Where's the utility in utility room?

Have you ever noticed how a mess you see every day can become invisible? I walk through my utility room 472 times a day and fail to notice what a disaster the lone shelf is. My utility room is tiny and has almost no storage space, so the one cabinet is loaded with "stuff" just waiting to be purged. So here goes:

• 2 bottles of Tide Mountain Spring detergent. One 50-ounce (almost empty), one 75- ounce (brand new).


• a 77-ounce bottle of Downy Mountain Spring and a 34-0unce Downy refill carton.


• an empty bottle of Scott's Liquid Gold


• a bottle of Old English Furniture Polish (moisturizes and protects)


• 2 boxes of Swiffer Wet Jet pads


• 2 dog brushes


• 5 peat pots


• 1 package of zinnia seeds


• a flashlight


• a hammer


• a screwdriver (not the one with orange juice and vodka)


• a pink dog leash


• 5 pair gardening gloves


• 4 static dusters


• 2 socks without mates


• a mitten without mate


• a rain gauge


• a half consumed rawhide dog chew


• a partial package of lime basil seeds


• a phillips-head screwdriver


• a tape measure


• a roll of electrical tape


• a rubber brush that is suppose to remove pet hair from upholstery (but doesn't)


• a ziplock bag of clothespins


• a gift bag from the Cleveland Botanical Gardens containing 12 sample size containers of various laundry products


• a box of Swiffer dusters


• a 1.40 gallon container of 409 cleaner


• a K-Mart plastic bag containing every mouse catching apperatus known to man (funny story: there was once a mouse in my house and out of desperation and fear I went to K-Mart at 3:00 in the morning to find something that would "take care of it.'" I ended up spending a small fortune on everything available on the rodent aisle. Mouse met its demise by trying to walk across a glue trap. My apologies to PETA, but I cannot abide a mouse in the house.)


• a 12-inch plastic tray for under a potted plant


• a box of Swiffer Sweeper refills


• 2 unopened rolls of paper towels


• a steam iron - still in the box


• a stack of old towels (7) to be used for rags


• a one gallon jug of Windex


• a 128-ounce jug of Bissell carpet cleaning solution

Whoa, this project turned out to be more of a relocation than a purge.

• laundry products stay - I vow to use the sample products next so as to get rid of them.


• empty Liquid Gold container - TRASH


• furniture polish - under kitchen sink with other cleaning products


• all Swiffer products stay


• dog brushes and leash put away with other dog "stuff"


• all gardening paraphernalia moved to potting shed


• flashlight stays - I actually use it quite often when I'm grilling in the dark


• all tools and electrical tape put in tool box


• 3 of 4 static dusters stay - the 4th TRASHED


• I reunited socks and mitten with mates (they were happy)


• half eaten rawhide dog chew - TRASH


• false promises upholstery cleaning brush with cleaning supplies


• clothes pins stay


• all large jugs of cleaning products relocated to cabinet under sink in guest bathroom


• with the exception of one glue trap and one spring trap (in case of future emergencies and to save me another 3 a.m. trip to K-Mart) all mouse hunting supplies going to lake house where the likelihood of need is much greater


• plastic plant tray employed - I've been looking for that


• paper towels moved to pantry


• Iron moved to linen closet where I keep ironing board and other iron - who knows when I might need a replacement?


• towels/rags get to stay until my dogs learn to wipe their feet before they come into the house

So...I only threw away three things, but the cabinet is clean. Perhaps it will no longer be invisible to me.

Sock-It-To-Me 1-30-09

The next logical step on my house-purging expedition, following the cleaning out of the workout clothes drawers, would be my athletic sock drawer.

(Apologies to those of you who want to click on the red X in the upper right hand corner about now.)

Once I embarked on my 1/2-marathon training insanity, I discovered I needed special socks. All of my original athletic socks were 100% cotton. My running socks, however, are some heinous man-made blend that allegedly helps me avoid blisters. So now I have twice as many athletic socks as any sane person should ever admit to owning.

100% cotton low-cut socks - 24 pair plus one stray
100% cotton crew-socks - 8 pair
poly-something blend running socks - 13 pair

This was not really a difficult purge. I tossed:

8.5 pair of cotton low-cut socks
5 pair of cotton crew-socks
I kept all of the running socks - whatever they are made of doesn't seem to wear out

So, thank you for tolerating a sock blog. Hold on to your hats... tomorrow I may clean out the Tupperware Cabinet!

