How much of my list did I actually accomplish, of the things I'd hoped or planned to do? Nada. Well, that's not strictly true; I did work on the band for Jupiter, and I did clean the house right around Christmas. I also worked on my courses, to the point that I'm not in panic mode now. But did I organize the craft room? Finish Jupiter? Sew any of the short, small projects I made a list of at Thanksgiving? Nope.
Did I create some head space and get some rest? Yes.
Did I do any research and writing for that article I wanted to send out? Yes, and although it's not quite finished, I did acquire some information that will make it more satisfyingly complete.
My aching back is feeling much better, and I'm moving around a lot more than I was. Although I'm not up to my full walking speed again, I'm able to get through the grocery store or the big box retailer without having to worry if I can get back into my car to drive home -- yes, for a while, that was a possibility. I've even been able to sit in a succession of chairs at school and go on to function normally -- as I said before, "stupid" chairs are one of the triggers. I'm so opposed to taking pills that it never occurred to me that Motrin could help me so much, but now I'm a believer. I only take one at a time, and usually don't even take them every day.
Ah, well -- one wins some, one loses some. I'll pause here for a moment to attend to my teapot.
Oh, I need to record the tale of the miracle that is Scrubbing Bubbles. The floor here at the Orchard Ranch house we're currently renting is composed of inexpensive plastic peel and stick strips. I've had a lot of trouble doing a really good clean of this floor, because the water here leaves spots if left to dry naturally. I've tried using one of those mop-and-dry compositions, and they leave it spotty and sticky if not rinsed. When I rinse, I get slightly sticky water spots. Dry-mopping and vacuum cleaning is okay, but the high traffic areas really do need a more thorough cleaning. During the Christmas Clean, I contemplated how to deal with this, and turned to my friend The Internets for advice. On one of those homemaker-turned-social-influencer blogs, someone in the comments recommended Scrubbing Bubbles -- you apply it to your floor, then damp mop it off, and voy-lah. Other folks chimed in that SB will take spots off of carpet, and others recommended it for tile in other areas beside the bathroom. I thought, what the heck? If nothing else, I can use it in the bathroom. I started out by trying it in the kitchen, in a control area so that I could observe the results before doing the entire three room complex that would require it (something I learned from experience). I sprayed the floor with SB, and waited a moment, then spread it around with a fleece cloth. Next, I took a clean fleece cloth, dampened it, and used that to damp mop off the SB. I had to mop twice, but the result was filthy cloths and a lovely, clean floor without stickiness. Score!! I then tried using SB to take a spot out of our rug, and it worked (spray SB on the spot, work it in with one corner of a terry cloth towel, then dampen the other end of the towel and take up the SB by stepping on the spot with the damp towel).
This morning the Emperor decided to fix one of his "outrageous" breakfasts, which means that after he's finished cleaning up I usually have to go in and do a second clean up. This happens seldom enough that I can use these mornings as an opportunity to do a bit of deep cleaning on the stove. Like everybody else on the planet's stove, mine accumulates greasy dust on the front control panel, which I usually dispatch by washing with soap, going over it with vinegar, and then finishing up with Windex. Today I decided to give SB a try on the stove, and it worked. It took less than half of the scrubbing I usually do to get the job done. I used vastly less product.
Hopefully, when I forget what I used to clean the floor, I'll remember that I recorded this here.
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