Never fear!

Dum, dum dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum, da dum da dum dum (to the tune of Superman's theme). I'm also hearing the calvery's bugle, and "Underdog! Underdog!".

My sister-in-law (OK) is coming tomorrow. Or Wednesday. Either day, I don't care. She is coming to rescue me from all the children's clothing! That's right. Darcy is going to sort all seven children's clothes, put the too small stuff into bags, organize what still fits, make lists of what they need for the rest of the summer, and cart off all the give aways when she leaves. All while I put my feet up and hold my seven week old niece. Okay, well, maybe I'll make the list. I'm getting good at that these days! Oh, as if she couldn't get any cooler, she's bringing her vacuum cleaner with her so I can finally clean everything else other than my carpets! (I'm just figuring out linking to other blogs, not my own yet, so you'll have to look back at previous posts to see what I'm talking about.)

So spring cleaning will get back into full swing this week. I'm NOT doing the happy dance, but will be thrilled once it is all done. One of these days I'll get the post up that I've started about the kids and what they want to be when they grow up. But I have to get the time to finish it. Maybe once I'm done cleaning and I'm all organized and such. Oh wait. That will be never, so we'll shoot for the end of the week.

Now I have to go untangle Paulee and Terry from the contraption they made out of trucks, dolls, strollers, blankets, and something wet. Just keep focused on the help that's coming!

More Cleaning

I'm still kicking and screaming.  I don't want to clean.  I don't want to sort through our stuff.  I don't like getting rid of my things.  I like the dust bunnies.  Well, okay, maybe not that.  But I don't want to do the work to get rid of them.  

I am so far behind the cleaning schedule.  If you have been following Simple Mom's cleaning plan, you are way ahead of me.  I'm still stuck back at the living room stage.  The plan isn't hard.  It's not like she has made cleaning up unrealistic, I just can't seem to keep up.  I often wish that I could call my sister-in-law to clean it for me.  I know I could get my other sister-in-law here and she would delve in whole heartily.  But I think that's is why my house stays in a state of clutter.  I don't do the work myself.  I always have someone else help or do it for me.  I do not appreciate the work that has been done.  So I am being determined (some may call it stubborn), and am going to do this myself.  The kids did a great job helping me de-clutter.  Of course, with nine of us in the house, it didn't stay that way long.  But it is WAY better than what it was.  There is just something about having a clean flat surface that apparently demands stuff to be deposited upon it.  Oh well.  I can have it picked up every evening now, so that's what matters.  And it is something I do every day now.  So there is a lesson learned.  

I started on the living room.  I just can't seem to finish it.  It has been sorted and put away.  Heath was wonderful and went through the bookcase and we now have a box full of books to give away.  And I cleaned the blinds.  But that's it.  I still have to brush down the ceiling, the fan, somehow move the TV and clean the dust dune that has grown back there, move out all the couches, vacuum everything and dust all the frames and pictures.  Ugh.  That is usually what I like to do.  But I keep finding myself finding all kinds of other things to do.  Life is revving up right now and getting ready for the busiest summer we have ever had.  I have GOT to get this done!  And there is so much more to do.  Maybe that is what's wrong.  I think I'm being defeated before I ever begin.  Well, today is a busy day.  Life keeps going on despite me trying to shut it out so I can clean.  But tomorrow, there is nothing.  My goal is to finish the living room, bathrooms, and most of the kitchen.  I have always been a minimalist when it comes to the bathroom, and the kitchen cabinets I am actually pretty OCD.  So I'm expecting to just go into those two rooms and deep clean.  

Then we get to start the dreaded kid's rooms.  I think Nikki has the best idea.  Move the kids into different rooms.  What a great way to make sure everything is sorted, gone through, and found a purpose and place.  I doubt Heath goes for that here, who wants to take apart two different sets of bunk beds and a large full bed of the girls.  Oh well.  I'm actually looking forward to the rooms.  I am so tired of the mess.  Things don't have places anymore.  There are so many broken toys, out grown toys, and stuff they just don't want or play with anymore.  And I've decided that no child needs 20 t-shirts.  So, the clothes are going to be pared down.  The toys will have to be important to keep, and I may like going to their rooms again!  But I'm ahead of myself.  That is next weeks chore.  I don't know when my room will get done.  It's the scariest room of all.  It looks like a storage unit.  I am trying to appeal to Heath's OCD personality and get him to split the tasks with me.  I know, I know.  I said I was going to do this myself so I would be appreciative.   I'll argue the whole two becomes one on this one.  I really don't want to tackle our room.  It's just too overwhelming for me.  I need to start small, and that's like tackling Mt. Everest on your first hiking trip.

