Love My Boys!!!!

The garage is CLEAN!  Thank you Nelson and Hayden the heavy lifting and the moving and Meg for keeping them on task and for sorting.
I wish I had taken a before photo so that everyone could enjoy the major accomplishment.
We had two large work benches in the garage. They were very deep so stuff would get pushed back on the lower shelves and disappear.
We took a huge load to the dump (thanks to the Welch's Truck) and two loads to the DI. Yes there was stuff we could have sold and if I knew how, I should have.  Anyway it is all gone now and maybe there is some collector who will be excited by the DI find.

Now on to the next cleaning project.

MCC

I 'm Sorry For My Abscence

Melinda called me to task for not keeping up on my blog......I'm busy with other stuff and when I sit down to write I get side tracked on the computer so I am trying to not get trapped on the computer as often.
Any who.....
I have been cleaning out and reorganizing my stroage room.....we have a deadline to meet.
The Storage room is looking really good. I have hauled out 4 loads of stuff to the DI and garbage. I have built and installed 2 sets of shelves, and will be adding 2 or 3 more after I get the Christmas decorations out and up.

Question - Is the food storage really bad if it says not to use it after so many years?

The deadline I am meeting is Elder Call returns home on Thanksgiving Day. Which means I have to find room for all of the things I have stored in his room for the past two years....@!>@<#$)
...yes I feel that way about the junk. Some of it I wanted to get rid of before we stored it in the room, but someone told me we would want it and or need it.......I knew we wouldn't, so now I have to deal with it all over again.
Now I am on to the hall closet and laundry room. Then i have Nelson's room to fix up, Megan's room and bathroom. The Mid room entrance and finally the Downstairs Family Room...remember I want to turn it into a home theatre space. The downstairs family room is looking like a war zone....it is the divide and conquer area. I take everything out to the family room and make the decision to keep or chuck....if i keep it it then is boxed and stored appropriately.

I heard an organizer on TV say that you first need to look at everything and say "Have I used or needed this in the past year?" If you have used or needed the item you then have to deal with it.*
Here are the other things she said in helping you clean out and organize:
Memorabilia - ask yourself "Am I honoring the memory of the item?" To keep memorabilia you need to put it in albums that are visible, or frame it, or keep it out in a room. In a box you are not honoring the memory. This step has made me get rid of a ton of things or take photos of them.
Important Papers - Can access the information some place else?
Kids school papers, etc...- Is this their best work for this age?.....someone else told me to scan it all and keep it on a computer disk.

Back to the Have I used or needed this in the past year?---*If you keep it you then need to decide if you have other items that serve the same purpose, is it something I really need, is it in good usable condition, etc....

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go!
MCC

It's Hot!

Boy it is hot and I love it!
The clean up marches on even through the heat. The heat wouldn't be a problem but when you are working in the attic storage room things are 10 to 20 degrees hotter than the air conditioned house....but the final out come should be fantastic.
Getting rid of things is good. I keep telling myself that so I don't feel bad about throwing things out. Or I tell my self 'nobody will care about it when you are dead.'.......
Going through the memorabilia is so painful. Why have I kept so much stuff and is there a better way to keep things?
Hayden came home from Youth Conference this afternoon and I put him to work hauling things up and down the stairs. He told me he wasn't going to move one more thing until I had a place to put the moved item.....I keep telling him I do have a place to put the stuff and a plan!
I am already sore and tired and the weekend hasn't even begun.....I maybe dead by tomorrow night.
MCC

AAARRGGGGGHHHH!

