Deja Vu All Over Again

Well here we are. January 2, 2008. And the last time I posted was pretty much exactly one year ago. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about how I was going to get rid of my clutter and get things in order by the time I had a baby in July.

Well, I'm proud to say, I had a baby boy in July. But as you may have guessed, I never got rid of the clutter. I now have more clutter than ever. My living room is still unlivable. My bedroom is a disaster area. The kids room is a war zone. My roomy kitchen is still not roomy. My dining room table remains mostly buried, and we eat around the piles of papers and mail. The only uncluttered room remains my bathroom, which is really just too small to hold any clutter.

But I'm blogging again so I must be ready to commit, right?? (Riiiiight.)

Yesterday was January 1. A new year. And despite superstitions (not my own) about not taking anything out of the house on New Years Day, I got rid of lots of garbage. Hubby brought down the recycling (which gets out of control for some reason). I actually CLEANED my kitchen. I mean, the kitchen is generally clean due to daily maintainence, but this was more of a pro-active cleaning. Good thing, too, as it turns out the kitchen was not as clean as I thought... when I moved the microwave, I found a chewed up skittle, an open lollipop... and several (OK, more than several) mouse poopies... confirming my suspicions of the last few weeks. Wonderful. I don't get freaked out about mice (this is, after all, NYC) but it just isn't a nice thought. I tupperwared some foods that seemed intact but appealing, tossed a few expired packages out of my cabinets, and stuffed all the breakfast cereals in my fridge. (Now at least my fridge looks full.) I also mopped the floor and then put out some cottonballs dotted with peppermint oil, which I hear foils them. A few weeks ago, the exterminator had given me glue traps, but they freak me out more than the thought of having mice at all - so I didn't use them... but I guess I may have to bust them out if these measures don't work.

Anyway, enough about critters... we were talking about my clutter issues.

A few weeks ago I had finally gotten around to calling QCP about making a pickup... they are supposed to come today, so this morning I dragged my donations down to the building lobby (about 6 big bags, plus a big box, of donated toys and clothes). This stuff has been sitting in my apartment for MONTHS or longer. (OK, longer.) I only hope that QCP shows up before my super decides to toss it all (I don't think we're supposed to leave stuff in the lobby like that - but I don't know what time they are coming and I don't want hubby to miss them).

I have a weekly plan, I have morning routines, I have hope. Mostly I hope it isn't another year before I post again.