Archive for the ‘cleaning’ Category

Summing it Up

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Account of my life at the moment:

Dancing and singing to I Need a Hero; I need a hero, hum hum, I’m holding out for a hero til the end of the night…

Giggling myself to sleep at 11 p.m. then waking up at the ludicrous hour of 5 am. Life is hard, but it gets better when you have a cinnamon roll for breakfast.

Agonizing over clothing choices at Nordstroms… er, did I really want that one, maybe I would have been happier with that one!

Being the referee for the little boys during their clamorous, brawling arguements and lego wars.

Cleaning of dish after dish that keep on appearing in the sink. I feel I’m trying to do one of Hercule’s tasks.

Nursing whacked fingers and hurt feelings.

Closing all the windows around the house several hours after the air conditioner has already been running.

Alternating between reading Persuasion and watching the movie.

Puzzling out how to multiply a three digit number by another three digit number with one little boy, then figuring out how to do fraction problems with another.

There are many more little things to list. If I had my camera I would post pictures, since a picture is worth a thousand words, but somebody took it with them on a trip without any regard as to how that would affect me, so, here I am writing up a photoless post.

Anna

Posted in Family, cleaning, cooking | 4 Comments »

Today’s Report

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Deary Mommy and children,

Life is going great without you (please don’t take that as a hint to stay away forever, though), the children are genuinely happy after the facts of school, chores, and discipline have been swallowed by all parties involved.

I shook the children out of their beds this morning and fed them their rationed bowl of gruel (granola) with a spoonful of castor oil to dampen their appetites afterwards and set them to work reading good, wholesome books to educate their little minds. A general appetite was felt around noon so I produced the cold remains of leftover stew, and, of course, that, I knew, was not enough to keep them working unflaggingly until supper in the evening, so I tided them over with some hard crusts of bread (lemon baby bundt cakes).

Many chores were accomplished this afternoon; the sorting through, and disposing of many unwholesome videos that can only have a degenerative effect upon the young minds of the children, and the replacement of the hot water heater which I suppose was necessary. I do not see the benefit in giving the children hot baths, but the procurement of hot water for the washing of dishes is only sanitary.

Well, after a most nutritious dinner of plain noodles (with a little homemade marinara sauce spooned atop) and water, the children were ready for their evening exercises of jumping jacks, and then to bed! But, before I turned out the light, one of the children asked me the queerest question. He wanted to know which of these three things I would choose if I had the choice;

1. Great riches
2. Handsome man
3. Wisdom

I did not know how to answer the little rapscallion, but rather gave him a sound smack and made him lie down in his bed.

I do hope that tomorrow commences as well as today did.

Anna

Posted in Family, cleaning, cooking | 3 Comments »

Mysterious Bites

Thursday, August 9th, 2007

In the summertime, as a little girl, I remember playing wildly and hard in the relentless sun with my older brothers and sisters. Donning our ragged camouflage, we would paint our faces black and green before plunging into the jungle surrounding our property, engaged in vicious guerrilla warfare with one another. I would scramble down slopes and throw myself into the bushes, hiding as the other kids passed by, then reappearing, zoom! I was on the run again. There weren’t too many casualties, as a rule, because it was hard to get a clear line of sight on the enemy, especially when it was sneaky brothers. It was easier, however, with whimpering little sisters. ;)

Those days, long ago and far away, are now gone. I am more snake-wise, or wise to snakes, these days and tick-wise as well. Moreover, I learned to identify leaves of three, and left them be, but, for the most part, they seemed to be harrassing me! Heaven knows I tried my best to stay many feet away from them.

The redness and puffiness was the worst part; I would steel my mind not to scratch my poor legs, or arms. The awfulness was heightened, though, when it was my face, and I would make sure a couple of hours before church to hold an ice-soaked washcloth to my “battlescars” in a vague hope that it would make them disappear, and then maybe people wouldn’t ask so many questions. They did anyway.

Why am I telling you all this? To lessen the irritation my leg is suffering right now. The itchiness of several insect bites brought to remembrance those similar “agonies”. Again, I plug my ears against those tiny, pleading voices that are crying out from my leg, and resolutley apply more washclothes.

I know for a fact that it isn’t poison oak, for, unless I have been sleepwalking, my feet have not trod the ground where it is to be found. Besides which, these are definitely bites adorning my fair skin. Wracking my brain, I am trying determine where these came from. Brown recluse? Nah. Black widow? Eh. Ant bites? Hmmm. I do recall walking in close proximity to a few ant hills. Nonetheless, today all my sheets are in the laundry, and I am intent on vacuuming every square inch of my room. No chances taken. No harm done.

Oh, and while this spider is scary looking, he really is a friendly fellow, and I know that it was not he who bit me, because he had made his abode on the outside of our window.
spider.jpg

Anna, formerly Gracie

Posted in Adventure, Family, Weird, cleaning | 1 Comment »

Up With the Sunshine

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

What a fine day for working. The sun is up, the sky is clear, the moods are mostly jovial.

The trick to getting work done, is to stay happy, work diligently and just do it. Things are “harder” when you sit and contemplate them for a long time. I’ve found that if I just put my mind to a task nothing is too difficult to accomplish, that can even apply to math! ;)

Gracie

Posted in Family, cleaning | No Comments »

Easter Days

Saturday, April 15th, 2006

Though I enjoy the process of getting dressed up in my period clothing, I don’t really like doing those mundane household tasks in my corset, petticoats and period dress with my voluminous skirts. To top it off, my dress is a dressier design, with pagoda sleeves and white undersleeves. I don’t want to risk getting it spotted or ripped. Needless to say, I looked rather ridiculous with both my sleeves rolled up and a green apron on over my dress washing breakfast dishes. I also take about ten minutes to get undressed, and then I have enough clothing to start an entire laundry load.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I cannot believe that it has been a year since last Easter, but it has. Where has the time gone? I am a little afraid that I am becoming more conscientious of how quickly the time goes. Every Sunday it doesn’t seem that it was actually a week ago since I was at church. The weeks keep on passing me by, but there is no way for me to stop the time. I just have to make the best of the hours that I have.

I was unable to sing very well last Thursday night. I had already been talking for a few hours in Coloma to a few hundred school children. I was demonstrating, *ahem*, I was talking while my friend Kally was demonstrating ropemaking for the various groups of children that gathered around us. I am happy to say that it wasn’t too hard doing it, and that I shall do it more in future days.

Well, Happy Easter everyone!! Let us praise the Risen Lord!

Coram Deo! Gracie

Posted in Christian, Family, cleaning | 2 Comments »

Freezers and Taxes

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006

My freezer is beautiful looking. So clean. So pristine. So ice free. So empty. In fact, I like it empty. Some people may not, but I don’t think they appreciate the pretty picture that a junk free fridge or freezer makes. No messy spots, no icky looking bags or containers. Just well placed condiment jars and vegetables. The string cheese is in one place in the drawer.

I think another thing that my readers ought to appreciate is this post from Bryce. When governments take hard-earned money away from orphans and widows God calls it something—evil.

Coram Deo! Gracie

Posted in Christian, Eating, cleaning | 6 Comments »