Day 30: Panic Monster Time!

The title references a fun article by Tim Urban about procrastination.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

If you have a moment, you should read it. Really. I'll wait. :)

I reached day 30 and it's now or never.

I'm gonna post this stupid picture and then run like hell to create the After that will BLOW you away! Or so I hope. I'll probably stress eat a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints in the process.

OH THE HORROR!

Wish me luck.

Day 29: Disorganized Anonymous

I have been holding out on all of you. There is one place I've refused to go on this blog despite my claim of "no filter." I've been showing all these real life pictures as a way to own up to what needs changing -put it out there - so I can stop whining about it and make something happen. And it has been working rather well so far.

We're winding up this 31 days thing, and I'd be remiss if I didn't attack the space that depresses me on a daily basis.

I have a problem. It's the Master Closet. It didn't get this way overnight. The closet has just been in a state of steady decline since we moved into the house. I'm pretty sure it's the worst in America. I dare any of you to prove me wrong.

Are you ready for some really real?

Day 27: Thank Goodness for Company

I say. If I never had company over, things might never get done. Here's the bar area. You might not recognize it being that there is nothing stacked in the corner or sitting on the floor. The lamp is a complete unexpected boon. I had bought it as a living room possibility (our living room is a cave and needs all the help it can get) but realized that it worked SO much better in here. 

If you look closely you'll see that the tags are still on. My husband teases me about tags - how I "never" take them off. It's kind of a split between commitment phobia and fear of buyer's remorse. I need to keep my options open as long as the return window is valid. But I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this one.

I was so proud of my house today. I mean it's not perfect, and there are still things to be done - namely, ALL the rest of the closets.

But to keep life in perspective, here is a glimpse of the screened porch. ;)

Day 26: Sometimes It's the Little Things

Any of you recognize this surface? Maybe not. Before, it was completely covered with mail and random papers. Now, it just has a few tech paraphernalia on it - which, if you are wondering, I have come to terms with. I mean, I am the only girl and non-gamer in this household.

This transformation happened as I attempted to create a home for the relevant papers that are CONSTANTLY arriving. Here it is:

The metal/magnetic board came from IKEA. I had them originally in my home office at the time when I worked out of the home. Once that ended, the office became the guest room and these guys were languishing in a closet.

Oh, and I hung them using Command Strips (the velcro type ones). I did this mostly because I was afraid of commitment, and I hated to use a bunch of wall anchors and then change my mind. ("Holy holes in the wall, Batman!)

I followed the weight recommendations, but I'm a little skeptical. I'll let you know if they keep working.

Day 25: I Shopped on Day 24!

I don't know (doubt it) if any of you are keeping track, so I'll remind you that my in-laws are visiting this weekend for the very. . . first . . . time. And I've been panicking a little.

As I mentioned two days ago, the house is a holy disaster, and I still have some "shared-space" organizational projects that need to be done before they arrive. . . the guest room closet, for instance.

If at the very least I can track down a spare curtain to hang in front of that abomination (ground zero for everything that's wrong with my household filing system), I will feel better. That should be priority number #1 (after changing the sheets and laundering the towels . . . and cleaning/sanitizing the bathroom).

But did I work on that yesterday? Nope. I got overwhelmed, and so I went shopping for home stuff.

I don't know about you, but I get this kind of high when I'm in a store surrounded by beautiful (dust-free/uncluttered) things. I did a little wandering and daydreaming while pressing down on that freakout fear that I should be "accomplishing something" instead. I mostly window-shopped, so I was able to give myself something of a pat on the back for not getting spendy.

I told myself I'd come home, feed my family, and then get back to work.

Didn't happen.

I ended up on the sofa with a glass of wine watching the current British Sherlock season (I loooooorrve it! -- sigh).

When I came up for air and gazed over the giant pile of clean, to-fold laundry on the sofa it was already 11:15.

Whoops!

