June 3, 2009

Spring Cleaning

After so many days of gloom and damp, yesterday the overcast moved out and allowed some sunshine. Once I got over squinting like a troll, I decided the only possible best use of my time was washing fleece. Two bags left, the ones mentioned in my last post and not very big bags either so I thought I might even get them both done. So I cranked the water heater to "very hot" and gathered my tools; big tub, bucket, mesh bags, detergent and white vinegar and waited for the water to heat up.

I know I'm not very patient when it comes to washing fleece, it needs to soak in the hot soapy water, and I so want to swish it around to speed things up. Which will felt the fleece, as well as clean it. To keep myself from swishing, I have to stay busy doing something else. I originally envisioned spinning or knitting during these wait times, but decided it wouldn't hurt to reorganize my closet and check on all fleece stored in there, and then put things back so I could reach my clothes again.

Now, does this ever happen to you? I start with what seems a straight forward project, and next thing I know it's morphed into several, like a hydra. It goes something like this; I will wash fleece. And do some laundry. And take the previously cleaned fleece outside for inspection. And gee, now that its out of the closet I'll reorganize all the stuff in here (its a walk-in) so when I put the fleece back in I can reach all of my clothes. Wow, now that I've cleared off most of the closet floor I really should vacuum. (Central vac system, bag tank is in garage and I need a step stool to remove/replace bag). Hmmm, I'd better check the vacuum cleaner head, yup, the beater bar is all wrapped in dog hair and dental floss, better take it apart and clean it. I'll vacuum some of the bedroom as well. You know, I'll put all these books that have been in this box since we moved almost 9 years ago up on this shelf. And donate these others. And I might as well sort out these towels and bed linens and find a better way to store and organize them, they've just been stuff on the shelf along with these old clothes. OK, seasonal stuff and memorabilia can go up on the high shelves, wow, some of these boxes are heavy! I'd better sort through the rag box, I bet there's stuff in there to toss and oh wow! All those rags are stored in the Moses basket we used for the boys when they were infants. (pangs of motherly nostalgia) That basket will be a great place to keep yarn, roving and fiber! I'd better find some other way to store the rags. (btw, these are odd scraps of fabric and clothing I keep in case I ever want to use them for something craftwise. and I don't quilt) Gee, I'll inspect the clean fleeces and see if they're really worth keeping, and go ahead and toss bits that are really too much bother. Hey, here's a bunch of prints from my uncle, the artist. I'll set these aside for framing. Uhhmmm, my original goal was to wash fleece. And today I'm sore.

And in the midst of all this, I'm lugging buckets of dirty water from the big plastic tub in the bathroom through the bedroom and out to the back lawn because I don't want to totally waste the water. It takes alot of water to clean fleece. After I got started on all this, I think I sat down once, to eat lunch. Oh, and when I went to pick up Offspring #2 after school, I only did this because I wanted to drop a letter at the post office, and pick up the dry cleaning, which I was sure was ready on Monday, but wasn't to be ready 'til today.

I did finish washing the black fleece, and decided to toss the white one, the grease in the wool had become like glue. I've learned more about fleece since I purchased all of these, and I expect I'll be tossing more, and being much more selective about what I purchase and decide to clean and use in the future. But its still hard for me to bin it.

The clean fleece is back in the closet, the books are on the shelves along with boxes of photos and and a few boxes of things from my childhood. There is a box set aside for things to donate, and another for things to toss, and the rags need sorting and a new place for storage, along with the towels and linens. But, at least for today, I can walk all the way to the back of my closet.

I wasn't the only one cleaning yesterday. SDG&E was out doing some washing too.

Local Red-Tail hawk keeps watch.

And, before I forget, again; the Redfish roving is all spun and 2 plyed and ready for knitting. It came out to be about 225 yards, now I just need to decide what to do with it. After I finish putting everything back into the closet. :-)

2 comments:

  1. hey look over there! something shiny! :)

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  2. Where, where? Uhm, what were we talking about again? :-) I swear, I was not like this before children. Somewhere amongst working, parenting, house and yard keeping, appt. scheduling, pet caring, soccer taxing, cub scout leading, homework helping, etc. it became a permanent state of being

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