Huge, Wonderful, Beautiful, Amazingly Perfect!

I know, *gasp*, I’m posting. Well, I kinda use this blog as a way to motivate myself and track my progress when it comes to clutter and organization. And, frankly, there’s not been a whole lot to track in that department. Survival. That’s what my life has been. Although, since I’ve cut out grains and sugar, my depression and anxiety have lessened by 95%, I kid you not. Huge, HUGE improvement. And today I actually saw proof that my focus/concentration/attention issues may be improving as well. For some reason, I got motivated to tackle this rather mammoth project, or at least, at one time it would have completely overwhelmed me. Anyways, I started this afternoon during nap time and I had a few interruptions to feed people and so on, but I kept plugging away at it until I finished it this evening. Well, almost finished. You’ll see what I mean…

So, here’s the before picture.

 

Scary, huh? Yeah. We built this big desk a month or so ago so we’d have room to spread out and work. Ha. Yeah. At this point there was no more actual useable workspace than we’d had on the scarily heaped and cluttered, teeny tiny desk previous to this.

But then I got motivated…

 

Tadaaaaa! My work space. Everything I use on a near-daily basis within easy, but organized reach.

 

 

Ahhhh, perfection! Bliss! 

Here’s the whole thing:

 

JD Man’s space is still not the tidiest, due to me not knowing what to do with all of his stuff and not wanting to get in trouble for pitching it. Which is what I would have preferred to have done with it. But you never know when that random thing you pitched last week will suddenly become necessary to the future of the human race. So, in a pile it sits. I cross my fingers, hoping he appreciates the work I’ve put into the rest of the office space and deals with the last of his stuff accordingly. Please, please!

Oh, and here’s the before of the built-in bookshelf on the lefthand wall.

 

Well, you can sort of see what it looked like before. You get the idea. And one of G Man’s great grins too.

After:

 

Again, let’s insert another deep sigh of total satisfaction here: “Ahhhhhhhhh!” Phone books, boxes of blank checks, budgeting tools, printer paper, label maker, little drawers for things like pushpins and staples, blank discs, etc., all placed appropriately for easy reach, depending on how often I need to get to them. Some things are even labeled. Yes, you may ooh and aah. I know I certainly am.

I guess I shouldn’t say in the title of this blog that this project is perfect because, really, it’s not yet. There’s JD Man’s mess, a stack of plastic drawers in the corner to go through, some books on the top shelf of the bookshelf to dispense of (really, they wouldn’t even need to be up there). But all told, this is heaps and heaps and HEAPS better than what it was. When I finished, I kinda just wanted to sit and look at it and marvel because it was so pretty compared to what it was. It’s so pretty and everything has a place now, I’m actually not afraid I’ll lack the discipline to keep it looking this way. A place for everything and everything in its place makes everything soooooooo much better. Slowly but surely, I hope to get the rest of the house looking half this good. Hey, maybe this motivation and focus is here to stay! Wouldn’t that be awesome??? Funny how your food can screw you up that way…

Oh, and this post wouldn’t be complete without a big shout-out to my dear Sandy and her amazing skillz. I did all of the work on the desk today, but several weeks ago she helped me sort through paperwork (that may or may not have been scattered throughout the house) and set up an achievable filing system. That laid the groundwork for me being able to conquer this particular mess. Again, having a place for everything makes organizing SO much easier! 

So, we’ll see when I blog again. If I keep feeling this good, who knows, maybe it’ll be soon!

I’m lame…

…but I really would love to win this guitar set… Guitar Lessons in Surrey

I’m back! For today anyways…

Just popping in to show you my bathroom cabinet. I know, I know, long time, no blog. I’ve been organizing and decluttering here and there, just not blogging about it. Although, this is latest “big” project I’ve done in awhile. And I’m embarrassed to say how long it didn’t take, it was not worth the procrastinating.

I went through and through out a bunch of old lotions, cosmetics, etc. Threw. it. awaaaaay. And it feels so good. There’s a basket on top for all of baby girls hair doodads. A Thirty-One All In One Utility Tote to hide my ugly makeup case in. The brown basket for all manner of salves and ointments and bandages and all that jazz. The cabinet is full of Melaleuca cleaning concentrates and other stuff I don’t want the kiddos to get into. The pulls still serve as my make-do jewelry hangers. Nothing fancy, but so much better. It relaxes my mind just to look at it.

Chalkboard Fun!

Another project post. Again, not really anything to do with housekeeping or organizing, but it is kinda, I guess.

North wall in the kitchen kinda before. I always forget to take photos before I start into projects.
And now, voila!

My chalkboard wall! With to-do and grocery lists and reminders in big letters right in front of me with no chance of missing it! Yes, I am totally an out of sight, out of mind person. I make a list and then invariably misplace said list and forget I made a list and what was on it. Now, hopefully, it’ll be a little hard to lose my list.

This is a to-do list I’ve compiled of daily goals and priorities. I’m trying not to add anything more and make it anymore overwhelming. Yes, simple as it looks, I have a hard time getting more than half of this list accomplished in a day. But, hopefully, and yes, I know I use that word a lot, as I get into a routine, as my house whips itself into shape, I can accomplish all of this and more. I also plan to designate a specific cleaning task to every day of the week. But I’m working on this list right now. That will come.
And another perk of a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard?

