Cleaning Up

I picked up the family room.  But it's heavy and I don't know where to put it down.  Ha.  Really, I did those last 5 steps. Weirdest/most annoying thing I found: my son's Halloween bucket with a bazillion empty wrappers in it. Threw those away, put the bucket out of reach on the fridge.

All right, now that I've picked up, it's time to clean. I did leave Little Guy's toy trucks on the floor because he's still playing with them and we're hanging out in here right now. I'm no toy nazi. Not at the moment at least.

Time to:

1. Dust
2. Wipe glass
3. Vacuum and/or sweep

If you're joining me, let me know how it's going!

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Here I am back again.  My preschooler wanted to muscle in on the cleaning action so he chose to vacuum.  (Begged me.)  He had fun w/ the vacuum which is as tall as he is.  Vac'd the area rug in the family room and it looks sooo much better.  (I don't have the heart to go over it again or it would be even more fab.) 

I swept about 50 pencils and pens off the floor, and we both wiped up some spots and splatters on the hardwood. I dusted the furniture (just a quick dust) and he used a windex cloth on the tv, computer, and glass door on the entertainment center.  So it looks a LOT better -- even though I haven't yet distributed all the stuff in the "other room" basket which is sitting on the couch.  Or put in the laundry from picking all of that up. 

Right now I'm eating soup and popcorn and making sure to hydrate so I'll get back to it soon. 

Meanwhile, future plans for this room:

Sometime *after* I quick-clean the rest of the common areas in the house, I'll return to this room and do some decluttering.  Then perhaps some redecorating.  Someday.  I feel some lists coming on:

Declutter Spots -- Fam Rm

1. Top of entertainment center (again)
2. Top of computer cabinet
3. Mantel
4. Hubby's little computer table
5. 2 end tables
6. Filing drawer/end table
7. Yes we have wayyy too much furniture in a smallish/medium room
8. Hearth (I know I know)
9. Built-ins and alcove -- there's a jot off the corner of the family room which has built-ins.  They'd be nice but the floor all in front of them is crammed with stuff the kids pull from the game cabinet (base of the built-ins), plus some of my file stuff.  Hi I'm Jen.  I have a bigtime paper problem.  Different post.
10. Bookshelves

Decorating Needs -- Fam Rm

1. Smaller couch or perhaps a cover for the existing couch (gonna have to thrift-shop to get one, or something like that)
2. 86 the entertainment center.  I'm sure we're the only people left in America with a huge (25" ha) tube tv, plus some huge outdated audio equip that my +1 is soooo enamored of.  This was the center of some recent, pretty rare, marital spats.  I'll do what I dare.  Dream is a small, current-style entertainment table to put the TV on.  Not sure where to send the audio.  Must.  Tread.  Carefully.
3. Computer cabinet.  Dammit, they went and replaced tube stuff with flat screens, so our computer monitor is now tiny.  So is the CPU.  Don't need that once-coveted computer armoire.  Plus the kids yank on the doors and we pile crap on top.  We need a student desk a two wall-mounted shelves.  Period.
4. Need replacement lampshades.  Don't ask.
5. I'd love to 86 the brass/glass doors on the fireplace but that ain't gonna fly w/ the mister.  I'll settle for switching out the shiny brass hardware on the end tables.  Need to scratch-cover those end tables too and then someday refinish them somehow.
6. Hang better wall art.  TAKE DOWN THE BORDER I CANNOT STAND.  People who lived here prior were truly lovely people.  (I knew them.)  The geese, I don't like so much. 
7. Must remove metal mini-blinds from exterior door and big window.  Must replace with neutral roman shades or something like that.  Valences have to go.  Very 80's.
8. My dad made me a beautiful, HUGE bookshelf/cabinet.  Then we moved here and there are built-ins.  So the cabinet is in here too.  Need to relocate it.  Where?

My Plan

After all that deliberation, here is The Plan (du jour!)... it's the Flylady Plan on Additude...
I'll be deviating from it, I'm sure, tweaking it, but it involves making four lists.  Here's the link, because this is word for word:  Additude magazine: Planning for the Holidays by Marla Cilley

List 1:  Holiday Traditions

List 2:  Holiday Menus and Recipes

List 3:  Gifts

List 4:  Dates To Put on Your Calendar


That should cover the planning part.

