Hi everyone, Mod R here.
All the Things Ilona Andrews are still happening in the background, soon to be unveiled. Several of you wanted to know if we’ll get the reveal for the Guess the World post and we are *so*, so close you could smell the house fire…oh, oops, is that too much of a hint?
Late November and December is a very full time at Casa R, between birthdays, anniversaries and upcoming holidays. In preparation, I’ve embarked on a process of house cleaning and organising.
Are you ready for this?
According to the internet “It takes around 1.5 hours to clean a one bedroom home with one bathroom.” Aaahahahahahahahahaha. ::wipes tears::. My flabber is GASTED.
It doesn’t help that I’m going through a hardcore insomnia episode- only 3 sleeps till Christmas seems very literal at the moment- but I’ve been cleaning and organising for a whole entire week!
Please tell me I’m not the only one who moves in slo-mo.
Once I finish (please, it must end sometime ????), I will have to decorate, and mid-November is such a weird time for it.
Are you Team Fall/Spooky November?
Or Team Winter Holidays November?
If it’s not too early for Winter Holidays, it means I also need to go shopping because I donated all my winter decorations in a fit of KonMari organising. Turns out my executive dysfunction cannot be trusted on what does and doesn’t spark joy for hours on end. I don’t even know the trends, if anyone has inspiration pictures or themes, show and tell in the comments please!
Speaking of house cleaning, with the Sweep of the Heart release coming, a reminder that any official giveaways will only be announced and held here on the Ilona Andrews website. Neither Ilona, Gordon, nor myself (Mod R) will use social media messaging to contact the fans or to solicit money. No money will ever exchange hands for a giveaway. Please be vigilant of email farms who steal/ sell your email and data, even if they use the Ilona Andrews name.
The Internet forgot to mention that the 1 bedroom/1 bath home being cleaned was a builder’s model. It has furniture, but no one actually lives in it. Therefore, no clutter.
That, I could probably manage 😀 .
Thank you! Thank you! I read something similar and the time scales made me question my activities to a cellular level. Only Gertrude Hunt could achieve that. thanks for the reality check
And they have no pets and no kitchen!
“My flabber is gasted” will now have to be added to my lexicon. hahahahahahaha
I’m Team Winter Holidays November. I LOVE the sparkle and the lights and the smells. But I am not a “trend” person, I buy what I love and hope it looks OK together with all the other stuff I’ve bought throughout the years.
Also, it takes me longer than 1.5 hours to clean a ROOM in my house let alone an entire apartment, that’s just nonsense lol.
I’m a Millennial, so I didn’t throw out any fairy lights, I think they take your card away for that :D. They’re also around the house year-round, though.
Around here once the holidays are over the twinkle lights become party lights. ????
I think I’ll just call them fairy lights like you do inviting all kinds of fun and mischief! ????♀️
I’m not much of a housekeeper. I sure could use a visit from Gertrude Hunt. I’d rather be in my yard gardening.
I feel your pain with the lack of sleep! I swear if I ever catch that fricken Insomnia Fairy I’m putting it in a jar that may, or may not, have air holes punched in the top.
As for decorating at home, I gave that up at home years ago. Between the dogs peeing on the tree skirt, the cats climbing the tree, and my husband being able to destroy an anvil in a 50 acre field with nothing but a powder puff, I decided it was best to stick to decorating my shop. I used to wait until after Thanksgiving to do that, but finally decided I was going to have to keep up with the big retailers and get it out earlier.
As far as trends, do what you like! If you’ve got mid-century next to Waterford, who cares as long as it makes you happy!
I say we give the Insomnia Fairy to your husband, with an anvil and a powder puff and just leave them to it whilst we go out for some camomile tea.
What happens, happens, we won’t ask any questions ????
As a fellow insomniac, feel free to punch holes in the top to keep your conscience clean. I have plenty of plastic bags and tape to finish the job, and you can rest easy (:
I’m totally stealing the “My flabber is gasted”, but I will repay you in kind.
When you misspeak something and you would normally say “you know what I mean”, instead say “you mean what I know”. It is hilarious seeing the double-takes as people belatedly realize that what you said it not what they expected to hear.
And may I add, in a fit of wry self-depreciation, “Open foot, insert mouth”
I love both Flabber is gasted, and You mean what I know; can I use them appropriately, though?
I’m inn the process of moving out of one apartment and into a smaller one a few blocks away. I’ve lived in my current apartment for less than 16 months, but there’s so much stuff! And I am moving like molasses in January on all of it.
Good Luck on a fresh start!
My family’s downsizing from a 3,600sq ft house that we’ve lived in for 24 years to a 1,700sq ft…at the end of this month.
Can you guess how much is packed?
Go through the house, packing the items that you decide you really need and use. When complete (about day 3), dump everything else on the front lawn with a “Free” sign. Advertise on instabook/tok if yard is not close to empty in 2 days. Then get a dumpster and toss all other crap in there and deliver to the dump.
Once you move, buy anything you accidently tossed out that it turns out you really did need.
I have Christmas stuff out upstairs and my downstairs is gutted after the washer flooded through the ceiling. I am not feeling very festive.
Oh no! Hope it can get repaired soon and you have your house back to normal.
I am not a fan of the Christmas music in stores already but I do love the lights. Right have the time change, it gets dark before 5pm now. So give me festive lights! I saw some the other day that were two red / two white in a pattern like a candy cane. I love that idea. I am not putting up lights this year as I am in a rental while my house is finished. So everything is in boxes and I just can’t find it in me to go through the boxes to fine the decorations.
Wow, thumb typing fails in several places there. ????♀️
+1 for the lights but not the music! I live in Alaska and the sun is setting at *check weather app* 4: bleeping 14 in the afternoon today. Lights are required, has nothing to do with holidays ????
huh, i always forget how far north Ireland is, we’re so mild in weather at the moment, but it got dark at 4:31 according to the weather app!
I don’t like all the Christmas decorations so early (one shop had Halloween stuff for sale in July!?! & then Christmas decorations for sale in September! grrr!)
i do like all the lights up everywhere, but you can at least make snowmen in Alaska right?
I am with you on the Christmas music – which started here in mid-October, thank you.
I am fine with some of the old standards, but in moderation, please. I can definitely live w/o “Santa, Baby” in any form.
My Christmas playlist includes mostly Mannheim Steamroller, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and a few selected bits From Enya’s “And Winter Came”.
There’s more there than you might think and I’m not listening to it all day every day. (Like I had to when I worked retail. One year the “music” was one 50 minute CD, played over and over, from late October til a customer complained to the mall in mid February. Oy!)
I am considering some lights, but will have to limit it to the porch and balcony railings. No climbing at my age, I fear.
Sarah McLaughlin had a nice Christmas album a few years ago too. And so did Pentatonix. I agree that the Mannheim Steamroller albums are great!
Sarah McLachlan did a very nice cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song for a a Winter’s night”. Not a Christmas song but very atmospheric.
I have several CDs of Christmas music. My favorite is Oy! to the World.
Ooh! Yes to the 2 red 2 white!
Looking forward to the revelations whenever they occur!
I suppose if you own nothing much, you could clean a one br apt in an hour, but that’s never worked for me! Oh and you can’t own a cat or long haired dog either.
Generally I do a minor amount of holiday decorating, so the Halloween stuff was removed first week of Nov. and the fall/thanksgiving stuff came out. There be pumpkins ( cloth, wood, pottery) everywhere! (Not really, a few places around the living room and entry). Christmas does not come out until after thanksgiving, but it’s a much bigger splash.
House cleaning will occur right before my brother arrives heheh. I’m dog sitting and I decided that keeping the floors clean was probably not a thing until she goes home. So it will get a lick and promise next Wed!
