Moving on, nothing to see here...

I did a pretty half ass job at my Decluttering November goals. It just became a November that wouldn’t let up. I ended up home a few days with a sick kid, but even then, just couldn’t get it all done. I think my list was ambitious:

• Master Closet (didn’t organize)
• My clothes – purge (DONE – and ongoing, I threw another sweater in the Goodwill stack this morning)
• Skadi’s bedroom, closet and bathroom (ignored completely)
• My bathroom and the boys’ bathroom (didn’t really tackle with veracity, more like picked at it
• Purge Silas’ clothes (DONE)
• Get rid of the stuff I have purged (FAIL, nothing has sold that I listed, so it needs to go to Goodwill or get given away. But it is ready to get out of the house – if Odin would leave.it.alone.)
• Bonus – Leif’s bedroom. Because Grandpa came and stayed in Leif’s room, his room did get a good once over. But not the closet.

So for December I am going to continue on the organize path and hit the below items I failed at in November.

• Get rid of the purged stuff.
• Master Closet
• Leif’s closet (it isn’t abysmal yet, so if we get on top of it now, it won’t be a huge job.
• Skadi’s bedroom, closet and bathroom (Gag.)

Then the last one is the trailer. It isn’t something that I really WANT to do, but on our Thanksgiving tree cutting two night trip I made a huge restock list, I found loads of stuff that just needs to come inside or be thrown away. And there are some modifications I want – I want shelves in my “closet”. Stupidest thing ever, a closet that is useless (typical RV closet...) and I don’t need things hung up on that stupid hard to use rack. I want shelves in there. Of course I will need AB for that. I would love shelves in the cupboard where I keep plates and bowls and cups. And the trailer needs a good cleaning. Especially if we plan to be in it for nearly a week in December.

November

It's my most favorite time of the year. Living here has taught me to enjoy spring and summer. But I still get that special happiness that fills me when the weather starts cooling off, my favorite clothes are appropriate again and I look forward to the holidays.


Halloween has passed now, Thanksgiving - my favorite - is just around the corner and then my other favorite - Christmas.


It's also that time of year when the kids start having loads of days off again. We have conference week coming up, which means we have 6 days of half days. Then the week after that is Thanksgiving. And my tradition is that I take the whole week off and staycation it. The kids actually have school most of Thanksgiving week, but I will keep Silas home and we will have some special time.


I was called for Federal jury duty for Thanksgiving week (and the week after). But I think I will defer out of fear that I would end up sequestered over my favorite holiday. Which would just suck.


Goals. I had initially thought about painting our bedroom during November. But I haven't decided on the color and the desire just isn't there. So instead I am going to work a few decluttering things.


Our closet is hideous. You know one thing falls on the floor and doesn't get picked up - then another item does. And then before you know it you can't even get in the closet. Ok, maybe it isn't that bad... But it is nearing that.


And the other issue in my closet is that there is a load of clothes I don't or can't wear. I need to purge. And AB needs to purge too.


Skadi's bedroom, closet and bathroom. I don't even want to linger on this topic because it kind of makes me gag.


Oh and my bathroom and the boys' bathroom. Just general pick up and declutter.


Silas's room. I just need to purge all those 12-18 month clothes. Tired of pulling out clothes that doesn't fit him - or coming home on Friday and wondering how AB possibly squeezed him into those clothes.


The last thing is the stacks of everything I have been decluttering over the last few months. They need to go to Goodwill, get listed on Craigslist, be passed on as hand me downs, etc. Just general dispositioning is needed. I have stacks of stuff that I have pulled out of the depths that just needs togo go somewhere. Anywhere.


So there it is - November. The month when I have a little more time to go run around - will be the month of finishing up the clutter issues.


And maybe December will be the month of painting.

There is a kitchen in here!

It seems to take about a year and a half after each kid was born to re-emerge. I recall it distinctly with Skadi. Like an awakening where I had to drop those extra 10 lbs that didn't fall off naturally after childbirth. And my house was no longer good enough. It was like the fog of "the baby" lifts. I suspect it is all hormone induced. I was lucky to never suffer post-partum depression - I know people who have - but I think for me it was a post-partum fog.


