Spring cleaning

This weekend is our full out spring cleaning weekend.  Top to bottom, the house is getting a good scrubbing.  Day one is nearly complete, and I have to admit, we all participated, and we all had a good time.

With a clean and (fairly) orderly upstairs, somehow the planets are aligned and all is right.  This is borderline exciting!  Really!  I am excited to have done this, to look at my bedroom and not see inches of dust, mounds of clutter, and an unmade bed.

The kids' rooms actually have floor space.  Who knew?

The bathroom is shiny once again.  

All the floors are vacuumed and cleaned, surfaces are all dusted, we can see out the windows again.  It's almost a thrill.

With some furniture moved in each of the kids' rooms, the kids are excited, too!

Honestly, this is one of the things I look forward to after the first of the year.  The day we turn the house upside down, find tiny Legos and spider rings behind book cases and long lost dolls under beds, wipe the grime of winter off the walls and mirrors and floors, and basque in the illusion of order that is the result of one day spent cleaning the house.

Life is just so exciting in our house.  How sad is it that cleaning is something that brings us a thrill?  Who cares, I'll take it!!

Me time, week 12

 Last week was Easter, there was little chance I was going to leave the house for a couple hours with jelly beans and two small children in the house, supervised by Daddy or otherwise.  I also needed to make sure we were all prepared to leave the house at the right time so we were on time to Easter dinner.  The day turned out to be a perfect one, in the end, and I did not feel as if I missed out on anything.  Waking to Ethel's voice announcing the Easter Bunny's visit, and seeing the kids find their eggs, then devour more jelly beans than they've eaten cumulatively in their short lives, then crashing in the car after a long afternoon outside, a filling dinner, it was a wonderful day.

Our week was uneventful, aside from a hail storm early in the week.  It's that time for Mother Nature to remind us that though the snow has gone, she's still the boss.  I met my new friend during a lunch hour this week and got a lot of things off my chest.  I know she was thinking we'd talk about ADD, the fixes I chose, Healthy Selfishness, breathing exercises, and here I was unloading baggage like a handler at O'Hare. It felt good. I told her how I said things to my father that were entirely inappropriate for a child to say to a parent, to which she replied, "The entire situation was inappropriate, beginning with what he did to your sister", referring to him having told her about his affair and telling her not to tell anyone. I felt good about that. I felt validated in speaking as I had to him, whereas I've always thought I should have been more level headed. No longer. Just hearing someone who didn't stop me and tell me I shouldn't have spoken harshly helped me feel better.

In the end, she listened and said that it's really all up to me. I have to decide what I want, if there ever is contact. I agreed.

Fast forward through our week to yesterday.  I continued the spring cleaning I've been performing in the house.  Wow, this felt GREAT!  The sun was out, the temps were in the 70's, and there was a nice breeze.  With all the windows open, I sent myself to the kids' rooms.

Ethel's room has been overly cluttered and messy for quite some time, but I have been doing my best with her to keep it from getting out of control.  She's honestly pretty good about keeping things in order, but let's be real, she's 5.  So, I started with the lesser of two evils and went through Fred's closet before tackling her room.  The poor boy has grown so fast, unlike his older sister, that his wardrobe leaves much to be desired.  I often struggle to find an extra outfit or two that we can leave in his cubby at day care because it leaves us short at home.  By the time I review what's in his cubby, it's his pants and sleeves that are short, so I suck it up and leave him sans one outfit at home.  Sigh.  After going through his closet and drawers, I could clothe a boy for two seasons with what Fred has outgrown.  See, Fred's melon is large.  Seriously, I can't look at the size on the tag any longer, I have to worry about whether a shirt will squeeze over his massive skull.  It's not like Sputnik or anything, but, he certainly grows out of his shirts in the neck line before anything else.  I mean, he can walk fine, he's not really top heavy, but, it does cause us some challenges in choosing clothes.  I digress...  I ended up filling a big diapers.com shipping box with shirts, a few pants, and a couple PJ's sets.  Sigh.  Luckily, we have friends who will benefit from the rapid growth of my son, and will have a nice summer and fall wardrobe to enjoy.

Then it was on to Ethel's room.  I couldn't even bring myself to take before and after pictures.  It was one of those projects where I had to talk to myself out loud (which Daddy just "loves") and tell myself where I'd start.  I chose to vacuum first.  This would entail removing everything from the room but the bed, dresser, and book shelf, and sliding things around as I sucked up whatever was in my way.  I took up countless Lite Brite pegs, beads, and ladybugs along my way, and it felt gooood.  I tossed scraps of paper, bagged up trinket toys (which she had started to do herself earlier in the week), and reassembled her Aqua Doodle mats to discover only one missing piece.  I sorted out her books and set several aside to hand down to her brother, and did the same in his room, setting more aside to give to 'other children who don't have books', which Ethel loves to do.  The final stage of the project was to hang the extender bar in her closet, which would finally allow her easier access to her shirts in her closet.  I've been meaning to do this for weeks and was so glad I finally accomplish this small goal.  I rearranged things in her closet to make it accessible yet neat and give things their places.  Ah, dischord became serenity.

Once this was complete, it was time to get the bins of clothes from the basement.  Yes, that was plural.  I have been blessed to be the recipient of countless hand-me-downs for Ethel, to the point where I have at least two full wardrobes for her in any given season, plus at least two future seasons worth.  Her slow escalation to the next size also allows me to get multiple seasons out of each wardrobe, an added plus.  I wasn't sure how much I had for Fred, but was anxious to dive into the bins.

Sadly, I have nothing for Fred.  This poor kid hasn't worn a single thing more than one season, something I am really not used to.  Ethel on the other hand, is well stocked for summer.  Most of what was in the bins is still too big for her this summer, but that leaves me with plenty to choose from next summer, hopefully.  We have several friends with younger (smaller) daughters who will now be blessed with summer wardrobes, and one with a glorious fall wardrobe.  Honestly, there's nothing like being part of a hand-me-down chain, and keeping that chain going.  I recommend it to all moms and dads.

We ended our afternoon with a nice taco dinner.  {I have to add that I can no longer think of tacos without thinking of Taco, the character from The League.}  Following dinner, we noticed that the local riff-raff (neighbors) were convening across the street enjoying cold beverages and chitter-chatter.  Of course, we joined.  Before we knew it, there was a chain saw, bottles of wine, beer, and a raging fire on our driveway.  It was awesome.  Would you like to see what I'm talking about?

Never fear, the tree is quite dead.  We're quite excited, as it should provide us with several fire pits well into late spring at the rate we were going last night.  

A perfect spring evening, for certain.  We enjoyed a nice fire well into the wee hours.  A great way to finish off this productive Saturday.  Oh, the memories we created around this fire.  One which a select few of us are unlikely to remember (think: wine, beer), and the rest of us to fondly remind them of for many summers to come.

And here I sit enjoying my coffee.  That run I was going to take today?  Well, my good friend Summer Shandy talked me out of that some time around midnight last night, so I'll do that later this week.  I am so glad it's spring. 

That's all for now.