I checked my phone and realized I never took a "real life" picture yesterday (convenient, eh?), but I do have a photo of one of the in-store items I wanted (but didn't) bring home with me:

Circles make me happy. Sadly, there is no room in my home for this lovely thing.

Day 23: The Opposite of Progress

I've decided that children are the very like those magical elves that come into the cobbler's workshop at night and make all the shoes for him. . . except in reverse.

This morning I got up (late, we accidentally slept in and my 5yr old nearly missed getting to school on time) with the express desire to clean up the general disarray.

This clean up effort is in contrast to the organizing of specific areas I have been tackling on this blog. They are important to the overall functionality of the house, but they have merely scratched the surface of our day to day detritus.

As I was cleaning, I swear someone was making messes behind me. My own little elf (or two). Of course, I can't blame the kids for everything (except for the matchbox car "parked" in the hallway waiting to commit vehicular homicide AND for the stickiness of the remote control), but today I only tread water. I am no more ahead than when I started.

I will try again tomorrow.

Day 22: More Kitchen Joy

I know I said I was going to work on the Mail Problem yesterday, but that didn't happen. Something else EVEN BETTER occurred. :)

I got to go to the Container Store [contented sigh].

I escaped the house (alone) ostensibly to go to Target for a handful of essentials (soap and stuff), but I passed the CS along the way, and I knew that's where I'd end up. I scored a couple of clearance deals at Target on some organizational items - one of which I'll reveal in an upcoming photo. Then having met my basic household obligations, I headed to the Container Store.

I'd been eyeing this one door solution online but hadn't pulled the trigger on it because I'd seen others in blogland achieve a similar result with cheaper items (like wire baskets for $1 at the DollarTree). However, after a couple of weeks keeping my eyes peeled for these items at my own dollar/discount store and coming up empty, I decided it was time to just lay down the money for the Elfa system. Upside, they're having their annual Elfa sale, so I got it 30% off. Here is the end result:

The only mishap was when I bopped myself in the face with one of the baskets at the store while trying out the fastening system. Fortunately, no one saw that and the bruise is pretty small.

Isn't it beautiful? They have a variety of basket sizes and depths to choose from that just simply hook into the holes that run the entire length of the bracket bar. Very customizable. You see I put all my spices in there, and I actually have empty space. [gasp]

That freed up a drawer for odds and ends. I used my clearance Target drawer organizer here:

The trick will be if I can keep this collection so spare . . . hmmm.

Which allowed me to dismantle the near permanent counter installation I pictured in a previous post. Here's what it looks like this morning:

Yes, my dirty dishes are there on the left.

It's like some amazing domino effect. I can't wait to try hiding something else on the back of another door or cabinet. ;)

And before anyone gets carried away thinking that my home life is nearing perfection, let me derail that assumption with is little picture:

Day 21: Dare I Tackle the Mail?

I'm now completely out of order with my blog as compared to the inspirational site (CGIH) and it's 31 days to an organized home.

I've pretty much skipped 6 days of organizing in the last 21, but considering my track record for finishing projects I think I'm doing pretty well.

I read a quote once in a magazine that said "Finished is better than Perfect," and that's my unofficial mantra right now.

So, I looked back at a few of the postings that I missed during my "off" days, and one of them had to do with creating an "Action File" for all the papers that enter the home.

I like this idea, but I've never had real luck with instituting it. However, I think I'm going to give it another go.

Now that I've written this down and put it out there, I'm hoping that I actually finish the project.

For further inspiration, I am reposting the photo of my current mail "solution" in the house -- also known as "wherever it happens to land."

Day 20.5: I Got the Paint on the Walls and Nobody Died

It's here! The long awaited After photo of my kids'/guest bathroom.

I spent much of this project fighting my habit of cutting corners and not doing everything I know I should do. Things like:

- get all your materials ready before beginning (aka: don't wait to slop paint on the floor before going to get a wet rag or paper towel)

- cover anything you don't want to have to clean later. Even the tidiest painter (not me) will end up with those itty bitty paint drops here and there that the roller throws off while you're covering the big areas.

