Christmas Decorating

Like most people, I love Christmas! The food, the music, the cheer, the cold weather (which we don't get very often in Houston), seeing friends and family, and, of course, the Christmas tree! This is the first year that Joe and I got a tree for our apartment. The tree is a table-top tree, it's small and a little crooked, but it smells wonderful!

Our tree all decorated.

Usually I like to put up the decorations earlier but this year I was a little lazy. I would love to decorate our apartment with fresh garlands, string of cranberries, and candles, but our budget and Joe's allergies don't allow for it. Instead I use plastic, glitter, and tinsel. Here are some photos of our decorations:

The wreath on our front door.

Our dinning table with a Christmas tree candle on it.

The wreath in our entryway.

And of course a hot pink glitter Christmas tree on the coffee table!

 Now off to do my Christmas shopping. Yes, I'm late doing that, too!
 

Cleaning....

With so many people visiting friends and family for the holidays, I thought this would be a good time for this post!

There are people in the world who love to clean. I am not one of those people. This post is not for those people. It's for the rest of us who would rather (and often do) procrastinate and wait until something like the threat of visitors makes us clean. When I do this I find myself frantically cleaning every nook and cranny, afraid that my guests will be able to see that I haven't been diligent in my housework. Then when my guests do arrive (usual just moments after I have finished my marathon cleaning) I am exhausted. This happened 6 months ago and I decided that it had to be the last time. So this post is about how I changed my cleaning habits.

First off, it was not an easy change and is still ongoing. I am not a perfect cleaning robot so from time to time I slip up, but my habits are getting better. Here is how I did it:


I first made a conscious decision to change. I promised myself that I would strive to change my habits and keep a cleaner home, though I knew it would not always be easy.


I did a little research. I looked at blogs, articles, and talked to friends and family to see what helped others.


I then tried different methods to see what worked for me. I kept the ones that did, and threw out the ones that didn't.


Some of the methods that I kept: 

•  Set a timer! This helps me when I don't feel like cleaning. I set a timer for 15 minutes and clean until it goes off. If I don't feel like stopping then I keep going until I do but I never quit before that timer goes off. You will be amazed at how much you can get done in just 15 minutes.
• Music. Lots of articles, and blogs mentioned playing music while cleaning. While I do think music helps tremendously, I found that it works especially well when I am excited about a new song or album I have downloaded. 
• I think about how nice it will be to have friends over and enjoy their company instead of worrying about how I should have done the dishes or whether there are any clothes on the floor in the bathroom.
• Along the same line, I think about unexpected visitors. I don't want terror striking my heart when I see an unexpected guest at the door. I don't want to run around furiously cleaning as many things as I can. 
• Set a routine. I use to-do lists on my phone to track what chores I'm supposed to do when. It's satisfying to check items off of a to-do list.
• Be flexible. While I have a routine, I use it as a guideline: if I'm supposed to vacuum but I feel like dusting, I dust. 
• Rewards. It may sound childish, but on days when I really need some motivation I sometimes treat myself to a reward after I finish cleaning. I get something small, like a $4 bouquet from the grocery store or a new bottle of nail polish.   

Except for the dress, heels, apron, and posing grin, this is what I look like when I clean.

Here is a link to the image above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uppityrib/3852464078/