Today is a rare day, usually Sunshine has music class on Mondays after Monster goes to school, but today is the break between sessions. There's also about 4 inches of snow on the ground. That gives me the perfect opportunity to tackle more cleaning projects when Monster is at school and then break up the monotony with some snow play when he gets home. I also get another breather tonight because I get to head out with friends! That's been rare lately because Husband has been working late, so I'm pretty excited!
This week was a rough one. I think part of it had to do with being stuck in a rut. The other part was not getting a break. I've been going non stop for several weeks now, with no down time, no free time for me. When that happens, I start resorting to the same, boring stuff. The same meals for dinner each week. The same activities for the kids. Then, I also become a shut in. I have the same 3 things on my "To Do" list that I just look at and don't want to do. The three day migraine didn't help either. It's a vicious cycle until I get a moment to breathe. Luckily, I got that moment this weekend. I woke up Sunday morning ready to start life again. I clawed my way out of the rut. I organized the bathroom cabinets, which has been on my "To Do" list for 3 weeks now. I got items ready to donate to BirthCare. I got items ready to donate to AmVets. I tossed a bunch of stuff, too (why was I keeping so many empty soap dispensers?) Then, I tackled the kitchen. Once the kitchen sparkled, I made pizza dough. After that, I did a little retail therapy, which usually seems to help, even when I'm only buying baskets to organize cabinets and birthday gifts for other people. I was on such a roll that after I got home, I even wrapped those gifts, and the birthday party isn't for almost 2 months! I'm completely caught up on laundry, which is good except that now I can't fit all my kids' clothes in their dressers.
Today is a rare day, usually Sunshine has music class on Mondays after Monster goes to school, but today is the break between sessions. There's also about 4 inches of snow on the ground. That gives me the perfect opportunity to tackle more cleaning projects when Monster is at school and then break up the monotony with some snow play when he gets home. I also get another breather tonight because I get to head out with friends! That's been rare lately because Husband has been working late, so I'm pretty excited!
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Yup, I'm writing a post about my phone. I admit, I'm a dork when it comes to my phone because I'm still so new to this. Heck, I can't even figure out how to surf the web yet on my phone or figure out how to do email. But I digress... On Pinterest I saw this great idea of taking pictures of friends' Christmas cards to use as their photo id's. After MANY attempts to get good shots of the cards, I ended up getting at lot of contacts filled this way. I have to say, pretty darn good idea and super cute. Here's an example. Unfortunately, I'm not near as good of a photographer as this particular friend. Then, after having her call me three times and taking about 15 pictures, Husband mentions there's an app for screen shots that takes a picture of your screen for you. Thanks for that, Honey. A little late... The other cool idea I had seen is to use a cassette case for a phone stand. Great idea, however, with a case on your phone, it doesn't fit all that well. Works for my purposes though. I use it as a place to put my phone when I'm listening to Pandora.
My phone is seriously great. I am such a list maker and I have a great app for lists. It actually puts little post-its on my screen. I also have my Google Calendar synced with my phone. It's great. Husband puts his stuff on his calendar, I put my stuff on my calendar, we sync them and then my phone or computer has our schedules. The next thing I found is for women only, so guys, you can stop reading. I found an app called WomanLog Calendar. For someone as busy,and, I admit, spacey, as I am, this is great for keeping of track of when that time of the month is coming around again. I'm still working on figuring my phone out. The more cool things I find though, the more I love my phone and wonder how I ever lived without it. It's the little things that no one really notices that I love doing and make me feel the most accomplished. As you are all well aware, I've been organizing my life, piece by piece. I've been cleaning out cupboards and cabinets, which no one sees except us, and even then the only one who notices is me. It makes me feel good though. It makes everything feel a bit more put together. I had seen a pin on Pinterest about putting together snack baskets. Basically, make a up a basket in which kids can choose for themselves what they would like. I'd been searching high and low for the perfect basket, when a friend of mine posts this. She found my perfect basket. After many failed attempts in finding a basket similar to this, I found a basket in the dollar section of Target. It's not pretty, but it's the size and shape I wanted. Funny part is, if you look at the stuff in my basket and my friend's, you will find we have surprising similar ideas for healthy snacks for our kids. It's no wonder she found my perfect basket :) Now to find a basket to do the same with snacks in the fridge...
So I feel like I'm letting my friend and fellow blogger down. At the beginning of the year, she mentioned me in her blog discussing how I inspire her because I make time to do write. Sorry, to let you down Super Mommy. I can't even figure out what I did all week that made me so busy. Maybe it was Sunshine not napping or maybe it was Saturday my computer room looked like the Watergate cover up. Maybe it's just laziness. Maybe it's just life happening and me trying to keep up. Whatever it was, I'm actually pretty sad that it's taken me so long to get here this week. I've started several topics, but haven't had a chance to finish them. In fact, I kind of forgot where I wanted to go with them.
I have not been sitting on my butt the whole week though. This weekend, we finally went through the filing cabinet that contains more paperwork than any one family should have. It's been 3 years since the filing cabinet has been cleaned out. Sadly, we actually found receipts in there from 2003. I guess we were just saving everything back then. So, it was a crazy shredding party all of Saturday. I've got 11 bags of shredded paper to recycle tomorrow. That's just the shredded paper. That's not the other stuff we got rid of and have to recycle. Then, today, I managed to get all toys organized, tags made for the bins and computer room pretty darn clean. The theme for the computer room clean up was simplicity. Keep only things needed or really wanted. If we could find a manual for something we own online, recycle it. If it was a toy the kids don't play with, give it away. If it just annoys me, it went. We managed to find 3 cell phones and their chargers that we donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers. It's an awesome feeling knowing that everything is clean and organized. Now to just make sure Husband and the kids can put things where they belong... ***This particular blog has taken me three whole days to write because I just haven't had time to finish. In those three days, at least three other friends of mine and I have been discussing how we are all on a cleaning and organizing kick. I found this out after I started this. So, I needed to add, I feel that the beginning of a new year gives us hope. Hope that we will finally "take control" of our lives. Funny thing is, we can't control life. It's constantly changing. Once we get a spot completely organized and chaos free, life comes in to mess it up (or kids, either one). However, it's important for us to feel a sense of accomplishment, even for a moment. The sense of pride and peace and that we did it, we conquered the world and cleaned out a closet. I'm not being sarcastic (hard to believe, I know). I truly believe in the power of cleaning therapy. So, here you go, what I've been working on for three days. Even after three days, it's no great work of literature, just the ramblings of someone who strives for organization.***
This past weekend we had our second Christmas celebration (out of three), and the only one that was at our house. Almost immediately after my parents left, I started to take down all the decorations. It took all of 10 minutes to take down Christmas. It took more time to get into the attic to put everything away than it took to take everything down and box it all up. I have an extremely small house, so when everything was taken down, it shocked me at how big my living room was. And my how empty it was. I love it! This past year has been all about simplifying my life. About figuring out the important things and purging the non-important things. It's been about downsizing. I've stated before that I'm a recovering hoarder (OK, not hoarder so much as pack rat). I always think, maybe I'll use this some day. This past year has been about letting that go. There are still things I can't part with because of the "maybe I'll use it" part of my brain, but it's a lot less. Recently, I've been reading a lot of organization sites. First thing I found is that the majority of these sites are for people with larger houses than what I have. One great idea I found is storing my sheets in their own pillowcases. Well, I can't do that because my linen closet is too narrow. I've found tons of great closet organizers, for bigger closets than what my son has. I've found a ton of laundry room solutions, for people who have an actual laundry room. Places for shoes in a mudroom or hallway? Found those ideas, but no mudroom and very narrow hallway. So, it's up to me to make the most of my space because, obviously, everyone else who organizes lives in a place bigger than mine, or they have no kids. My organization technique has mostly been downsizing. What do we really need? What are we going to be needing in the near future? In the past year, I have probably given away 50% of my clothes and shoes. I've given away all but a couple articles of clothing from each child. I've given away clothes Husband just doesn't wear anymore. I've gone through toys and have gotten rid of a huge amount. I've donated many, many books to the library or posted them on Paperbackswap.com. It's funny then I when I read sites that the first thing they tell you to do is downsize. And then they take you day by day or week by week. I do half the stuff they say at least once a month, and I can still find more. It doesn't take me a full day to clean everything out of my kitchen. I only have 12 very small cabinets. Clean out my bathroom? No problem, only one of those. The kids drawers and closets? Well, that one is the easiest. In order to fit all the clothes they have, I must constantly go through and just get rid of stuff at random. I'm on top of it. I'm ahead of the curve. I've been downsizing for a year. So why is it I still feel unorganized? Paperwork. It all boils down to paperwork. The computer room/playroom/office is insane. There are piles of papers everywhere. There is so much that it hurts my head, which is another reason why it's taken me so long to write this. Every time I step foot into this room, my brain immediately goes haywire. I can't focus. Even now as I type that, I stop, swivel around in my chair, look at the room and make mental lists of everything that needs to be done. My problem with this room is two-fold. Time is an issue. I literally need a good solid four to six hours in here to go through everything. There is two and half years of paperwork that has just been shoved in drawers. Husband and Kids just throw things in random bins when cleaning up, and that doesn't work for me. (As a side note, I did start to make labels for the bins, but the lack of organization in here has stopped me since I can't think of what goes in the bins until they are organized) The other problem with this room is that even if I did get a day to work on this room, it's where the kids play. It's where the toys are. Unlike a lot of people, my children do not have toys in their rooms. Rooms are for quiet activities. This gets into my whole issue with sleep, so I'll leave that for another day. The computer room is the only room with toys. So I would have to have children that just sit quietly and do nothing all day. That's NEVER going to happen! When I get brave enough, I will take a before and after picture of this room. It will get clean and organized. I will get rid of the majority of stuff in here. (Again, after typing that, I stop, look around, and think of all the stuff I can get rid of) It may literally take all of 2012 to get this room organized, but, the rest of my house is depending on it. If I downsize things from anywhere else, we're going to have no furniture. |
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