- if you have to stop and come back later to finish the job (you know, so you can tend to your long-neglected family), clean your brushes or rollers thoroughly. Or at least wrap with a wet paper towel and seal securely with foil any brush or roller you're using. Key words are "wet" and "securely." Otherwise, don't expect to come back three days later and just pick up where you left off.

These are all things I know. I pretty much grew up with either paint brush or a rake in my hand. Indoors and Outdoors, my parents were the original DIY couple, and all of us kids were expected to participate.

It is some kind of miracle this is done. I say "done" even though ALL of the baseboards need replacing due to excessive bathtime (and -er . . . toilet) splashing. But the fact that I did the painting while my children were home (albeit playing lots of Minecraft) -- and the only incident so far is when my three year old busted in doing the potty dance, placed his hand on the freshly painted wall, and then tried to wipe it off on one of my good hand towels -- is nothing short of amazing. I didn't lose my head (so neither did he), although I think I made a strangled noise that sorta startled him. I call this a minor incident. 

Anyway. Here's the picture:

AND! Now that it's done, my kids can take a bath again ;) 

Day 20: (There is no 19)

I have discovered the secret to a beautiful home. . . Yep.

I know you are all on the edge of your seats (while I pretend to build suspense).

Ready?

Flowers. Fresh flowers.

I have decided that no matter how grungy a countertop, if there's a vase of fresh flowers sitting upon it, the magic of misdirection happens. The flowers pull focus from the dust and the crumbs, and even the stacked plates waiting their turn in the dishwasher seem less like a project unfinished and more like an art installation.

Ok, I went to far with that last part.

Anyway, I spent yesterday doing humdrum household tasks (changing sheets! Argh!... etc), so I bought myself flowers. Totally worth it.

Between that and some sunshine after all the ice and snow, I was ready to get back into Operation Bathroom Makeover.

Almost there. Hope to have a picture for you tonight!

Day 18: Nothing to See Here

Seriously, no progress occurred today. day three of Snowpocalypse 2014 is getting me down.

Hoping for better tomorrow.

Day 17 (-5): The Lights Are Still On

Today was day two of our Snowpacalyse 2014, and my boys were home as well as my husband.

I tried to keep the hollering to a minimum (mine) and the cabin fever at bay.

Something about thinking the power was going to go out any minute made me feel like I had to get Everything done.

So while my boys binged on PBSkids, I flitted back and forth between projects. 

Operation Bathroom Makeover is ongoing. I didn't get a before shot (conveniently), so I'll save the pictures for the end. For anyone with young boys and also who is not superwoman, you can use your imagination. 

Painting has commenced. And I managed to not spill gobs of it as I balanced this task whilst trying to control the shrieking (the kids" - not mine) during my husband's business call. 

I do have a picture (or two) for you, though. After I gave up trying to finish the painting today with all the ruckus and responsibilities, I moved my attention to my pot cabinet. I usually HATE it, but I've been gazing at it lovingly this evening. It's saying, "Hey, maybe this house isn't run by monkeys after all!" or even "Perhaps a responsible adult does live here."

:)

Before - eeeeek!

After - ahhhh! 

Day 16 (-5): Satisfying but Not at All Fun

Today's theme is "A Place for Everything" -- the noblest of housekeeping goals.

I certainly have plenty of homeless clutter around the house as well as areas that are overfull and not functional in the least (unless you call "there was an empty space and I filled it" a function)

I shall take a picture of our living room console - sorta a show-and-tell:

in all its glory - and, yes, it's been this way all week

True to form, I decided to ignore the "theme" and the ever-present problem of papers (I could write a poem of woe on the topic), I returned today to another thorn in my side -- the Kitchen!

Like I said yesterday, we're "snowed in" here for the next couple of days. Today was day one, and I thought maybe since I couldn't escape . . . I made a little progress, and I'm very proud.

