Do we want a Making Life Easier thread?

[agate]

It hasn't moved an inch since some time Sunday. I'm not going near it today or if I do go near it, it won't be for long.

I slept better last night--not well but much better--and woke up with a pain that is tolerable, not overwhelming, and I'm just as happy as anyone can be. I was even able to see out of my peephole this morning, which I wasn't able to do when the pain was too crippling. It wasn't easy but I did it.

It's important to be able to see through it because I don't know who's out there otherwise if someone knocks or rings. I can always call out of course but some people wouldn't reply.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Agate ~

I'm sorry that you tweaked your back vacuuming. Your compression fracture makes you vulnerable for this kind of pain, I would imagine. I'm glad the pain is more tolerable today. I hope it continues to improve.

Yes, the offer from Sunset was an honor and a great opportunity. The purpose of the retreat was for students to learn from professionals, so submitting our work was part of being critiqued. Other students may have received offers from the various media representatives at the retreat. It was an excellent experience in a beautiful location with gorgeous weather.

Take it easy and rest your back.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

Very deserving, I'm sure, Rose!

[agate]

On the plus side, life is a bit easier now compared to the days when this was the only way to dry clothes. This was one of my jobs in childhood--hanging the clothes on the line and taking them off the line:

[Virginia]

I use to hang out the close also. But usually my Mom did it. I worked after school, but if I was there I would help out. Great cartoon.

[agate]

My mom must have been more of a slavedriver than the people in charge over you, Virginia. I was doing the clothesline when I was about 8-12 years old. Actually I enjoyed that job. Being out in the fresh air and smelling the clean clothes--that was far more fun than dusting or some other chores.

On the topic of clothes-drying, I've found that it can be fine-tuned to some extent. The time-honored way of handling clothes from the dryer was always to sort and fold them right away so that job would be done, and everything would be back where it belonged without having a chance to develop wrinkles or to sit around damp when it should have been hung up to finish drying.

Nowadays I have a general idea what items may not be thoroughly dry when they come out of the dryer (some socks, some towels) and I pull them out right away and hang them up to air dry. I also pull out any clothes that need to be on hangers or might need ironing and take care of them. But then if I'm tired, I leave the rest of it in a jumble in the laundry basket until I feel like getting on with the job.

I do get on with it later in the day but sometimes that laundry has sat there for many hours. It's the kind of thing you can get away with if you live alone. Who besides me is going to notice or care if there's a laundry basket full of unsorted clothes just sitting there for a while?

Yes, I'm lowering my standards, but maybe they were ridiculously high standards in the first place.... I do find it tiring to reach clothes on hangers up to the closet rods. That particular reach isn't easy.

[Virginia]

I have a tendency to take my clothes out of the dryer and as I walk by my office I lay them on a sofa I have in there. Sometime I forget to go back in there and it might be two days or so before I get around to putting them away. If it is something that I need to iron I might even let it lay there longer. Finally, I will get up and do it but it might be several days if I am busy with other things.

[agate]

Letting it wait for several days sounds great too. I have the notion that the sooner I get the clothes on hangers, the less ironing they'll need but there's plenty of laundry that can just sit there for days.

[Howie]

The key to making life easier is simple, don't get a cat!

[agate]

That unfortunately is good advice. You don't realize how much responsibility a pet is until you find yourself without one after many years with one. Hard to have to admit though.

The litter box, the food, the problems that sometimes need a vet--and the people with dogs have plenty to tend to as well. I see the dog people in this building ("dog people" doesn't sound right, does it?) walking their dogs in all kinds of weather and at all times of day or night. The dogs are often decked out in raincoats with hoods or sweaters while the dog people might not be dressed for the weather. You find out who's important when you see this sight. It's the dogs who are ruling the roost, and of course everyone knows that cats own their households and everybody in them.

[agate]

Singing the praises of reachers again here because I've just found a new use for one.

I can clean my windows on the inside but need to be on a stepladder to do them. When William was here recently he put his hand on a windowpane, and after he left I noticed how dusty the window was on the inside. You could see where his fingers wiped some of the dust off. Thank you, William, for calling attention to my neglected windows. "A little child shall lead them."

Bigwigs will be in the building on Tuesday and it would be my luck for them to visit my apartment and notice the dirty windows. So today the problem was how to clean the windows without getting on a stepladder.

I took some paper towel and soaked it with Windex, then grabbed it with the reacher and went over the window glass with it. After doing this on all three of the windows, I think the place looks much brighter.

And I didn't have to wobble around on that stepladder.

[Virginia]

Agate, don't you have to wipe the window with a clean paper towel to dry it in addition to wiping it with the Windex one?

[agate]

Good question. I tried to make sure that the paper towel I soaked with Windex wasn't entirely soaked with it. I left about half of it dry so that I could just move the paper towel around so that the reacher would use the dry part of the paper towel to dry the pane off a bit.

I wasn't being very thorough about this because the outsides of the windows still need to be done, and usually those get done by window-washers. When that happens, which may be some time soon, I might find out just how good or bad this window-cleaning job really was.

Maybe I should be glad my eyesight isn't the best. I may have done a really terrible job for all I know. But at least it looks all right to me.

[Ikoiko]

I haven't ironed since I took early retirement due to disability. My mom visited and asked where my iron was. I don't have one!

My bf does most of the cleaning and laundry since I moved in with him. If it was left up to me, it just wouldn't get done. Trust me, I know how lucky I am! When I feel more comfortable with the state of Covid, I will hire a cleaner.

[agate]

If you ever feel a need for ironing, stillstANNding's husband loves to iron and she hires him out in case you've forgotten. Or at least I've heard a rumor that she hires him out.

Congratulations on not having an iron.

[Virginia]

Ikoiko, sounds like you have a great bf. Sounds much like Ann's hubby. Better keep him.