Winter cleaning | part 2

Today I tackle part 2 of my winter cleaning endeavour. Sorting out the closets. I do this without the help of my children. Firstly I start sorting out all the clothes in my own closet. One thing I do regularly, is get rid of items as soon as I add new items of clothing to it. This system is really helpfull, for it keeps my closet from bursting at the seams! I take out all of my dresses, skirts, jackets, pants, t-shirts etc. and sort them with a critical eye. I ask myself, do I wear this item? Do I really need or wear five white t-shirts or six different pairs of jeans? Sometimes one tends to collect items unnoticed. If an article of clothing is not usefull to me, it goes to charity or I set it aside to give to a friend whom I know will love and wear it. One by one I scrutinize every item and after about an hour or so, I have them sorted. Some items need washing, so this pile I wash in the washingmachine. Not that the clothing is dirty, but some items tend to hang in the closet for longer periods of time [i.e. summerclothing in winter], so I like washing them to make them smell nice and fresh.

Once done, I hang the items back in the closet sorted by colour. It's as if I have created a rainbow in my closet. The clothing ranges from whites to cream to soft pink, darker pink to red, to blue, purple, grey, black etc. Then I sort out all the items that are folded on the shelves. And I end up with a white pile, a pink pile, a pile of jeans and jumpers etc. This is all looking really nice! By this time my washing is done and after the clothes are dried, I iron them and sort them out also. I end up with a beautifully arranged closet. All items are fresh and colour coordinated and I also have a lot of clothing I can give away to friends or to charity.

Now it is time for me to tackle the childrens closet. I do the same as with my own, only I end up with a bigger pile for charity! Children grow out of clothing incredibly fast. I have a lot of friends with children smaller than my own, so I know they will really appreciate new items of clothing. I also scrutinize all the coats and jackets and other miscellanious things that are hanging in the hallway. Quite amazing how many items hang on coat racks yet are never worn! Though you might be the only person who sees the inside of your closet, and frankly, no one else will care if you cram things in and shut the door, organizing them will really free your mind! It's my personal belief that a clean and organised home [which includes closets and drawers and things] reflect a clean state of mind. Keeping a neat home nurtures our mental state and encourages us to have confidence, which fuels optimism. It has been suggested that people who are surrounded by constant untidiness become depressed and dispirited. A suggestion I totally agree with!

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Winter cleaning!

It's not spring yet here in the Netherlands, so I won't call this piece spring cleaning. Right now we are approaching the new year, outside a blanket of snow has covered the landscape. Quite breathtaking and enchanting! I have taken a couple of days off work, the children don't have to go to school. And ah! I look around the house and my fingers are itching to give it a thorough cleaning. Where to begin. Well, if you are like me, you clean regularly, so it isn't as if we are living in cluttered hell, right? Yet I do feel that giving each room a good once over will clean and declutter my mind also, which feels very appropriate for this time of year for me. Cleaning is a spiritual act and a clean house adds up to a clean and free spirit. Okay, here goes:

Step one: get the children organised. I ask them to take down and dismantle the Christmas tree, after which I ask them to start sorting out their belongings in their bedroom. I also ask them to clean it. My two teens are very sensible children, so this doesn't present a problem.

Step two: throw away everything that isn't usefull and cluttering up the house. I check each room. Items that are usefull, yet unwanted, I place in a box for charity [in my case I donate the items to my church for the anual garagesale which is held in spring]. In the kitchen I check the fridge for out-of-date items and throw them away. I check the pantry and cupboards and throw away all out-of-date items. You will be quite amazed [or horrified] at how many herbs and spices and other foodstuff you will find with a use-by date of 2003 on them for example! Quite shocking really. By the way, don't forget to separate glass, paper and chemical stuff for recycling! Canned foods, dried pasta's and other things which I have stored in the pantry, yet never use, I set aside to donate to my church as well. I check the utensil drawers. I've discovered that I have one favourite wooden spoon I use for all my cooking, so the six other brand new ones can go. In the bathroom I throw out everything I don't use. Now I need to make some big decisions. Do I really need six different types of deoderant? Do I use all the different brands of creams etc. Nah, so I throw nearly everything away. I give the five deoderants to my daughter, for she buys them. I also sort out my make-up and throw away everything I don't use and put make-up I do use daily in my make-up bag. Whoa, a whole shocking six items! I throw out old toothbrushes, razors and creams and things. I check room for room and my garbage bag, charity box as well as other boxes are filling up nicely. I collect magazines, books, and all different kind of papers and stack them to check later. I check all drawers and throw out everything I never use. I have a box for nicknacks, another one for pens and yet a different box for all the small items that I do want to keep, and set them aside for cleaning later as I put them back in their place.

Step three: bring all of the houseplants into the bathroom and give them a nice shower with luke-warm water.

Step four: the kitchen receives a thorough cleaning. Actually I have allready cleaned the cupboards, utensil drawers and pantry with soap and water as I was sorting them out. I clean the oven and fridge with soap, water and Dettol.

Step five: with a soft broom I wipe away the cobwebs and dust on the walls around the house.

Step six: I wash all the windows, windowsills and woodwork, inside and out and I scrub all the doors and woodwork in the house.

