New Kittens!

So much has been happening here! We've been working on the sunroom, playroom and living room. We got things quite tidy and then got out tons of Christmas decorations! I'm putting those away today and tomorrow and really looking forward to cranking up the momentum we were gaining.

Around December 1st, we decided on a date for kittens. I tackled small sections and had the kids pick up their stuff. We put some in giveaway, some found new places to be stored. We gathered all the Legos and picked up the hallway upstairs. We also installed a bookshelf at the top of the stairs! YAY, a place just for library books! We got busy cleaning the kids' rooms in preparation for kittens, which we brought home on December 15th. These new additions have meant a new need for flexibility, as the cat litter is in my powder room! These little sweeties have been such a blessing and we are thoroughly enjoying our new pets.

I'm very excited about the new level of cleanliness we are achieving. The chore box is working beautifully! It has helped me keep track of deep cleaning and projects. An example of deep cleaning might be wiping the moldings and a project would be cleaning out the refrigerator or going through a box. I can easily see when I last did something, which gives me peace of mind and also helps motivate me to do something new, too. We go through our chore box every day at breakfast.

We also do our daily pick-up every day which has given me SUCH HOPE! Now we don't have big messes to clean up, just little tiny ones. I will post photos when the decorations are put away.

Work In My Heart

I'm processing a lot of what is going on with me ON PAPER, rather than on screen for now. Just wanted to add this post as a marker of my progress in getting free.

This work in my heart is continuing, even though I've been putting it off and denying where the Lord wants to work. I don't cognitively understand it all. Instead of demanding to know about it all in my mind, I'm choosing to willingly move forward into the UNknown. The Lord has spoken so tenderly to me, giving me His assurance of His presence and help to overcome this stronghold of messiness as I willingly obey His leading. I've been doing this my way for too long and I'm ready to do it His way now.

So I'm moving forward in obedience, taking His hand as He specifically leads me.

Today we spent some time in the living room, basically starting over again because the room is a disaster again. But I'm not at all discouraged. I obeyed His leading to do two specific things:
-What Do I See
-Map out zones for the room and the purpose of each zone
That took about 15 minutes. I feel like a huge weight is lifted! I now know how to move forward tomorrow (as I've set aside a couple hours per day for tidying up and maintaining the clean once and for all).

But this time, it isn't just about cleaning it up...there is more going on as a deeper cleansing is happening in my heart...I can assume that cleansing of my heart will translate into a cleaner house. I'm looking forward to that with much eagerness!

UPDATE: Wednesday August 7-I realize only ONE thing was mine in the mess...ALL of this mess is the kids not putting things away. I realized that I don't ever enter this room, unless we watch a movie together, which happens at least once a weekend in the winter, but not even once a week in the summer.  This is interesting...what happens is that the children are not trained properly to put things away and I need to enter this room at least once a day to remind them to put their things away.

Pick-Up Playroom Weekend

Things are moving right along. What a difference it made to have John's help! The carpet is ALMOST cleared! We have a deadline now...the carpets are being cleaned on March 5th!

Playroom Status

Playroom update:
Walls have been painted. Bookcases are assembled. New table is assembled and placed in front of the fireplace. Countertops removed from room.

WHEN the junk gets cleared out, the kids will have an entire FLOOR to play on! Various items will be stowed in their cubbies in the bookcases.

Sunroom update:
Sewing table assembled. New chair assembled. White table moved to back up to sewing table. Decided to leave desk in corner to use as a cutting and ironing station. This is a great improvement as we can leave the sewing machine out to be used any time.

Next:
Sort through junk in both rooms.

Tidy LEGOs!

There are many different ways Lego fans organize and catalog their Legos, in fact Flickr has some great photos of massive collections. I've been encouraging Daniel to organize his Legos into some kind of system but he hasn't initiated anything in that direction (one huge box would work for me). I've come to realize, he doesn't know where to start or how to tackle such a monumental task (sound familiar)?! But something very interesting has been going on in our home each evening for a couple days now...John has been standing at Daniel's countertop over the past week SORTING through his Legos...just on his own, quietly collecting plastic containers and putting all the "like" bricks together...all the 2x1s together, all the 2x6s together, all the 2x2s, etc. I kept thinking Dan should organize his bricks by color...and when John said to organize them by shape, I thought that would be too many containers...but it is WORKING!

