Friday 19 April 2019

Easter weekend

I have a confession to make. I'm a binger. Let's just get that right out in the open. Easter is one of my favourite times of the year. I still get Easter treats for my two children, ages 19 and 22. Unfortunately that means that I have a bag of Easter treats in the house, over which I have no control. I do not understand those who can "just have one". I wish I could "just have one". But I don't, and then I hate myself, until the next time I open the bag. So, there you have it. That's my dirty little secret. I can't be the only one. You do not have to confess if you don't want to.

Today is Good Friday, for which I have a holiday from work. How am I going to spend it? I am going to clean, and purge. Sometimes when I feel like life is getting away from me and I am discontented about certain aspects of it, I feel the need to take control, even if it is in a small way. So, today I am going to take control of the cleanliness of my house. Here's another confession: I do not regularly clean my house from top to bottom (gasp!). I tend to spot clean, like an old person who has trouble getting in and out of the bath, I only do what's necessary.  Also, since we haven't had company for several weeks, I've not had to do that flurry of cleaning one does when company is coming.

Daughter is being picked up by husband today. She is wrapping up university for another year and will be arriving home with various boxes and bags. Her room is largely unused while she is away, apart from me setting up two drying racks for my clothes that I don't put in the dryer (which is mostly all of them). So I will be freshening thoroughly cleaning her room, stripping and washing the bedding, maybe even squirting a little Windex on the windows.

I'm planning on washing everyone's bedding today. I wish I could hang it all outside on the clothesline, because there is nothing better than sheets that were hung outside, but it is raining today, and the bungalow-sized mountain of turkey manure that's been steaming away for the past several months in the field beside our property has been spread and to say that the air around us is "pungent" is an understatement.

So I shall clean and vacuum and scrub and dust (my least favourite part) until my lower back screams at me. And then I will be content and perhaps stop eating Easter candy.

On a different note, I have an influx of tiny ants. This sometimes happens. I have put little dollops of Antout (ant poison) on their little highway system and have watched them gather to drink like miniature wildebeest at the watering hole. What I really want to do is squish every single one that I see, but the idea is that they take the poison back to wherever they came from and share it with all their friends and relatives thereby wiping out the whole community. It hasn't happened yet. I've had ants now for about a week. I might start squishing soon.

I bought a pre-stuffed frozen turkey last week to have on Easter Sunday (my secret weapon for all large gatherings - the cook-from-frozen pre-stuffed turkey!). It actually won't be all that large of a gathering: our four, daughter's boyfriend, maybe son's girlfriend if he ever gets around to actually asking her if she's able to come on Sunday, and of course, we'll spring Nana from "the home". I'm planning on baking a lemon cake (love lemon desserts in the Spring - maybe it's the colour?) using a new recipe I haven't tried before. I'll let you know how it turns out.


22 comments:

  1. Jenn, No you are not the only one. LOL Chocolate candies are dangerous to keep in your home. LOL. Me too. I do not clean like I used to and no one really cares. I love a clean house but never seem to want to clean any more. I always tell my husband...I thought when I retired I would have a maid, not become one. :) So I won't wash walls like I used to , or run the broom around the ceiling and corners for cobwebs. Well maybe the cobwebs. Blessings to you and yours for a great Easter day together, enjoy. xoxo, Susie

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  2. I won't go so far as to call it spring cleaning, but I've been feeling the urge to do some more-than-usual house cleaning lately, too. (What's wrong with me?!) Chocolates or other candies aren't my downfall, but rather anything salty and crunchy. (Potato chips . . . yum.)

    You know I'm with you as far as loving lemon desserts this time of year. I do think it's the color. And the light, spring-like taste. Good luck with your new lemon cake recipe!

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  3. I will briefly step out of the closet to admit that I, too, binge. My twin, Mama Pea, and I have the same mad attraction for potato chips, so I can.not. keep them in the house. Also, if I know there is chocolate around - no matter how cleverly I try to hide it from myself - it doesn't last long. Unfortunately, my bingeing does not extend to housework. However, maybe all that physical effort will result in an equal balance: binge + housework = 0!

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  4. I hope you enjoy your easter week end. You certainly sound to be doing plenty of advance planning.

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  5. There's a Lindt chocolate bunny calling my name RIGHT NOW. How long can I hold out?

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  6. Ah! Fellow potato chip fiends! My people! I too cannot keep them in the house, because I will eat them all ...it's ugly. Sweets have little attraction for me anymore, but potato chips! Especially dill potato chips! I eat so well usually, so the attraction to chips is a mystery.

    Like you, I seldom "clean." I do what's needed as I see it, with the big cleans coming at holidays and when company is coming. For a while when the therapy people were coming several times a week for Larry's knee, this place was clean clean clean. Now that spring has come and there is so much to do outside? Inside gets just enough to be respectable.

