01.22.01
I've been touched with a bit of homebody fever this week. My plants are clustered near the windows, greedily soaking up what few hours of sunlight they're getting each day. I'm getting odd cravings to dig in and re-organize my linen closet. Where is THAT coming from? I guess it's a symptom of being virtually housebound. The outdoors do not much appeal to me this time of year, probably because I spend 9 hours a day in an under-heated office, so that by the time I get home all I want to do is crank the heat until it's tropical in my little apartment. I can't wait for spring to come back.

In the meantime, if I'm going to be spending so much time at home, I've decided it will be important to keep it passably clean, and as cheery as possible. So the brief articles in today's HerReality are all about that.

If you have any great sites to recommend or comments on what you would like to see in this newsletter, please feel free to contact me at Betsy@HerReality.com

Betsy Boyd
Editor, HerReality

I tried this once in Texas, but my main trouble was that even the cool dark space in my apartment was not cool. Even in winter, it was still pretty much hot and humid. I'm sure there are Texans who can do this, but at the time I just wasn't quite the gardener. I'm trying again this year, and fortunately I've got lots of cool dark space to work with. For a complete guide to bulb forcing, try this article from Garden Gate Magazine's site. They give general instructions, as well as tips for handling and cultivating specific types of bulbs. Good luck, and get growing.

Bulbs

When you come home from a day at work, the very last thing you want to do is housework. Yet you're the only one there, and the concept of a complete baseboards-up overhaul even on a monthly basis is daunting. If there were a few quick things you could do in five minutes or less-while your favorite song is on the radio, or during a commercial break, that regular deep cleaning wouldn't take nearly so long. Grab your rubber gloves, and get ready.

One. Clean the toilet, sink, and tub. This method works best if you are at least a semi-regular user of the daily spray and leave cleaner. If you are religious about it, this chore will take even less time, because you won't have to clean the tub at all!

Take one to two minutes to clear off all surfaces in your bathroom, wiping the bottoms of bottles, etc., with a rag as you move them.

Spray down the outside of the toilet and the shower and sink basin, then squirt toilet cleaner into the toilet and let it soak while you gather up dirty towels, etc. Wipe down sink and vanity-top, replace bottles, etc. Wipe down outside of toilet (including lid, etc.). Scrub out toilet and flush.

Use mop and scrub down tub walls and tub, then rinse and use the mop to run over the high-traffic areas on the floor. Run back to couch. Resume TV watching.

Two. Sort and pre-treat the laundry. I like to sort my stuff beyond color into high-priority and low-priority. I have enough towels and sheets that I don't need to wash them as soon as I change them, so I do that every other laundry-round.

Three. Clean out and organize a drawer. Pick one in your kitchen, in your bedroom, (especially the underwear drawer you have to root through every day)

Four. Go through your junk mail--magazines, coupons, catalogues, all of it. Put things in piles for recycling and/or trash, or action. Put a date on your calendar for when you're going to take care of the action items, and stick to it.

Five. Sew on a button. I'm sure you have a shirt or skirt somewhere that needs a button and has been languishing in your pile of clothes to be fixed for months. I know I do. With a thimble and some quick sure stitches, it only takes a couple of minutes. If the item is thick, create a "shank" (that's the length of thread BETWEEN the button and the fabric, that allows there to be room for the button to fit snugly, but not too tightly, into its buttonhole. It's a snap to do it, just insert a match or toothpick (or something larger, if it's really thick fabric) between the button and fabric, and sew around it. When the button is attached, remove the placeholder, and wrap several turns of thread around the connecting threads, then pass the needle back through the fabric, and tie it off.