TODAY IS TOMORROW

No. Today wasn't much better. I am still in head lice shock and can't focus. Rock bottom, here I come. I stuck with necessities. But hey. If you only do half of what it is necessary, even though you did things there will not be real progress. I need to reset my brain. The good news is that I am making serious progress on my Christmas Carol that I have been practicing on the piano. Ready for the bad news? Well I guess it is a funny story, but it did make me wonder about how thorough I was in the living room. Get comfortable, I need to start this story at the beginning.

So. Easter. remember Easter? No. Well, that's how long ago it was. The weather was lousy and we hid the eggs and candy in the living room. Because it is so much fun, we hid them multiple times. When we were finally done I counted them and announced that one egg was still missing. We had 18 instead of 19. Alex, the math genius told me how many eggs everyone started out with and patiently explained to me that the total was 18 and we had them all. I insisted we were one short. He explained 2 or 3 more times, with a little less patience each time. As I repeatedly tell him one can't always be right and sometimes you just have to suck it up and admit you are wrong I figured I should lead by example. So I said:"What you say makes sense. You must be right. We have them all." I had totally forgotten about that moment when James came upstairs tonight and said:"Look, I found an Easter Egg in the living room!"
I was right! I was RIGHT! I WAS RIGHT! HARHARHAR!!! Guess who was in the boys room gloating 30 sec later! Too bad it dawned on me a few minutes later that that also means my living room clean up was not as efficient as I thought. I could have sworn I dusted that surface!


Editors note: yes this week was bad enough that it took me 3 days to post this!

HALF TIME BREAK

Sports, concerts, even long movies all take half time breaks. I decided I will, too. I can't go on like this accumulating unfinished rooms. Especially as they are all so close to being finished. I think each of them can be done in under 2 hours. That sounds doable, don't you think?  Oh wait. The kitchen will take more time. Here is the plan:

Monday: kitchen + patio
Tuesday: kitchen + upstairs bathroom
Wednesday: kitchen + living room
Thursday: kitchen + guest room
Friday: kitchen

And then...new rooms, new adventures!

I DON'T CARE

I wish every day was "I don't care day" like yesterday but alas, it can't be. So I decided to swallow some worms, like them or not. It is kind of hard to keep picking worms when one child reappears at the doorstep crying the moment first period starts telling you he had trouble with the bike and then plan B to take the bus failed, as he didn't make it to the next stop in time. Never mind the torn backpack. When the next child tells you as they are about to leave the house they need the bike today at school you just sigh. You'd rather have your daughter keep drawing in the mean time but she isn't ready for school yet, oh and don't even mention that the other one is barely dressed. 

So once it is all sorted out, your husband, picked you up after he took the crying child to school (you drop him off at the office) and you barely made it to the doctor's office on time you think your only worry left for the day is piano lessons. So as you are wasting your life away in a waiting room, the receptionist looks at you and tells you, you have a phone call. It is your husband telling you that your son was smacked over the head by accident with a gym bag containing soccer cleats and he is at school right now and they recommend the child see a doctor and are you able to pick them up? Well. At least this gets you bumped to the front of the line. (silver lining!!!)

We skipped the doctor as he was starting to feel better at lunch time. Forgotten textbooks for homework were only a small nuisance and picking up James was a pleasure and I am oh so happy there is such a thing as frozen pizza. I even found a way to make progress in 2 rooms! So all in all I guess it is still all good. Now I'll kick into hero mode and finish the ironing!

MORNING HIGH

This morning after I had them all out of the house I started a mental blog about how I successfully finished the upstairs bathroom. Several distractions and 3 hours later I realized it wouldn't happen.

At least not today.

How do I feel about it? Well. Of course not too great. Today was more or less the only day with enough time at home to simply get that done. I did make progress in all the 3 rooms that are still on the list, even the bathroom, but I once again denied myself the satisfactory feeling of crossing one of. 

I really think it is a form of self destructive behavior. Now the big question is:"How do I change it?"

I AM A GENIUS!

I am not a great fan of soccer, but living where I do, I sometimes play along and at least pretend to be. It is very hard to escape it, so you might as well embrace it. Just make sure you are rooting for the opposing team to make things interesting.

I find soccer about as enticing as ironing. If soccer is on TV I usually do stuff on the computer, I have also been found reading, glancing at the screen every 10 min, while dear James is glued to it.