Olympic Hopeful 1-29-09

I certainly don't want to give anyone the wrong idea - I am NOT an athlete by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do possess an inordinate amount of workout clothes. Several dresser drawers bulging with gym clothes attest to my experimental philosophy when it comes to exercise. I have joined/quit almost every gym in my town. I have tried running (once I even attempted to train for a half marathon until my knees protested), I've tried Jazzercise, I've tried Tai Chi, even a stint at the YWCA pool for deep water running (explains ski belts from 1/20/09 blog). I've worked out with Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons and Billy Blanks. I've done crunches, step aerobics, and Pilates, and I have the clothes to prove it. This is what I pulled out of three drawers today:

• 9 sports bras
• 5 pair running shorts
• 2 pair of those tight knit shorts you wear under shorts (never knew what they are called)
• 6 pair Capri-length exercise pants
• 2 pair full- length exercise pants
• 1 pair leggings
• 2 pair sweat pants
• 1 sweat shirt
• 3 tank tops
• 3 short sleeve tops (that match 3 pair of the Capri pants)
• 2 short sleeve moisture wicking tees
• 4 long sleeve moisture wicking tees
• 3 pair yoga pants
• 8 bandannas

I bet people train for the Olympics with less athletic gear than this! So, what got tossed?

• 4 bandannas
• 1 pair Capri pants
• 2 sports bras (faulty elastic)
• 1 pair sweat pants
• 1 sweat shirt
• 2 tank tops
• 2 pair running shorts

I realize this is not much of a purge, but I haven't entirely given up my Olympic dreams. I wonder what one wears to train for that ribbon swooshing event?

Hurricane (Katrina) 1-28-09

Now that the top of my refrigerator is clean (see blog dated 1/26/09) I discovered cabinets I forgot were over the top of the fridge. So, house cleaning/purging opportunity for today: clean out forgotten cabinets.



Before I go any further with this entry perhaps I should give a disclaimer for this or any subsequent, or past, Wednesday entries. Wednesday is the day of my weekly family dinner at the home of Big Red, my almost (1 month from today) 102 year old grandmother. We call our weekly dinner Wednesday Winers, because we mostly drink wine, eating dinner is secondary. Just thought you should know.



So, the cabinet over the fridge has been hidden from view for God only knows how long. I opened the doors and discovered:

• A Tab glass - remember those? Hour glass shaped with TaB written in yellow lettering? I am SO keeping that!


• A University of Utah beer mug. The only person in my family to ever attend U of U is daughter #1. She attended one summer for debate camp when she was all of 15 or 16 years old - hmmmm? Better check with her before getting rid of the mug.


• An airpot thermos. I will probably keep, in spite of previous bad experience with an air pot thermos at a Texas Tech University homecoming football game in the late 70's. Who knows when I might need this and I certainly have an out-of-the-way storage place now.


• 4 wicker baskets that went with chili bowls I no longer own. Trash!


• 3 tumblers and 3 on-the-rocks glasses in a teal blue speckle pattern with chicken motif from the 80's when country was all the rage. Why, oh, why did I save these? Why, oh, why did I purchase them in the first place? Trash!


• 4 Pat O'Brien's hurricane glasses - souvenirs of trips to New Orleans. Apparently it took two trips to realize I didn't need to bring home the souvenir glasses. I do have wonderful memories of our annual trips to New Orleans for my husband's birthdays. Sadly, we have not been back since Katrina - which makes tossing the hurricane glasses bittersweet and somewhat ironic.


• And the final thing in the cabinet is the box the air pot thermos or "Pump Pot" came in. Target price $9.99. I wonder what it would cost today.

So the upside to this is I now have additional storage space for more stuff. Should the bread machine work (see blog dated (1/26/09), it may have found a home.

The Gift of the Magi, I mean, the postman 1-27-09

I am not up for a major cleaning/purging project today - it is too cold; I just want to pour a glass of wine and snuggle in for the evening. But, I am committed to this blog so I elected to clean out the beautiful wooden bowl that serves as my Christmas card receptacle every December. The bowl was a wedding present to my parents in 1956. My mother used it every December to hold her Christmas cards for as long as I can remember. When I inherited it in 1994, after the deaths of my parents, I employed it for the same purpose.



The joy I felt every year when I returned to my parents' home for Christmas and read all of the Christmas greetings sent to my parents is repeated years later when my daughters return home for the holidays and catch up on our longtime family friends by pulling the cards out of the wooden bowl.