As for the housework, I have a bunch of good links, but right now, I'm looking at about 105 minutes (but who's counting?!) until my other two kids come home, so I need to just jump on in and get something done.

I'm starting in the family room -- join me!  (In your family room not mine, silly!)

Grab these:

• Big trash bag
• Hamper
• Laundry basket or cardboard box
• Broom/vacuum
• Duster or dust cloth
• Window cleaner and cloth

1. Dishes:  Grab any dishes and put them in the kitchen dishwasher or sink.  Neatly.  Go!
2. Laundry:  Grab any dirty clothes, dishtowels your toddler has dragged in, stray socks, bathing suits in November, and put them in the hamper.  Pronto!
3. Trash:  Throw everything you see that's tossable in the trash bag or recycling bin.  Count pieces and see if you can get to 15! 
4. Clutter:  If you see something that belongs in another room, toss it in the laundry basket (not the one holding your laundry, another one) or cardboard box.  Go!
5. Papers:  Quick, grab any paperwork that isn't trash and put it in The Dreaded Paper Pile.  (Mine is in the kitchen.)

I'm off to do these things.  I'll post more later.

Choosing A Plan

I just came to the conclusion, standard for me, that I need a Plan. Something with bullets, numbers, X Easy Steps to Goal. Goal, in this case, being a neater house and some holiday prep.

Let's see what's out there, shall we?

OMG I just noticed Organized Christmas has FOUR of them! Am I enchanted or afraid? Both! (Fear the Plan!)

Choice #1:  Woman's Day: Countdown-To-Holiday-Planner
Woman's Day Countdown

Choice #2:  Organized Christmas:  Christmas Countdown
Organized Christmas: Christmas Countdown

Choice #3:  Organized Christmas:  Holiday Grand Plan
Organized Christmas: Holiday Grand Plan

Choice #4:  Organized Christmas:  Houseworks Holiday Plan
Organized Christmas: Houseworks Holiday Plan

Choice #5:  Organized Christmas:  Rudolph Club
Organized Christmas: Rudolph Club

Choice #6:  Flylady: Cruising Through the Holidays
Flylady: Cruising Through the Holidays

Let's pause a second there. WHEW! That sure seems like a lot of choices.  I'm overwhelmed. I'm going to take a potty break and then fix my preschooler some lunch and I'll be back to finish this... <Mommy hits "pause button" on blog writing>

OK I'm back and I've been having an internal war about whether to hijack my own posts within the post or to post a separate post for tangential things that pop up and involve more than 1-2 sentences... What do you think? Let me know. I think I'll have to do a separate thing -- so, note to self:  post a quick post about self-care. Stick a pin in this post (i.e. "save it") and come right back and finish it after the digression...

OK I did an interruption post, a second unedited off-the-cuff chat.

Let's resolve this, because my Inner Grownup says that I need to stop dreaming and start doing soon, and also, eat an apple, willya?!

Timing is going to be the big thing. It's already November 12 and I think some of these plans started Oct 15. Also I'm primarily interested, at the moment, in making some progress on the actual housekeeping.  Hmm. 

I sense more choices:

Choice #7:  Additude Magazine's Planning for the Holidays
Additude: Planning for the Holidays

Choice #8:  Additude Magazine's Making Three Lists and Checking Them a Lot
Additude: Making Three Lists and Checking Them a Lot

Hmmm.  Lots to ponder.  Let me go over them and I'll be back... talk amongst yourselves...

Rudolph Club is an all year thing.  Woman's Day thing started in Oct.  Holiday Grand Plan, in August.  Ditto the Houseworks plan.  And the Holiday Cruising on Flylady?  They're on Mission #20 today, I think.

Sigh.  Late for the party.

I think all of these are definitely terrific but I'm not going to lie to myself and say I'll get caught up by doing 2 days at a time. I'll go nuts. This, I've learned. The first and second Additude Magazine articles, one by the Flylady herself, could hybridize to work well for me.  Maybe I'll throw a bit of all the others into the soup as I go along... goal right now though is to get going on planning and start cleaning the house!

