Middle of Month 1

It's been nearly a week since I posted. (Should I keep posting? Is anyone reading? Who knows. But maybe posting helps keep me honest/on track.)

What's the last week been like? Hmm. Well, I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of routines. I make a lot of plans but they don't become habits. I have, however, been great about writing (obsessively) in my planner. I write every little thing that I need to do, and lots of them are getting done! But my problem is, and always has been, that sometimes I forget to look at my planner. And then things don't get done.

My kitchen -- still kind of bad. But I'm not letting things pile up on chairs, and I'm getting the dishes done (almost) every night. Garbage has been going out, and recycling going out more often too. Don't want to encourage the mousies anymore than we have to, right?

In the kitchen, I took down two large, yellowed plastic box-style picture frames (which contained two large, yellowing Jello ads from the 60s, which I love, but which don't make me happy anymore). In their place, I hung J & S's school photos. That alone made my kitchen look so much nicer upon entry. Um, the framed ads are still on the kitchen floor though. Bad. Are they worth anything? Who knows.

My dining room table -- still has holiday decorations out, and a basket full of crap on top. Still has a missing nut/loose leg. But getting better. I finally hung up B's big photo plaque which was about to get ruined by sitting UNDER the dining room table. Speaking of decorating, I took down about 10 watercolor paintings that were taped up in my entry hall... they were also curling and yellowed. They were painted by S back when all S could paint were blobby things (maybe they were impressionist or abstract masterpieces?) OH! And I taped up the telephone wires that were dangling for the last, um, five years (yes, they were dangling when S was a crawling baby. But she turned out ok).

So, some beautifying did happen, but nothing is beautiful with all this clutter, as I've lamented over and over again.

Did I get rid of anything? Let's see. I called my neighbor to tell her I was bringing back her baby swing that she loaned me for B, and she told me she didn't need it anymore, so I should put it by the trash. So now of course it's back in my hands. Did I put it by the trash? No. Because what if someone needs or wants it? Gotta freecycle it. But it's nice! Should I Craigslist it? But what if she sees it (she loves Craigslist) and thinks I am taking $$ out of her hands? Dilemma!!! Why is it easy for her to say "toss it," but not so easy for me?

What else have I gotten rid of? Not much. The guy never came to pick up those packing peanuts, so I still have those. Gotta email him for one more chance. Sigh. I just don't know what to do anymore.

My living room really needs to be intervened with tonight. Asap. Jake's birthday gifts are all over the place... books have exploded outward from the bookcase onto the floor... you get the idea. FLYLADY would be in "the bathroom and one other room" this week, and the living room next week, but I think I may bump the LR up and work on the kids' room during LR week. I can dream right?

Oh, I did make some headway in my bedroom. Got hubby to throw out a bunch of old sweatshirts. Dismantled the quilt rack (which is a nice idea, but really just causes quilts to collect extra dust) and put the blankets into the now-empty space where the sweatshirts were. Um. Yeah. Not much else. But I figure that if I put away my maternity clothes (ever) and move the DVD rack, the crib will fit along the wall.

The crib is a whole 'nother issue. Maybe later.