The fog lifted last month and I have gotten down to business. My wonderful Master bedroom emerged last month and this month I found that I do have a kitchen. In fact, I have a great kitchen!


The goal for the month of October was to deep clean, organize my kitchen. It needed it bad. Two weekends in now and I would put it at 75% complete. I have emptied out the cabinets and moved stuff! I am not a rearranger at all - once a piece of furniture is in place I will nearly never move it. Well only on a rare occasion to clean under it (dare I admit). My mom was a rearranger and to be honest, it drove me nuts growing up.


But I went against my gut, listened to my husband's very rational complaints about the cookbooks located in the far back of the pantry, and I moved them! And I love them now! So rearranging isn't awful!


Most of the rest of the kitchen was just emptied out (4 huge garbage bags just this weekend!) and cleaned and put back. Phew! My pantry is lovely, the cookbook shelf is fabulous. The cleaned off and actually purposed as a desk in the kitchen, is lovely too. The rolling cart of crap has been cleaned off, but purpose yet to be determined. The lazy Susan still needs to be tackled as does the very tip top shelf of my glass cabinet that holds stemware we never use (it has been there since we moved into the house - apparently I don't feel the need to put my martinis in a martini glass).


We are hosting a Halloween party in two weeks and panic set in this weekend. Two weeks to get ready! It is always a huge undertaking that is fun and always appreciated by our friends after the fact. But two weeks is NOT enough time! AB suggested that we quit the deep organizing stuff (as beneficial as it is) and start putting lipstick on the pig in the name of the party.


So yeah. Time to lipstick that pig.


Then the last weekend of the month will be spent recovering our kitchen from the madness and finalizing those last couple kitchen things.


And then there is November. I have two thoughts. Back to the Master Bedroom for Thanksgiving week painting and Master bath pick up (easy) and Master closet purge (ugh). OR - I finish Skadi's quilt. I need to finish her quilt.

The purge urge

I don't think I am a packrat. Or I tell myself I am not.

My grandmother, she is a packrat.

My mom is not.

I think I fall somewhere in between the two. I keep a big plastic bin in each of the kids' closet and I put special things in there. Their class pictures, copies of their school pictures, milestone momentos (first name printed for the first time, first shoes, going home outfits...). I toss things in on a not terribly regular basis.

The other day my husband commented that we needed more book shelves. We kind of do. But his idea is to LINE the office.

Umm what? So that all our creased back, mass market books are on exhibit to everyone?

I like having SOME books out. I have a good sized stack that is unread, I want those out. We have a few hardbacks that are nice to display. I have a few that mean something to me (like Hans Blix's book with a nice sentiment to me and his autograph in the front). My favorite books are up there and so are AB's.

But every single book I have ever read? Please don't make me put them out. I could use more bookshelfs for stuff... not books. Not to mention that I want to impart some sense of style into our home and lining one wall with cheap bookshelfs is not my way to achieve that. Sorry honey.

We have been hauling boxes from storage and unpacking them.

You might guess that a recent load was boxes upon boxes of books. I actually started making a stack of books to get rid of through either exchange at the used book store or donating to Goodwill.

It hasn't stopped there.

I wore a pair of shoes to work the other day that I have owned for about a year. They are cute, but kill my feet. I avoid wearing them because they hurt. This has prompted me to put a box in my closet and to start putting stuff in the box for Goodwill.

AB came home the other day with tales of a coworkers highly successful garage sale. That might work too.

The next goal is to put a box in every room of the house, particularly as I unpack boxes. Stuff that doesn't work, we don't like, doesn't have a function? Goes in the box. Those lamps with no lampshades? In the box. Ancient camera equipment? Box. Books that were bad the first time around? See that box over there?

Then the boxes, once full. (Or mostly full.) They will go away in search of new homes.

Seriously I have the best husband ever.

"I will take Leif to the party, I know you have a lot of stuff you want to finish this weekend."