I have been remiss the last few years and have not sent Christmas cards. I am amazed and pleased that my friends have not crossed me off of their lists. I must remember, this December, the simple pleasure a Christmas card can bring and resume my annual tradition of sending out Christmas cards.



This year the wooden bowl held 45 cards. A slim count by previous years' standards - but considering the economy and 42-cent postage (and my inconsistency as a Christmas correspondent), not too shabby.



I am not such an insane pack rat that I save Christmas cards*, but I do save the photos. Some will earn a place on my refrigerator door, the rest will be relegated to an antique wicker picnic basket that holds beaucoups of photos from Christmases past.



As I work my way through my house this year, throwing away some things (a lot of things) and donating others, rest assured that no photo will be relinquished. I have to draw the line somewhere, and photos are border-line sacred!



So, send me a Christmas card this year (you might get one in return) and it will have an honored place in the wooden bowl. Any accompanying photos will be cherished. Christmas letters - that's another story.



6 cards from people we do business with

19 cards from friends and family

17 photo-cards, or cards with photos included, from friends and family

3 Christmas letters



* I have referenced my grandmother, Big Red, in previous blogs and insinuated that she is partially responsible for my pack rat tendencies. For years she saved all of her Christmas cards, tore off the side with the colorful artwork, and sent them out the following year as Christmas postcards. Her rationale: The card cost her nothing and the postcard postage was cheaper. She was the original recycler.

National Holiday Proposal 1-26-09

The top of my refrigerator has become a catch-all for the "stuff" I don't know what to do with or that won't fit, because of its enormous bulk, into any of my kitchen cabinets. I usually try to clean it off once a year, at Christmas, when daughter #1's 6-foot 7-inch (or so) father-in-law comes for dinner (He's the only one who can really see the top of the refrigerator.) Noticing it today, it appears that I missed the annual cleaning event this year.

Today is "clean off the top of the refrigerator day" - not a National holiday, yet.

This is what I removed from the top of my refrigerator:

• A General Electric Juice Extractor - I haven't used it in over a year, but today I made a delicious batch of apple-carrot-ginger juice. Who knew there would be such tasty advantages to cleaning house? I found a place for the juicer on the top shelf of the pantry after rearranging some of my other "stuff".
  
• A red enameled 1.5-quart pitcher that once belonged to my mother. It matches my kitchen and it reminds me of her and I use it to water my plants. It will get to stay.


• A Wear-Ever aluminum potato ricer, complete with stand and pestle. (I will confess I had to Google mortar and pestle because I can never remember which is which.) I have never used a ricer. It is a semi-antique I bought at an Estate Sale because my grandmother, Big Red, swears that riced potatoes are better than mashed potatoes. I am keeping this on the outside chance that I might one day use it and it makes a nice decorative statement in the kitchen.


• A box containing my irreplaceable and much used "rabbit" corkscrew. This is a necessity in my house, so of course I'm keeping it. I will, however store it in the cabinet under the wine rack.
  
• A wine bottle lamp I purchased in a moment of weakness at a craft mall. It is a wine bottle with clear Christmas lights on the inside and glass grapes and raffia decorating the outside of the bottle. I have relocated this to the table behind the sofa. I may move it around a bit before I realize it is pretty tacky and get rid of it.


• A zip-lock sandwich bag containing granular humate - 70% humic acid. I'm a gardener, what else can I say? I relocated this to the potting shed (yet another purge project).


• Instruction manual to juicer. I put this with the juicer now residing happily on the top shelf of the pantry.


• A broken plastic fly-swatter. Trash!


• A HUGE stainless steel pot only used for making beer (yes, I have made home brew!), and for Cajun shrimp boils. I stored this in the black depths of the corner cabinet by the dishwasher. I am sure I will forget it is there and will tear up the house looking for it the next time I have a hankering for home brew or Cajun food.


• A bread-machine that may or may not work. The last time I used it the bread didn't turn out well. Was it the fault of the machine or the cook? I am going to bake a loaf of bread tomorrow as a test. Once I sample the freshly baked bread I will determine the fate of the machine (or the fate of the cook?)


• Three writing pens; one working two not. Kept one, tossed two.


• A 1/4-inch of dust. Didn't keep that!

The top of my refrigerator is now clean. Perhaps I should have my daughter's in-laws over soon.

1-25-09 Day of Rest

And on the seventh day I cleaned nothing.