Long Weekend

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me of late. Work has been quite busy (my fault really as I've been pushing myself to meet self-imposed deadlines) and my "housewife days" have been taken up with appointments and family time. All enjoyable, but it has left me feeling a bit rushed and in need of some slow down time. It's nice to know that the end of my working days is in sight, but I'm really pleased that this weekend is a long one due to Anzac Day on Monday and my usual Tuesday housewife day. I'm planning to take it easy over the next few days; I want to get out in the garden to make the most of this beautiful rain, and I'd like to get back into some craft activities as I feel I've been neglecting this lately. I realised today that I haven't made anything handcrafted for bub yet and there's only two months until he's here (if he sticks to schedule!) so I want to complete a project for him before he arrives. Other than that and a few necessary chores, I'm going to spend the next few days living slowly, breathing deeply and enjoying an un-busy state.

Rain, beautiful rain

There's nothing quite like the sound and smell of rain after days of heat! I can feel my spirit lifting as I listen to the patter of raindrops on our roof and the sound of distant thunder. I'm already reviving from my wilted state!

Hot days and new routines

My year has properly started now (yes I know it's February). I've started my part-time work at the school Library which has been good - very basic data entry which means it's easy on my brain and feet (great now that I've hit 3rd trimester) and my part-time load has meant that I've had my first official house-wife days. I don't care how un-PC it is - I'm loving it!

I'm still using my lucky-dip housework that I mentioned last time and it is working fairly well, particularly on the days where I am home as it gives me something to work through.

The only down-side I'm finding is hot days = no housework. I am such a wimp, but I totally wilt on days where the temperature is above 30 degrees. At the moment our house has 2 air-conditioning units in the bedrooms(which I turn on maybe 5 times a year) but no cooling mechanisms for the rest of the house. I'm hoping that we can get some better insulation with the government's rebate scheme, and this should help a lot I think. The green side of me really doesn't want to have air-conditioning for the house, but on hot days, my pathetic self-centered side says "screw the environment and bring on the ducted air-con throughout the house!" I think I'll manage to resist though... hopefully! At least there's not too much of Summer left this year.

Housework: Mary Poppins Style

Okay, so in writing this post I am revealing myself to be somewhat of a nerd. For the last few years I've been endeavouring to find a strategy for dealing with housework that works for me. Both my husband and I come from homes of hoarders and have resolved not to go down the same path. I was very inspired by Cynthia Ewer's ideas on www.organizedhome.com and have tried lots of different methods that she mentions including scheduling housework into my daily timetable. The propblem for me is I always end up doing the same tasks and leaving out others. I also get into a bit of a funk and just don't feel like doing any chores.
Recently however I've tried to make housework tasks more of a game. In the words of Mary Poppins:
"In every job that must be done
There is an element of fun
you find the fun and snap!
The job's a game"

So I sat down and wrote out all of the housework tasks that I want to get completed every week. I cut out each task and folded them up and put them all in a dish. Now whenever it is housework time I pull out a lucky-dip housework item and go and do that job. I have to finish all the items within a week, but it doesn't matter how many I get done on any particular day. For some reason this is really working for me and helping me to get my house to a reasonable level of clean. My husband thinks I'm very silly and nerdy, but hey, anything that can make housework more exciting is okay by me!

The benefit of this scheme is I think it will also work very well for family cleaning sessions as well as working for individual cleaning (but don't tell Hubby that yet!)

Happy New Year!

Well, the New Year is always a time for resolutions, so my resolution for this year is to resurrect this poor neglected blog and be a more faithful blogger.
I'm also resolving to comment more on the blogs that I read rather than just lurking in the background.
I think I should find this resolution a bit easier now, since this year involves a lot of change for me. I am no longer a full time worker, instead I will be working part time for a few weeks and then beginning maternity leave for my first baby! So I should have a lot of material to be writing about at any rate.

I also want 2010 to be a time of more gardening, more cooking from scratch, learning more crafting skills (I already have some projects on the go) and generally more simple-living skill building.