Spring Cleaning

First, a shout out to South Korea.  Thanks for stopping by!

Now, onto the post of the day:
Our HOA sent out a letter announcing an April community yard sale.  Woot!  Since today was a holiday, and my husband had the day off, I started going through things in our basement.  There was a lot leftover from the old decor of this home when we moved into it.  We took it down, and some of it we hung onto, mostly because we hadn't gotten around to getting rid of it.  Now, I organized it to put out at the yard sale.  I also went through our things, and found a good bit to try to sell. While I was digging through things, I also worked at organizing our storage area downstairs in our basement.  I organized it back when I was about 8 months pregnant.  Somehow, it got nearly destroyed.  It went from neatly arranged and organized, to a heaping pile of who-knows-what.  It was near impossible to quickly find anything, let alone get to it once you did locate an item. 

I have two sections going downstairs.  One is a section of well labeled, well packed things.  Mostly everything in this area is packed into labeled totes.  Holiday decorations, baby/children's clothes, sentimental items... it's all there.  The other section is mostly boxes of wires, electronic parts, and teenie tiny little nothings that my husband seems to horde by the hundreds.  I'd open a huge box (like a box for a car seat, for example), and it would have only a few things in the bottom.  I cannot stand that.  What a waste of space!  Now, there were plenty of full boxes, full of these little nothings.  They are all poorly or not at all labeled.  (Obviously I didn't pack these boxes.)  They are on the other side of the storage section downstairs.  I told my husband he is to go through it (he never did in the 6 years we were at our old house or the nearly 1 year we were here, but I keep trying for it).  I gave him ideas and tips on how to organize it, and to have better access to his things so he doesn't just give up and buy something he already has!  (This has happened several times.)  And, of course, there are threats of "Don't you dare mess this up again!"  I have a HUGE pile of cardboard that would more than fill my son's bathroom if it was empty, with no tub or toilet or double sink... I'm insisting that goes out to the recycling this week.  Most of that is from boxes that have been empty since the month we moved in here, almost a year ago!  I took a lot out myself, but I would quickly get tired doing the stairs over and over again while I was very pregnant.  Since the baby has been born, I have hardly been down there at all since it's not a finished basement.  I didn't realize that since I stopped taking care of it NO ONE took care of it. 

Hopefully the large pile of yard sale items yields enough revenue to finance my powder room overhaul, and maybe a few other small home improvement odds and ends.  I still have to go through our closets and garage to see what else can go. 

I worked for hours downstairs, and I was beat going between that, doing loads of laundry at the same time, and stopping here and there to feed the baby.  I forgot to feed myself lunch until super late.  I had cooked a huge breakfast for the family before I jumped into the spring cleaning.  So after all that, I cooked a nice dinner for my boys.  I'm thinking it's time for me to relax, and to do something nice for myself.  A bubble bath with a cup of tea and a DVD sounds perfect to me.  I have been so busy since the baby has been born, that I have not gotten to use my big tub since I was pregnant!  Now, with a back sore from lifting heavy boxes full of books, clothes, and electronics, a nice bath with my sore muscle soak crystals sounds like Heaven.  Fat chance, though.  I have dishes from dinner awaiting me, laundry to fold, laundry to put in the dryer, and I'm so tired I could fall into bed and pass out right this minute.  There are still a million things that need done around here, but they will have to wait.  Who knows when I'll get the chance to really concentrate on my to do list again.  Today was a rare opportunity, but my husband knows when he sees my eyes glass over and a flurry of organization start up, to just let me do it.  Do not interrupt me, do not get in my way, and certainly do not pull something out of the trash that I have deemed garbage. 

And for pity's sake, stop putting 3 things in the bottom of a huge box and throwing it on the pile with the other barely filled enormous boxes.  It's just insane! 

Bonus kid quote:  My son was walking around the house with a little contraption he built out of a honey bear jar and a toy train signal that was attached to the top of it.  I asked him what it was... "It's a findin-inator.  It helps me find where Daddy went."  So, I guess my 3 year old is now an inventor.  He reminds me of the main character from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.  I'll have to get him a little lab coat.