Enjoy your decorative shopping! I wouldn’t say all my stuff sparks joy, but I like to have a choice and the same things don’t always make it out every year. And most of it was bought from local artists at various craft shows over the past 25 years. So as you can imagine, the stuff takes up six very large plastic bins and hangs on the closet walls at this time. I do get rid of minor amounts annually tho. There is no more space for new stuff!
That’s the stuff though, when you build a collection of well loved things, even if they’re individually bought. I had that during childhood, it was like seeing old friends every year, with German blown glass decorations, a little blue bell that was my favourite and was almost 100 years old, tiny dried starfish my father gathered when he was in the Navy (It was years before I realised not everyone had a starfish Christmas tree hehe).
What I donated was just a set of impersonal gold and red plain decorations I found on offer a few years ago. I never felt much around them.
“My flabber is Gasted” – we are next going to be seeing this in the Oxford Dictionary equivalent of phrases. BDH mobilize! Also, I have a Pinterest account dedicated to winter decor and I am highly leaning towards the Nordic/Swedish minimalist light-wood, white, red and greens only, natural fibers/cloth based stuff. Currently working on a embroidery sampler for that reason. My plan is to use the cornflour-baking soda dough recipe to create wreaths/ornaments/string decor etc and just make too many & maximalize the minimalist nature of what I am working with.
Somewhere there is a recipe for dough ornaments made out of cinnamon and white glue. I made them years ago as work presents. They smell like Christmas but are not edible. I used miniature cookie cutters to make them.
We used to do one with cinnamon and applesauce (still not edible) – the cinnamon dough makes the nicest-smelling ornaments and they last for years!!!
Cinnamon Applesauce Holiday Ornaments
Yields: 2-4 dozen, depending on size.
Preparation time: 1 hour.
Cooking time: 6-8 hours.
A creative, easy holiday project to do with the children. Decorate your tree and scent your home, or give as beautiful, sweet-smelling gifts
3 cups applesauce (1 1/2 lbs.)
8 oz. cinnamon
24-48 6″ pieces of thin, double-sided satin ribbon (red is nice)
Line a strainer with cheesecloth or paper towels and place over a large bowl. Pour applesauce into strainer and let it drain for about 8 hours. There will be at least a cup of liquid to drain off (if you’re in a hurry and want to eliminate this step, you can, but you’ll have to use 2 to 4 oz. of extra cinnamon to get a good firm dough).
Starting with half of the cinnamon, add to the applesauce and stir until blended. You want to make dry, stiff dough, but you may not need the entire 8 oz. of cinnamon. Place 1/4 of the dough on a sheet of waxed paper and place another sheet on top.
Use a rolling pin (or press with your hands) to 1/4″ thickness. Start at edges and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
Slide a spatula under the cut cookie dough, and place the shapes on a baking pan coated with vegetable oil spray. Work carefully as the dough will still be somewhat wet and squishy. Simple shapes, such as hearts and moons, work best.
After placing the cookies on the baking sheet, use a toothpick and poke a hole at the top of each shape. This will be for threading the ornaments with ribbon later. Make sure the hole is big enough, as it will shrink by half during baking. Run the toothpick around the edge of each ornament to smooth and remove any little crumbly bits. Place in 175° oven for 6-8 hours, until firm and dry (the house will smell wonderful).
Remove, and if you like, decorate with royal icing, paints, and/or glitter. Thread with colorful ribbons and hang on trees and festooned boughs, or attach to gifts for a personalized touch.
© 1999 Penzeys Spices. All rights reserved.
3 Ingredient Cinnamon Ornaments is what they are called . They take a cup of ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of white liquid glue. I used Elmer’s glue. And 6 ounces plus a few tablespoons ( if needed ) of applesauce. There are other variations on line.
I like to wait until after Thanksgiving to put my Christmas tree up. That’s if I put one up. Ever since my mom passed, I really don’t feel like putting a tree up and decorating it. I have an artificial tree with the lights already on the tree so that’s one thing not to have to do.
However, I cook for Christmas (and Thanksgiving when I’m home). I like to cook either a standing rib roast or a beef tenderloin. I prefer the standing rib roast (3 ribs is more than enough for me with leftovers). If it’s cold enough I make my version of New England clam chowder. I also do some baking.
As to cleaning. I do enough to make my place organized and clean (vacuum and/or dust, and bathroom clean). If someone really makes me mad, I will do a deep clean or make yeast rolls (or bread).
Wait, I think you’re onto something! Rage cleaning ????
Be prepared for a nap after you rage clean. It will wipe you out (pun intended). 😉
I made a little artificial Christmas tree in a decorative cup for my mom’s table for her last Christmas, when she didn’t want a full sized tree. I get that out every year for our centerpiece.
We usually have a cut tree but about 5 years ago we traveled over Christmas so we bought an artificial tree with lights. The next year we put it in a different corner and actually we usually keep it up for several days with just the lights. I do enjoy it with just lights.
Especially first thing in the morning with my first cup of coffee. So my advice is put it up but don’t decorate it
I roast a muscovy duck for Christmas. I do like I would a chicken or turkey – this particular breed isn’t very fatty, and I really like sage cornbread stuffing.
I use the carcass and whatever meat remains for soup on New Year Day. This is my personal tradition – I’ve been doing it for at least 30 years now.
My friends try very hard to convince me for KonMari- i am terrible- giving/throwing good things (and for me nearly everything is still good and useable) is close to impossible ????
good luck with cleaning- yes you can!????????
I…don’t think it’s for everyone ????
By the end there even Mr Mod R was hanging by a thread 😀 (jk, he sparks joy every day)
Cleaning always takes longer than it should. Before you start cleaning you must put away all the clutter that has accumulated since you last cleaned. That probably isn’t included as part of the cleaning time. Cheer up and treat yourself to the video of Jason Momoa modeling his loincloth for a night show host! You deserve a break.
How many times have I watched that video? The answer is “Yes” 😀
I saw that on Entertainment Tonight. Not only did he show the front of the loincloth, but also the back. Very cheeky of him. 😉
My flabber is Gasteked?
😀 If only! Ghastek would have my house clean immortusy-split, 2 vampires is all it would take
Dang. That might be the first time I’ve been jealous of a navigator…
But the navigator wold still have to be in constant focus on the vamp …
My daughter tends to have her finger on the pulse of trends… she has asked if we can do a white Christmas tree with matching gold ornaments this year. I’m trying to manifest her vision and have one saved in my bed bath & beyond cart with gold starfish ornaments.. waiting for a 20% coupon … ????
Small Christmas trees. It is simply too much to use a huge tree so I started using a 3 to 4 foot tree put in on a side table and voila it can be decorated in about 5 minutes if you have the correct bin. I usually put up two of them. I also learned it is better to decorate specific areas like archway, a stair rail, the fireplace, or the foyer, instead of trying to do the entire house. On the sideboard in my living room I have a 2 foot tree with the microfibers in it so it lights up multicolored bands at night, 3 wooden pine trees with cutouts and and mini lights and 3 gnomes and a winter scene from Ikea that lights up. Looks great, can stay up year long and it is easy to put away or put up. I have a good collection of items and so it is easy to mix and max areas.
I am firmly team Spooky November! but I like Halloween more than Christmas ???? so…. as for decorating trends, I like putting up brightly colored Christmas ornaments, I chose blues and purples and pinks over red, green, silver or gold. but I love the glittery flower decorations you can get. they clip onto the tree and it’s beautiful.
I also have a flat tree that we made ourselves because my cats are jerks and ruin regular trees.
What a great idea, it looks gorgeous!
When my girls were little we also had some jerk cats. After losing 2 trees and countless ornaments a new tree tradition was started. I got a huge roll of paper and covered a wall where the tree should have been. My girls then used paint, markers, glue&glitter. added a couple strings of lights and created a new tree every year. They still talk about it 20yrs later….I loved that tradition. easy peasy Christmas clean up!!