Step seven: I replace the plants on the windowsils and start vacuuming every nook and cranny in the house.

Step eight: I wash and polish and vacuum [sofa, chairs] every piece of furniture in the house. Get down on hands and knees to thoroughly polish the wooden floors and replace all the items I had placed in my to-keep box [after cleaning them].

Step nine: I clean the bathroom and toilet with soap and water and Dettol [I love that stuff].

Well, that is about it really. The whole house is aired, cleaned and decluttered. Of course I do more, like throwing away magazines and other papers in my used paper box, sort out old invoices etc. There are still many things to do. Whilst cleaning I have run several loads of washing in the washing machine and dryer [bedlinnen etc.]. Well now, the children and I deserve to go out for a meal [or I will order pizza]. We will check the closets tomorrow and sort out our clothing and linnens, take out the garbage, bring away glassware, used paper and items for charity. I assure you, a clean house is absolute bliss! For good tips on cleaning go to this website for reference.

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the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

On Christmas day I went to the movies wih a friend and my children to see the movie version of C.S. Lewis' novel, 'Narnia, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. The book is enchanting and I adored it as a child. So when we saw the movie trailer [we perceived the movie to be high speed and action packed] the movie really appealed to us. We desperately wanted to see it! Alas, I am sad to say it was a rather dissappointing experience, though my children were quite enchanted by it, especially by Aslan, the lion. I have to admit, he was beautifully done. Sadly, the story pace was slow and the characters were rather two dimentional. I do have the book though and still love it. This I urge everyone to buy. Go to:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis

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Inspirational words

World Youth Day was an inspiring event and I felt blessed to be part of this unique time in history. The pope's homily was clear, uplifting and inspiring and I would like to share part of it with you. The holy father spoke with clear conviction when we celebrated mass with milions of people on the Mariënfeld in Koln: 'Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on. In vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him. But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything. People tend to exclaim: "This cannot be what life is about!" Indeed not. And so, together with forgetfulness of God there is a kind of new explosion of religion. I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery. Yet if it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it. But religion constructed on a "do-it-yourself" basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves. Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ! Let us seek to know him better and better, so as to be able to guide others to him with conviction.' Amen!

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Type drawing creation

Bombus is Latin for 'bumblebee'. About five or six years ago I became interested in this thing we call Internet. So to teach myself how to build a website I bought a domain - bombus.nl - and started to learn html, CSS etc. I had a childrens website in mind and my 'leading hero' was a bumblebee, hence the name. Alas, I don't have these webfiles anymore after an unfortunate computer crash... sigh. Yet, I have kept the name. I found a website called typedrawing and drew a little bumblebee and after a minute I came up with this: Not the greatest work of art I admit, but isn't he cute?...

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Agni Yoga

Agni Yoga is the path of a conscious altruism, of balance between self-improvement and service for the Common Good. Helana Roerich's three keys essay is exeptional and worth reading. However, I must stress that I am a devout Roman Catholic and only accept Jesus Christ as my 'guru'. The message isn't new, yet it is a universal message that will appeal to everyone. Though I cannot accept the 'generously awarded by nature' parts of the message, for I deeply respect the first commandment of God [as I respect all ten commandments]. Nature is as a gift from God and therefore I take care to treat it with the utmost respect - this is also the reason I am a vegetarian - yet worship it I cannot. Back to the message. Why has it touched my heart so? Well if you are like me, regarding life as a bitter sweet experience, absorbed in a struggle to attain perfection with every coming day, yet hopelessly failing, the words confirm that which is already deeply nested in ones soul, it is a universal message, giving hope and shedding light in an otherwise darkened mind. Sometimes we just tend to forget the apparently simple things in life that really matter: love, beauty and knowledge...

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Urbi et orbi: pope

Yesterday the pope spoke his 'urbi et orbi' Christmas blessing in Rome at St. Peter's square. Urbi et Orbi, literally "to the City (of Rome) and to the World", is a standard opening of Roman proclamations. God bless pope Benedictus XVII!

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The DaVinci code

Please do not view the movie. The book has done enough damage to Roman Catholisism as it is. This following article can explain why better than I can. It reads [and I quote], "Many readers are intrigued by the claims about Christian history and theology presented in The Da Vinci Code. We would like to remind them that The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, and it is not a reliable source of information on these matters. The book has raised public interest in the origins of the Bible and of central Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus Christ. These topics are important and valuable to study, and we hope that interested readers will be motivated to study some of the abundant scholarship on them that is available in the non-fiction section of the library."

Because I too have connections with Opus Dei, I urge you to read this article also. The description in 'The Da Vinci Code’s' depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate, both in the overall impression and in many details. It would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on reading The Da Vinci Code.

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Typo generator

Thanks to mandarindesign.com I have discovered the typogenerator, which creates really cool text effects at random. The typogenerator is a random generator for 'typoPosters'. A typoPoster is a poster, created from images and letters/text, it doesn't make sense, just looks good. It generated an interesting alphabet for me. I also typed the name of my dear friend Rik van Rixel after which the generator created the image below. I would like to add that my friend creates beautiful jewelry, so please click on the image below and visit his website!

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