What is working is DANIEL! He has been drawn to this "tidy" area and because he can see the pieces, he's been BUILDING! And then the lightning bolt idea...

WHY NOT put Sarah's and Daniel's Legos TOGETHER and have one big LEGO play station!?

See Daniel standing there with the little containers? He's able to see them AND he has an area to build...this countertop is 8' long

AND GUESS WHAT?

it would be PERFECT in the SUNROOM!!!!!!!!

(I think John suggested this not too long ago but I nixed the idea).

Combining Legos would be a great idea for many reasons, one is that they would probably start to collaborate on designs and building and if not, that's ok. The reason we want the wrap around desk which I talked about on Monday (here) is mainly a place to store and play with Legos. The countertop has the benefit of being FREE! And it is only 10 feet from where I would need to move it AND it is already proven to be used in this way. I like the backsplash which would keep the containers from falling off the back of the flat surface.

I think I'm going to see if it will work.

Truth Be Told

I haven't kept up on the kitchen counter nor the entry. We still have a clean porch and dining room but this weekend, I'm going to take some time to tidy up the entry (lots of stuff from Gramma's landed there) and the kitchen bar counter area (new sewing fabrics and supplies and sewing books) is clogged up again. I am feeling encouraged...we really ARE getting there. This process was similar with learning to plan and cook meals...it took SO MUCH effort just to start turning that big ship around but then it gained momentum and became easier to move forward. I can feel things starting to come together.

Photo by Sarah, age 8
Effects by Mom, age ?

Living Room Update

Living Room Update...every day I just GO IN THERE and PICK UP SOMETHING. It is difficult to describe how hard this has been...it's just a room-go clean it up! Today was good as I'm really trying to bust through some clutter.

We keep our board games in our master closet. Just what we do. The games all migrate downstairs because that's where they get played. I realize there's a disconnect here...the games should live downstairs, but there just isn't room for them anywhere. (John collects games, media, music and books so we have a lot of those things)! I paid the kids to take the games upstairs...20 cents per trip. It was worth it!

I bagged up all my yarn (eeeegads! I learned to crochet this year and I have heaps of yarn everywhere!) in plastic trash bags just to get them out of the room. They moved into my bedroom, which is another story for another day. I put the two most important crochet projects (Christmas gifts) in totes which look nice and tidy. These live next to the sofa for the rare occasion that I might get to work on them.

Put a few things in the giveaway pile and can't believe how much TRASH there is-what is wrong with the people who live here!? Don't they ever put anything away!?

Decided to take the guitars upstairs and put them in the space outside Daniel's room, perfect.

Got a plastic trash bag for "Sarah" and one for "Daniel" and anything random goes in there. Also have the plastic bag for trash going and put Sarah's dollies in a box so they are together. Took the curtain rod upstairs as I won't be installing the curtain panels until after Christmas. Moved the sofa over to make room for the tree. Removed a lamp from the room that we purchased for a different house. Though I love the lamp, it just doesn't belong here so I will donate it. Also got brave and decided to donate the HUGE STACK of unused homeschool curriculum that I purchased and decided I didn't like. That stack has been collecting dust near the woodstove and I feel like I lost 5 pounds making that one decision!

We ordered new dining room chairs and they are still in these huge boxes. Tomorrow my goal is to VACUUM the living room and put the chairs together (yippppeeeee)!

Sadly, the entry way is clogged again, but I know why. John brought home several boxes of media from his dad's house and I received an extremely large box full of Christmas presents that I must unpack and wrap this weekend. So, even though it is messy, I realize it is truly temporary. Kitchen is looking shabby, but that is temporary as well as I've been off my routine this past week.

Have way too many library books on the floor so that problem needs a solution. I'm considering emptying 5 cubbies to make room for BOOKS. Would REALLY like to put library books on a shelf (that doesn't exist) right outside Daniel's room where the guitars are but can't find the right size.

So there's my update. Sad but true. I shall take some photos tomorrow (hopefully) of the vacuumed carpet. Oh the thought!