Two rooms finally organized

This past week was focused on getting the house organized, cleaned up, and not looking like a cluttered home.

The first room I had to tackle was that of my step-son’s room. Since he had refused to clean things up and get it organized (we moved into the home the last weekend of October of 2010), I decided that it would be time to get everything done. In addition to organize his room, I had also decided (not one of my better judgments mind you) to bring up a desk that was left downstairs and put it in his room. This was due in part because we had given him my wife’s old desktop computer.

The desk should have taken at least two people to move from downstairs and into his room. Unfortunately, being the stubborn mule I can be, and having the ego the size of Texas, I figured I could wrestle the desk on my own.

After getting the desk situated, the computer hooked up, and all his clothes re-folded and put nicely back into his dresser, I knew there needed to be some relax time. This was not to be accomplished because dinner needed to get going, other chores needed tending too, and Megan needed some attention.

Although my step-son came home and saw that his room was actually cleaned, he became upset because it was not the way he wanted it (we had warned him that if it had not gotten done, either his mother and I would come in and get it done). Despite his attitude, he did show gratitude that he now has a desk where he can study, a computer with internet access (we have outlined specific rules with it being in his room), and the fact that his bedroom actually is not cluttered up with everything in the middle of the floor.

Today, I decided that it was time to go through and organize Megan’s clothes, get her room rearranged, and put everything that needed to be put away. The most time consuming part was actually going through all her laundry, folding up the clothes (including those clothes that were given to us by family and some friends), and going through to see what fits her and what does not fit her.

The folding, hanging, and organizing her clothes took most of the day to accomplish. Yet, the fruits of production could now be seen in a well organized dresser, closet that now is organized, and her room situated in the manner that is not cluttered with clothes piled on her toddler bed. Once all this was accomplished, the rest of it did not take very long.

Now, the question is, what do I tackle next? There is the masterbedroom where it is pretty much organized. A few things need to be put away (like my clothes, my dresser needing to be cleaned off and organized, et al.) but for the most part, everything is kept organized. That will not take very long to accomplish. A couple of hours maybe.

Nothing in the living room needs to be situated, things needing to be picked up. Same with the dining room.

Kitchen, on the other hand, needs some rearranging and organizing. Since we are no longer going to be using bottles, those could get boxed up and put out in the garage for our up-coming garage sale. The counter needs to be cleared off (for some reason it attracts all kinds of things that do not get put away lol).

The most challenging area of the house that needs to be organized and cleaned up is the downstairs mother-in-law area. While we do not use it, there is a bathroom downstairs, an area needing to be vacuumed and boxes that we have already placed downstairs. That will take a good portion of a couple days to accomplish.

Yes, there is much more that needs to be done project wise, the fact remains that being able to settle down, relax for a moment and know that my days have been quite productive and it feels good to actually get things done.

 

Just the beginning

I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it was to wake up in the morning to a giggling 14 month old, stumbling out of the bedroom while still wiping the sleep from my eyes, and noticing that the house had been cleaned. No clothes piled on the couch, nothing on the living room floor from tornado Megan, no dishes in the sink, and no dirty clothes needing to be done (except for some of Megan’s). All in all, it was a definite good morning. Knowing that when things are actually taken care of, there really is time for all the other fun stuff left for us to do.

It came right down to not having to stress so much over all that was not done, and actually noticing all that was done and appreciating the fact it had gotten done. And, when my wife and step-son had come home, they helped out in getting what else I could not do.

So, what did I end up doing today? Certainly did not put my hair up in curls, curled up on the couch with my bon-bon’s and watched Soap Opera’s all day long. Actually, after piddling around on the computer and checking my blogs, Facebook, and all the other wonderful social networking sites, I decided that it is time to go out and dance with some boxes.

Our garage is still full of boxes. We have rummaged through some of them, while others, we just shifted from one spot to the next. There was no order. I decided to flex my complacent muscles, and began shifting some boxes. It was like Tetris on a more reality television show scale.

All the boxes are now situated so that all we have to do (and when I say we, that includes my wife) is grab a box, go through that box and decide one of three things: 1) Find a place for it in the house, 2) Put it in a box and put it in storage, or 3) put it in a box for our up-coming garage sale.

As I discussed this with Beck, we have agreed that if something is brought into the house, we better have a place for it. If we don’t then we need to decide if it goes in storage or in the garage sale.

After everything got situated, there appeared enough room for us to actually park the car in the garage and not have it sleep out in the driveway.

And Megan, bless her little heart, she was out in the garage with daddy watching him and playing in her own little world. Granted, there were a couple of times she gave me a good scare where I looked up and did not know where she had gone to (she ended up going up the stairs, back into the house through the pet door, and then into the bathroom where she had shut the door).

What, then, is the moral of this story here? When you actually buck down, roll up those shirt sleeves, and get to cleaning up, then you are not going to stress out about the mess that is piling up and treated like an invisible elephant.