Days 2 & 3

Oh my, I'm falling behind already! I have to admit, Day 2 was kind of a fail. It was my last day on Facebook and I took full advantage of that. I did do my daily laundry, come hell or high water I seem to be able to keep up with that. Laundry is proof that schedules help me. I have had the same laundry schedule since we moved to this house over a year ago (I do 2-3 loads every week day, doing different things each day), and it's rare that I fall behind. The schedule has become second-nature and it's really helpful. I'm trying hard to get my basic chore schedule to be the same. My love for laundry is genetic, though, my grandma is the same way. =) If only I loved doing the dishes and tidying up! I don't get a lot of pride or satisfaction from having a clean house, I kind of don't care either way, so that doesn't help.

So Day 2 I did laundry and that's it. I was supposed to vacuum the main floor, which would take about 15-20 minutes if I didn't have to tidy up first. But it's really bad right now, and tidying up would take forever, so I kind of just avoid it all. Maybe today I will get Judith to help me and we'll get it done. It's today's chore too, I honestly should vacuum every day, but my still-lofty-yet-more-realistic goal is every Sun/Tues/Thurs. It's just discouraging that it takes so much work, but doesn't last. I should probably make a no-food-in-the-living-room rule, but it would be hard for ME to obey that, let alone the kids. There is carpet in the dining area anyway, which is the dumbest idea ever when you have kids, IMO. Back when we got this place I thought of getting a big area rug. I had no success with freecycle, and new/used ones seemed too expensive, so I gave up. Now in retrospect, the cost of a used rug probably would have been less than what it may cost us to get the carpets cleaned, but there isn't much I can do now. The carpet is full of all kinds of stains... yogurt, tomato sauce, coffee, hot chocolate, paint, paint water, play dough. Mushed in bananas are the worst. I usually put some dish soap and water on a scrub brush and do my best to get it out, but you can still see them. The carpet has also been vomited on twice, which baking soda and vinegar is good for. And then I actually used a carpet cleaner machine thing for those. It really makes me miss the laminate we had in our old apartment! If I ever own a house, I know for sure that there will be NO CARPETING.

Day 3 was better. I cleaned the bathrooms and even washed the front window which had a beautiful yogurt mural smeared across it. I tidied up the kitchen counters quite a bit and washed the pots and pans that were piling up. I did my laundry as usual. I had everyone dressed first thing in the morning (usually that doesn't happen until noon or so), and I even wore a skirt! Oh, and I made my new blog, and caught up with all of the blogs in my Google reader and on Xanga. Hm, I guess it does make a difference when I'm not on Facebook!

All 3 kids and I did the Shred at 8pm. Dave was out at his computer class. The kids were hilarious and adorable, maybe I will try to get it on video some day when *I* am a little more fit so it isn't so embarrassing for me. Judith did the whole thing with me, Gideon jumped around, and Ruthie mostly spun in circles with her hands up. It was great.

I got back on track with my purging, I got rid of 10 things to make up for the previous day.

1. Broken 18L water bottle - Recycle
2. Glass storage jar with a broken latch - Recycle
3. Dead flowers from a while ago - Tossed Outside
4. Bucket full of random plastic bits that aren't useful - Recycle
5. Water dispenser jug - Donate
6. Oil burner - Donate
7. Ugly plastic covered serving platter - Donate
8. Vegan cookbooks - In a box to send to a friend
9. Other cookbooks I never use - Donate
10 Broken car seat toy - Trash

I haven't done anything yet today. I had a crappy night, yet again, and am trying to muster up some motivation to get at my stuff. I'll post back later if and when I get things done. Thanks for following my journey!