My family loves Cristmas. When the things to go in stockings outgrew the socks, my mom started using paper bag “annexes”. As we moved away from home, she sent the stockings with us but kept the annexes. Now we decorate new paper bags every year. Some are fab. Some are pretty tacky. But they–and the “stocking” decorating party–have become tradition. The party even superceded the cookie exchange!
“According to the internet “It takes around 1.5 hours to clean a one bedroom home with one bathroom.”” Shouldn’t this be part of Guess the World? No one on this planet can do it!
According to IHSS guidelines, it takes no more than 6 hours a month to clean a 2 bedroom home.
Bully for them. Can’t relate :D.
Cleaning takes forever. . .add in 5 kids, 1 dog, 2 inlaws that live here too and are hoarders at heart and the cleaning just might never end. My husband and I are very minimalistic ourselves. I have half a dresser full of clothes and 1/4 a closet, a few books I’ve collected and seeds and garden stuff and that’s about it.
I feel this. Oh IHSS, you make us laugh!
Uh, right. How many square feet is the house? Also, is the house a single level house or does it have stairs? Does that include kids and pets coming right behind you after you cleaned and mess it up again?
Makes me wonder about the recommendations of cleaning time.
First: Define “clean” … I feel this is a subjective ideal.
For myself, no matter what size of abode, 3 hours is the minimum to make a dent in the house detrius and chaos. Even when living in a larger house, much could be stashed in a garage/closet. In a smaller space, with my tendency to clutter and a special needs kids with lots of legal paperwork, the frenzy is REAL! I will second rage cleaning as well.
I also find that as I get older, I slow down. Pets and children automatically add hours to the cleaning, especially when you are character building your child and coaching them through the cleaning process.
Especially this year, in which cold started a good 3 weeks earlier that usual, I am firmly Team November Hols this year. This includes classical holiday music. Normally I try to hold out until after Thanksgiving. That is not a barrier this year.
No trends I am falling in love with. I plan to get a small tree (less than 6′) from a local tree farm and have plenty of white lights for outside decor. My kids love the hybrid tree lights that grew out of a jumble of partially working Christmas lights and no money to replace them a few years back: White strand on top, followed by coloured lights down to the bottom. After losing almost all our things in a firestorm in the 90s, I have built back an ornament collection from special locations near where I live and holiday travels to NYC and Vienna. They all have stories, and that’s how I like it. My tree will never make a magazine cover, but I love looking at it each year.
Have you tried Pinterest for some ideas? I’ll bet Instagram has some great ideas too. I have to temper my Joy Sparks with (1) Budget restraints, (2) Storage considerations, and (3) What the cats will do to it. Still fun to look.
With a new granddaughter coming to visit this year I may need to put my Christmas tree in a protective playpen. The deep cleaning and baby proofing will begin after we return from spending US Thanksgiving with the other pair and our new grandson. 2020 netted us a bumper crop of grandchildren. 2 sons. 2 daughters in law, and now we have 2 grandchildren!
Congratulations!
Congratulations! Wishing you a festive holidays!
We have had puppies the last two Christmases. One planned one not. We used the portable fencing around the Christmas tree to keep the dogs from stealing and chewing ornaments. It is light weight and can be opened or closed easily
I am team Winter Holidays November.
my question is what team of Merry Maids cleaned a house in 1 1/2 hours. It wasn’t a single person.
Smiles, loved the sloth video … as for the discussion, I’m Team Fairy Lights all year. Also, I like to keep my favorites from all seasons on display everyday (it’s a perk of being 75 yrs old) so generally, my favorite Christmas baubles hang from the ceiling in the corner of the kitchen, there’s rainbow fairy lights in the kitchen window; they come on at 4 p.m. to midnight every day no matter what season it is; the valentine/peace/doves/hearts hang from the ceiling in the doorways to most of the rooms all year ’round, so I see them when I enter rooms; the Buddhist prayer flags hang from the ceiling over my bed; the walls are covered with decades of my art work and collected art work. I suppose my worktables are where the seasons changing shows … the gifts I’m working on tend to get holiday-ish as the seasons change. Smiles; I guess the “decorative” change I do indulge in is digestive — I’m Team Soup and Tacos once the weather gets cooler. And in November, I’m Team Pumpkin pie, Apple pie, and Turkey dinner!
That sounds beautiful! ????
Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday and autumn is my favorite season, so I have always decorated for Christmas the day/weekend after. Apparently all it takes to get me feeling festive and break a 20 year tradition, however, (today is my 20th wedding anniversary!) is for someone to gift me a jar of holiday simmering ingredients. While they were steaming in my kitchen and making my house smell delicious on Saturday, I put the Christmas mat out front. When I started talking about putting the tree up, my 3 sons looked at me like I was losing my mind, but up it went. The rest of the decorations will trickle out as we go and the tree will wait to be trimmed until the usual time, but what can I say. As for style, trees are my thing and most of my decorations are tree themed. There’s also a lot of plaid involved.
I think that should be it takes 1.5 hours to clean one bedroom and one bathroom. At least, if I’m doing it. And I’m moderately tidy in those rooms.
I’m in the decorate during Thanksgiving weekend camp, and more so with holiday music. That way it is still fun at the end of December. Some songs you can hear only so many times.
Do you have a favorite carol? Mine is the original Carol of the Bells.
I like some of the more pagan Romanian ones, but of the well known, Sleigh Ride in July by Bing Crosby always makes me smile!
You could do a Melania-style combination of spooky and xmas? Too 2017?
😀 I have to be careful, when I do Dracula bloody spikes, it gets interpreted hehe.
Your hints are too cryptic! haha, Also I remembered that Kate went to save a kidnapped child in this snippet: https://ilona-andrews.com/2022/threat-assessment-sneaky-treat/
But I think that might have been a coincidence. Thanks for motivating me to find the snippet! It was so fun to read it again.
No decorating, no deep cleaning but intensive gardening thanks to the very mild weather in Narbonne (South of France). Christmas will happen at my ex-husband’s ginormous appartment. Oh, joy ! I’ll have only to bring presents, songs and kisses for the whole bunch : 2 sons, 1 son in law, 1 daughter in law, 2 step (ex-)daughters, 1 ex-husband/boyfriend, and 6 grandchildren (4 and 3 quarters, 4 and a half, 3 and 3 quarters, 10 months, 5 months time 2). No more, please God !
Thanksgiving is a day. Christmas is a season. I begin decorating for Christmas the week after Halloween. 2022 holiday decor trend is the disco ball ornament.
#Team Fall/Spooky November here!
Though i love all holidays! 1.5 hours to clean a house? yah right….
Normally I decorate for Halloween and Fall. I live in FL and we don’t get the pretty Fall colors that the much of the rest of the country does so I use fake foliage inside to give it to myself. Last year I put all my decorations in the attic. When I pulled out my Fall garlands I had no leaves… well not attached to the garland anyway. They were all in the bottom of the bag. Hmmm that sucks but lesson learned. The attic gets too hot. So I was in a funk and my hubby told me to start decorating for Christmas. I did and I love it. My house is so cheery and happy now. So I might decorate early next year too!
I am a long-time member of Team Don’t-Let-Decorating-Take-Away-the-Joy-of-Any-Holiday! Let me ‘splain.
We love holiday decorations but we don’t go crazy. Halloween means some little gourds and pumpkins, and cute little ceramic statues (ghosties etc) that come out of hiding once a year, etc. They are displayed until after Thanksgiving (only because I’m too preoccupied thinking about Thanksgiving, one of my favorite days to cook, to deal with them!)
