Riverbend Ramblings

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~Riverbend Ramblings~
The days are long, but the years are short.
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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Spring cleaning during spring break
Teachers and principals look forward to spring break just as much, if not more, than their students do. I've really been enjoying the much-needed time off. This week while the kids have been sleeping in, I've had time to work on some deep-cleaning projects around the house.

This month's Real Simple magazine had a how-to article about cleaning the refrigerator in 20 minutes.  That sounded easy enough for me to tackle, especially since I was about to go grocery shopping and had a fairly empty fridge.  That 20 minute job took me an hour.

Keeping the laundry room uncluttered is a big challenge for me.  It's so easy to just close the door and let the clean clothes pile up in there.  In the spirit of full disclosure, here's what my laundry room has looked like lately.

I took everything out of the room (except the washer and dryer) and gave the room a deep cleaning.  I had purchased one of those special dryer vent brushes a while back and finally used it.  Here's what the laundry room looks like now after an entire afternoon of cleaning.
The kids each have a basket on the counter labeled with their name on it.  They are supposed to check it each night and put their clothes away, but they have a habit of grabbing one or two items and leaving the rest.  Now if I can just make sure that everything else is folded and put away before starting another load!

I have one more project that I would like to work on this week that involves the patio. Since we've had several inches of much-needed rain over the last few days, I haven't been able to get started on it yet. I might just have to go shopping instead, since that's an indoor activity. :)

Are you tackling any spring cleaning projects this week?

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Written at Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by Paula.
3 comments
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Spring Cleaning~ The Front Porch
I have finally finished all of my spring cleaning projects! My final area that needed sprucing up was the front porch. After brushing the cobwebs and pollen from the ceiling and walls, the rocking chairs got a good wiping down. They are actually all in need of a new coat of paint, but that project can wait a while. :)
I hung out a new decorative flag that I found last fall for 75% off. I like the cute little buttons on the center of the flowers.

Our front porch is now ready to welcome guests to our home. Although completing all of my spring cleaning chores took me a lot longer than I originally anticipated, I'm so glad that I persevered! How are you coming with your spring cleaning list?

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Written at Thursday, May 10, 2007 by Paula.
7 comments
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Spring Cleaning~ The Back Porch

During the winter months our back porch became a dumping ground for things that needed to be stored somewhere or donated. The kids' toys tend to migrate on the porch, too. There are umpteen pairs of shoes right next to the back door. We usually enter our home through the back door, so I've had to constantly look at the mess--not a pretty site!



Since it seems that warmer weather is here to stay, I decided this big spring cleaning project would be great for Tackle It Tuesday. I started out by removing ev-er-y-thing from the porch. Our backyard quickly took on the look of a junkyard. Toys and furniture were sprawled everywhere. Next, I got out the leaf blower and blew all of the debris and pollen off the porch. The walls even got a good scrubbing with some hot, soapy water.



I vacuumed the chair cushions and washed down the table and chairs. No more green pollen!! All of the outside shoes were placed on a little storage rack hidden in the corner. Now visitors don't have to trip over our shoes when they enter the screen door. We sorted through the toys, threw away all the junk, and put everything back in its proper place.



Now we can enjoy our back porch again! The seating area overlooks the garden and Koi pond. I love having my early morning quiet time out here. It's so peaceful to sit and listen to the gurgling sounds of the little waterfall in the pond. Sometimes the kids do their school work here, too.

Whew! It feels so good to have this area tidy once again! I think I'll be able to finish up my spring cleaning tomorrow. Are you tackling any projects around your home today?

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Written at Tuesday, May 08, 2007 by Paula.
14 comments
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Spring Cleaning: Day 2
The next room on my spring cleaning list is the dining room, one of the most-used rooms in our home. If we eat at home all week, 126 meals are served in our dining room. One hundred twenty-six!! It's no wonder that this room requires a lot of attention!

I starting working on the dining room a couple of days ago, but I wasn't able to finish everything because we had to travel out of town for my husband to preach at a meeting. Today I finally got the antler chandelier and the windows cleaned, so I can check this room off of my list.

Dining Room Tasks Completed:
vacuum the crown molding
vacuum window treatments (I washed them recently.)
clean blinds
wash walls and baseboards
clean chandelier
dust artwork
wash windows (inside & out)
move baker's rack and wipe it down
declutter baskets on baker's rack (crayons, paper, etc. are stored here)
vacuum seat cushions
polish table and chairs

Here's what the dining room looks like now:

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Written at Thursday, April 05, 2007 by Paula.
13 comments
Friday, March 30, 2007
Spring Cleaning: Day 1 follow-up
It felt so good to complete all of the tasks on my cleaning to-do list yesterday! Most of the laundry room chores were ones that I complete on a monthly basis, so it didn't take too long for me to finish that room.
The family room was a different story. We spend a lot of time in our family room, and it can easily become a clutter-magnet. Last night Mr. C had an appointment, so I was able to really focus and accomplish a lot in this room.

My first task was attacking all of the dust in the room, beginning with the ceiling fan. (Ewww!) I used a vacuum attachment instead of a feather duster because I don't like all the dusties floating down to the floor.

After the dusting and window-washing was done, I culled through the magazine rack. It had outdated newspapers, grocery store ads, and tons of magazines in it. I threw away all the old papers and any magazines that had been torn by curious little hands and decided to save the homeschooling magazines, Taste of Home, and Christian Womanhood magazines for future reference. I sorted them according to category and placed them in a plastic magazine storage container on one of the bookshelves. The most recent magazines and curriculum catalogs that I haven't had a chance to peruse will stay in the magazine rack on the fireplace hearth. Mr. C's newspaper is there, too.
Curly Girl helped me scoot the couch out of the way so that we could vacuum underneath it. Guess where all of her missing puzzle pieces were??? She did a great job sucking up the dust bunnies! We made a game of it, and she was so disappointed when the vacuuming was finished.

The other time-consuming project in this room was the entertainment center. We have built up a large kid-friendly video/DVD collection during our days as non-television watchers. Many of these have been given to us as gifts or purchased at yard sales, and we enjoy watching a movie together on Family Fun Night. However, the shelves do not stay organized for long, and I have to admit that I'm obsessive about grouping "like with like" (that's for you, Copper's Wife) even when it comes videos. I can't stand it when the Veggie Tales get mixed in with the Shirley Temple movies!

I removed everything from the surface and shelves, gave everything a thorough dusting, and then re-grouped the movies. We'll see how long it stays organized. :)
We really enjoyed sitting in a fresh, clean family room last night. Today I'm taking it easy, but I'll be working on the other rooms in our home next week. Spring is definitely here!

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Written at Friday, March 30, 2007 by Paula.
5 comments