Haha. The little things. Basically, I moved stuff and made "stations" that worked better with my habits in the Kitchen.

I'll give one example and then just post pictures. Every morning, I make coffee. Let me elaborate. I huddle next to the coffee pot for at least 1.5 cups, propped up in the corner with one eye half open, trying to wake up while listening to the morning radio show. My Husband, comes in sporting a much better mood and cooks himself breakfast (3 fried eggs - every day).

You say, awesome, he cooks his own breakfast. Yeah. It's awesome. He even rinses his plate afterwards. However, he seems to need to occupy and use the same space as me and my coffee pot while doing so.

No good. I am grumpy and don't like being bumped around as he cracks eggs and darts back and forth from the fridge to the stove and the trashcan.

No more! I moved the coffee and accoutrements to the Other Side of the stove. I will have my own little corner, and maybe now I won't snarl at him in the morning. ;)

Rearranging things in the Kitchen is kind of like playing that tile puzzle game where you have one empty spot allowing movement. You make space just so you can fill it, and there are no guarantees that you'll be better off after the next move than when you started.

Well, I'm about half way there, and so far so good. Oh, and as a side note, please realize I only photographed what was "pretty" below. You can use your imagination regarding what lay behind the other doors :)

Coffee/tea cabinet. Found those baskets hiding in other rooms not contributing much, so I enlisted their butts into kitchen duty.

Hey, I can see all you guys at the same time!

Now the boys can get their OWN cereal bowls in the morning.

Day 15 (-5): The Boys' Closet

I just checked in on the theme of the day at the "blog zero" site. It's kids' closets.

The blogger offers up a photo column of lovely closets for our viewing pleasure. I am green with envy.

Sometime not long ago, I had one of those ideas that breed from necessity (laziness). I was transitioning my home office into the aforementioned guest room and had to get rid of an Ikea bookcase (Expedit) to make room for the bed. Rather than risk life and limb to get it down the stairs and being unsuccessful in my attempt to sell it on Facebook, I thought why not put it in the boys' closet? It would serve just as well as the awkward closet system we inherited from the previous owners, and kids like cubbies (right?).

Anyway, that's what we did. We pulled out the shelves and clothes bar and wedged that bookcase into the closet. I then proceeded to cram things into it willy-nilly, so organized it is not.

In fact, it's about as far from those precious examples of kid closet order as you can get.

By the way, we have a snow day tomorrow, so I could totally use this as an opportunity to work on that closet.

I could tell myself it's training for the big game (aka: the master closet).

I could.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Dare I enter this dark cavern?

P.S. I later discovered that Kids' Closets was the theme of Day 13 on CGIH blog. Probably, writing this post at 11:45 while lying in bed had something to do with my issues with math.

Day 14 (-5): Panic Brings Me Back

Just when you thought I'd gone dark forever, here I am again.

I spent the last few days wallowing in self pity for failing to keep my daily blog commitment. And pity brings more of the same.

You might be asking yourself what ended this cycle, and I'll give you one word - panic. (Here's a fun infographic about procrastinators and what finally spurs them to action - "the panic monster.": http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html )

While eavesdropping on my husband talking to his parents (confession: I do this all the time. I find it more efficient than wait for him to relay info later), and I heard him invite them to our house to spend the weekend.

[Ack! Ack!]

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that they will be staying with us. In fact, in the almost 13 years we've been married, this will be the FIRST time we have ever hosted them overnight.

And there you have it - my panic.

Honestly, my fear of being "found out" as a sub-par housekeeper (maybe even "neglectful." I mean my dishes collected in the sink for three days straight) is the only thing that jolts me into action.

Upon hearing of the in-laws impending visit, I climb upstairs to take a look at the "guest quarters." The bedroom looks feasible - aside from the overflowing closet (see previous post where this was pictured). I then walked through the playroom (disaster, but understandibly so) to the bathroom.