In the past, we’d also start Christmas decorating in early December by stringing fairy lights in our living room picture window, but 2 years ago (as we were lamenting how much we’d miss them while taking them down)we decided to leave them up all year round, and they haven’t come down since. It may be a little unconventional, but it brings us so much joy.
I would like to wish HA, ModR, and the entire BDH whatever brings you the most joy with the least stress for a wonderful holiday season (or just a happy and healthy November/December if you don’t celebrate any holidays right now) and a delicious Thanksgiving! ????
I have an early December birthday so none of my decorating happens until after that. Most of my decorations are on the tree and have been either gifts or things I bought in my travels. Makes for a nice trip down memory lane as I trim the tree. In November as long as there is baked goods somewhere (it is pie season all fall and winter!) I’m happy.
I love both! However I live in Quebec Canada and winter starts early here. Also, our thanksgiving comes before Halloween in early October. So my spooky decorations are on their way out and I will be starting winter/holiday decorating soon. Bring on the elves and snowmen and reindeer and and and! And I love Xmas music too! My youngest son and I started listening to it last week. My boyfriend and my oldest son prefer to wait until December lol.
Happy decorations shopping!
Absolutely team Fall November. Christmas stuff can wait it’s turn (even though it’s my fav holiday)
re, housecleaning: Bwahahahaha! really? i run rabbit trails have to stick my head outside to clear fumes and generally take ages to clean.
See, you can “clean” quickly, but only if you’ve spent hours tidying and organising before hand…
Mod R, are you London based? I used to work on Oxford Street and my favourite thing (all year…) was when John Lewis would open their Christmas shop on the top floor. I could spend hours there…so many beautiful things! selfridges was also good, but a bit aspirational, my budget couldn’t really stretch that far. Now I’m back in NZ, where the holiday decorations are pretty average, and my partner REFUSES to get the decorations down before the first weekend in December. Ho Ho Hum…
I am indeed! It’s the Fortnum & Mason windows decorations for me at Christmas, because I used to work in Piccadilly 🙂
This year Central London is a bit meh…or maybe it’s just me https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFasLqkN/
Have you been to a tea there? I think they do high tea there, but I may be mistaken. I love looking at their hampers. ????
I have! And even organised an office Christmas lunch there in their private salon, it was so beautiful!
Although the best posh high tea in central London is hands down at the Dorchester. Someone treated me and we sat next to Nicole Kidman (which I didn’t realise until half an hour in, that’s how yummy things were ????)
Wow! When I can get my hands on Fortum and Mason tea, I will try to get it. It’s so yummy. I drink my tea straight without milk and sugar.
That was a very good treat indeed! ????
I had bed bugs this past summer in 2 different rooms, I will spare you the tedious remediation details. But we vacuumed the hell out of those rooms every few days for weeks per the recommendation of the exterminator we used (and promptly threw out the vacuum bags when finished). It took a good 1.5-2 hours just to vacuum the room and I mean vacuuming the mattress, box spring, under the mattress, baseboards, wall corners, inside furniture drawers, on furniture… it was exhausting and as terrible as it sounds. A 1 bedroom apartment takes way more than 1.5 hours. Now I own one of those Bed Bug Zapper oven things that uses heat and my suitcase goes in there every time I travel somewhere (we got the bed bugs from guests) to ensure I don’t bring them home!
Enjoy the holidays everyone!
We’re doing some housecleaning this weekend, but not getting too serious about it until after Thanksgiving, because we’ll be hosting 3 guest dogs along with our own Australian Shedders. But then they’re all coming down again at Christmas. Sigh. Team Winter Holidays. So over Halloween.
You see… that’s a bit of a tough one, because as a Canadian we have Remembrance Day. We can’t set up for the Holiday cheer until afterwards. Its our way of showing respect. I know some Canadians may, because of circumstances have to do early Christmas shopping. But generally it’s sort a seen as a no, no. Cause we all need to pay our respects, on November 11th. Afterwards is fine. It’s the before where it’s seen in poor taste.So…????♀️
Team winter holidays! My funky fiber optic tree is going up shortly with wreaths and lights on the mantle!
I had back surgery last week. No bending, no lifting, no twisting, no sweeping, no mopping, no vacuuming, no dishwashing, no laundry and no freaking energy. We have friends coming for Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve told them “you’ll have clean dishes and maybe a place to sit. the food will be good. please ignore everything else.”
I’m “cleaning” by sorting and throwing out. someone else has to do the rest. fortunately my mom and my husband and youngest son and my friend have shown up. it’s so good to have them.
I don’t decorate much any more and it has reduced my stress levels enormously. I do have 2 small (2 ft) trees, one is pre-lit with tiny ornaments I’ve mostly made and the other is a book tree my sister made me a few years ago (I’m a librarian) . Otherwise we just display the cards we receive. Unless you entertain for business, I hope you can find stuff that makes you happy rather than necessarily “on trend” like the red and gold you got rid of.
Move in slo mo? I live in slo mo. ????
Mod R,
Thank you so much for the Zootopia laugh! Good luck with the sleeping and with the cleaning!!
No worries, it is NOT sloth cleaning. I promise. I used to work in a hotel. One massive flu wrecked our housekeepers and GM called on help from the desk. We were flyin’!!! I tell you. scrub scrub scrub and an hour 30 min later when moving on to the next room we got, “Are you done yet?” With ten rooms? Housekeeping staff are criminally under appreciated and underpaid. Very big skill set needed to blink and have a clean room.
PS second try book tree image upload
There’s a 1 MB limit, if you can take a screenshot of the photo and upload that it usually works 🙂
I only recently started Fall/sppoky decorating because the last baby asked. So its not much stuff to put up or take down.
I would usually have the winter/Christmas stuff up inside already but we just moved and I am still slightly disorganized. Bookshelves are not up, boxes are still unpacked in corners so its delayed this year. Honestly it may only be my two trees and an inflatable outside.
I will admit Christmas is my favorite season so I have a whole lot of decor for every wall or surface.
As for cleaning, I dont know how I cleaned whole houses without my kids and hubby helping before. The kids are 19, 16 and 9 so they know whats up. We deep clean every Sunday as we can, since hubby and I both work longish hours during the week plus kids have activities in the afternoons and some Saturdays. We have a 5 bedroom house, it takes us most of Sunday with all of us cleaning particular sections and laundry being done. The kids are great cleaners too so its not like they are lazing about.
Good luck!
“Are you Team Fall/Spooky November?
Or Team Winter Holidays November?”
I’m more like Team Bah, Humbug Constantly.
I am a very slow cleaner. Recently-retired husband is helpful. But it will take….many days before the house is see-able to anybody but us.
I feel you.
As for decorating, I think the most important question is, what do *you* like?
At the moment, I’m a big fan of not having to make any more decisions and retiring my Housework To Do list 😀
I am just happy Friday is back. I have Christmas decorations from my parents, grandparents (oldest daughter-Oy). Daylight savings time makes me decorate early. For cleaning, my problem is I may start in the bedroom, leave to get cleaning supplies and end up cleaning the kitchen. Can’t wait for the new book!
I used to have…um… I tend to have half cleaned areas all over the house. When we were early married my husband would come home to a sink full of dishes and cold water, clean ones in the drainer, partially folded laundry, toys on the floor, usually something burnt on the stove, and small children yelling Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!
His mother didn’t do chores this way apparently.
It took years but now he comes home to half loaded(unloaded) dishwasher, partially folded laundry, in-process projects, and a small dog that dances happily at his feet.
Also an adult diagnosed ADHD wife. He still loves me!
I take a break from decorating in November. My birthday is at the end of the month so no Christmas festivities until after my birthday.
Same about the bday, and usually it feels like I’m giving in and admitting I was born in winter if I do Christmas decorations before it. And November is autumn, damn it 😀
come to OZ, I was born in December and here it’s summer 🙂
Tree was always up just before my birthday, just green tree and lights and coloured baubles.
