Lately, I have wavered from my normal flylady routine. Time to get back on track. I decided to start Spring cleaning. All at once. My theory was to deep clean roughly one room a day. Tuesday went great. I did the master bedroom, and the end result was marvelous. Organized, decluttered, fixed a few things, hung some pictures, washed all the bedding, cleaned the ceiling fan & light fixture, cleaned the windows. Even touched up some of the paint. The result was a much more relaxing place for us to be.
Wednesday, I did upstairs closets. Decluttered, organized and cleaned. I was feeling much more organized, since lots of the messes kids make are superficial. To have your closets clean makes you feel like your house is clean from the inside out.
Feeling tired but motivated, I next tackled the dining room and living room on Thursday and Friday. Painted some furniture to add to the rooms, hung some new curtains, changed some picture arrangements, and all the other detailed cleaning that one usually doesn't do (major vacuuming, paint touch ups, cleaning of light fixtures, stair railing, etc. Seriously, more details would bore you).
I gotta tell you. I'm exhausted. My body hurts. But something in me is making me want to continue. It's the idea that if I could finish this task, it would be so awesome. Now, let me say that we all know that cleaning is a job that is never done. Especially when you have young kids in your house. However, this crazy voice inside my head is telling me that if I get this major stuff out of the way, then cleaning once a week will be easy. Heck, the house will practically clean itself, right?
So, it's week number two, and I'm still going. I'm insane. But, it's that voice, I tell you. The one that is saying, "Just keep going. You've accomplished so much. You're almost done. You'll love the end result." Someone tell this voice to leave me in peace.
Yesterday, I did Megan's bedroom. Today, I've finished Andrew's bedroom. I'm technically supposed to be doing one of the bathrooms right now.
But something happened today. Megan loves to eat chicken nuggets for lunch. Her favorite dipping sauce is ketchup. Andrew got a hold of her plate and chucked it. It landed in the dining room. The ketchup splattered all over the new curtains I hung last week. The once lovely, creamy linen curtains. Don't worry, I was telling myself. Stuff like this happens every day, and it doesn't cancel out all the work you've done. This is just a minor setback. A new rule in our house is that we will never eat ketchup again. Not ever.
And so, Ms. Voice, I will not be defeated. I will carry on. I hope to finish my project two weeks from today. And don't worry. I know what you are all saying. I'm saying it too. She's gone completely mad.
6 comments:
Wow! Maybe you're nesting early. I wish you the best of luck. I hope your house will be as spotless as I want mine to be. And don't worry about that voice. Mine tells me that it's okay for my house to be a wreck. (We fight about this a lot. Maybe the voice in my head should talk to the voice in your head. I bet that would be a great conversation.) Bottom line. You have kids at home and you are pregnant. Tell your voice to take a hike, if you want. And I'm sure your house is just fine. Again, good luck!
Well, I am super impressed. Way to go preggo mother of three.
Wow Natalie! I say keep up the hard work! When you get the drive, you gotta jump on it before it leaves and then you feel perfectly content living in a dump. Sometimes I look back and remember the times when I felt this huge motivation and drive to clean and I wish it would descend on me again. So take advantage of your 'craziness' and get that house ready for baby!
I think it's so wonderful that you are deep cleaning and decorating every room. It will feel so amazing when you're done. I don't think I've ever had my ENTIRE house clean at the same time. Maybe all the superficial stuff, but never cleaned from the inside out. But when I do tackle just one room or area, that place becomes my favorite place to be - full of peace and accomplishment. Good luck! (But, of course, don't be too crazy or burn out. I hope I'm not enabling your addiction!)
I agree with Mindy that when that feeling or the "voice" comes you have to go with it! Because sometimes it doesn't come for awhile. I also LOVE to do one whole room at a time. My problem is whenever I start really deep cleaning and organizing I have huge amounts of stuff to get rid of and then it is in a big pile somewhere until I load it up and haul it away. I want to see pictures of the stuff you've accomplished! Good job! It feels so good to get things cleaned!
Good luck! I've been spring cleaning a bit too. It feels good to get all the junk you've accumulated over the winter out of the house! I go in waves though, and after going on a laundry strike last week (it hurt nobody except myself!) I'm trying to pick up where I left off, but I'm low on motivation right now. :) Keep fightin' the good fight!
You made me laugh, Natlie. I hope that you were able to laugh at the time, although, I don't think I would have. Aren't you getting the nesting instinct a little early?
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