Today I’m still enjoying spending a lot of time with family, but I will have time to do one small project when I get home tonight. My curio cabinets are extremely dusty – more so because I’m opening my doors more often than usual due to my puppies. I think I can dust them thoroughly and sort their contents while I watch Mad Men and Desperate Housewives tonight.
QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
- Finalize Halloween costumes, put up decorations, finish party plans
- Spot-cleaning your kitchen and bathroom floors, or just using a few cleaning wipes on them will make them shine and make your weekend cleanup go faster.
- Done with the weekend’s laundry? It’s folded and put away? Bed linens changed?
- Make meal plans for the week ahead; create grocery list; shop as needed
- Is there room in your coat closet for actual coats? See if you need to declutter, get rid of unused coats, or move a vacuum to a different closet.
- Use your fragrance oil infuser, burn a candle, or spray your favorite home fragrance
TODAY’S PROJECT: Curio Cabinets
I own two curio cabinets. In both, I store wine glasses, martini glasses, teacups, dishes and keepsakes. Today I’m sorting out both cabinets and dusting.
I’m removing everything, including the glass shelves, and washing all the dishes. I have to wash them by hand as they’re antiques or fragile fancy martini glasses, so they don’t go near a dishwasher, ever.
I can’t move the curio cabinets by myself to vacuum under them, but I will give them a good dusting and reach as far behind them as I can with my vacuum attachment. I’ll clean the walls behind the cabinets, as far as I can reach, too.
I’ll see if there’s anything I can get rid of, as each cabinet is looking cluttered. But unfortunately I think everything in these cabinets is something I either use frequently for entertaining, or keepsakes I’m too sentimental about (like my great-aunt’s handmade decorated eggshells).
In the living room cabinet I have martini glasses, wine glasses, a china figurine of a witch I’ve had since I was a little girl, eggshells my aunt decorated, three or four amethyst glass vases, pink depression glass dessert dishes, a wacky art glass bowl I use to serve M&Ms or peanuts, and a few other miscellaneous pieces of glassware. Almost all need to be washed as dusting alone won’t help them. The glass shelves will be washed too, as well as the glass in the doors. I think I spy a never-used teapot I can donate, and perhaps I can bring myself to store away great-aunt’s handicrafts in my hope chest. (“Hope she doesn’t make any more.”)
I expect the project to take around an hour per cabinet.
LOVELY BLOGS: The Fairy Tale Cupboard
For some reason I always enjoy reading fairy tales in autumn, and I make that a priority over the other books on my waiting-to-read shelf. So right now I’m especially enjoying this blog of fairy tale books, authors, exhibitions, poems and performances. I am so delighted to find out about Enchanted Times, a fairy tale newsletter, from this blog. I know I will come back here often to see what’s new and make sure I’m not missing out on the fabulous things she shares.
http://thefairytalecupboard.blogspot.com/
LOVELY MUSIC: Sugarcubes “Birthday” Cover
I am enjoying listening to this shoegaze-style cover of my favorite Sugarcubes song. The cover is by Foxtail Somersault. Nobody of course can attain Bjork’s level of vocals, but the Foxtail Somersault vocalist has a beautiful, dreamy voice. I thought you might like something pretty to listen to this morning.
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
Austrian Vineyards are All in the Family (NY Times)
Creepy Cookies for Halloween (Martha Stewart)