Pretty close to what i put up now too
My birthday is the week of Christmas. Even though my mom always keeps it separate I still love the decorations up for it. I am turning 39 this year and she still gives me separate presents.
Happy early Birthday from another near to Christmas kid (22nd). My mom always kept them separate. Now my daughter does that.
I love zootopia, I just really dislike the sloth scene and now there are zootopia shorts on disney + and I cannot get myself to watch the sloth scene. I also have started trying to clean, my claim to fame is finally pulling fouton matress up, and getting rid of cat hair and putting new covering on it. I’m also trying to unpack boxes that i havent unpacked in 4 years so we all know how that is going. Like what does one do with a retainer that doesnt fit?
Not into the spooky, not even for October, so I’m just Team Fall November – fall being my favorite season AND I’m married to the Grinch ???????? who does NOT want any hints of Christmas until after Thanksgiving.
But I decorate with pumpkins and fall leaves AND lights, so maybe kinda/sorta winter holiday? ish?
Also – there is NO WAY that any cleaning can be completed in only 1.5 hours…
it takes me that long just to find my motivation to START. ????????
You might appreciate Flylady.net. Her approach to housecleaning is a little every day. You never have to spring clean because you kept up with it all along. She may have a “getting ready for holidays” guide too. Lots to read on the website, so take in small bites.
I’m in the process of trying to right the shambles that my house has become. I used to have cleaners come every two weeks, and that made me keep the clutter down. Then lockdown happened and hubby lost his job and I cut that luxury. Turns out I suck just as badly at keeping house as I was in my youth. I just had a lot less stuff then.
Guests for Thanksgiving are making me do things I’ve had on the to-do list for years. That’s the upside. Hard work though.
Well in terms of team spooky or team winter…. for the first time ever (becauseci was late putting my tree up for yuel 2022) in left my try up all yr. so I’ve been yueling it over everyone in terms of celebrating winter… even in the middle of a summer heatwave.
I can’t do the cleaning myself, because reasons, but yes, my help. does take about 1.5 to 2 hours for my 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment. It seems for once the Internet is fairly accurate. 🙂
Im normally Fall/Spooky November but my mental health took a big hit this year and Christmas makes me happy so Im already walking around looking like a Christmas tree.
I wonder what *the internet* says about how long it takes an ADHDer to clean a 1b1ba home?
A lifetime is the correct answer.
It’s like no one ever remembers there’s a whole half of the world where Nov is springtime and Xmas is a summer event. November is new growth on trees and daffodils in the park. Xmas is beaches, BBQs and drinking white wine in the sun…
I’ve always wondered about the lack of summery Christmas carols! Do you just chill on the beach with White Christmas?
I’m not Southern Hemisphere but I am Southern Florida and it’s usually 75-80 degrees when I’m hanging my Christmas decorations. I wear shorts and flipflops to trim the tree. (Personally, my decor is less snow related. My wreath is decorated in seashells and starfish and I have a light up flamingo wearing a Santa hat in the front yard). We just pretend that the “white stuff” everyone is singing about is sand. And yes, we do go to the beach between Christmas and New Year’s.
Tim Minchin described an Australian Chirstmas in this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q his Christmas sounds rather good.
this is a really great song!
Also for parents of young children, if you join your kids in watching the Bluey episode “Christmas Swim” that’s a reasonably accurate rendition of a middle class antipodean christmas (including kids in bathing suits tracking water through the house and the video call to family members overseas).
Is it a tiny home? My friend lives in a 300 sqft tiny home. She could probably clean it in 1.5 hours.
For November I am a Fall/winter holiday person. So I have twinkle lights, candles, and apple and spice-smelly candles. In late November I start adding a pine/fir wreath, and more Yule/Christmasy types of things. We are usually traveling for the winter holiday so we usually don’t have a tree.
Ah, those poor people on the Internet didn’t have the BDH or a brilliant moderator like yourself to help them with their mistakes. They made a typo. It happens. They meant to say that it takes 1.5 hours to clean 1 bedroom or bathroom in a home. That seems closer to reasonable. Maybe, if you average in those speedy people that even out slow pokes like myself.
since it decided to snow on monday, and tuesday, and today, it is officially winter and i can hang up my snowflake lights now if i want.
i have a dog who sheds a lot, and i have long hair. it takes 1.5 hours just to vacuum!!! i have to keep emptying the vac and cutting all the hair off the roller. i don’t know how i’m not bald, i shed so much. and the dog too for that matter.
If you can afford one, you might want to get a vacuum cleaner that picks up hair without having it roll up into one big wad on the roller. That will save you time in not having to cut the hair off the roller.
Long hair here. In a month according to the rainbow vacuum I shed at least three to four heads worth. Love the Rainbow -with the water well I don’t have micro-dust recirculated through the bag. Downside is that emptying the well I get to see just how much the vacuum picked up.
(Rainbows can be expensive – I lucked out on a good condition used one. And they are really well built – at least the old ones are. Mine is over 30 years old.
I’m team Thanksgiving decorations November. once Tyrkey day is over, then Christmas can come out.
My Christmas decorations come out in fits and starts, popping up gradually as I get a moment to take a box or two down from the attic. The outdoor lights on the roof are my absolute favorite and they usually go up the day before Thanksgiving because that’s when I’m off work. This year, however, roof lights may be delayed because Hurricane Ian decided that my roofing shingles did not spark joy and tossed them. It’s been a whole process with filing the insurance claim, getting an adjuster out, getting that oh so festive blue tarp put on, finding a roofer, getting quotes, getting the insurance check, filing for city permits, blah, blah, bladdy blah. I probably won’t have a new roof before December, but once I do, lights are going up on it!
I hope the roofing all goes smoothly!
Thank you! Fingers crossed! The latest time estimates say they may be ready to start the week after Thanksgiving, so I might be able to get my lights up sooner that expected!
I am team “winter holiday time begins the day after Thanksgiving”
The Friday after Thanksgiving is when the tree goes up and my husband begins his annual snark parade for the Xmas music I will play daily for the next month. But it can’t start a moment before the end of Thanksgiving.
Cleaning takes forever. I think the hour and a half doesn’t exist for people who don’t prioritize constant cleaning all the time… I am not one of those people. Hope the cleaning goes well.
Spooky! Though the winter holidays are nice too.
So excited to have for sure confirmations of the snippet! <3 Happy holidays y'all!
At my house we decorate for Halloween around Oct 1st. then On November 1st we take away the fully Halloween items and leave up fall decor like pumpkins and leaves and add a few fall only decorations like the fall wreath for the front door.
Then the day after Thanksgiving is when we get out all the Christmas decorations and put up the lights and tree.
I like it because we get about a month out of each so it feels like it’s worth the time to go through decorating and getting time to enjoy them before putting them away.
Easy-fast holiday decorating for people who don’t like holiday decorating: red bows.
Hit up the local craft store for lots wide red ribbon in different sizes. The cheap plastic stuff is fine. Tie bows on every doorknob, seat back, lamp, curtain etc. I also like bows on pillows, stuffed animals and patient pets.
This makes it look like you had a pro-decorator color coordinate an understated display for under a hundred bucks and a few hours.
I’ve been taking all the books of my bookshelves, one double bookshelf full height at a time (4 in total), giving them a cedar oil spray, letting it soak in (for a day that has extended to months in one case) giving it a clean cloth wipe for any excess and putting the shelfs back in at even spaces and reorganising the books.
I started in January 🙂 and still have to reload the 3rd one and do the 4th one completely.
My husband hasn’t even said a word about it.
You spray the books? How thoroughly? How do you know they are ready to be put away?
