Heh. This better be worth it...

Heh. So I need a place to write this down, so this is as good as I have right now. Here goes.

I've been doing that FlyLady thing. I have my sink clean. Every morning, I get up, clean the cat box, shower, dress and put on shoes, wipe down the bathroom sinks, make the bed, empty the dishwasher, fill the dishwasher, feed everyone breakfast, clean the kitchen again, make the kids' beds (so they don't go back to bed), check the calendar, and start a load of laundry. *sigh* Then I start my work day.

At lunch, I move the laundry to the dryer, feed everyone again, clean the kitchen again, and straighten up the house. Then I go back to work.

After I finish school, I put out a few hot spots and try to get rid of some clutter around here. Then, I cook dinner, feed everyone, clean the kitchen again, and straighten up the house again.

By the end of the day, I bathe the kids, clean their bathroom, medicate them, and put them to bed. At my bed time, I straighten up the house again, gather all the dirty dishes, brush and floss, wipe down the bathroom sinks, put on jammies and crash.

The "getting rid of clutter" is going slowly. I went through the kitchen cabinets this weekend. I threw out a ton of bubble liquid, popsicle molds, old candy, bottle caps, etc. I also got rid of half of the mugs up there. The medicines went back to the linen cabinet. It doesn't look a lot better. It just looks like my stuff is more comfortable and has a little more elbow room. Same with the sewing room, dresser top, underwear drawer, t-shirt drawer, under the kitchen sink, etc, etc.

The one thing I've learned is that the goal of housekeeping is to NOT to clean the house. It's to keep it clean. And that takes work. It's worth it, though. I can open two large pizza boxes on my kitchen counters without moving anything. I can sit on the carpet without brushing off my pants when I stand up. I can sit on my bed during the day to do work without making it first. I can let my mother use my bathroom without apologizing first. I actually wish the results were more dramatic -- like suddenly my house looks like Good Housekeeping or something. I mean, I did find some great stuff while cleaning up the clutter, but I still can't find the zipper foot for my sewing machine. I still have a ton of stuff to get rid of.

But there's always tomorrow. I just get the feeling that I've done the easy cleaning, and now the hard work is going to start. Why, just this afternoon, I cleaned the dryer duct on the roof, declogged the shower drain, scrubbed the shower walls, dusted and vacuumed the family room and living room, made brownies, invited my dad over for lemonade and brownies in the lawn chairs in the back yard. (Did you know that I can dust and vacuum the living room and family room both in 20 minutes?) The brownies were finished at 2:30, and my dad stayed until 3:45, so it went pretty well downhill from there.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty tired. And tomorrow's the weekly drive to The Big City for therapy. *sigh* Must be time bathe the kids, clean their bathroom, medicate them, and put them to bed, straighten up the house again, gather all the dirty dishes, brush and floss, wipe down the bathroom sinks, put on jammies and crash.

This better be worth it.