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel much better about it and what we got done in such a short time.  We'll have to try that again later this week.

HQYJ - Resigning - September 20, 2012

I got the guts to write a resignation letter giving two weeks notice.  My boss asked if I had any plans.  When I told her I didn't, she asked if I'd give her two months rather than two weeks.  So I changed my resignation letter saying that the Friday before Thanksgiving would be my last day, but if I found a job I needed to accept in the meantime, I'd give her two weeks notice.  So, as far as I'm concerned, I'll be making free money.  I won't accept poor behavior from my boss (any yelling finds me feeling poorly and needing to go home sick).  And it doesn't make any sense to have me learn new things, so my other co-workers will have to train the new person to do extra projects.

Having an end date in sight, even though it's farther away than I had hoped, is helping me mentally and I'm much happier.

September 14, 2012

HQYJ - Stop Spending - September 13, 2012

How to Quit Your Job

While I'm not necessarily a pedicure person, I enjoy one occasionally.  I last got one back in late June just before my cousin's wedding.  Every time I looked at my feet recently, I was reminded that I could really use another one.  But, when deciding earlier this week that I really need to quit my job, I've denied myself that luxury.  It's a want, not a need.  I can give myself a home pedi just as good, if not just as relaxing.

My hemming and hawing about whether or not I need a haircut will have to stop as well.  I'm not getting a haircut anytime soon, especially not a $55 one.

And regardless of where I am or am not working, after this week, I'm done eating out at lunch time.  We were good about bringing our lunches to work for a while there.  A couple days forgetting to get particular groceries, and we completely stopped.

And the last thing I'm not spending any money on anymore are craft supplies.  If there's something I don't have, I either need to find it for free from another crafty friend, or I have to put it on a 'later list' and get to working on a different craft.  Once I have my unemployment finances under control, I may be able to make some 'want' purchases, but for now I just need to stop spending.

HQYJ - Clean Up - September 12, 2012

How to Quit Your Job

In preparation for quitting my job, I've started cleaning up at work.

I've deleted tons of old documents from my computer; not to be mean, just get rid of old info.  That folder I titled "Temporarily Important" has two documents in it.  I don't want to delete anything that my current co-workers or the next person in my position might need, but I can certainly get rid of all the extraneous nonsense.  I'm even deleting old emails.  I've never archived anything (I don't even know if our server does that), but I'm only holding on to a couple months of sent or deleted emails and my inbox only includes items on my To Do list.

I've also emptied my desk of all the personal junk.  Loose change is gone, the emergency chocolates in the drawer, the personal papers including my last signed vacation request form and paycheck stub, hand lotion and lip gloss.  I even took home the pair of emergency shoes I keep under my desk in case I ever accidently wear inappropriate shoes to work.  I emptied the kitchen area of all of my lunchtime tupperware and travel coffee mugs.  And I've brought home or plan on eating my emergency Cup O' Soup and Lean Cuisine.  At this point I could walk out of the office with only my purse over my shoulder and not have to come back for anything I've forgotten.

I've been filing like a mad woman.  My 'must file' bin is down to nothing.  My 'should file' stack is down to just a few.  And my inbox only contains papers that I've received in the last two days.  The binders I use on a daily basis are color-coded and properly labeled.  When I'm gone, I want them to miss me for the things I don't do anymore, not for the things I didn't do while I was there.

The more prep work I do to get out of there, the more I just want to hand in my two-week notice.

HQYJ - Direct Withdrawals - September 11, 2012

How to Quit Your Job

Cancel all your direct withdrawals.

Since at some point I'm going to have to start taking money out of my savings account and putting it into my checking account, I had to cancel my direct savings.  I had been auto saving 10% of my paycheck every payday.  I cancelled that.

I also cancelled both of my auto donations.  Until yesterday I had been giving $15 a month to both a democratic fundraising organization and the Human Rights Campaign.  I may be able to give one-time donations at some point in the future, but I need to get my finances completely under my control before I lose my income.

Figure out how much you need to have in your checking account.

If your two biggest monthly bills were to get deducted from your account on the same day, how much money would you need in your account to take care of it?  Make sure that is the minimum in your account at all times.  It's better to not earn the four cents that money would have earned in a savings account than to be stuck with a $20 overdraft fee.

How to Quit Your Job - September 10, 2012

I've worked my job as an Administrative Assistant for just over 5 years now.  In the past year it's gotten bad.  In the past 6 months I've noticed that everyone around me is miserable.  In the past 3 months I've contemplated quitting or arranging to get fired.  Today we struck a new low. 

I need to quit my job.

