Monopoly by candle light...

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We had lights out at 8.30pm last night for Earth Hour. We set up our new Monopoly game and played for 3.5 hours in the darkness. No interuptions.
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Brianna won by eventually placing hotels on Mayfair and Parklane and with a rental of $14 million,

Gus ended up going bust! Good fun!
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Katrina at The Organised Housewife has some great tips and motivational posts to get you in the mood for cleaning, laundering and ironing. She also menu plans as well. Check out her site.
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One of her "to-do's" was to wash your washing machine. As soon as I read her post I knew I had to clean mine! I had a good build up of mould, soap powder and fabric softner in there. A good hot wash with a big cup full of vinegar had it all refreshed. I sloshed the vinegar water around the top and wiped all the mould and residues away. Took me about 10 minutes, tops!
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Here's the finished product - a gleaming machine, ready to tackle anything!
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This is another tip that I got from a friend on facebook - fill your laundry sink with a strong solution of Napisan and hot water. Soak your oven racks and trays to remove baked on fat and food spills.
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This was taken after only a few minutes and a bit of scrubbing (a bit more still needed). The fatty build-up just disappears. Sugar soap was another product mentioned to do the same trick. Will try that next time.
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Obviously, there is probably a 'green' recipe for Napisan so give it a go!
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Cheers - Joolz

More de-cluttering achieved today...

(before)
This cupboard has been jam packed full of stuff since we built the house and moved in 6.5 years ago...
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(after)
Ta Dah! I am really pleased with my efforts - there was quite a bit of crap in there which I have transferred to some stacker boxes (school bits and pieces from both girls - I have a large yellow envelope for each year they were at school).
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This... I think... is a Redback spider (I didn't get close, hence the blurry zoomed in picture and I can't quite see any red on its back but....its the right shape!)!!! It was living quite comfortably in the cupboard and got quite aggressive when I disturbed it. It had built a web in a scrapbook of Kirby's baby/birthday cards. What do you do with 20 years (and 17 years respectively) of birthday cards for your children - I have each and every one of them!! The poor widdle 'pider met its maker when I sprayed it with bug spray then vacuumed it up! Hasta lavista, baby! Ha, ha!
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Another picture for the "shame file" - a crunchy dead cricket, entangled in spider webs! Aaargh!
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Its been a very long day and it took a lot of time to pull everything out, evaluate its future existence then put it all back in again...
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Oh, the nostalgia! I found a container full of old cassette tapes - my kids don't even know what these are!!! Look - ABBA, ONJ!, Kenny & Dolly - good times! :)
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(before)
The other side of the built in - this is the library side (I do not have a book shelf in my home!).
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(after)
That's much better - everything is easy to see and reachable. I wonder how long it will stay this way???
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Enjoying a glass of red now, with my feet up -
Cheers - Joolz

New Year purge...

(before)
I don't know why but New Year always gets me in the mood for chucking stuff out and tidying those spaces that get stuffed full of crap during the year... yesterday I tackled my lovely walk-in linen press - I got rid of a large black garbag full of paraphernalia (read crap!) and a laundry basket stacked full of empty cardboard boxes of varying sizes (I tend to collect/keep boxes in case they can be used for something else)... I also found some mouse droppings (uh, oh!) and many dead spiders and millipedes in there so the whole room got a good spraying of Mortein!
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(after)
Doesn't that look better? The shelves are still stuffed full but it is a storage area so that's what the room is for. Hey, do you like all my mis-matched bath towels? I tend to buy cream, pale pink or sage green ones (they don't leave dark fluff on my cream bathroom tiles like bottle green or burgundy ones) but they are in varying degrees of thread-bareness. I've never had all nice new towels at the same time. You?
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(before)
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(after)
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Then I tackled my side of our walk-in robe... this is the pile of clothes that got carted off to St. Vinnies. I also purged about 10 pairs of shoes and boots. Bugger, I'll have to get new boots for winter! :)
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This is MY side of the space - see - I HAVE NO CLOTHES!
That bottom shelf is all my winter clothes and even they are in danger of being ousted when winter comes. Stay tuned!
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Today, being a holiday Monday for NY, I will continue to potter - Kirby heads back to Adelaide so her room needs a once over and there's always something to do in the laundry and the kitchen floor needs a good mopping. My next big project is my built-in cupboards in the study - but I need the recycling bin to be emptied this week before I can really start that project!
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Cheers - Joolz

Sunday, I am...

...watching Lost in Austen (up early, I have watched all four episodes) and absolutely loved it. Oh, Mr Darcy! *blushing*

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Then I am washing windows and doing some weeding...

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Yes, there is glass in those windows, it's just so sparkling clean!

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Our front porch - it all got a wash down today, to get rid of dust and cobwebs. I gave the white table and chairs a sudsy bath and found an intruder underneath it!

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This is a Redback Spider - an Aussie icon - commonly found under out-house dunny seats! At this point, I will say that I am an arachnaphobic (scared shitless by spiders) but these little buggers don't scare me too much (even thought they are deadly poisonous), it's more your Huntsmen type spideys that give me goosebumps and hot flushes all at once. I'll save a picture of a hunty for another day. *shivers*
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This pic was taken out of my lounge room window (did I tell you how clean they are?), the rose on the far left has produced my first rose of spring.

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My violas are loving the sunshine today.

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Tired and happy - my right arm and shoulder feel like they will drop off and my back's aching but it is a good job done (they day was so nice for pottering around) . Angus is barbecuing a lump of steak and roasting some baby potatoes and carrots to have with some peas. He's even made some horseradish mayonnaise from scratch! Bless.
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Cheers - Joolz

Sparkling clean...

Spotless, sparkling clean windows. I did half last night when I got home from work and
the rest will be done tonight. Hardly looks like there is glass in the windows, does it?

Someone commented on our green lawns. We don't have rigid water restrictions where we live and because we live just on the outskirts of town, we have our own bore so we are self sufficient for water. Our lawns are watered at sundown, in the cool of the evening for about 20 minutes each night. We have a ride-on mower that mulches all the grass clipping straight back onto the lawn which helps retain the water in the soil - so a minimum sprinkle keeps them nice and green.

More cleaning tonight in readiness for our guests coming this weekend.

Cheers - Joolz