Sunday, January 27, 2013

The 20 Day Cure [UPDATED x 3]

Apartment Therapy, one of my favorite blogs, does this thing called the January Cure, where willing participants tackle their homes all January long to make them more productive, stylish, clean, and cozy. Each day they are given a different task, the idea being that by February 1st, their homes are more functional and they will have beaten a bit of the winter blues in the process.

My January was whirlwind. Any time not spent working was spent entertaining, doing things I convinced myself were fun, but that were really work, or trying to stay warm in freezing weather. I blogged rarely, cooked rarely, but spent a lot of time snuggling with Winston. And working, did I mention working?

I'd like to do something in the spirit of the January cure, but it's now January 27th. I'd call it the February Cure, but I know myself, and if I don't start today, I won't do it.

For Apartment Therapy's January cure, each day had an assigned task. Again, I know myself, and there are days when cleaning the kitchen sounds awesome (usually when I have work deadlines I should be attending to), and other days when I'd rather eat dirt.  Here is the plan of action. I need to tackle all of them, but not in any real order.

1: Compile a list of all the home projects (small projects, less than a day's work) you'd like to tackle over the next 20 days.
2: Tidy the insides of cabinets, closets and drawers.
3: Tackle papers/filing. (I should have done this before my sister moved in. Now it's nearly impossible.)
4: Spray Paint cabinet knobs red for kitchen. [Explanation: the knobs I want will cost more than 150$, which feels a little extravagant presently. If I can reuse what I have, it'll be better than spending 30$ on cheap plastic versions.]
5: Inventory freezer - come up with list of meals I can easily make and a shopping list for all the stores I visit reguarly.
6: Care for houseplants. Give them a bench, clip dead stuff, discard those that aren't salvageable, and get them out of the way so Winston isn't poisoned.
7: Figure out socks - do all laundry during one day, and discard socks that don't have mates. Or use them as rags. Just get them out of the rotation.
8: Deal with trunk in attic - what is in there? Do we need it? Where should be store it? Once the trunk is empty, put it in Winston's room to be filled w bunny supplies.
9: For the love of all that is holy, finish the trim so you can finally say you're done with the living and dining rooms. (cut and stained. doing polyurethane tomorrow and then nailing monday)
10: Fill the moulding gaps with wood filler.
11: Vacuum and dust attic. Do something about the million electronic cords. (waited too long on this, and Winston escaped to the upstairs and chewed through most of them.) Add proper lighting.
12: Attend to the lighting in the living room. All we have is overhead and it's horrifying. And energy inefficient. And horrifying.
13: Set up a bedside table scenario in our room, including a lamp.
14: Give the stove and oven a good scrubbing with baking soda and vinegar.
15: Bake really lovely whole wheat bread.
16: Make a hard cheese (ideally three - two kinds of cheddar and a parmesan) that need to be aged in cold weather. If not now, when?
17: Have Alex make one kind of cold weather beer.
18: Touch up living room. This means finally scrape the paint the previous owners got on the moulding, scrape the paint I got on the window glass, dust hell wall so it looks less hellish, put foam on the bottom of the couch, which is DESTROYING my floor every time someone plops down in it.
19: Tidy the yard. We still have hornet spray sitting in our window sill. The madness must end.
20: Cook a new meal. Pair it with new wine. Enjoy. (of course I did the fun one first)
21: Make mantle
22: Stain mantle
23: Hang mantle
24: Reorganize plants in dining room
25: Plan 2013-2014 garden
26: Start cold weather seeds (broccoli, kale, cabbage)
27: Create a better grow light scenario
28: Deep clean vacuum
29: Clean sink drains

I will mark through them as I go.

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