Lots of fun for little hands!

Entryway Project

Not really an organizing task, or even anything to do with depression, just a fun little project that I’ve been planning (and have had the supplies for) for upward of 6 months. And I just now got around to it. Actually, I started this project almost 2 weeks ago, but just got around to tying up the loose ends today.

Before

A little bench with a flip-top lid that JD Man picked up from someone’s trash pile. Cute, but very banged up and worn looking and the white really isn’t the look I’m going for in the living room/entry way. So, on the stillest, most quietest, as well as unseasonably warm day I’ve ever known in North Dakota, I went out to take care of that with a can of black spray paint. Seriously, it was so still and silent it was deafening. Like, you can hear your heart beating and your ear drums feel like they’ll simply explode from the sheer silence. Yes, it’s an oxymoron, but it’s true. But anyways, the only thing I heard, aside from my own heart beating, was the flush and call of a few pheasant. There wasn’t even a breeze. Which is very unusual when you live on the prairie. The only way you could even tell which way the air was moving was by observing the spray paint overspray. But anyways, I’m getting off track. Which doesn’t really bother me because that’s the way my brain works. But it may confuse you. Sorry. But, get used to it.

Anyways.

So, I got it spray painted all pretty and put it next to the front door in the corner of the living room, with a rug under it for all our boots and shoes. Hats and gloves go in the flip-top compartment, which is beyond great. I think it’ll work really well for all those little pieces that I’m continually losing the matches for. Now, if only I could find a similar solution for little people socks!

But anyways, *drumroll*, the finished product…

After

Quite tidy and sharp-looking, even if I do say so myself. The basket on top is for returns. Because I am horrible at remembering to return borrowed items. Or taking things along for others to borrow. Or returning that others have forgotten at my house. Well, now I have a place for those things. I just need to remember to check the basket before I run out the door.

I kind of have a half plan for putting a board with hooks over the bench, and maybe a mirror over that. But we’ll see if I can find a cheap and cute mirror. The hook board, I’m sure I can find some ideas on Pinterest for making it myself. Or, hehe, getting JD Man to make it for me. Because, while I could manage if my life depended on it, he’s so much better at making the cordless drill do what he wants it to than I am.

Digging Myself Out

THis is what my kitchen looked like Thursday morning. Yeah, not cool, not fun. Especially since the way I feel about working on the rest of the house hinges on how the kitchen is looking. And how I feel about cleaning the kitchen depends on the state of the sink. If the sink is in decent shape, the dishes are all washed in put away, I can clean up the rest of the kitchen pretty effortlessly. And then move onto the living room. But it needs to go in that order. I cannot clean around dirty dishes, no way, no how. And nothing else can be cleaned until the kitchen is clean. Seriously, it can’t happen. I can’t get my head on straight if the kitchen is a mess.

But I hate to wash dishes. HATE. IT. I know that sounds juvenile, but that’s just the way it is. It takes so much of my time and is so boring and not creative or mentally stimulating in the least. And I hate being interrupted. If I can’t get them all washed at once, I’ll wait until I have the time, so they stack up higher and higher. That’s something I’m really trying to fight because I know where my square one to the rest of the house is and it lies in the dishes. A dishwasher is at the very top of my wish list, but I don’t see that happening anywhere in the very near future, so I’ll just have to get used to dealing with the reality of washing dirty dishes and spoons and cups and pots and pans.

Thursday was one of those days where I woke up to this mess and was completely depressed by it, but knew I had to take care of it, or else. Or else, I don’t know what, but it needed to be dealt with by the end of the day or else I would be over the edge with everything else and wouldn’t be able to pull myself back without a lot of help. And, thanks to PBS cartoons, much as I hate that fact, I did conquer it. All by myself, on my own motivation, taking it one step at a time.

See?

Sadly, on this Monday morning, after an extremely busy weekend, it’s back to being almost as bad as it was Thursday morning.

And we start all over again.

Story. of. my. life.

Bookshelf To Toy Shelf Project

That would be a before shot ^ up there. The bookshelf in our living room. I decided to pull all the books off, with the plan to get rid of a bunch and put the rest on the built-in shelves in the basement bedroom, and put the toys here instead. We don’t have specific toy room, much as I would love one, and the toys just add to the disaster that is the nursery. So for now, until the kids have their own rooms, this is where the lion’s share of their toys will belong. And in a toy box in the den in the basement since they don’t all fit on the shelves.

Halfway through, last night before bed. I wanted to finish before bed, but JD Man had other plans. Plans for tax and operational loan paperwork. Yay.

So I forced myself to start on it first thing this morning, after a cup of coffee that made me completely jittery and made it even harder to think straight. But I fought through and finished it!

Isn’t it purty? We’ll see if we can keep it that way. Now, I need to rescue the living room from all this tearing apart and get a few other menial tasks accomplished so I can work on some fun CREATIVE projects this afternoon.