Sandwich Station Relocation

The top photo is the current Sandwich Station location to the left of the frig. As you can see, it is non-functional at the moment. Now that I've cleaned counter #1, it makes sense to move the sandwich makings over there. Here's what I store in the Sandwich Station: peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella (Sarah gets a Nutella sandwich on Fridays), bread and jam all contained in an IKEA Rationell Variera shelf with a blue ITSO half tray from Target to keep the jars from falling off.

After fixing lunch, I noticed I need my little cutting boards closer to my new work space so the green paring boards slip right inside the tray. Wow, I'm feeling efficient today, this works great!

Kitchen Counter #1 - BEFORE and AFTER

I've decided I really like the before and afters together. I decided to clean off ONE counter and the sink to get the kitchen going. And some inspiration! I realize I don't have a PLACE to prepare meals...often I pull out the bread board, which isn't big enough or I try to put a meal together on the stove, which leaves crumbs everywhere under the burners. When all the counters all full of stuff, there's no place to work and when they are clean, I don't really know WHERE to work!

I have a "sandwich station" to the left of the refrigerator, but that counter is covered with water bottles! So this counter (counter #1) is going to STAY CLEAN so I can prepare meals here. So now I need to keep the following clean everyday:
-dining room
-entry
-porch
-counter #1

Today I made lunch on counter #1. I like that I think of this as my work space. I put down a paper towel and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. You can see my lunch plates set out and the sandwiches in process. WOW, it is sooooooo nice to have some room to work! The BEST thing was after I served lunch, I used that paper towel to clean the counter so IT'S STILL CLEAN!!

Please Keep In Mind

Please keep in mind that I've cleaned my house before-many, many times. I can purge a room with the best of them...keep, give away, throw away. But the rub comes in that I can't seem to KEEP it clean for more than maybe a few weeks. Then the creep takes over again. I'm sick and tired of (living in the mess) the draining job of RE-cleaning and RE-purging all the time. I'm actually DONE with that cycle that only changes my surroundings (for a short time). I want ME changed. I want REAL, transforming, life-giving change. I want to overcome this area in my life and bless myself and my family with a new way to live like I've experienced with my cooking habits. So why can't I seem to keep things tidy, anyways?

THIS is being examined as I'm reading "Reclaim Your Life" by Vicki Norris. My friend Carlise mentioned the book when she was doing a garage sale and I said, "I need that book, what's it called"? So, just like with the cooking, I now have a book to help me further my self-education.

Speaking of books, though everyone raves about them, I have no need for an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook

BUT

Barnes & Noble DOES offer Nook for PC, which is AWESOME! I was able to purchase "Reclaim Your Life" via Nook and read it that same night. It's like buying a pdf and reading it in Adobe Reader. You buy the Nook version (pdf) and read it in the Nook Reader. (You probably already know how that works). I bought a netbook for our RV trip to download photos and find RV sites (how many computers does a girl need!?!? I don't have an iPhone, so there you go). I use this mini-laptop at the dining room table in the afternoons while the kids have productive free time (we homeschool). I can read on the computer and take notes by hand, which helps me retain what I read.

All this to say...I am at the start of this journey. I have faith that (even though I don't know WHEN) I WILL overcome and this process will bring glory to God because of His kind and tender mercies toward me empowering me to bring on the transformation He desires. It will be sweet to get to the point of mastery and look back over the process. That's why I'm taking time to blog...because I often forget the process and forget to be thankful to the Lord for all the good He has done.

Dining Room - BEFORE and AFTER

Wow, we've been doing this for 3 weeks now! (trumpet blows) The dining room is still clean! This is doable!

Funny, I'm getting a little compulsive. John put some scissors on the table, walked away and came back. "Where are the scissors I left here"?

"Oh, I put them away", I said.

Entry - AFTER

Cleaning the entry took less than an hour. Now that the porch is done, too, we can walk from the outside, to the porch, through the front door, through the entry and into the dining room SAFELY! The flow is amazing! We now get to maintain these areas daily. The entry shoe shelf needs a little help, but we're starting with the floors, mission accomplished!

Entry - BEFORE

I woke up this morning to John CLEANING UP THE ENTRY WAY! This is very unlike him. Wow, first Sarah cleans her room and her side of the playroom and now my husband! Who are these people!?! (He NEVER EVER EVER ever (ever) does stuff like this!) He started breaking down all the numerous shipping boxes out of the entry. What a blessing to have his help. He inspired me to finish the job after he had moved outside to mow the lawn!

So I "scolded" him because I didn't get a REAL before picture for the blog, funny! He had already made a lot of headway when I got to him. So I took photos of the mess after he started going through boxes...there was so much stuff in there, geesh!

So I'm going to deal with the entry like the dining room...every night it should be EMPTY. Dining room is still clean. :)

I didn't get to go through my process of taking photos and WDIS before he began cleaning, so I'll do it now.

