Some time ago, I realized that since more papers and items enter my house than leave each day, I am slowly being buried to death. So, with a little help from my long distance sis, we've been trying to get rid of at least one thing a week. I've discovered this to be a low goal and figure that the quicker I reach 52, the more extra credit I get. With 7 people in a house, surely a lot more than one thing is added per week. We've been taking pictures to share and motivate each other, and today, I feel I'm needing a sense of some progress, so I'm going to blog about it.
Unfortunately, most of these kitchen pictures are after shots, since I was half way through before we thought about taking pictures. My mother used to say that we stop cleaning where other people start. Well, at least I started.
Oh, and I have 4 stamp collectors that have been plaguing my kitchen, but I put that little stamp drying string up and then I don't have them drying on towels on the counter. It seems every time I turn around, that PB&J is back there on the counter.
It's been a lot easier to keep the dishes clean and I'm finding my drainer isn't always so full and difficult for the kids to put away when we keep up on the dishes. I hate the look of a drainer, but I hate to waste my time drying when the air can do that for me.
I know my windowsill is crowded, but it's winter and this is the place with the best chance of survival for these guys.
We made some banana smoothies, used the Martinelli's on some guests for dinner and put the crockpot and Christmas soap away.
Swapped that ineffective playdoh caddy for 2 empty ice cream buckets- much more practical for cleaning up. Weston had a bit of time and since I had cleaned, it was easy to finally get that CD player installed and that made it easier to clean the space. I still need to go through all the music, etc. but at least this spot is manageable.
Dread, the shelf and ledge. I know there's still a lot of stuff on this shelf, but at least I know where it is. When I got it cleared off, I had to fight the urge to haul it out to the garage, sand and repaint it. But, I knew if I did, my cleaner kitchen would be a reck when the kids arrived, so I decided to save it for another day. I know the diaper box is unsightly, but it's perfect for the scratch paper. I'll either find a cute container or cover the box, but until then, it's doing a good job. I threw away a lot of stuff, so it's a good starting point. Adam likes to do several puzzles after breakfast each day, so it was good to have a place for them.
In order to clean off my bedroom dresser, there were a few projects to attend to. I already had the clock hanging, but it needed to be fixed and my plates and tiles from Jerusalem and my sisters were unhung for several reasons. I fixed the clock just with some needle nose pliers (if I'd only known it was so easy...) and hung two of the small plates with plate hangers.
I moved this painting to fit two more plates next to it. I've learned that some hangers do a better job at keeping the plate flush against the wall.
My sister brought me that little rose trivet from the National Gallery in London and I wanted to make a wooden frame for it like my Granddaddy used to, but it broke. I nice vertical split. I glued it, but then was afraid to use a plate hanger because of the pressure of the springs. I went to the framing department at Hobby Lobby and the lady suggested these adhesive plate hangers.
I didn't use them on the plates, since they're a bit more costly and I already had the plate hangers, but they worked really well on the trivet and these 2 Jerusalem tiles, one which had also split down the middle and been glued.
The adhesive should also provide an extra gluing for the broken ones and they are able to hang pretty close to flush against the wall.
Well, there's my little bit of a pat on the back for the day. I'm just going to keep going little by little. I made a to do list room by room (yes, I've done this before). But, this time I went through and coded it into four areas: cleaning and organizing, home improvement projects, creative projects, and things to buy. I tend to get distracted by the excitement of home improvement and creative projects when I need to tend to the cleaning and organizing first. In a few hours, I get to help 2 kids finish science fair projects for next week.
