Umm, ya’ll. I reclaimed my kitchen! My friend Ang. and I have determined to turn over several new leaves, and it started yesterday, with our weight control efforts and today with our houses. I reclaimed the kitchen that I had scrubbed in January. Clutter had encroached again. I moved the microwave to the other side, put the coffee pot back down on the counter so I can mop up from under it more easily and left an entire counter between the stove and sink clear for mixing and general food prep.

Now, just in case you were wondering just how much mess can be caused by a little leak….this shirt was clean when I put it on this morning. Now, I am short, so anytime I reach to do something, my belly rubs. Today, it rubbed against the counter and sink, LOL! It was worth it though, because I am actually happy thinking about getting back in there and cooking. I guess that was my tackle for today. Because, hey! It’s Tuesday. I did not take before pictures, but here are after shots

Ok, I posted this picture over on Cass Knits, and then I realized it was Tuesday, and so this would make a good tackle. This is what my living room looked like at dinner time last night.

This is the stuff out of my kids’ rooms. Last night, we shoved it all out of the living room so we could at least sit, and by shoved, I mean moved it without any sense of order and tidiness. Today, my goal is to get that living room area tidy and enjoyable so that the mess is at least contained to the office area while we sort and purge.

HAHAHAHAHA, the kids started the preliminary work on this just as I was typing about how I had gotten more organized yesterday. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What are you up to today? Click the icon below and let us all know.

Updated at 11:49

Carolyn, over at A Prairie View, has gifted me with this prestigious award. Actually, I am a slacker, and she’s probably forgotten all about it, because she did it back on the 18th of February. Slacker, indeed. So, I am supposed to pass this on to 5 other bloggers, and I am having a hard time coming up with my list. I am so behind on blog reading that I don’t know what’s going on in the blogosphere anymore.

OK

Colleen, who had a very rough day and is already bouncing back
Deb, who speaks with quiet wisdom and also laughs at herself
Ann, who does that which is most difficult–she keeps on keeping on, every day
Feebeeglee, for onehundredfortyeleven little reasons and 6 big ones
Social Citizen, because I’m not judging, you. Really.

I like clean. I like organized. I like everything I need at my fingertips. Today, I have achieved this! If I could install an under chair toilet, and have food and drink delivered at regular intervals, I would never have to get up again. At least until I used up all the lipgloss in my pocket.

Plus the six lipsticks in that purse.

I know I mentioned that I was really purging and cleaning my house. Did I mention my cousin was coming each weekend to help me? It is such a help to have a fresh eye look things over. We moved here 5 years ago, and I put the table long way in the dining area, and that’s how it stayed. And I cursed it almost everyday as I tried to walk around it to do stuff, and clean around it in the back, etc. Today, she said “let’s turn it, and put the hutch…..”. Well, I said there was NO WAY we could stand to lose one end of the table, but I called everyone in to come take a seat just to prove her wrong, and Lo and BEHOLD, we fit, it fit, they fit.

And I can clean behind and around and it’s EASY. I hate to fight my house to clean it, and if you saw the place, you would know. And, yeah, we scrubbed the floor on our hands and knees to make up for my weeks of neglect.

You can see the dining area as it used to be here and here. This is what it looks like now, except I’ve re-hung the curtains. They were in the dryer when I took the picture.

I am tired. That’s not lightweight contemporary furniture. It’s solid maple that dh inherited from his parents. And the freezer was no cake walk, either. (Not that I moved that very much–I let dh do it instead, LOL). I can’t wait to throw out another metric ton of crap and create more living space. The bathroom is next!

That’s what I’ve been doing. That, and heavy cleaning. And also, losing weight, one whole pound. (Woot, we can skip the plus size lingerie) And I realized after I posted my update last week that I skipped a whole section of my goals post. I crammed all this

I’d like to go somewhere as a family this year. I want to go out with husband now and again. And I want to read a book every month that will help me as a wife or mom or teacher. I want to finish that massive to-do list. I want to be organized.

into one paragraph, and I skimmed right over most of it last week. So, what am I doing about it?

I went to see Sweeney Todd with Dh, which reminds me, I should totally tell you about it.

I am reading a book about wife-liness, which I will also be reviewing for you.

I have not yet begun the massive to-do list, but I am actively working in other areas that will allow me to do so. IOW, when you bite off more than you can chew, you have to spit some of it out.

As for being more organized, that is a slow process as well. To do that, we are going with a less is more philosophy around here: less stuff is more room, physically, mentally and chronologically. Kitchen down, everything else to go.

Oh, I have been so ill about the messiness of my house. And yet so unwilling to do anything about it. Last night, I had a real wake up call. Yeah, the cleaning fairy, she ain’t coming. Can you believe that crap? Sigh.

So last night, I cleaned my room and bathroom. I left DaBaby in the highchair while I did my room, and put her in the bathtub while I did the bathroom. And it looked so good! And then! The girls messed it up getting ready for bed. So! I got them all up out of bed*, and made them clean it all back up. Hahahahahhaahaha mom 10, messy kids 0. I totally won.

They’d been there less than 3 minutes.

Well, I was quiet about the cleaning thing yesterday. All that got done was maintenance on the areas I’ve already cleaned. I didn’t go backwards, but I didn’t go forward either. So, I’m upping the ante. In order to earn a goodie anymore, I have to clean for an hour beyond the maintenance.

I guess I should also mention that I am not spending as much time on the computer either. I finally got around to doing some routine planning, and amazingly enough “sit at the computer all day while fairies cover your household tasks” is nowhere on that list. The upside is that I am spending more time with the kids as well as with the house (LOL), and I am more focused when I am here. Today, it was after noon before I even opened my email. Crazy, huh? Even crazier is the fact that it was all there waiting for me.

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