My progress isn't impressive, but I will keep trying.  You eat an elephant one bite at a time.  And maybe by the end of all this, I'll have developed new habits and changed my lifestyle of messiness.

This could get scary.

I have entered the world of spring cleaning. With a gentle nudge from my dear sister in law, I am following a plan laid out by a fellow blogger.
It's really not too difficult yet. Today our goal was to declutter all surfaces. I didn't have to clean any of them. Just throw away all the stuff that collects on anything flat. Or put it in a box for a future sale. Or just actually put the stuff away like I should have in the first place. So today I got all the extras that were sitting on top of the books put away and thrown away. The speakers, TV, and windowsill are all DVD, CD, Wii games, and book free. I realized today that I actually have an end table. I just thought the books, magazines, and dinnerware were glued together in some sort of artistic show piece. My bathroom counters are WAY bigger than I imagined. Some smart person figured out to put drawers under the counters, and if you put things in them, you have counter space! And my room is the mother load. We filled two of those commercial sized trash bags that you can fit two grown adults in with trash just from our room. Heath and I both have side tables that are functional again. The copier and table are no longer booby trapped. And I am currently writing to you from a cleared desk. I cannot begin to describe to you the condition it was in, nor the joy of seeing the surface. It's black. I'd forgotten that fact. Now, I did not declutter my kids' rooms. They have no hope. Actually, I'm going to tackle them all on the day(s) set aside specifically for them. And the top of my fridge is still in need of a clean sweep. Don't yell, I'm taking baby steps.

By the end of the day, I had three trash bags, full drawers, and no give away box. That's just sad. We were living in a garbage can! On to the next days. I'll get plenty of stuff to get rid of then. I'll be hyperventilating by that point. Pack rats have serious attachment issues.

P.S. I PROMISE Teri Lynn I will get pictures up of the befores on the kids rooms. I found the camera, charger, but no disk! Even if I have to go borrow a camera, I'll post my pictures. But I have to say, I have Casiday beat. My room is ten times worse!

What's a girl to do?

It's bed time. Actually, it's a couple hours past bedtime. But on Wednesdays, getting to bed comes a little late because of church and such. But even by this point, they should be nestled in their beds, quiet, and at the very least pretending to sleep.

So you can understand my shock when I kept hearing all this noise from down the hall. Don't they know Heath and I are about to sit down to some tuna fish salad and some T.V.? Oh wait, maybe they do, and that's what all the commotion is about. I holler at Daniel once and all the kids twice to hush and get quiet. But still, the disturbance continues. So I finish making the salad (because it was important to finish it before I made my children obey), and head down the hall to correct some children. Now mind you, I'm thinking that little Heath and Malcolm are goofing around, or maybe Daniel and Terry. Probably all the above. What a surprise to the system when I turn the corner and discover it is Terry, and Terry alone. He has swiped his older brother's book lamp, is under his covers head to toe, has a stack of books waist high, and is reading them with all the vigor a two year old can muster. He's growling with the beasts, counting all the flowers, pretending he knows his ABCs and is reciting them. He's talking in girl voices, and boy voices, mean voices, and someone's laugh that kind of scares me. Now tell me, what am I supposed to do? Do I get on to him for disobeying and squash his imagination and enthusiasm for reading? Or do I let him get away with being up past bedtime, but kindle his new found love for books?

Too bad for him he's the sixth of seven children. I'm not taken in by much. Excuses for staying up late are just that. Excuses. And to abolish any doubts I may have had, when I said his name, he jumped nearly eight feet in the air, shut the light off lickity split, threw all the evidence in the floor, and proceeded to tell me how much he loved me. Um hum. Busted.