How clean does this house need to be? I usually mop my wood floors at Christmas (yes, just once per year) and that alone will kill the 1.5 hours. Just a quick run with the vacuum, dust and bathroom scour would probably fit into that time window, though. Speaking of windows, no chance. We are minimalists, so there isn’t much to move around for cleaning or pick up and put away, which helps keep things manageable. I put up holiday decorations the day after Thanksgiving and leave them up until the day after new years. Our cats over the years have made a tree impossible, but I do like fresh cedar garland (smells divine) on the mantel and I use lights, pine cones, nuts in shell, and sparkly things to dress up the main rooms.
cleaning that’s that? I can’t do it. so I’ve decided to call it sorting. not tidying or housework. I can do gardening . baking. lots of problem solving so let’s see if I can get going ( this is only to be done if there isn’t a book needing to be read) 🙂
I wish I could convince my husband that that was a thing! ????????????
When I got this in my email the crying emoji came out the width of the screen, which seems appropriate when we’re talking about housework.
Oh no, not again! Sorry about that, I thought we could go back to them. (but yes, accurate)
We tossed every single decoration we had in a fit of clearing out the house prior to moving. Now I’m obsessively watching holiday decorating DIY channels on how to make amazing (as if mine would turn out this good) looking holiday decor from the Dollar Store and WalMart from the YouTube channel Glue Guns and Roses. I think, SURE, I can do this. And yet… still have not even gotten a glue gun. Then, I go over to watching thrift store finds with the Crazy Lamp Lady and I think, I’ll just thrift everything!
Still haven’t done a thing. Maybe I’ll just play their channels on the TV to make the house seem festive?
I’m team winter holidays starting American thanksgiving. Halloween is cleaned up November 1 giving me a couple of weeks to clean. It takes me 2-3 hours to light dust, vacuum and mop a largeish house if I really move. Anything on a cleaner level (baseboards and windows etc) goes to 1.5 hours per room, thus those only get done once a year. I’m more of a “my house is tidy, not clean” cleaner until the furballs are too noticeable.
We decorate mid-November. Also, who was cleaning that house in 1.5 hours and how clean was it when they were done?!
I had to laugh at the hour and half to clean the house. I have three ladies come every other week to clean our house and they spend three hours. Granted we have five dogs, three cats and three parrots in the house. Do you know how much dirt and mud five dogs can track in even with rugs inside and out? I know I pay a premium because of that. I work full time and we have five horses in the back yard. I would rather clean horse manure than vaccum so the house cleaners are worth it.
As the owner of two horses, three dogs and unknown number of feral cats that hang about (terrorizing the dogs), I second that! Much rather muck out stalls!
I have frequently found that the internet lies. Or at least omits relevant qualifications / information such as:
1. Square footage of said 1 bedroom, 1 bath home.
2. Number of pets living in said home.
3. Clearly defines “clean”. My “clean” may be different from your “clean”. If your clean only means pickup and vacuum, then possibly an hour and a half is enough time depending on what needs to be picked up and put away.
4. Number of days, weeks, years from the last clean-up/ organization attempt.
5. Inclusion of closets in said cleaning / organizing activities.
The park near where I grew up had outdoor bathrooms with concrete walls and heavy-duty fixtures. You could have cleaned the place by sticking a fire hose in the door for a few minutes. Perhaps they did. I always wanted something similar in a house. All surfaces tiled, any cabinets and doors with water-tight seals, and a drain in the floor. Just push a button and a ceiling sprinkler goes on for 5 minutes and all done.
In the absence of such a system, best of luck.
Team Winter Holidays November! ????❄️☃️
Also, I wish my host was always guest ready but sadly it is not, I always have to scurryfunge https://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/word-of-the-day/word-of-the-day-scurryfunge/
Word of the day!
Such an appropriate word! It really should come back in use as I think many of us do it, whether we want to admit to it or not. ????
I can usually clean a bedroom in an hour if it’s not the bedroom where everything goes to die, I mean, be stored. So I can clean the master bedroom in an hour NOT counting getting the sheets back on the bed, because they would still be line drying in that time. I can clean a bathroom in one hour. So I’m already a half hour behind and I assume this internet house has a kitchen and probably a sitting room and maybe even a dining room.
So no. That is not accurate. But the internet can be vague. And it can outright lie.
I no longer decorate for any holiday. Best case, I pick some fresh flowers from the garden. I grow a couple of orchids and sometimes they are in bloom and that is about as good as it gets for decorations around these parts.
On another note, I need the name of a fancy, really excellent tea. I know that House Andrews drinks a lot of different teas and asked for teas a while back. This is for a story I’m working on. I drink tea myself and am about to try Harney and Sons in the tin (English Breakfast and Earl Gray) to see if it will be a really good tea. I want something fairly fancy for the scene I am working on, but finding a delicious tea is pretty difficult. So if you have any really special teas or if House Andrews found a really special one, could you post about it or tell me?
Happy Holidays. And remember, whatever you decide to clean or decorate, it’s all good. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Make sure to take time to smile and laugh because those decorate you and there is nothing better.
I know Earl Grey and by extension it’s family (Lady Grey, Smoky Grey, Crème Grey, London Fog) is not seen as “fancy” because at origin, it was low quality tea to which bergamot oil was added to mask the taste. I’m not a fan of snobbishness in teas or book genres, so I don’t subscribe, but I know enough tea purists to mention it hehe.
Do you want a specific brand/flavour, or type of tea? Oolong varieties are definitely the most acknowledged at the moment, you can’t really go wrong searching for blends there.
Personally, I always found “Nuit a Versailles” by Dammann Freres a very poetic sounding and tasting brew.
Thank you for the reply! What I’m looking for is a good, old fashioned black tea, something with some great body and full taste. The main is down-to-earth, but she is celebrating a little and wants her “good” tea for the occasion. So not really “fancy” so much as going to the pantry to bring out her very best “treat” tea. The Harney and Sons I am drinking right at the moment has fancy bags (they call them silk). It comes in a tin and it is vanilla/black tea/decaf. It says a hint of vanilla, but the vanilla completely overwhelms the experience. I can’t detect any black tea flavor at all. The tin is nice. So it feels like it should be a special cup of tea, but it’s just a very meh experience. So this won’t be it. The earl gray probably won’t either (I bought it at the same time). It’s hard to find really great tea in the US–strong, full body, great taste. We do great with iced tea and have LOADS of them. But I nice, hot cuppa…not so great. I shall keep looking. Any suggestions of just some really good tea…a brand that is generally good, or a “this is my favorite. It may cost a little extra but for a special guest or special occasion, this is the go-to tea.” For example, in Japan Sencha Green tea is that kind of tea–single origin farm such and such would be a step up from that. But, of course, when something like that becomes popular, suddenly EVERY green tea is sencha…
🙂
Have you looked at David’s Teas, Fortnum & Mason, or Whittard’s of Chelsea?
Mod R – I find that if I want to buy something, cleaning, decluttering, and looking at my credit card bill helps me evaluate if I really want or need it. Then I go stare at the tower of stuff I have yet to tackle. Maybe some nice projecting lights and things which can easily be stored would suffice?
Thank you! I will look at all of those. Much appreciated!
Adagio Teas has some really great teas, especially for fall/winter right now.
My favorite grocery store tea is still the peppermint one from Sleepytime (mostly herbals).
Thank you!
Rose congou is my self pampering favorite. The one I get from Upton Tea is a nice black with rose petals in a not overwhelming proportion. – I dislike teas where the added accents make them taste like colored perfume.
Thank you!!! I agree–I don’t want to taste the ‘additive.’ It has to be a light accent! Will check it out.
Have you tried “heavenly cream” by Sloane Tea? It’s my absolute favourite – very rich and smooth flavour. I purchase it loose in bulk (never enough!) but it does come in beautiful little decorative tins too.
No, I haven’t. I shall look it up. Thank you for the input.