Seriously I have THE best husband ever. The birthday party was even during the Seahawks game. Given the Seahawks pitiful season though I think he was maybe looking for a reason not to be subjected to the humility. Though when I noted they were actually winning, I did hit record for him.

I finished up my touch up painting in the bathroom. This was so not what I felt like doing at every opportunity this weekend - standing on a ladder with a cup of paint and a tiny little watercolor brush in my hand. But when I finished the first phase - the shower/toilet area - I realized how really nice it looked to have the hairy edges touched up and my resolve was restored to finish the task.

Finally, I can call the Master Bathroom nearly done. That last 1% will be complete when AB nails a few small pieces of trim into place. I even found bamboo/glass containers that match the one I bought a few months ago at Target. All my storage items match, my paint looks finished and the bathroom is now my oasis... as long as I pay attention to where I step watching out for kids toys, shoes and the ever-present evidence on the wall behind my toilet that I have a little boy.

I didn't get to that last corner in the bedroom this weekend, but it will be an easy thing to do next weekend.

Now the big question lingers... which room to do next?

I had intended to get started on the kitchen, but the patio work we had done last week hit our savings account and I am not sure I can justify a kitchen redo that will be the most expensive room in our house (new floor and cabinet pull outs to name a few key items). Not to mention the fact that we will be out of town for 8 days and have a houseguest for another weekend in November.

The room that truly needs attention the most is the utility room. It will be inexpensive, though time consuming as it seems to be the ugly "catch all" location of my house. Two closets to be organized, crummy floor to be cleaned (since my housecleaner tended to miss that floor... wait... old houscleaner. Yes, another housecleaner down. We will be getting YET a new one this week supposidly) and two sets of cabinets in need of storage solutions.

Yes, I think I am leaning towards the utility room for November and the kitchen for December and likely January. It will be a big job that will require time and a serious influx of cash.

Holding steady with the goals

I would like to say that the Master bathroom is finished. But we haven't gotten around to the touch-up painting. Of course this is mostly because my attempts at spray painting the cheap shelves I had hanging up in the bathroom failed. AB suggested I just buy new shelves - which is fine. Fine except that I have anchors and screws in the walls to hang these ones.

Anyways, what that means is that I need to yank out the anchors, patch the walls and paint over them. Not really a big deal, but time consuming enough that I haven't gotten to it yet. Might as well do all the touch up painting at once.

I had intended to be done with the Master Bath by the end of Labor Day, but I keep finding little things in the bathroom to work on. I need to recaulk the shower, work on one of the light switches and AB needs to reattach the trim.


So switching gears to my September goal - the Master Bedroom.


Our Master Bedroom needs serious attention. It is just a sorely neglected room as far as decorating and furniture. We don't like our dressers, but don't want to spend the money on a new bedroom set now.

What I did do was to buy new nightstands. We have never had nightstands and instead have some random small tables next to each of our sides of the bed. So I have ordered new nightstands and they should arrive next week!



They were inexpensive (though solid wood - AB might have strung me up by my toes if I bought anymore laminate particle board stuff) - Overstock.com stuff. But they should match the dressers reasonably well - at least in color if not hardware. They will work for now to help organize our bedside areas. Then after we buy a house, move and buy a new bedroom set (with a king sized bed), we can relegate these nightstands to the guest bedroom.

The things I still need for the Master bedroom are a new hamper system. Badly need this. Anyone see any nice, inexpensive hampers out there? And we could also use two matching bedside lamps or sconces. Probably lamps to put on our new nightstands since I have mounted shelves where sconces would go. AB hates the shelves for some reason... truly not sure why. He would trash them and put up lamps. But my shelves hold my huge stack of books to be read.

Since I am so good at plowing through books lately.


Not.


The last thing that needs to be done in the Master bedroom is a coat of paint. It isn't a must, but it would be really nice (and AB agrees in theory) to have the paint color in the bathroom extend into the bedroom.

No way am I finishing all this in September. My summer turned September goals have now become my October goals. Oh well. I am making progress!


I am really looking forward to the kitchen in November. Probably good I am procrastinating that though... because it is going to get pricey. (New floor, pull outs...)