WDIS: lots of shoes everywhere, coats on the floor since we couldn't reach the coat hooks, garbage, ziplocs from camping, papers, sunscreen, too-small shoes, bag of plastic grocery bags, 2 large boxes of bubble mailers, box of inventory for business, 2 boxes of diet food, shipping box from order of frying pans (they were on sale!), did I mention shoes?, tote bags with books and papers, step stool, clippety clops, old car seat, 2 empty plastic garbage bags, empty goldfish box (HOW did that get in there!?), 2 sleeping bags, my purse, swim shoes, backpack from camping, 2 swimsuits and a barstool/chair.

OK

STOP

This is (almost) comical. How can that tiny space actually HOLD all this stuff? The photos don't do it justice because John had already started emptying the space by cutting down the boxes. The list is making me laugh..."two all beef patties, special sauce...all on a sesame seed bun"...but more like: "3 old car seats and a bottle of sunscreen on top of a goldfish box and an unrolled sleeping bag".

Front Door/Porch - AFTER

Wow. What a difference all this makes! I used a Magic Eraser by Mr Clean to spiff up the front door. Got out the broom and whisked away all my spider friends. Put the camp chairs, scooters and helmets in the garage. Tossed the garbage, gave away too-small boots, we burned all the sticks when we went camping, tossed the dead flower pots, cleaned and swept the whole porch.

The area by the pink table and firewood can use another visitation, it isn't perfectly like I want it. But with the time I had today, I think we reached maximum impact, don't you think?

Immediately I got a revelation about plants! I LOOOOOVE plants and have thought about a fern on the front porch. Now I have a plan...more on that later!

Front Door/Porch - BEFORE

WDIS: rubber boots, 5 camp chairs, razor scooters, helmets, old shoes, firewood and kindling, dying flower pots, garbage, spiders and their webs, winter boots, pedicure tubs (!), yard games, sidewalk chalk and sticks from the beach on the porch. When we went yurt camping over Labor Day we had to dig around just to get to the stack of firewood so we could take some with us (yes, we live within 50 miles of that campsite-see http://www.dontmovefirewood.org/ )

The entry and porch were both done on Sunday, September 11th. Since I like each post to have it's own date, I spread these out over 4 days.

Kitchen - BEFORE

I already have a few good systems in place but received wisdom about the sections of counter. I'm making a "map" of the counter space and sectioning it into "zones". I need to decide what I actually do in each zone. And I think having smaller zones will help me focus on keeping each zone looking like it should.

There are a few problem areas (like the fact that the only cutting board is right under the microwave which is right under the spices-high traffic!) but this blog isn't really about how I solve problem areas. More just documenting my process of cleaning up and keeping my house clean.

WDIS: garbage, food that can be put away, spills not cleaned up, crumbs, pb&j not in its' place, lots of dirty dishes (this is somewhat unusual because I do run a load of dishes every night before bed), blender not put away, dinner cooking (!), small cutting board (complete with paring knife and half an apple), half full water bottles, camping leftovers, snak pak leftovers, new snak pak containers, diet food boxes, non-functioning lamp, 5lbs bag of flour, dirty spoon rest (which is just a glass, but works great as a spatula rest!), food not put away from grocery trip, cans of soup and diced tomatoes, roll of tape, supplies for home business, puzzle never put away, cornstarch not put away in cupboard, spills on floor, toys on floor, recycle items that never made it to the can, tums, eeegads!

I can tell there's going to be a lot going on in this room for awhile. I'll be thinking about:
-what I don't put away and why
-garbage control
-quirky things about my kitchen and how to solve
-how to keep it clean/daily maintenance (like the dining room)
-what makes the floor dirty and how to keep clean
-how to make things easy to put away
-storage vs things I use all the time
-considering cleaning the refrigerator door of all photos and stuff for a sleek look
-finish reading "Reclaim Your Life" by Vicki Norris
-consider using counter space for different things (move where I make sandwiches, for example)

So there you have it...the ugly. Not the good or the bad, really just the ugly! My kitchen is not a safe or peaceful room...I'm looking forward to making (and keeping) it that way, though. Stay tuned!

UPDATE 10/04/2011: Kitchen "After" Photos are Here

Changing Direction

Changing my mind...I'm not going to do the bookcase in the dining room right now. The bookcase needs to be purged, but it isn't really causing distress. It is time to deal with the kitchen. More soon.

This is an Oakleaf Hydrangea. The fabulous blossoms get blush before they turn russet in the fall. One of my favorite plants, Hydrangea quercifolia.

How To Reply To Comments On Your Own Blog

I've never really had many comments on any of my blogs. My friend Angela has been commenting (thank you!) and I wanted to reply/respond to her comment. Uh, hello? Blogger doesn't allow me to reply to a comment left on my own blog!

Here's what you do (so I can remember!):
1-Design, Edit HTML, click the box Expand Widget Template
2-Push CNTRL+F for search box and search for " left carrot data:commentPostedByMsg/ right carrot "
3-Use the following code (see link) but replace with blog id (click NEW POST and blog id is in browser address bar), to find blog id, open a NEW POST and look in browser address for blog id

http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2010/03/reply-button-option-blogger-comments.html

Thank you so much to Spice Up Your Blog!