Maria
I feel extra fancy with Palais des Thes tea. Harney is nice and I enjoy it, but PdT is extra. The tea bag really is muslin with a braided string, so it feels very luxe to use one. However, I personally prefer loose leaf and you can get super high quality tea that way.
Here’s a link to the Palais des Thes black teas:
https://us.palaisdesthes.com/en_us/teas/black-tea/
And I’ll try to attach a screenshot I took of a random black tea I chose. Hope this helps! ????
Thank you! I love muslin bags and have made my own with loose tea. Excellent idea for what I need. Thank you.
You’re welcome! ????
the romance author courtney milan has a tea and books newsletter that she emails out with all kind of fancy tea recommendations. I did recently try lady grey which added basil to the tea, and it was very nice and refreshing.
Basil? I wouldn’t have thought of that. I also found that Gail Carriger has a couple of very good posts on tea! Thank you for another place to read up.
I really like some of the blends from TeaGschwendner. My sister drank all my Monet Earl Grey Lavender, if that’s a good enough recommendation ????
Ha! Sneaky sister! Thank you for the recommendation.
After my wife passed away suddenly on an Easter Sunday almost a decade ago, I gave away, donated or trashed all of our holiday decorations. We had encouraged our children to move away from our hometown because it was more economical for them. They had moved to New York, Dallas, Odessa, Honolulu and Las Vegas. One retired and moved back to El Paso sans adult children. I visit my out-of-town families; it is easier and more economical for one person to travel.
I made friends, they all urged me to decorate at least for Christmas. I put up luminarias, they looked nice. My wife and I had won a neighborhood decorating contest with them about twenty-years earlier in Panama. They were small brown paper sandwich bags with sand in the bottom to hold votive candles upright. Sure enough, here in the desert a wind and rainstorm blew through town the first night they were lit. It didn’t take long for the whole display to be ruined. I could have replaced them with yellow plastic bags with electric lights instead of candles, but that display looks very artificial. The next year I put a wreath on my front door, that’s the extent of my current holiday decorating.
I live in an apartment and storage space is limited. Of the two holidays, I picked Christmas for decorating. I don’t put up a tree but I do decorate all over my apartment, lights under the curtain valances etc,
I am 60+ and 80% of my decorations are Disney related, the rest are inherited from my mom.
I don’t decorate until the end of November – after my birthday is over! (priorities)
As for cleaning, I vacuum/dust once every 2 weeks, do the dishes when the counter is full and generally keep tidy and I am done. I don’t have any pets and live alone so how/when I clean is all up to me!
I’m ‘Team Winter Holidays November with white Fairy Lights’ and for hiring out the cleaning.
Also, we play music that has strings and instrumentals to create a warm ambience and then seamlessly transitions into Christmas strings and instrumental music.
I’m mostly team fall/spooky November until after Thanksgiving but this year we have new kittens and I think I’m going to get the tree up early but wait to actually decorate it so I can see how the kittens react to it and give them a chance to get used to it before we add glass ornaments into the mix. I love my tree. It is all black and silver and clear glass. So pretty.
Highly recommend not adding as many temping dangly things to your tree the first year. Especially not if in easier view/ leaping distance from something like the back of a couch.
i am Team Fall/Spooky November
I own my own business, have a SO that hoards and will only clean after a long time of urging/pleading combined with listing reasons. and I can’t physically move any of the LARGE furniture crammed into the living space so can only clean /vacuum paths, all flat spaces are at least 3 layers deep.
Martha Stewart answered the winter holidays decorating question today in a promo. Three things spark her holiday decorating joy: 1. Candles in the windows (electric) 2. Wreaths wreaths wreaths and 3. A tree in every room. I would like to buy a wreath and a tree! Good job organizing (we use a ‘z’ for that word).
One mom & four kids = Saturday cleaning crew.
One dad, two dogs & one cat = Saturday cheering section.
Three bedrooms, one bathroom, living room, dining room and kitchen.
Total time = four hours, minimum.
My mom would be ROTFL!!
And yes, her flabber would indeed be gasted!! ????????????
You sound like me when i get on what i like to call my Irish washer woman tears. Then you spend the next six months looking for the stuff you gave to goodwill. Cheers????????
I am so put off by all the overdone, commercial Christmas frenzy and how early it begins that I often don’t decorate until after Christmas. As soon as the craziness ends, I feel more Christmas spirit and decorate.
In terms of the rest of the house decorations,I tend towards snow people ( they are cheerful!). But the tree is decorated with all the ornaments purchased through time, so there isn’t a theme there except for happy. The tree has multi-colored lights, but the outside lights in front tend to be white. Then the house lights by the doors each get a red bow.
I wanted to clean this week before feeding the family at Thanksgiving but that went by the wayside when son #2 got the flu (something) at college (he lives at home) and the hubs and I both got it from him. Maybe by the weekend?
Team Fall/spooky Nov here. No or very little Christmas allowed till after Thanksgiving. Poor holiday gets slow rolled between Halloween (which I love) and Christmas (which I also love). Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. So I like to enjoy the Fall, even though it never lasts long in NW Louisiana.
Mod R, you decorate any way you wish. I’m personally Team Spooky, but I also freely admit that I never took my Christmas tree (fake) down last year and I’m already holiday fabulous. My only advice is that if decorating twice requires too many spoons, skip right to the winter decorations. Good luck, thank you for being consistently wonderful.
I’m lucky if I can get the kitchen counter cleaned off and organized in an hour and a half. Curse you ADHD squirrel brain!!!
????????
If you’re looking to mix Halloween with Christmas, I’ve been seeing more examples of lovely Halloween trees. ????
Anyone who actually thinks you can clean a one bedroom, one bathroom home in 90 minutes… still believes in the tooth fairy (especially if they are married).
Cleaning time estimates never takes into account the many things you need to do (i.e., the cutlery drawer, the front hall closet, the junk drawer, your dresser drawers, your towel/sheet closet……), but often don’t do until you can’t find anything or realize most of what you have is ready for the garbage bin.
I will wait till the end of the month to set up my Christmas decorations, all of which I condensed into a single (but good sized) box several years ago.
A simple life is good life.
Decorate any time after Halloween, it’s so much work, you may as well enjoy it for a decent amount of time. I don’t have any decorations and it’s not a good year to spend money on them, so me and my toddler Monster will make lots and lots of paper snow flakes to make things festive.
I work at Hobby Lobby and the three hottest Christmas decor trends is Buffalo Plaid, Grinch everything, or black. Black ornaments, black mini trees, black everything. We can’t keep enough of these three themes in stock.
Shop now if you need Christmas stuff. It will all be gone by the end of next week!
I’m currently living for the folks with 12 foot skeletons turning them into holiday decor- there’s one dressed as a grinch and it’s gigantically adorable!
If it’s not obvious, I am untrendy. Good luck with cleaning and may your holiday muse be merry and bright! And insomnia is ROUGH, may your sleep schedule return soon.
I only just recently started actually decorating for seasons. As a judgmental young ‘un [reader, she was in her lower 30s], I frowned on Christmas décor before Thanksgiving, but COVID taught me that you have to seize happiness where you find it. 2020, I decorated in mid-November because I was going to design a garland *myself*, and that made me happy. This year, I will be decorating the week after Thanksgiving, mostly due to timing.
On the subject of cleaning timings, I find those low numbers are talking to a very minimal checklist that does not actually involve *tidying*. Cleaning as wash/vacuuming the floors, wipe down the windows, dust, etc., can be done pretty methodically and very efficiently. Tidying is a whole other ballgame. You have a thing out of place that needs to be put where it goes. Where DOES it go? Is it visible? Do you have to place it JUST SO to make it look right? You’re no longer following quantitative values, you’re adding qualitative judgments. That’s both time-consuming and exhausting! So, my point: cleaning = reasonably fast, cleaning + organizing = Slowest of Mo (but of so satisfying!)
