This week has been the hardest week for me. Once we got everything moved in here, I found myself just wanting to space out for a bit, watch a movie, have a rest. I’d been working so hard for so long without one day off. This was made even worse by the fact that two appliances we had ordered – our new Miele dishwasher and condenser dryer – had not arrived.
I had a little benchtop dishwasher which is half the size of a normal one, and I was trying to keep on top of the dishes as well as trying to clean the dishes unpacked from very inky newspaper. Note to ya’all – newspaper is not good for packing these days due to the amount of full color ads. My dishes were utterly filthy when I unpacked them. What was once white was now.. multicolored and ink stained. One advertiser had full page orange ads, which gave me fully orange plates!
I was washing all the clothes – then lugging them all downstairs to be dried in our old 4.5kg sensor dryer – then lugging them back upstairs to hang them up and iron them. The amount of lint that thing creates is incredible. We had to put it in the garage at the old house because there was no vent in the laundry. When we moved here we knew there was no vent so we made the decision to finally buy what we’d wanted for so long – a condenser dryer.
The new condenser dryer does not create anywhere near as much lint, and the even better news? You can reclaim the water from your washed clothes to water the plants. My first load in there which has just finished drying gave me back 2 litres of water, which I put on the lemon tree. That load had been washed at the high spin speed because when I put it on we didn’t know the appliances had arrived. On Saturday I’ll put some pics online of the appliances and reclaiming the water for those interested.
What all this has meant is, I have been so busy doing chores, unpacking, cooking, washing, drying, dishwashing, ironing and spacing out.. the amount of exercise I have been getting each day, even on the two days I took a bit of a break and watched a movie, is a lot more than I am used to. I have been falling into bed by 11:30pm and waking up every morning just before 7am. I am sleeping much better.
This week I saw The Sentinel with Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland – it was wonderful, I really enjoyed it. I bought In The Line Of Fire with Clint Eastwood because it was less than $10 and it was always a great movie – and it has a commentary track, so I was sold. Both of these were movies which involved the Secret Service and the President.
I also saw The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock which I spent half the movie trying to work out where it was going and when it finally dawned on me it hit me like a tonne of bricks – warning ladies, have your tissues handy! And Keanu looks HOT. And acts like someone with more than half a brain, which is hugely attractive for a change!
Now that the appliances have arrived, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will be able to finish all the chores over the next 3 days or so, and then I can get started on my daily beach walks. We’re working on a menu plan, and I have cooked dinner every night this week. Plus I made a cake! ;)
I am so ready to fall into bed tonight because I helped the other half carry those two really heavy appliances up the stairs, plus I had a full day of chores and grocery shopping on top of that!
Tomorrow I will be starting a new feature here on the blog, so look forward to that. ;)
Glad you are seeing the end of the tunnel. I, too, have been tired from days of labor and not enough just living and enjoying. Especially hard with kids!
I have never even heard of condenser dryers! Grr. It’s exasperating how wasteful it is just to BE American.
We must be in the same place in our minds, for the first time in years, I’m exhausted and it’s been an effort to do what I’m loving. Reading blogs and commenting.
I can’t wait to see the appliances, never heard of a condsenser so looking forward to learning. Hope you get to take that walk.
Dorothy from grammology
The self help blog
Glad to see you are feeling there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s good that you have been treating yourself to some movies. They are a great way to relax and remove your mind completely from everyday things. I am going to have to go see those movies now. Keanu Reeves – yum. Oops – didn’t mean to say that out loud. Anyway – looking forward to seeing your new feature. You have me all curious now.
Every day feels like moving day here so I feel your pain. Hang in there. Like the water idea, and loved that movie. Even the husband liked it. :)
Julie
Using My Words
The condenser dryer sounds awesome. I’ve never heard of one, but for Americans it sounds like too much work if we have to do anything other than plug it in and pay the electric and gas bills.
Good luck as you finish getting settled in your new place, and I can’t wait for the new feature!
I’ve never heard of condenser dryers either. I’ve just been fascinated by staring into my new shiny, silver bosch front loaders. How I love them!
Sober Briquette – the reward for me will be when I can look around the house and go – all the jobs are done. Let’s go for a beach walk! ;)
Dorothy – I sometimes find my motivation just vanishes, from time to time. I have to then reassess why I wanted to do it in the first place, and that can sometimes fire up the passion. ;)
Teeni – He was quite delicious in that movie. ;) But I have always liked him. :)
Julie – The husband liked it? Wow, that is pretty amazing. ;)
Kirsten – it is a little bit of work, but there are some great benefits, like your clothes last longer etc.. ;) Though I guess for some that might not be a benefit!
Thanks for the comments all ;)
Snoskred
(((((hugs))))) and I hope that you have some more great leisure time for re-charging at the end of this tunnel.
Vera
I’ve been wanting a condenser dryer for years. Until I moved into this unit I’d always lived in houses where the laundry was on the back porch so leaving the door and window open while the dryer was running was okay for letting all the moisture escape, but here my laundry is a tiny room off the hallway on the way to the bathroom, no windows, when the dryer is on all the walls run with moisture. Luckily I don’t have to use it much, I have enough clothes and linen to be able to wait for a sunny day and hang things on the line. I prefer the sunshine dried smell anyway. I’ve never heard of a dryer making lint before, is it possible the lint filter in your old dryer was damaged or something?
I’m glad that things are starting to settle down. Moving can definitely be a workout.
The machine sounds fascinating I cannot wait to see pictures. I’ll be replacing mine next year for a greener model.
I always liked Keeanu Reeves. :-)
Vera – I hope so too! ;)
River – you know the fluff? that you have to clean out of the lint filter? :) That’s what I meant when I said lint. I think I should have called it fluff. However it tends to be put everywhere by the old dryer and I’ve had others do the same in the past.
Opal – It has been, I’m fitting back into clothes I hadn’t worn in ages now. hehe ;)
Thanks for the comments all! ;)
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org