So the other night the Champion's League was on and we saw a few minutes but then James switched to a sitcom. Knowing I had curtains to iron to make progress for my project, I rather reluctantly gathered my stuff and got started. I hate ironing those curtains. You are supposed to iron them on the lowest setting, but unless you set your iron to at least wool, nothing, absolutely nothing will happen. Your arm may go numb, but that's it. So after cranking up the heat little by little all the way up to "cotton" I finally got to a point were I was seeing success. It still took for ever, but at least my efforts where making a difference. I was suffering, but at least the show was funny. Once it was over, James switched back to soccer. It was half time, but he kept watching none the less. Second half started and we were still watching. Forgive me if I sound bitter, but ironing is enough torture on it's own. I do not need a boring soccer game to go with it. Then it hit me. I said to James:"You know what. You keep watching and ironing my curtains and I'll go to bed." "Sure," he said without moving an inch. "I am serious," was my reply to which he said:"So am I." But he was still not moving. So I got off the couch. And wouldn't you know it. He took my place. The game had only about 20 min left, I went and brushed my teeth, finished the chapter of the book I am reading at the moment and fell asleep with the lights on. James came up, told me Barcelona scored 3 goals in rapid succession and I was gone again. The next morning I found 2 of my curtains back on the rod and a third neatly draped over the drying rack. I love the guy.  I have 2 more curtains to iron. I wonder when soccer will be on again?

WEEK #4

I have been experiencing "pick a room-anxiety" since Friday. Seeing the state of the living room and taking into account the fact that I only finished 1 room so far, makes me very reluctant about choosing a new room. I think I am setting myself up for failure. Getting started every week, but never finishing anything. I know myself well enough to know that not choosing a new room won't make me finish and old one.

One of today's problem was that I wasn't able to stick with my "no appointments on Mondays" rule. I was to visit 2 people this morning, one appointment fell through and I took the hour I won to run to the famous Swedish furniture store. Of course there was piano and I had sneakily made a dental appointment right after piano. Unfortunately the school changed the kids's time tables so I had to switch the kids's piano lessons around so the kid that was half way to the dentist at piano lessons wasn't the one who had the appointment. Add having to make a cake for today and you can see why I might have felt a little overwhelmed about this new room.

Fortunately I have a friend, Louisa who decided to be my challenge partner. Her room this week is a small bathroom. I have decided to tag along. That upstairs bathroom has almost no storage room so there isn't much in there to begin with. I am telling myself I can do this in one day. I guess I really could if only I got started. I am just not happy about using another one of my "joker rooms" already just to keep this project going. But not all is lost, just yet. I have been picking at shelves and drawers in other rooms that I am not officially working on whenever the occasion arose, so I am making more progress than I think. At least I hope so! 

FIRST ROOM OFF THE LIST

About time, too. Considering it is the third week and I only got the easiest room taken care off, this is quite pathetic. On the other hand, it's done. Finally. The living room seems to be getting worse every day and I have less desire to deal with it. I also came across a few things to do I totally forgot. Like the windowsill, or vacuuming behind furniture. The secret department in the couch. Washing the curtains. On the bright side, it IS Friday and I am making progress with the patio leftovers. I have also dealt with the few things I have brought down from the attic. So 15 items less when I will actually tackle that. My neighbor promised me the weather would turn bad around lunchtime, but it is still sunny and bright and I am thankful for that. The kids have been very cooperative all week and I think I shall pat myself on the back for surviving another one!

ROLLERCOASTER

This week is a real roller coaster. Monday I was low, Tuesday way better. Yesterday I was low again and today I am spinning like a dervish and seem to burst with energy. This morning by 9 am I had the trash out, my second load in the wash and dryer, 4 kids fed and out of the house with packed lunches. I had collected and sorted dirty laundry, folded and put away 4 loads and a few other things. 

I was on time for pick up and even got a few necessities at the grocery store, stopped at the shoe store for a pair of shoes for Alex (with 4 kids in tow), dropped Matt off at his friend's house and took 2 nice reading breaks. I rocked the music run AND gave a 45 min lecture at my church. And yes. Dinner was on the table before I left. Can you spell rockstar? Easy. K-A-T-J-A! And I was still smiling when the day was over. Oh, and in case I forgot to tell you, I even made progress in the bathroom. 

MY LONG JOURNEY

Sometimes I feel nothing but despair when I look at the mountain that is yet to climb. I might have covered quite the distance in the last 19 months but I still have such a long way to go. This week I have felt little pangs of despair more than once. Not as bad as last week.  But bad enough to make me cry every now and then. Just look at today. Morning spent on the phone getting nothing done because morals are low, all afternoon running all over the place with appointments and the evening home alone as James is out to dinner with his co-workers. 

