Remember when I made my New Year's Resolutions, most of which involved cleaning out the hidden corners of my house? Well, of course I did not know I was pregnant when I said all that! However, I've tried to keep up with the list (if not necessarily the timing) and this week I completed the April project of organizing the linen closet.
Remember the "before" shot?
And now ... your moment of zen.
ahhh...
So far, I've completed the ...
*February project: Cleaning out kitchen/reorganizing laundry room
Today was a big clean up day for the family - we were able to knock out some big projects on our to-do list. Daddy spent several morning hours outside pressure washing the deck and front porch, while Katie Anne and Mommy spent time indoors doing a million loads of laundry, cleaning out toys, and reorganizing the living room toy storage. Daddy's pressure washing yielded some pretty impressive results...
Katie Anne watches out the window while Granddad shows Daddy how to use the pressure washer:
She tapped on the glass until she got them to wave at her:
Saunders begins the project ... see the color of the deck? After 5 years of living here, we just thought that was the color the deck was - it had just weathered to be that color:
Turns out that was not true!
Once Saunders started laying the serious washing power down on the wood, all kinds of gunk and grime started washing off!
We were thrilled with the results ... and yet disgusted that we'd walked on the "before" deck without shoes. Here's a halfway done picture - and the difference would've been even more obvious if it had been dry!
Saunders also did a little furniture rearranging, and the back deck turned out looking fabulous:
Then he got to work on the front porch, which we actually thought was the worse of the two with its grimy door frame...
pollen-packed crevices:
crusty rocking chairs:
and filthy railings:
It was hard to get a good picture of Saunders working on the front porch without being soaked myself, but he did a great job:
The results are just as good as the back deck!
That's one tired, wet pressure washer!
While Katie Anne and I didn't work nearly as hard during our toy clean-out, we did get a lot done:
The living room looks a ton better, and we gathered a whole trashbag full of toys to give away!
And, just a little pressure washing tip from the inside... pressure washing around door frames sprays a crazy amount of water into the house- like some kind of gushing fountain turned on its side. It is helpful to have towels handy, and a little doggy assistant doesn't hurt, either:
Okay, since the year is already pushing into month #3, I thought I'd give a check-in on my progress on the New Year's Resolutions I made at the beginning of the year. So far, I'm doing really well on these resolutions: 1. Playing more games with Katie Anne. We play a lot Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and Spill the Beans. She's getting really good at Chutes and Ladders and Candyland, but the balancing of Spill the Beans still eludes her a little. 4. Brushing the dog's teeth. I haven't done it every week, but I've done it a lot. Abby does really well with it and takes it like a champ... Ginger tries to clamp her little mouth together and not let me open it, but I crack it open anyway. They both like getting the breath spray in their mouth! 5. Planning meals ahead of time. I have been doing better planning ahead and buying all the supplies for our meals ahead of schedule. 6. Read more books for pleasure. So far, I've read about 5 books for fun this year! 7. Sewing. I've made Katie Anne a little outfit out of kite fabric... all I've got left is the ruffles on the pants. 8. Taking my prenatal vitamins every night. Now everyone knows why this resolution was an important one, right?!? :) 9. Wrinkle prevention. I've kept up with my little scrub, exfoliate, moisturize routine every morning and night.
Today, Saunders and I got a big jump on my number 10 goal of cleaning out the deep, dark recesses of the house. Today, we tackled what was actually the February project- reorganizing the kitchen cabinets and laundry room storage. I didn't get it done in February because the first trimester of this pregnancy actually kicked my butt, but we got motivated and did it today! (*Actually, we were kind of forcibly motivated. Last night, we heard a big crashing noise in the kitchen. We couldn't find out what it was, and we thought Ginger must've jumped into the window. However, this morning when we opened a cabinet, we realized that the shelf bracket had broken under that shelf that was storing all the glass baking dishes, and we were lucky that they hadn't broken!)
It took about four hours - yuck - but we got it done, and it looks SO much better. We are both very happy that this big chore is done! Even Katie Anne got in on the cleaning action and cleaned in her little kitchen:
(No pictures of us cleaning because we were also still in our pajamas, and we're not as cute as her.)
We got rid of a lot of stuff - mostly our big mismatched collection of Gladware containers - and have a big stack of stuff to donate. We've got room to grow, which is always good when reorganizing. I'm going to buy a new set of storage containers, so we've got lots of room for that. We've got lots of room for the bottles and stuff that we'll need for the new baby, too.
What was formerly known as the nightmare cabinet - all clean and empty!
Bowls, plates, and seldom-used bakeware on the high shelf
Cups and glasses
Katie Anne's dishes and mixing bowls
Coffee mugs and supplies
Shiny pots and pans... this is the hardest cabinet to keep organized
A bit of a catch-all ... baking things, mixing bowls, and the colander
The laundry room got a reorganized look, too. Now, the counter is cleared off so it can serve its purpose - folding clothes!
The shelf above the counter holds some seldom-used kitchen stuff... big casserole pans, mugs that match our dishes, little ramekins, etc.
The shelves over the washer and dryer are my favorites... laundry supplies near where they're needed, dog stuff nice and neat in the red bins, and boxed kitchen stuff on the top shelf.
This morning, I was making Katie Anne some cheese toast while she worked in her kitchen. I kept hearing, "This goes with the green ... this goes with the pink..." I walked over and peeked to see what she was doing, and I just had to grab my camera and catch the end of her organization project:
OCD: Nature vs. Nuture?
You make the call.
Maybe I can convince her to help me with my February task of cleaning out my own kitchen cabinets!
