First Things First

I intended for my next project to be the filing of paperwork that is necessary in the dining room.  As I entered the room to plan my strategy, I realized that there was no place to work.  My granddaughter had completely converted the dining room table into her own personal art studio.  Of course she felt that every piece of art was a masterpiece and MUST be saved. (NOTE TO SELF: Clean when people are NOT home.)  I will have to come up with a system for saving the artwork neatly later.  Right now my focus was “finding” my table.

She and I “filed” her artwork in a neat pile into her closet for now.  The portfolio will have to wait until I hit up her room.  I had purchased five small plastic cases which were still on the table and my grandson had an Elmo hat out of place, so this mess clearly belonged to one person only.  Now that the table is clear, I follow my little artist around with the ever-ready threat of “If you don’t put that away, I will have to throw it away.”  So far it is working.

Clearing a table does not sound like it should take that long.  Actually, it didn’t.  It just led to A LOT of necessary cleaning.  Apparently my dining room table also served as my artist’s drop cloth.  The dining room floor was not safe either, as its purpose was to “save” any excess Elmer’s glue.  (I am so relieved that most of her supplies are still water soluble!) 

My table underneath my future Picasso's work space

Ironically, despite my clutter, I can't stand working in a messy or dirty space.  So before I could even think about starting to file the original target for the day (paperwork), I had to scrub the newly found space.  

I LOVE the smell of Simple Green!
 It works great and it does not smell like chemicals.

After quite a bit of scrubbing, I finally was satisfied that the table looked beautiful once again.  However, the cleanliness of the table did not lead to the warm cozy feeling of satisfaction from a job well done.  It did however highlight the need to clean the chairs.  

Clean me! Clean me!
screamed the chairs.

Isn't she lovely?  Isn't she wonderful?

Funny how one thing leads to another, huh?











So I heard my desperate chairs screaming for some attention, and I answered their cries.  All five of these supportive little friends got the attention they truly deserved. (Five, you ask...well THAT is another story!)

We feel much better now!

And then my glue-laden floor screamed, "It's my turn lady. Break out the mop...pleeeassse!"  And so I did. 

Looking gooooood!

Well, the plan for the day changed...but progress was made and I am pleased.  As for the children, they were very happy to see that there was once again space to do their "arting".  I am going to have to be the magic marker police if I want my table to remain clean enough to eat off of.

Let the Games Begin

AAARRGH, the dreaded paper pile…or in my case, piles.  If the surface is flat, I will inevitably place something on it.  I have piles of children’s artwork, piles of mail, piles of receipts, piles of “I have to get to that” stuff, etc.  I do not think any countertop, table, or dresser is immune.  The problem with this “filing system” is that A) it is not very aesthetic, and B) I cannot find anything without rummaging for it. 

My goals for this part of my journey are to:

• File all important documents in one manageable file system.
• Put all unnecessary papers in the recycle bin.
• Frame the children’s keepsakes.
• Dump the excess children’s artwork (SSHHH! Don’t tell them, please.  They think that they are all keepsakes.)
•  Clear my surfaces.

This task is tantamount to moving a mountain.  Not only do I catch papers on my surfaces; I also bag the paperwork up really fast if I have company coming.  I have all good intentions to go back and empty the bag appropriately, but that does not seem to happen.  When I finally do go through an old bag (usually to look for something important that should have been filed immediately), I discover that most of the “stuff” in the bag should have been discarded, not saved.  So one countertop, one table, one bag at a time I WILL CONQUER THIS MOUNTAIN!!!!

Today I chose to tackle the countertop between the kitchen and the dining room.  (This was a good start because it naturally led to another chore that needed to be done, but I digress.)  This is where all the current mail, newspapers, and school memos get dropped.  It is central to all family happenings, so it is a convenient “landing pad”.  I also tend to leave all my receipts here after I unpack the shopping bags.  It often looks like this:

After about an hour of sorting and recycling, I ended up with this and a small pile of mail to be handled and a small shoebox with receipt. 

So now that I have shared this with the world, perhaps I will keep my resolution to not clutter this space again. 

This project led to another task that may amuse my readers.  The shelf just to the right of the counter was storing my Passover dishes.  Yes, Passover was three months ago.  If I did not start this blog, I may have kept them there until next spring.  So this is what the shelf looked like before I started organizing:

Oh, so you noticed that this is not a full set of dishes?  My bad…the rest of the dishes have been stored for the past three months here:

You mean this is not a cabinet?

I obviously do not use the dishwasher often.  The truth is it took my about half an hour to put the dishes and the silverware properly in the cabinets downstairs that are designated for seasonal or excess kitchen supplies.  Yes, I already have a designated location.  I just “never got to it”.

All sorted and ready to go downstairs until next Pesach

All ready for next year!

Wow, what a difference!  Paperwork and holiday dishes all in one day!  I wonder what I can conquer tomorrow.