Heather, I curse you for turning me on to this. It plays to all my worst qualities—people pleasing (I have to fill those orders before I go to bed!) and having everything just so (what can I add so that my loom lines up with my dairy barn?).
Oh, look…a cake oven!
Wheeee—gnomes!
I’m sorry, what’s that? Where have I been? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
This year has kicked my tuchus.
I did take photos, and I hope to fill them in bit by bit over the summer. Until then…have you seen these three gnomes?
Did you know we have a nine-year-old? And nine-year-olds? They have lots of stuff. They also like to do stuff. There was a purge that took place here, but there was also a bit of furniture juggling to accommodate a new desk. When this kid winds down at night, it’s not about snuggling in bed with a book. She draws, sculpts, and other activities that require a surface.
The desk is a hit. Right next to a window, it overlooks some trees, and her iPod has a home so she can exert her newfound independence in music.
There’s another child in this house, anxiously waiting for his room to be finished.
But now he would like a desk, too.
Someday (but probably not during spring break) I’m going to spend some time on MY bedroom.
I rested. (And prepped for work next week.)
Out of the entire PurgeFest, this was the hardest day yet. Big props to both sets of grandparents, Renita, and Tom for helping piece together child care and making it happen. On weekdays I’ve been juggling three children as I purge, but this project called for serious focus and solitude.
This is Ellery’s room. Other than putting a bed in place of her crib, we haven’t done much to it since her birth. The basic purge was done by 1:39pm, as you can see on her clock. But then I needed to truck it to IKEA and gather some Trofast to organize her belongings. Those took the place of the rocker, which had been my trusty nursing spot for many years.
I put the last bin into place as Tom was reading Ellery a bedtime story.
I am POOPED, but I’m beginning to think we’re tipping the balance on the organized vs. scary spaces in this house.
Plus, I’m thinking no one can accuse me of being one of those people who only posts about a Martha Stewart life, ’cause I’m fairly certain Martha never let Alexis’ room look like this.
There will be no tally of what I purged from this room, as certain people in this house are readers, but I will say it sure does feel a lot more open and airy!
It’s Day Five.
I’m getting tired. My oomph is starting to wane. Plus, I had a really grouchy day.
I’m also starting to worry that I’m airing too much dirty laundry on the internet. Or too much dirty house.
Today was the pantry. This was mostly just a matter of clearing out all the half or completely empty boxes (who puts back an empty box?) and reorganizing everything.
I also finally decided that I will never need 50 paper bags of assorted sizes that are tucked under the bottom shelf. I saved five and recycled the rest. Where all that other junk on the floor came from? Ugh. I don’t want to think too hard about that.
But…YAY! It’s clean.
Tomorrow I tackle one of the kids’ bedrooms, the thought of which is already making me break out in hives.
If you walked into our house, this is what you would see.
Packages pile up here, and it’s also the catch-all for classroom supplies that come in the door, but don’t quite make it all the way back into storage.
When the pile gets bigger, the kids just toss their stuff on top. This actually is not as bad as it’s been, but it still makes me crazy.
Nothing actually got purged today, but things did make their way back to their proper home. Hallelujah.
I turn 40 in a few days.
Mostly I’m just fine with 40. It’s a pretty nice spot that I’m sitting in at this age.
I do wish there was more time. I wish things were a bit less wrinkly/droopy/squishy. I thought by now I would have figured out a really good system for keeping the house clean.
But other than that? I accept the challenge of this next decade. Bring it on.
(Celebrated with fine dining and even finer friends. And a singular blurry photo.)