Interruption: Self Care

I'm in the midst of the post about choosing A Plan. And I realize that I am completely running myself into the ground by letting my right brain/Inner Brat-Kiddie-Princess (Pam Young: Meet Your Inner Kiddie) have full control over my life. This, for me, is akin to letting a four-year-old run the house completely.

What it means literally is that I have done something I never do: kept my child home from preschool with me this morning in order to have something I do once in awhile -- have a What-the-Hell Day. It's noon and I'm in my screamin' loud plaid flannel lounge pants, a filthy heather-gray tee, laptop on, shoes off, homemade mocha by my side, no breakfast or lunch in me...

I have gotten so caught up in this new blogging fun that I have neglected to (a) eat or (b) join the Real World (which is the one outside of my own head). OK I do have one toe in the Real World -- my son and I are chatting back and forth when the mood strikes him. (He's puttering around playing, watching Dora... we're relaxing. Except he's dressed. In actual Daytime Clothes.)

I have decided that I need protein post-haste. I have a spoonful of peanut butter and will eat a piece of fruit to balance it out shortly. Promise.

Also, re the reality check: I need to remember that as fun as it is poking around on these holiday countdown plans (my sick version of fun), I need to actually DO SOME HOUSECLEANING instead of just tripping in my own space thinking my dreamy thoughts. I am a mom.  I have kids. I have a life. Back to the ranch...

The Holidays are coming! The Holidays are coming!

OK so this is my very first blog. I think I may just have joined the new millineum, many years late.  See, this is not new for me, this lateness thing. I am bumbling my way through this world, a dreamy writer-chic somewhat successfully disguised as A Regular Mom. I never live up to my own standards -- probably never will -- but somehow, we get through it intact. My kids get to school each day, dressed and (mostly) prepared and are pretty happy there. My husband and I make it to work (I'm a part-timer and a part-time freelance article writer). We pay the bills. We manage to scrape together some semblance of family life and household functioning in this nutty world. And we usually take it all much too seriously.

See, we have a few quirks. My eldest child of three has been diagnosed with juvenile bipolar disorder. He was actually diagnosed early -- thankfully -- but that's another post. He also has ADHD -- and so do I. We're creative types, don't ya know? So you can imagine the challenges that must face all five of us -- and let's be real, here, me as the anti-by-nature-June-Cleaver -- in mid-November, knee-deep in school projects and field trips and facing the upcoming holidays with false bravado.

I thought for my first series of posts, I'd blog about trying to get the hut into shape. I have no delusions of transforming us into something from Better Homes and Gardens, say, or Southern Living. I'd just like to be able to find the kitchen table -- and maybe the one in the dining room in time for Thanksgiving Dinner.

At this stage, you need to know two things about me. (1) I must always have a plan. (2) You must always expect that I can and will drop the plan if and when a different whim strikes.

That disclaimer set, let's make some goals here:

1.  Find out what things are most meaningful to my family about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and strive to enjoy those things in a peaceful manner instead of driving myself and my poor family through them holding tightly to the reins of perfectionism.

2.  Get the house in decent *enough* shape that we don't (a) trip over anything and wind up in the ER, (b) we can have someone stop by and actually be allowed *in* the house where I can carry on a conversation without being drowned out by the critic in my head shouting about what a mess the house is, and (c) we can find the gifts and foods that we manage to purchase and bake prior to the end of December.

I think I'll stop there, ha. If I can pull off at least #1, I'm golden. Dare I dream of #2? See my feeling is that getting the house in a bit more order will make #1 easier, so I'm going to work on that premise a bit.

Flylady is my gal. She's the patron saint of disorganized moms, especially right-brained, creative ones. So I'll be sure to use some of her advice.  Flylady Website  I find that there's so much info on her website that it's tough to figure where to start, but I've worked the program long enough to know the basics and to realize it works when I do the stuff. I've also realized that I can't manage the emails, so I don't get them at the moment. Like everything, that could change.

I'm a sucker for any type of Holiday Plan, Grand Countdown, etc. Give me some numbered, bulleted steps and I feel the order I crave even if I don't carry them through as written. It's a start. The rest is just living. So which plan to choose? There are a thousand. I think this will be the subject for post #2, which I'll write right now because I'm nothing if not erratic and impatient to start. Also, I'm off work today, so no time like the present.