If you have followed last year's 14 day power declutter you know that I had a little deal with myself. For every box I took up to hide in the attic, I had to deal with one from up there. I decided to offer myself the same deal this time. I am very reluctant to take it. The stuff I take up stairs will have to be dealt with eventually. Why not do it now? Plus, taking stuff into the attic involves actually getting up there. I am not in the mood for the depressing sight the attic is, plus it is such a hassle and I take forever to actually do it. I'll go up once a week I promised myself. Yeah. Right. NOT! It took me almost 3 weeks to finally go up. The main reason to get it over with  was not the pile of stuff blocking the upstairs landing, making it almost impassable, but the fact that I had stuffed myself with chocolate and sugar coated peanuts and I know that a nice little work out is the best way to deal with high blood sugar levels. So either I eat a whole package of sugar once a week or it won't ever get done. I took some books down in the hopes of being able to sell them. I have books that I "sold", but unless I reach a certain total I can't ship them off. Needless to say, the site I am selling to is not interested in buying any of the books I brought down. The only 3 that they would buy are some that I haven't read and figured I would read them first. I'll never get anywhere this way. Can you see why I start crying "out of nowhere"? Once again I feel trapped. Oh. And I accepted free stuff again. Just one item, but one that I won't need for another year. ARGH! Well. I am going to force a smile on my face now and pack the books that I brought down with the other "unsellables" and will try to dump them on some friends on the weekend.

ROUGH START INTO THE WEEK

Yesterday, I felt kind of down and the week had a rocky start. I am feeling a lot better today. James is out of town on a business trip. Or at least was supposed to be, but he came back last night with a coworker, as they couldn't get a hotel to stay. This just means they had to go back this morning. As it is a good 90 min commute that made for a long day for him yesterday. For me, too, as he was gone from 7:30 am- 8:30 pm and super tired by the time he came home. I have decided to worry about essentials only, with it being Taxi Tuesday you know what those are. Right? The best thing about last night is knowing that James can handle the mess. When he crashed on the couch at 9 pm, I said:"Can you tell that I surrendered around noon?" His reply:"It doesn't look that bad." hahaha I think he needs to clean his glasses! It did make me feel a lot better though!

ZERO PROGRESS

I know it is up to me to get things done. I am not sure what is keeping me, but it is rather frustrating at the moment. There is just always something else. And let's face it. Those tiles haven't been washed in years, they can wait another day. Dinner can't. Maybe I need a new rule. The "you-can't start-a-new-room-unless-you-are-done-with-the-last-one"-rule. but then I might be stuck on the living room until Christmas. Christmas of 2027. I think I'll just start on the kitchen next week. Partial progress is better than none. 

LIVING ROOM - LAST DAY

Mind you, this is from last Saturday and just never got posted. 

Last day in the living room. I am not happy with myself. Why? Because I am doing everything I can do avoid that room. I even started cleaning out the bathroom to stay out of the living room. I keep telling myself, if I finish the bathroom today I will have bought myself a whole week of extra time for the living room. Never mind that I was planning to do the kitchen next. So here I am annoyed with not finishing the living room, even more annoyed for starting the bathroom and running away from that, too. Well. I still have half of the day. It should be more than possible to finish the bathroom. If I will, I will feel a whole lot better about myself!

Editor's note: No, the bathroom was never finished. But fortunately the mountain of ironing was or this week would have been a complete disaster! 

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE

and I'll say it again. Mondays are not made for decluttering. Neither are Tuesdays. If I take a closer look at Wednesdays... Well. Lets not go there. I did get a decent start in the living room. Monday was spent plotting (avoiding) the room. I attempted a declutter a few weeks ago and failed at the first shelf so I tried a different cabinet yesterday. It worked. I got rid of enough DvDs to end up with the empty shelf I needed to reorganize the cabinet on the other side of the TV. I washed the dirty porcelain and feel like I am  making good progress.  

MY VALENTINE

I cleaned up the whole downstairs. I focused on the living room. My husband loves it when the living room is clean and clear. (That's why I usually do it last, becasue he will come home and clean up the livign room, but he will not on scrub a sink, unless I'd ask him to.) I didn't cheat. Anything I came across was "evaluated and acted upon". I either put it away or tossed it.

When James came home he said:"The living room looks very nice, thank you!" I told him that I loved him enough for cleaning up the downstairs. I might have loved him enough to tackle the upstairs, too, but I had 4 hours of errands, 1 of them with all the kids in tow.

I wish I could say I will tackle the upstairs tomorrow, but I think I will focus on maintance downstairs and pure survival the rest of the week. It's gonna be a full one!

Seeing how much I got done the last 4 weeks despite the many appointments makes me think I am actually learning to get more things done! Good job, me!