Muck

Have you ever removed the drawer where you put the washing powder from your washing machine and looked at what's inside the hole it goes in? I can tell you, if the machine is say, 15 years old like ours, it will be disgustingly filled with brown/black muck. I can not believe we wash our clothes in that thing and thought they were clean when they came out. I decided today that it was time to give the little washing powder drawer a bit of a wash, as there was some washing powder caked inside it, and the fabric softener compartment had gotten quite yucky too. But when I removed the drawer from the washing machine I saw how gross it really was in there. Then, it took me about an hour and a half to get it slightly cleaner, failing to shift the caked on muck even with a chisel. A chisel!

Then I did another job that is very much appreciated and needed when I stay with my mother, which is sort out her computer. When she installs software, she always does the 'recommended' install which always installs all sorts of extra software and crap you don't need. So I spend a few hours cleaning up and sorting out her software, get rid of all the adware and the computer is 5x quicker. Easy job, well done. Go me.

I also finished the de-mossing-the-roof job. The weather wasn't too cold, though it was grey. At times I could feel a drop of rain on my head followed immediately by a short attempt at sunshine. The weather couldn't quite make up its mind. I did succeed in violently persuading nearly all the moss to come off the roof.

And once I finished that, I took the leaf blower to hand. Oh my. I have never used it before, but I've seen how it's done on tv. It looks fairly easy. Except, when I started, the air was blowing out of a hole in the bottom. Right, there was meant to be some sort of bag attached there. I find the bag, attach it, hoping it might somehow now blow out the front bit. But it sucks, and even better with the bag attached, so I accidentally suck up a plastic plant pot which makes a hell of a racket. Whoops. Finally, after having asked my mother who also doesn't know how to make it blow, we realised that one attachment is for blowing, another is for sucking.
Finally I was up an away, blowing leaves all over the place. A lot of them had fallen ages ago and were stuck and started decomposing, so believe me, it did not look like how people do it on tv. It took me a while to blow most of the moss and leaves into a corner, after which I changed the attachment and turned it into a garden vacuum cleaner. It really sucked! It actually mulches the leaves as it sucks them into the bag, so it's quite a nifty machine, if not a super noisy one. I don't think you're meant to suck up nutshells, just leaves, but as we have a giant wall nut tree in the middle of our backyard, it cannot be helped and it makes such noise. I also think one should remember to zip the bag back up after emptying a load of leaves into the container - because if you don't, very soon tiny bits of leaf are inside your ears, jumper, face, hair, noise, clothes and even your underwear. Not that I would have experience with that...

Oh, my foods. Haven't told you about my culinary trip of today. Hm, let me think. Croissants with Nutella for breakfast - traditional Sunday morning fare in our household. Not in Australia, though. There on Sunday I am allowed (by me) to eat my weekly bowl of Cheerios. Despite the lies the put on the box, I know Cheerios hold no nutritional value and it should not be eaten every day. On Saturdays Ash and I always go out for breakfast, which is a very, very Melbourne thing to do. I already miss it! Normally on weekdays back in good old Oz, I eat fruit-free toasted muesli (I hate sultanas, always have) with fat free organic yogurt and fresh fruit (often grapes, which are sultanas before they're dehydrated, go figure). But here, I struggle to find healthy muesli  without sultanas, so I get cruesli (crunchy clusters of toasted muesli which unfortunately seem to be held together by sugar). Now I've discovered an Albert Heijn cruesli that has cinnamon and apple and no sultanas. It's not particularly healthy, but it tastes like Speculaas! As my sister pointed out to me yesterday, I'm basically eating biscuits for breakfast. But as I retorted, they are biscuits very full of fibre and smothered in plain organic yogurt, so at least it's not Cheerios.

Anyway, what else did I eat today, besides leaves? Uhm. Lunch was scrambled eggs with chives on left over rolls, tasty. And dinner was leftover Andijviestamppot. And I also just finished my tiny bottle of Cherry Coke for dessert. So leftovers mostly, today. I am sure you're enthralled. I am contemplating some chocolate for after dessert dessert, though.

Did I tell you about the book I'm reading? It's Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and it's brilliant. Go find it and read it.

Class dismissed.