It's Monday again!

I did not get much decluttering done over the weekend, despite my best intentions. Hubby and the Boy went on a father son trip, and I had visions of the Girl taking long naps while I whipped the place into shape. Didn't quite work out that way - but it's alright. My girl and I did lots of fun things like going to the park, watching videos, and eating M&Ms. On Saturday I met my neighbors and their 4 year old daughter at a McDonald's with a big indoor play place, so while it poured outside, the girls got to run around for 2 hours and the moms got to sip iced coffee and talk. I don't get to connect with my neighbors a lot, so it was nice and it even felt like "down time."

As far as what I got decluttered, let's see. I did go through all my yarn and organize my many unfinished projects. I now have a list of unfinished projects and a bag of said projects along with their patterns. Will I finish them? WHo knows. But a surprising number are a) very close to being finished and b) unassigned (I didn't make them for anyone in particular) - so maybe the thought of banging them out and giving them as gifts or selling them on ebay will inspire me to get cracking. I also have several unfinished "assigned" projects which I should probably finish first.

I have more yarn than I could ever use, but surprisingly I didn't really earmark any for donations. I should have, I just didn't. No excuse here.

I also finally dealt with the portable air cooler that has been sitting in my bedroom, unused, for over a year. My super rescued it from the trash and thought I could use it as a humidifier, but I was always squeamish, since I never knew who used it last and what kind of mold or funk might have been in there - and I had no instructions on how to use it or clean it. From what I could figure out online, you have to fill it with ice and it works like a portable air conditioner. Not very practical either. But of course, it seemed wrong to throw it out. I had tried to freecycle it, but the person who was interested never made it here, and another person wanted a demonstration of how it worked (hey, buddy, I'm not making a freezer full of ice for you. It's free, take it or be gone). So, I brought it down to the basement and left it by the trash. I don't see it today, so either someone else took it, or it's already been put with the trash and I will see it outside tomorrow night. I do feel a little guilty, but every time I see that empty corner, I'm happy.

My daughter helped me straighten up the living room (and wanted me to move things so we'd have a "nice empty space") - it looks nice but we didn't make any progress on the decluttering. Still, we were able to sit on the couch and read a book without me cringing every time I looked around.

My niece (14) is staying with us for a few days in mid-August. I counted up the days on the calendar and have just about 36 days until then (skipping over the days I will be out of town or busy at night). Then I made a list of things to do before she comes - very basic - things like "living room box 1, living room box 2, top of my closet, bottom of my closet, top of linen closet, etc." The living room boxes are numbered up to 10, though I don't think I have that many. I don't quite have 36 things on my list yet, but I will add to it as I think of things. The idea is to do one thing a night so that the place isn't a total nightmare by the time L. comes around. Now that the boy's school is done (in 2 days) I hope to use my extra morning time and/or extra evening time (since he'll be staying up later) to tackle one task each night. I got home from work tonight and since no one is home (where are they? Park? Hospital? Dead in a ditch? Who knows. No note and hubby left the cell phone here) I chose an item at random. Top of my closet. It only took a few minutes because there's not much up there. Mostly I neatened it up. I do have a bag of the kids' "special" baby outfits up there but I made a note to buy 2 rubbermaid boxes - one for each - so that I can store these in a better way and move them into THEIR room.

That's all... if Hubby ever gets home we need to clean out the turtle tank as it is looking rather greenish...