Clean Sweep

Since returning from Cincinnati, I've had a sudden urge to cook and clean and organize. There are so many little projects around the house that need attention and I've been neglecting them terribly. For awhile there I was thinking I might need to convince my brain that I was pregnant (I'm NOT!) just so I could boost my desire to clean house. There's nothing like a baby deadline to get my butt in gear and knock out all possible projects and then some. When I was pregnant with Sophia, I even organized my gift wrapping storage armoire. It was immaculate with perfectly folded tissue paper organized by color of the rainbow and gift bags sorted by type - i.e. child birthday, baby shower, plain colored, Christmas. Now I can't even bring myself to file away our financial statements as they come in the mail. They're sitting in a stack on top our file cabinet.

So I'm taking this little urge and running with it. Here's a couple things I've been working on.

#1 - Sophie's closet
I've posted before on the gigantic amount of time it takes to shift out old clothes and organize them for storage and then wash and organize the new. We just finished that process recently with all the 12-18 months stuff and summer season. (Not to mention Will's new 3T clothes and stuff he's grown out of.) But my little "system" for phasing out small clothes was to stack them on one of the back shelves as I discover their "too small-ness" and then just take a load downstairs to the storage tubs when I had time. Well, I hadn't made time in a long while so there were stacks of clothes back there in addition to just lots of baby STUFF that needed to be shifted out and/or organized. All of Sophie's big girl bedding is waiting in the wings so I just organized that on the top shelf next to the rarely-used-vaporizer. Then I organized a bunch of books and photo albums (which you can't really see) on the next two shelves next to her owl dolls and a cool new toy from Aunt Shirley. The 4th shelf with the yellow wipes container on it is going to be her designated Tot School shelf with some of the activities I create for her that can be reusable. Since taking this picture, I've added a bunch more, but that was just the play doh lids toy that she loves on the shelf. And finally the bag on the bottom shelf contains all the millions of extra tiny hangers next to a bunch of empty shoe boxes.
So the shelf above her top rack is reserved for diapers and wipes storage. And you can kinda' see that she's mostly got jackets and 12-18 month fall clothes left on the top rack. The bottom rack is most of her current wardrobe and shoes. And on the floor, you can see one edge of her stuffed animal basket. It's a huge basket and I've thinned it down several times. NO MORE STUFFED ANIMALS PLEASE!!! The kids do not play with them. Oh, it feels so good to look in there now and see so much more organization and a little empty shelf space!

Here's that cool toy I mentioned from Aunt Shirley. It's a personalized black board box...

...that slides open to reveal some chalk, an eraser, a notepad and some stickers...

...and then reverses to display a whiteboard. Oh, and it has a handle for easy carrying. How cute!

#2 - The Refrigerator

Oh, this has just been eating me alive! I CAN. NOT. STAND a dirty fridge. It's not so much the organization that was my problem recently. I'm still good about keeping a strict inventory of my fridge contents and making sure to have plenty of empty shelf space for each week's meal rotations. But the shelves were looking super streaky and there were a few spills/sticky spots. [Hides face in shame.] They had to go. I hadn't cleaned my fridge since just before Sophie was born! [Buries face under a pillow in shame.] So this weekend, while Craig and Steve were out cutting down our tree and the kids were sleeping, I rolled up my sleeves and just got to work. I hate this job.

I generally prefer to pick a low inventory day to clean just so there's less to move in and out. Unfortunately that was not the case here because I had all my prepped containers from my Friday cook night for the weeks meals PLUS the plate of pancakes we just had for breakfast. But I just worked fast and IT'S DONE!! This picture really doesn't look all that organized because of the excess of containers at the moment, but the shelves are spotless, the drawers aren't sloppy, and a few questionable items have been tossed. I love the noticeable difference every time I open the fridge now!

#3 - The definitely-dead ash trees in our front yard

Cutting down huge trees is SO sad, but seeing their lifeless, leafless branches right in front of our house each day is also disgraceful. I hate that it needs to be done, but all three ash trees that line the front yard have to be cut down. I will so miss the shade they provided (even without many leaves) to our front yard and the property appeal that large trees offer. But let's face it, large DEAD trees are not really appealing. So Craig and Steve started this weekend and cut down the middle one. The other two will follow soon.

So that's a start! Craig did a little work on organizing Will's closet recently so his looks okay. But I'd like to organize the basement a LOT and file those darn statements. And then I just have to get some more cleaning done! Hmm... what would be a good pretend due date for me??? ;) LOL