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  7. When the children were young I used to binge on their Easter eggs; they were never keen on chocolate. Kat is home this weekend but there are no chocolate eggs around to tempt me. Funnily enough we had ants in the house a few days ago, I put an ant trap down and it seems to have done the trick.

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  8. ANTS~ I have lived in my home for almost 27 yrs and for 27 yrs I have had ants. They come in every spring. Last yr however I was sure they were all getting together and planning on taking over the world. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE! They came a month earlier and rather then just hang a month, they stayed from March to June. I could not so anything to rid myself of them. I read this yr to spray around windows and doors with WD40. I found some 2 weeks ago coming in and I sprayed that, not seen anymore. You are a busy woman today. I need to be but the ump is just not there. I am headed to the kitchen to mop in a min......not anything compared to what you have planned.

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  9. No arguments on me on binging. I did it yesterday and if I hadn't run out of milk balls I'd do it again today. That and the peanut butter fudge one of our friends brought to Rick's sickbed! I still haven't bought things for the kids' baskets yet either. UGH! Could be trouble. I have no self control.

    On another note, well done on the purging and cleaning. I am not without things I enjoy doing as I hunker down at Rick's but my house at home is a total MESS.

    I'm glad your daughter is on the way and I know you'll have a great EAster. Oh, I saw an article about Louise Penny and the real "Three Pines" in an article from a paper, I think Ottawa, not sure. If you google, you'll probably find it. Made me want to go to Quebec tomorrow!

    Have a great Easter. The turkey sounds like a brilliant idea!

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  10. I can't really 'just have one', so I usually just have none. My mother very sweetly sent me some Easter candy--jelly beans--and I gave them to a friend.

    Turkey manure=bad; Turkey dinner=good.

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  11. Have a great Easter, my good wishes.

    All the best Jan

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  12. Fortunately I don't like those little foil-wrapped chocolate eggs that I buy for the grandkids to find. I will cook a leg of lamb on Sunday for the family dinner. Minimal house-cleaning going on here too!

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  13. I absolutely cannot resist most sweets. I admit that I've had to replace some candy I put in a basket I made for my friend's grandson - oh, the shame. It's now in the basement until delivery time. Dusting is my least favorite cleaning chore, too. Since I'm only 5'2", I only dust up to that level. Taller bookcases and shelves get done only for very special occasions! Sounds like you'll have a wonderful family holiday weekend. Happy Easter!

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  14. Oh, I'm raising my hand over Here! Cadbury eggs!! I also still make a basket for my 23 and 29 year old children and their significant others! If you like lemony treats - check out the lemon brownies recipe I posted on my blog - they are THE BOMB!! and not hard to make - with lots of real lemon. I use the same cleaning method you do, lol. Have a great weekend.

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  15. Wow, lots of comments! I got a lot accomplished yesterday, but still have more to go. My lower back was indeed screaming at me!! Thank you for your Easter good wishes. I see that there are a few admitted bingers out there, also. Today is grocery buying day and the rain seems to have slowed down this morning, so maybe a bit of raking is in order, too. Karen, I will check out your lemon brownies!

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  16. There is no chocolate right now in our home, so there's no temptation. Be gone, demon, be gone! LOL

    I love lemon desserts this time of year, too. Perhaps it is the colour? Who knows. I just know lemon desserts are delicious.

    Wishing you all a wonderful day today. Happy Easter!

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  17. When the children were small we did the Easter Hunt. Cleaning. I was always cleaning like Susie. I dont wash walls now . Hubby and I are retired to an Apt. So less house work . And not any grass to cut or not going up and down stairs. Only if Fire drill. Like Two days ago. A fire drill but it was time. Been a year. So Happy Easter.

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  18. Well if it makes you feel any better...yes I binge, no I don't clean regularly, and I hate dusting with a purple passion. There now.

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  19. cleaning in the weekends make us to relax. how is your weekends are going?
    It's a Easter weekends having party at home is fun.
    Happy weekend and happy Easter!

    Regards,
    End of lease cleaning sydney CBD

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  20. Happy Easter Jenn. I'm with you on not being able to have just one. Resistance is futile ...

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  21. "Goodies" call to me too!!!!! My husband can eat some, and that's fine, till the next time. Not me!!!!! -sigh-sigh-sigh- And some things are "too sweet" for him. Whattttttttttttt?!?!?

    Also same here, I'm not a cleaner. Neatness, yes. No piles around. Everything in its place, yes. But I can over-look dust, with the best of them!!! ,-))))

    Oh mercy, I also go, until my back stops me! Then have to sit, with my trusty ice bag on it. Do you ever try ice?? It is magic!!!!

    Sighhhhh, tiny ants here tooooo! (This "me too" is getting repetitive, isn't it???? -grin-)

    ������

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