I have nearly a year's worth of income in a savings account.  I could live unemployed for at least a year without changing my lifestyle at all.  And if I change my lifestyle slightly (clipping coupons, eating out less), I might still have a savings account even after a year of unemployment.

I also have fond memories of Temp Jobs.  I'm outgoing and friendly, I have excellent phone skills, my data entry is nearly error-free.  If I could work a couple days a week; three days doing data-entry here, four days answering phones there; I wouldn't even have to dip into my savings.

In order to wrap my head around the idea of quitting my job, I've decided to start a series analyzing the situation.  I guess the first step is just deciding that it needs to be done.  And it does.  Does it ever.

September 9, 2012

Balloon Wreath - September 8, 2012

I've decided to become a wreath person; have different wreath for every holiday.  To finish off the summer, I decided to start with a colorful balloon wreath.  All you need is a styrofoam wreath, balloons, and some little stick pins.  The Pin I got this from didn't say how many balloons you need (she said she had 5 bags; of 5?  of 50?), so I bought a gross.  And discovered that 144 balloons only got me this far.

What you do is fold the balloons in half, push the pin through the folded end, and push it into the stryofoam.  I actually tied the hanger ribbon on first so I could push the pins into it as well.

Once I got the second bag of balloons, I was able to both finish the wreath, and add some extra into some of the empty spaces I found.  This helped complete the wreath also because some of the colors were slightly different from one bag to the other.

Hung the wreath on my door and am getting compliments on it.  My boyfriend finds it ridiculous, but I love it.

Once September is over and I put up the Halloween wreath I'm now working on, I'll have to save this one for either a birthday wreath or a summer wreath for next May or June.  Happy Crafting, everyone!

Puzzle Piece Snowflakes - September 7, 2012

Another ornament Pin I found!  First you need a puzzle.  I got this 2000 piece one from a friend whose dog ate a couple of pieces before she could put it together.

I pulled out several pieces that are shaped like that, and glued them together in this formation.

Then I painted them white.  Lots of layers of paint.  I lighter puzzle would be easier.  This blue backing is tough to cover.  But be patient and paint one side, let it dry, then give it another coat, getting other missing parts in the process.  Until it looks like this.

Then just tie on a white or green or red or silver ribbon and hang it on your Christmas Tree!!!

Ribbon/Bead Christmas Trees - September 3, 2012

This was an ornament that on Pinterest the link led to nowhere.  So I needed to figure out the secret.  After some trial and error, I found it. 

Measure and mark on the ribbon!  The first two dots are an inch apart, then the next two are an inch and a half, the next two are two inches apart, the last two are two and a half inches apart, then cut the ribbon a little after that last dot. 

Then start stringing.  I used some extra beads as spacers so I had enough room on the string to use as a hanger.  I'll take them off later.

Finish off the ribbon, then take the string back up through the tree.  And after a couple knots, you have a finished product.

I've been enjoying the different color combinations.  Have fun!

Candling - August 30, 2012

I once went on Freecycle to request candles.  I'll take melted down candle nubs, container candles that are melted down to the point that you can no longer light them, or maybe some new candles that just don't fit your color palette anymore.  I therefore inherited a grocery bag of taper candles in a dozen different colors that I'm looking forward to melting down into new candles.

I broke the candles into pieces and put them into my aluminum pitcher.

I put the pitcher in a water bath on the stove for melting.

Once the wax melts, use chopsticks or a fork to remove all those wicks.  Then I've been pouring them into any glass containers I have, mostly things like jelly and pickle jars that I know will be able to stand up to the heat of the burning candle.  I also bought these cool wick holders that help keep the wicks centered in the jars.

The biggest trick I've learned when making these candles is to fill the jars with short layers of wax and let it cool before adding the next layer.  Otherwise the exterior wax cools more quickly and the interior wax condenses and creates a crater in the middle of the candle.  Besides, this way you can make cool striped candles!

I have lots more colors of candles I need to get to.  I just need to save more jars!!!

Melted Beads - August 29, 2012

Bought some cheap plastic beads one day because I saw on Pinterest an ornament idea utilizing melted beads.  I wanted cool shapes, so I filled some heart-shaped cookie cutters I have.

Pinterest says to be sure to place the beads in single layer.  Then put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  I was very concerned about the smell of melting plastic permeating the entire apartment, so I took the toaster oven out to the back deck.

I cranked up the heat and set the timer to 15 minutes which is the longest my toaster oven will cook while keeping a timer.

Melted loveliness.  Once they're cool, they fall right out of the cookie cutters.  On to more colors!

The I drilled holes to string the ribbon, tied on the ribbon, and we're done.

I kinda like the imperfections in the shape.  And I'm now on the lookout for other shapes of cookie cutters to make even more melted bead ornaments.