If you remember this post, then you know that I enjoyed shopping in my own attic over the summer. I didn't have to buy many summer clothes to fit me this year because I had plenty of things from college saved. I knew I had lots of summer clothes from smaller sized seasons up there because I'd seen bags labeled "Summer Clothes" when I put away KA's baby stuff, but I had never seen any bags labeled with "Winter Clothes" in the attic.
So, I felt a lot of fear in my heart when I saw the temperatures dropping these last few weeks. I am not kidding... I didn't have one long-sleeved shirt to wear. Not one single, solitary shirt that fit. About two weeks ago, I went to Kohl's and spent $200 on clothes - jeans, shirts, two pair of dress pants - just because I had to have something to wear to work. Saunders wasn't too pleased about it, but I told him that he better just get used to the idea, because I can't wear pants that are six sizes too big for me to work. People were starting to make fun of me at the end of the winter last year, and this time it would be much worse. Most of my winter pants from last year are 14 or 16, and the jeans and dress pants I bought last week for my reunion were a 6. So, that math just isn't going to add up... or look at all professional.
I did need to put away all my summer clothes, though. So, I thought I'd pack them up and just check to see if there was anything in the attic today. I dragged my one little bag of summer clothes upstairs...
When I went through this little door, I had very little hope of finding anything I could wear.
When I pulled out the three boxes labeled "Winter Clothes", it was just bad news... all my clothes from the last two winters would not fit. I packed them all back away (because I know I will need them after I have another baby), and prepared to go downstairs and inform my poor, sad husband that I would indeed be spending $$$ on new clothes...
But wait. What's that stacked in the far, far corner of the attic? What is that mound of dirty trash bags, with no labels, that have obviously been up here for years? Could it be?
Yes - wow! Count them! Seven trash bags ... all filled with winter clothes! Hooray!
There are no pictures of me trying these things on, because I didn't really feel like trying them on after digging them out of the attic and sorting them. But, I did snap a few illustrative photos of things I found...
I found lots of things with the tags still on, like this sweater from Eddie Bauer which actually may be too big...
Pair of new with tags super-cute red dress pants from Gap... perfect for an office party or UGA game!
Then, there were a lot of old faithful things from winters gone by. Oh, "Ground Beef" sweater, how Saunders has missed you... he will be so happy to see you on my body - haha! (Saunders really hates this sweater, which is why he says it looks like raw ground beef. But, I love it.)
Also, I sadly found that one of those bags was an unlabeled summer clothes bag, full of things I would've enjoyed wearing this summer, like this cute little fuschia skirt... sigh...
As you can expect, since most of these things have been packed away since 2005, a lot of the clothes are now out of style or just old or plain wierd. (And, how smart of me in 2005 to double-bag... no clothes were ruined inside. The bags were filthy because they were in the attic when we had the house reroofed two years ago. I guess that, since they were piled in the dark corner, we didn't see them when we moved everything out before roofing began.) But, a lot still can't be used. For instance, there's this unflattering shapeless greenish-blue sweater thing...
Why would I do that myself? But, I remember wearing it to work a lot! So, needless to say, much of what came out of those seven bags went right back into the Goodwill pile...
However, after I culled out the old, should've-never-been-saved stuff and the trendy-two-years-ago stuff, I wound up with a BIG pile of current, still-nice-looking, my size stuff! Here's a picture of the final haul, all sorted and ready for washing or dry cleaning and wearing!
So, I won't look like a total homeless clown when I get dressed this winter. And, Saunders will sleep much easier tonight, knowing that my insane need to save my old clothing and my forays into the deep recesses of our attic today have saved us lots of money!
And, one little fun addition to this post... whenever I clean out my closet, I like to sing Eminem's song of the same name. I only know the chorus, but I just sing it over and over, every year. Kind of a whistle while you work thing, I guess. Katie Anne picked up part of the tune as I worked, and here's a little video of it:
On Sunday morning, Saunders and I cleaned this house from top to bottom. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! During the first few weeks of school, I am so exhausted from trying to get everything going and get into the routine that I let all housework (other than essential things like laundry and dishes) slide. So, we had to whip the house into shape this weekend because it was looking rough.
Of course, our little domestic diva had to assist us. She helped me do lots and lots of laundry, shaking out khaki shorts so I could fold them, matching up her own socks, and carrying stacks of folded clothes into the right bedroom. She loves to help with laundry - hope that phase lasts into the teenage years! She loves to get a damp paper towel or cloth sprayed with Pledge and help dust - she's done that since she was just a baby (or, to be more exact, since September 2008). And, of course, she had to vacuum with her little vacuum cleaner.
To this? Through lots of help! It took about two full weeks of work to get the classroom ready for Open House on Monday night. I could not have done it without much help from the family. I really appreciate everyone's hard work over the past few days and weeks! We were working so hard that I didn't take pictures of us working... but, since we worked for most of the time without any air conditioning, none of us really wanted to take pictures anyway!
I would like to officially thank all of my "classroom helpers" for all their hard work (and I realize that I made up many of these verbs): My mom Cindy - for cleaning, organizing, unpacking, bulletin board making, and much more My dad Thomas - for hauling, moving, pressure washing, hot gluing, and much more My mother-in-law Vicki - for sticky-taping, trimming, magnet-ing, hot gluing, and much more My father-in-law Big Saunders - for letter making, die cutting, trimming, laminating, and much more My husband Saunders - for trimming laminate at night while watching tv and for searching desperately for hot glue sticks when I needed them and, of course, My daugher Katie Anne - for cleaning, untaping, pulling down butcher paper, and all her other hard work. Now, the classroom is ready for my new kindergartners and their first day of school today! Wish me luck!
S