[Enter Psycho music here]

I cannot bear the thought of my in-laws using this bathroom. The paint is peeling above the shower. There are stains of unknown origin on all the walls. I have two boys under the age of six, and I don't even want to know sometimes what's going on in there.

My new project: Operation Bathroom Makeover

Oh, and between four family birthdays, Valentine's Day, and residual Christmas expenses, we have no room in the budget, so I'm doing this on a shoestring. Basically, paint and whatever supplies we already have in the shed.

I've got a week and a half.

It's GO time.

Example of "neglect." The toilet paper dispenser fell off the wall about a year ago. We just this weekend bought a stand. Maybe I'll remove that hardware now.

Day 10: Sometimes I Hate that We Have to Eat

Day 10 is supposed to be about coming to terms with an unavoidable mess because of special circumstances. Examples given were a new baby, baking with the kids because it's Christmas, etc. Sure, I get that.

But what I want to talk about is the revolving door of mess that is the KITCHEN. Ugh. I never get that sucker clean for more than 5 minutes, because as soon as I do someone has to eat again. I feel like my dishwasher and I have a dysfunctional relationship. I can't get no satisfaction. And who am I kidding? The Kitchen is never "done." I almost always run out of steam just shy of finishing the last bit. Um. That pot can soak until tomorrow. Or why put away the skillet when we'll just pull it out again in the morning?
I marvel as I watch my mother-in-law wipe down every inch of her (gorgeous, gigantic) granite-topped kitchen island after every prepared meal. Huh. I have about half that surface area in my whole kitchen, and it's lucky to see a sponge.
Let's face it. I despise the mundane. The idea that I'll be doing the exact same activity tomorrow and the next day and on and. . . makes me want to crawl into bed.
Which is where I am at this very moment.
There. That's me living with the mess.
Good night!

Day 9: Not Organized, But I Can See Everything

The end of today was pretty stressful. I won't go into the details here, but it was enough to make me almost blow off this blog thing. I was doing my usual escapist behavior when I remembered an email from my sister who had taken some time to tackle her under the sink cabinet (aka the Former Cabinet of Darkness), and it gave me the courage to try my own battle against the evils of near-empty chemical sprayers.

Mostly, I purged. But if you've been following the blog, you have already seen a "before" picture of this space. Here's an amateur "after."

Maybe I'll introduce some shelves later. A wise organizer once said, don't buy your gear before purging or you end up with the wrong stuff. Or something like that. ;)

Day 8: Nothing Happened Yesterday (on day 7)

My Kitchen got messier yesterday -- Super Bowl Sunday and all. Also, I didn't post anything, so that's why Day 7 is missing. (Get back on the wagon, girl.)

Just for fun, here's a picture of what my dining table looks like at this very moment:

(messy - for sure - but all I can think is "I hate those blinds.")

On Day 8 the blogger suggests that we compose our own definition of clutter and also possibly create a "mission statement" for our home.

Okay, I can try that:

Clutter -- any object that has no designated place or has landed outside its place within the home; appears to possess a magnetic force of its own attracting more of its kind. ex: toys, mail (MAIL), school papers, craft supplies, tools/hardware, small electronics

Home Mission Statement
This Home will be Functional by Creatively utilizing the spaces available, simply Beautiful by way of carefully Edited decor and furnishings, a Retreat in our Private spaces, and our Shared Spaces ultimately Inviting to Friends and Family.

Sounds lofty.

I want it all.

If I find a moment later today, I will make an exhaustive list of things I want/need to accomplish around the house to get closer to achieving this mission statement. Once I get that done, I will post it here:

Better get my butt in gear, eh?

Day 6! My Disordered Kitchen

If you haven't checked out the comparable post from the site that started it all, I suggest you do (here).
This girl is super frugal, and I appreciate that. Her resourcefulness is inspiring.

We'll see how far I get.

While I ponder the plan of attack, here are a few pictures of my problem areas for your entertainment: