UPSTAIRS BATHROOM - CHECK!!!

Finally. I have one room off of the leftover rooms list. Of course the easiest and it took me twice as along as I expected. As I dreaded it so much and refused to focus on it I was able to spread the misery out over 2 days. But it is done at last. I cleaned out the little cabinet, I washed every surface, I washed the shower curtain. I mopped the disgusting floor, I even went as far as to scrub the tiles in the shower.

So far I am not feeling as thrilled about it as I thought I would. Why not? Maybe because it just makes me feel that the other rooms that I think will be harder will be even worse. At the moment I am not seeing the light. I worked so hard last week (and the 3 weeks before that). It used to be that 1,5 hours of household work was the minimum. 2 hours meant that things were improving. After the last few weeks it seems, that 1,5 is not enough. Even 2 might not be enough. It is hard to tell, but it sure looks like I will have to bump up to 2,5 hours of cleaning and washing to maintain a clean house. If, IF I ever get there again.

Don't get me wrong. It's not as bad as it might sound, but it seems that I never have more than one clean room at a time. And on top of that a hoard that is weighing down on me from the attic, and little baby hoards growing in drop zones and creeping out of unloved corners.

Surface of the day: bathroom

7 a day: 8 jars of baby food my friend Alex gave me when she moved away about 5 years ago. Can anyone explain to me why I bothered to check the expiration dates?

NEW INSIGHTS

I have been watching myself a little closer lately. It seems that I am fine with certain tasks, that are a routine. Like laundry. Like cleaning the downstairs bathroom. But I am afraid it already stops there. Little things already throw me off track. Like throwing away the kitchen sink sponge and realizing I don't have a new one. Or my morning routine. Ever since we switched bedrooms with the girls I can't just start in the bedroom and then work around counter clockwise. Why would it feel wrong to start with their room now?

Today I have planned to whiz through the first 4 rooms in  10 min (it would have been possible) so I would have 40 min to clear the landing. I went over the things that were there in my mind the night before and I think 40 min should have done it. Worst case I would have gotten 10 more from the stairs and 10 more by skipping the playroom. What did I do? I climbed up into the attic and used up 30 min that were mentally so draining that I had to run off to the backyard to plant my tomatoes. 

Well. There is always tomorrow.

surface of the day: a basket full of stuff in the attic (unfortunately I churned quite a bit)

5 a day: at least 20 if not more random bits and pieces (a lot less that should have gone)

TUESDAY, AGAIN!

And wouldn't you know it. Another morning appointment. I am so done with running around Tuesday morning. The good news is that I got 1 hour of work in before I had to run off. The bad news is that running around in the morning already leaves no desire for work later in the day. Even if I do have time.

I am not sure but the house seems to be have been stable the last few days. I must be doing something right. I started the surface of the day again but got side tracked. Big surprise. I noticed that no mater which room I work on with my 10 min program I usually get distracted after about 6 minutes. 

James will be gone all day tomorrow, leaving way early so I will have to handle the day by myself. 

5 a day: 2 brand new kinder egg surprises, kids art

3 WEEKS LATER

3 weeks later I can happily say that all but one room (my nemesis) are still at the high level of perfection (hahaha) I had them in after I finished my challenge. Today, as I was completely fed up with household work I turned to the garden, hacking away. I decided to get rid of the black berries once and for all. Until I saw the blossoms. And thought of the ripe berries. Well. I hacked back everything that wasn't going to bloom and promised myself I will cut it all back when harvest time comes around! Idid mow the knee deep grass. I am a hero.

Laundry is so much under control it is not even funny. I only had one load, might have some tomorrow. As it is Taxi Tuesday of course I was invited over to a breakfast in honor of a new mother and her brand new little baby. I am excited to go but don't want to go at all, Seriously. Does it have to be Tuesday morning?

I totally got out of the habit of the surface of the day and the 7 a day. Maybe I need to cut back to 5 again to gain some momentum. I did throw away a soccer ball that wasn't much more then shreds so there is still hope for me!

SUNDAY NIGHT

Time to get a grip on life. Again. This week was full and it feels like it went on for EVER! I am very ready for a break, but it will be a while until I really get one. I am still working hard on a daily basis. I made progress. In the house and around the house. My tomatoes are planted, as are the peppers, and the beans, the pumpkin is growing nicely, as are the strawberries. The lettuce will hopefully survive the snails attempts to destroy it. The raspberries look nice and the blackberries were granted one last season. And I will DEFINITELY try growing watermelons this year.

Oh. Hoarding. In the house. Who cares. I have a life. And I will enjoy it.

I HATE TAXI TUESDAY

Seriously. I am developing a strong dislike for Tuesdays. I got no household work done in the morning. I was gone all morning. Upon my return I already cooked dinner because I would be running around going back and forth the next couple of hours. No decluttering what so ever the last 2 weeks. It is a little depressing. I had my hopes up. Most depressing for me is that last week I worked hard. I really got my 2 hours a day in on average. It used to be enough. Seems to not be enough anymore. It feels like I need to bump up maintenance work to 2,5 hours a day. I am not sure how I feel about it.

My throat is still sore, the ears are stinging. I only got one hour in today. Fortunately I got a quiet Wednesday ahead of me. Things can only get better.

2 WEEKS LATER

I have been dreaming about writing that I finished off the rest of the rooms on my list. I never got around to a single one. I am here with a cold, the kids are still talking, my washer has been acting up and I think I was able to fix it by myself. I have a nasty head cold. No wonder with the weather acting as it does. I just want to go to bed, I am just waiting for the washer to finish so I can throw in one more load of laundry. It took me 10 hours for 2 loads. Not good, especially when you have 5 sitting in your basement. I fell like the efforts of my 14 day challenge are slowly going to pieces again. Last week's 3 days of headache didn't help. I tried hard to fill my 2 hours with the 10 min program. As I lost my track sheet I am not sure, but I think I did it. I took advantage of my tired bones and sat down to sew on 2 buttons, which usually feels like a waste of time, even if it is taking time for action! Thanks to that I have one more pair of pants to wear, so does my son. 

I did part with one thing today. A nightstand. Other than that? I don't know. Nothing I really parted with, just maintenance. 

Tomorrow's Taxi Tuesday brings the joy of another morning appointment. Plus our car is at the shop and I have to do all my runs in a rental. Oh, the joys of Taxi Tuesday!

Ha. I just took advantage of the 4 min I had to wait for the washer. I picked a few things off the basement stairs and they went straight into the trash can outside!

7 a day: nightstand, 3 paint brushes, rotting wooden basket, plastic container, 2 pieces of string that I am sure would have been useful

BURNT OFFERINGS

I will blame my hoarder self for not throwing those in the trash immediately. Surely they could be saved? Parts of them were edible? NO? No. NO!

Seriously. How can this even be a question? And still it was. I ended up having somebody else throw them away. At least they weren't around for more than 30 min.

HEADACHE

Have you ever tried to clean up, when getting your head below shoulder level feels like your brain is expanding like a marshmallow in a microwave? Trust me, I didn't last long. I started cleaning up the living room and yes you can see a difference. But I am far from done. I wish it didn't matter, but we are having friends over Friday night. I need to sleep. That might help cure my headache.

TAXI !!!

I stayed up way to late last night. I am tired. I got my 4 hours of work in staying up past midnight. I got 1 h 10 min in today despite it being taxi day and my being oh so tired. I am cold. My throat is sore. My kitchen is a mess. I need to sleep. MY hoarder forum website is down. Experiencing with drawl symptoms.

1 WEEK LATER

12:28 pm

Last week was emotionally draining in many ways. The ruined birthday surprise, the dreams of he program for gifted children shattered. I am just not emotionally stable these days. I can't let go of things. Not being able to let go of small things sucks up my energy. Having no energy, I of course get no where. I have once again started out with the 10 minute program to survive today and once more can't even make it through 10 min. It is not that I don't work. I just jump from one task to the next, never finishing one. By the time I give up I usually still have 3 min left on the clock. I have put in 1 h and 40 min so far. And I feel like I have nothing to show for it.

15:52 pm

Feeling a little better about my 2 hours of random cleaning efforts, still not a whole lot of visible work done. Kids are tired, grumpy and starting to get hungry. I will be a fun evening.

0:07

Time to go to bed. I have more than 4 hours of household chores thanks to ironing and doing more laundry. The ironing has been hanging out in the middle of my living room attracting clutter like a pile of S*** attracts flies. It is time to go to bed. Tomorrow is Taxi Tuesday and I have an additional time consuming appointment in the morning. So it's a good thing I got tomorrow's  hours taken care of!

surface of the day: baskets full of laundry to be ironed

7 a day: 5 books, 2 tin foil "plates"

COOKIE THERAPY

Because cake therapy worked so well, I decided to give cookie therapy a try. Silly me went ahead and started a quadruple batch. Bad decision. First of all it is kind of hard to get that amount mixed well. And then unfortunately you have to drop them all on a cookie sheet to bake them. Trust me. That takes forever. And then when you are done with baking them all, somebody has to eat them. And it better not be me. 

I ended up giving half of them away (I meant to give some away from the beginning). I am afraid the therapeutic effect of it was very small. The kids were thrilled, and so were the 2 friends who got the cookies!

surface of the day: a box from the attic 

7 a day: 2 drills, a plastic container, a pack of

SO WHAT

So what. I blew it. I did not clear all 12 rooms. I cleared the following:

• laundry room
• girls room
• boys room
• our room
• downstairs bathroom
• hall
• entry way

So. Seven. The five I am missing are:

• kitchen (50% done)
• living room (80%)
• upstairs bathroom (not even started but a simple task)
• playroom (oh my)
• upstairs landing (oh my, again)

Every time I started lamenting the last few days about what a loser I am, and how much work is to be done still and that I will never get anywhere, James told me how much things have improved. He loves the clean bedrooms and thinks the laundry room is marvelous. 

I'll take it! Maintenance and staying sane it is for the rest of the week. Come Monday I might already think of a crazy new challenge!

7 a day: boxes, boxes and more empty boxes, some of them I have used for storage, others were packaging but have been lying around for ages

surface of the day: box from the attic

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT

To be frank, right now I don't care about the lessons to be learnt from yesterday's ruined surprise. I just want to melt away into a puddle of tears. I did my share of crying yesterday already I thought, but obviously one can always cry a little more. 

It is impossible to surprise James. Unless you want to count books and a woolen scarf and hat, that he needed anyway. He knows exactly what he wants and I used to make him write it down for me so I can get it. I got to a point were I said, just buy it yourself and I will wrap it. I should really take it a step further and do what my friend does. Her husband keeps the present "she" gets "for him" a secret. So she is the one who is surprised when he opens it. Well. James has been looking into cameras for the last months and I was already dreaming about getting him one for Christmas, but I knew it wouldn't work. So I shot for his birthday.

I don't care if James says I didn't ruin the surprise for him. For 5 months I have been tucking money away (we have a shared bank account and anything I would purchase paying with a credit or debit card would show up right away, withdrawing big sums of money would have given it away, too). 

For 5 months I "cooked the books" to hide my "crime". Embezzlement in it's purest form. The boys were in on it, promising to help me out if I didn't come up with enough money. I did. I made it to the store without him noticing, I brought the present into the house right under his very nose without him seeing it. I wrapped it behind closed doors while he was working on our new room in the basement. I took the present to the kitchen and put it on a chair, hiding it under the dinner table for crying out loud!

I did everything right. For 5 months. And then I ruined it. 5 min before our family party was about to start. I took the wrapped present out of it's hiding spot. I still had the plastic bag from the electronics store with the recite and the extended warranty.  I put it on the bed. A little voice in the back of my head chirped:"Put it back in the hiding spot!" I told the little voice that James was downstairs, that we were safe, that the paperwork was oh so important and that I didn't want to lose it and what if I forgot I put it in there? I though about tucking it into his nightstand. The little voice said that I was being ridiculous and that putting it back would be the smart thing to do and that James would definitely look into a bag of the electronics store if he saw it lying around. I told the little voice the bag looked empty and that we really want the bag out so we know where the paper work is. Instead  of taking literally 2 seconds to put the bag away I spent 30 sec debating it. With myself. I am not even sure what I did, but I think I kind of pulled the blankets halfway over it. 

As I was trying to get the dinner table set and his big present out (the one he bought for himself because I did a good job telling him that I was thinking of surprising him with a new book) the girls got all excited yelling:"Can we hide the presents?" (That's a tradition the kids started years ago. It's like an Easter egg hunt but with birthday presents and obviously extends the thrill.) I was not happy with it, but they ran off and I got sidetracked and I finally wondered where James and the girls went. I heard them say hot/cold upstairs and realized they were looking for the presents. (Cold means you are far away, hot you are really close). I went upstairs to take a picture, smiled at James and said:"Did you find them all?" He smiled back:"I found something else." And I said (most likely with my voice slightly shriller than usual):"And you looked into it!?" He said:"Of course I did." That's when I started sobbing. I lost it. I really lost it. I cried and cried and cried. 5 months of secrecy for the pleasure of a 3 second surprised look on his face and  I RUINED IT. 5 min before it happened. I still am not willing to forgive myself this kind of stupidity. 

There are lessons to be learnt from this. I know. But not today. Maybe tomorrow.

BONUS DAY - LETS WRAP THINGS UP

8:53 am

Why on earth would I make a Monday my bonus day? It started out as a true Monday, we now officially have 2 more kids the eye infection was passed on to. The first 2 seem to be over it. So besides treatment in the morning, one in tears because she wasn't allowed to go to school and one out to an appointment at 8 am in the big city, the morning was hectic enough to first let me forget about packing lunches, and then running with one to still catch the bus, which of course was 2 mins early today, but we made it. It is not even 9 am and I have had it. I think I will stick with my original plan of doing a regular 10 magic minutes day, and all the leftover minutes will go into the living room as that is more important then the playroom. I already put 40 min of work in, remember it is not even 9 am and maybe just maybe there is hope for me.

10:55 am

2 h later I have spent quite some time on the phone with a friend who had a bad start into the week, too. I forgot to time myself, but the parts I did add up to 40 min. I know I did more, but this way I have officially worked for 8 10 min blocks. As I want to get 24 10 min blocks in today I have a third taken care of. Ah well. Let'S just keep going. 

4:34 pm

Bonus day?What bonus day. I don't care seriously. I had a good time chatting on the phone with a friend, I am nervous about my son getting accepted into a program for gifted children and I have to wait until Friday before  I get the results. I am nervous, I can't concentrate, I've worked hard today. WHO CARES if today was bonus day. So far all the work put in was maintenance. The day isn't over yet.

Way to late:

A few first world problems (after 5 months of secrecy and plotting James stumbled over the recite for his birthday present 2 min before he was supposed to unwrap it) occupied me and I just simply gave up. Sorry for disappointing you

Surface of the day: forgot about it:

7 a day: a bed, a bookshelf, 8 DvD's

DAY 13 - HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE

Nothing like a little time pressure. I finished, I FINISHED the boys' room today. Now that was hard work. How much trash can 2 boys store in their room? Best part is that I know it is trash. No need to keep any of it. One of them happily parted with most of it. The other one wanted to keep it all. True hoarding tendencies. It is strange because when he was only 5 he tossed every- and anything. Today I got him to part with some things. Quite a few actually. We filled 3 waste paper baskets with paper and other recycling. We parted with a carrier bag (a big one) full of clothes. A few things we simply put in the hall to be dealt with later. 

My main achievement was taking out the wrapping paper and all the ribbons. It filled 3 boxes under a bed. I decided, it is not fair to use the boys's storing space for my stuff. We traded dressers with the playroom, now the boys have one with one big and 2 small drawers more which means that ALL of their clothes can go in the dresser which cleared up the 4th box that was under the bed. We filled it with Legos.  The other 3 boxes went upstairs into the attic. I have to find a new place for the wrapping stuff and then the boys can have 3 more storage boxes. I am hoping very much, that this will help to keep their room clean!

Oh, and before I forget. I watched myself closely. I decided I will grant myself a stay. I get Monday, too. I am looking forward to a real 10 minute program on Monday. With all thsoe clean rooms maintenance will almost be fun!

Sorry, for posting this a day late!

surface of the day: boys room

7 a day: 1 book, 3 fast food toys, 3 waste paper baskets full or recycling

DAY 12 - TIME TO START CHEATING

SORRY. I forgot to hit "publish" last night.

My daughter's eye infection came back full blast and I spent half of the morning just trying to get an appointment for her. The other half of the morning was spent making it to the appointment, the pharmacy and a toy store to go get a present for an upcoming birthday party.

I turned in a request to myself to get 1-2 additional days for my quest. After all we said 14 days (that should be 14 working days in my opinion) and the 5 hour run around with 5 kids in tow day, 3 emergency doctor appointments (okay James had to take her that one time, but I was slowed down by him not being home) and Saturday (yet another out of the house engagement) were not taken into consideration when the 14 day time span were proposed.
So far it is looking good. it would be a way to save face and improve my chances of actually finishing!

At the start of my project I was constantly drawn to the attic. I caught myself sneaking up there up to 3 times a day.  It felt like cleaning up the attic wold have been the better choice  and I actually started getting things done up there. I realized soon enough that I was simply running away. It was a way of avoiding the downstairs project and by actively doing some decluttering I felt justified avoiding it. 

I managed to stay away from the attic. Today around lunch time I realized without getting a few things out of the way and upstairs I would not ever be able to finish. I felt bad. It felt like cheating. To make up for shoving things upstairs I decided to get something done and deal with it in return. And I did. First I put away everything I had already gatherer in a box that could go down stairs. I found things to throw away and things to pass on. It felt good. Really good. I might have taken things upstairs, but I did not increase the hoard. 

surface of the day: Bedroom. Yes. The WHOLE bedroom.

7 a day:  batteries (recycled), 2 books, game cards (game was tossed weeks ago), broken toys, 2 rubber bands (true hoarders feel my pain!)

DAY 11- I AM GETTING DESPERATE

I really needed to see some success yesterday. I was showing signs of anxiety again. Completely unable to stick with a task and just worried about failing. No matter that I told myself no matter how far I get, I will still be a winner, deep down in side of me I know I won't permit myself to feel that way. I am not flexible when it comes to things like that. If the deal is 12 rooms in 14 days, then it is 12 rooms in 14 days or I failed, even if it I finished 11,5 rooms. Stupid. I know. I am working on it, but some things are just hard to change.

So in order to catch up and to have an organized effort I went back to the bedroom time and time again and finally just worked 10 min units. It helped. I pushed a few baskets and boxes out into the hall and vacuumed the bedroom. I checked of the room on my mental list and was pleasantly surprised with how relieved James felt that the stuff was out of the room even if 2 of those boxes are his.

This is what the abominable pile looks like now. I like it!

surface of the day: kitchen cabinet

7 a day: 3 carrier bags of paper and plastic