Who cares about trends? Go see what you really like. I’ve got holiday decorations that my Mother and Grandmother used. I like them and put them out each year. You do have to have to plan for storage for them between holidays.
And I have had professional house cleaners that only take 1.5 house cleaners that ouly take 1.5 hours to clean a house. You usually have to go back and clean after them.
Way back when, as a working mom of children with busy schedules, I decided life was too short to spend my very limited free time cleaning the house. We hired a cleaning service and considered the money well spent. My kiddos knew the service was there to CLEAN, not to pick up after them – if there were things on the floor in their bedrooms, the cleaners didn’t go in.
Now I’m retired and have creaky knees as well as a Labrador that sheds his weight in hair annually. I still think the money is well spent, and I still pick up before the cleaners come. As for that ridiculous internet estimate, if the grandkids have been here, just the picking up can take more than 1.5 hours!
Team nothing November, because I try to get all of my shopping/crafting done by Thanksgiving so I can get a tree and decorate on Black friday and then just bask in the peace of the season rather than stress over getting everything done on time. Now, granted, I’ve never actually finished everything by Thanksgiving, but I do get a lot of stuff out of the way 🙂
Also team nothing November, because December marks the start of my slow season. I can start getting things done then (other than regularly scheduled items and emergencies).
I don’t do trends. Battery operated “candles” with light sensors go in each window, so they turn on and off automatically. That will probably be it for this year, because the rescue pup is not quite out of the inappropriate chewing item stage yet, and the family Christmas will be celebrated elsewhere. While I normally enjoy having people over, this year I can use the downtime.
check out paperbag snowflakes! super pretty and easy to do, and simple to store for next year! I saw it on thekwendyhome on insta and fell in love!!!
Try looking at Epbot.com. She and her husband are DIY who also post pictures of Orlando Festival of Trees. Her current project involves what she called a Hobbit tree.
I can’t get through a closet in 90mins. Don’t get me started on the boy’s bathroom. Wait, I should. I think things are approaching the singularity in there.
I lost the holiday spirit when the kids moved out. Haven’t decorated in years and honestly don’t miss something I can’t share with them. So I tend to theme my house around nature and change things up a few times a year during deep cleaning ( which takes me several hours per room… at least.) My eyebrows introduced themselves to my hairline when I saw the 1.5 hour description. Then laughed at the flabber my gasted description! Thank you for that!
My girls are both in their 40s now, but when they were kids and sharing a bedroom at the place we lived the longest, we would do what I called dynamiting their room. Everything except the furniture went out into the hallway and then we vacuumed and (if they wanted) moved furniture. Then I sat down in the hallway with two different-colored trash bags.
I would pick something up and ask whose it was. Then I would ask of the owner, “Keep, trash, or donate?” Keep was put away wherever it belonged, trash went in one bag and donate into the other.
Delivered pizza was frequently involved at some point.
It worked, and was a lot more fun than any other method I ever came up with.
I’m a “winter holiday as soon as it’s cold” person. Tree is up (but only a small one in a flower pot as I have a new kitten), candles are on timers, fairy lights are lit, and garland is hung. Tree ornaments go on slowly til Christmas.
I would add those diy paper stars but I don’t know if I’ll get to it this year.
When I had to decorate my brother’s place for Christmas in one day, I bought cheap wreaths and greenery, fairy lights, tinsel, and red bows. No tree. It still looked festive.
danslelakehouse recently posted various options for Christmas tree themes if you want to check those out.
On the insomnia front: hard crossword puzzles or sudoku work for me. I have to exhaust my brain when it won’t let me sleep.
Loved the “my flabber has been gasted” so much!
I’m team… both… my autumn decor comes out with my spooky season decor and then stays out after Oct 31st, but Winter Holiday stuff starts been put out slowly up through Thanksgiving and then boom! All autumnal stuff goes away and Walkin’ In a Winter Wonderland becomes the theme of my house.
Read some blogs on decluttering, and started cleaning my office. Found 2003 receipt from Circuit City from 2 moves ago. Took it (and more) with me from California to New Jersey to Colorado because I was too lazy to clean. Fantastic!
We have simplified holidays over the years since the kiddos are officially adulting. We have our “Winter Family Dinner” and that’s it. An evening of food and games. We do a small gift swap, with a $50 limit. Everyone only has to buy one gift for the dinner. That’s all. No pressure and no one goes broke. We throw a lot at birthdays I will admit. but I don’t hate holiday season anymore. I mostly ignore it.
Deep breath.
Simple is better, because people matter more. So let the cleaning happen. And then be purposeful as you find what to decorate with. I am fond of the Colonial Virginia Christmas look (link below), because it is easy to implement. The rule of thumb is one candle in each front window, and one wreath on the door. It makes decorating more about creating a space to invite than distracting with a spectacle.
A fun option, if you think you can get away with it, is miniature rosemary bushes. You can get small starter plants and set them as small Christmas trees around the house. The fragrant aroma creates a good seasonal feel, and the plants are potted so they won’t die and shed in a few weeks.
In keeping with that Colonial theme (now you’ve got me going…), You could always make a couple kissing balls. Before everyone hung fake mistletoe, there were kissing balls. You take an orange, poke it all around, and then insert a whole clove in each hole. Run a needle through the top, threaded with ribbon, and hang it high using the ribbon. The rosemary, orange, and clove scent is distinctive and specific to that Christmas season. And yes, if you stand under the ball, you have to kiss. 😉
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/e3/0c/dae30c2ce89ea399171aa4d0406610c8.jpg
Oh, the orange studded with cloves is called a pomander in England, I had never heard of its mistletoey function before! Thank you 🙂
I wish you well in cleaning, organizing, and decorating.
I am currently trying to clean and organize our own barns and home, while helping 2 children and their families clean, renovate, and move their homes.
One daughter with her husband and 3 children moved into our guest house, but dang they have a lot of junk. Every box is a miscellaneous box and half the stuff in each box is flat out junk. I am spending 3 hours Wednesdays helping them de-clutter. I refuse to move that mess again.
A son who ran 3 medical laboratories was suddenly out of work when the owner of the lab retired, tried to give the labs to son, and was ousted by a group of nurses who had secretly opened up a lab and taken the clients while paperwork was being transferred. That son, with his wife and baby, are renovating their home in Palmdale to rent out while they put stuff into storage, move in with us while Aaron finds a job in another state, and then move.
We will probably all move, and rent out these two houses with 4 barns at the same time.
But in the meantime, holidays.
I always feel like cleaning goes much faster when I listen to an audio book or podcast but still have to set aside a full day to do it properly.
Have you come across Diane Yannick’s review of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up on goodreads? You should look it up just for the giggles haha.
Hope you are able to ditch the insomnia and go back resting well.
Oct 1 to Halloween is fall and spooky decorations. Halloween to Thanksgiving is fall/Thanksgiving decorations. Christmas is allowed from Santa’s arrival in the Thanksgiving parade (or First Sunday of Advent if that ever occurs before Thanksgiving) until Jan 6 (Feast of the Epiphany). People are allowed to practice carols earlier but no Christmas music may be played in stores, etc earlier than Thanksgiving under pain of eliciting “bah humbug”.
Christmas is the only one really decorated for in my family and we (immediate family) have fallen away from that since (as the smallest and furthest away from the cluster) we were always the ones traveling.
Thank you, mod R for the post. Good luck with house cleaning.
My canine assistant, Titan, is very assisting. If he thinks it’s a keeper, he removes from trash can and carefully buries under my Rose of Sharon bush in front yard. Sigh lunatic knucklehead pup.
Have a great holiday season.
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Danke.
Hallo Elisabeth
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