I am like a chicken with my head cut off.....running around blind.......
I am involved in so many projects, but you know how it is on thing leads to another......
The Loft is almost livable again.....crossing my fingers that today is the day. No it is not perfect, the way I have envisioned it, but it will do for now. What i would still like to do ---I wish I could move the pool table a bit, but hey I am just not that strong and even if I could with my luck I would probably not get it centered or mess it up some how....maybe Gary and the boys could move it ? Also I am hoping to put in a big comfy sofa or even a bed with lots of pillows that we use for a couch so the Grand kids will have a fun place to be......
Whatever , the painting is done except for the beam and that will be done next week. I love the color: November Rain form Benjamin Moore. It is a light cement green/gray. It looks like a shadow, and is so peaceful. I kept the celling and base boards white.
I had Jordan come over and help Hayden move the big things around so I could finish.....Gary thinks that it is funny that I moved a couch out of the loft too the bassement so that I could move the one from the basement up to the loft....Hayden spent the day yesterday doing demo of office furniture that was too big to move, that couldn't be taken apart and re-assembled. (I think he liked getting his aggressions out with a hammer).
Busy day ahead.......moving couches, putting things away, throwing stuff out and cleaning up.....
Yesterday morning I said I was only 1 day behind on my plan for the week this morning I know I am now 2 days behind....I don't get it, I worked all day yesterday?!?!?!?!?
So much to do so little time.....I want things done for Meg's party Saturday night. I am so glad I have a dead line or this would drag on for another week.
Question: How come you can just throw things into boxes, but to put the stuff from the boxes away you have to look at every scrap of paper?
MCC

...clutter, stuff, junk, crap, memories...

I have so much stuff I need to either find a home for or just get rid of....the problem is the getting rid of.
It's the memories or the I might need things that keep creeping in and stopping my clean out. Seriously, my life is so full of stuff that I really can't get anymore stuff until I get rid of the stuff I have. I said stuff, but truthfully if someone else were to go through my stuff most of it would get junked, even the sentimental memory things...I guess it is really junk....so why can't I get rid of it and make make my life clutter free?

I have been working off and on in my bedroom today trying to make the furniture fit and trying to make it a nice, relaxing place to be......so far it is a bigger mess than when I started.

I have sorted things into keep, give away and garbage, but unfortunately the keep pile is very large still with no place for it to go...I need an intervention.

I have been reasoning why the keep pile is so big.....a lot of the things there are things that I really do need to keep and organize...photos, family memorabilia, etc...but then there are the things that I feel I need to keep because what if I want it someday? This is where my life of stuff/junk collecting begins....why get rid of it I might need it again.....

I heard a closet organizer once say that if you haven't worn it in a year then get rid of it.....I guess that is what I should do with most of the 'other stuff' in the keep pile...If I haven't needed it in the past year, then give it away. But we all know what happens then...I will want something that I gave away. What to do?!?!?!?!?!

Do I want to be known as the junk piler and keeper, or even a hoarder when I die...... oh no!
Off to throw stuff out.....I am not a hoarder. I am not a hoarder. I am not a hoarder.
MCC

Event Central

It's crazy town.....t -minus 10 hours 'till Hayden's 16th birthday party......really 5 hours, we have to be party ready before we leave for the football game...at least I wont be running at the last minute when the guest arrive.

I am an event cleaner....I do best with a dead line. however I don't always do my best work..... Don't look too close or open any closed doors......I clean what I am willing to let my guest see.
We told Hayden that he was going to have a party because all of the other kids have had one. When we asked what he wanted to do he said he didn't care and I don't have to have a party if it is too much work.....what a giver, how kind not to make us go to any work for him.....not! I have figured him out and after almost 16 years I have learned what he really is saying is, 'yes, I would love a party, but I don't want to be bothered with the details, you figure it out.' He just wants to be praised and served......and in that order. You have got to love knowing the 5 Love Languages, it sure makes parenting much simpler.

On Monday Hayden was a bit worried that we wouldn't be ready for the party when he came up to the loft and looked around......it was a disaster. Gary still had tons to move out....I know he moved out last spring, and I gave him a move the rest of it out deadline, but he has done nothing.....I had been using the loft as a catchall for my projects as well so it was lest than usable. It took me a whole day, but I moved all of Gary's stuff out....he was not pleased, most of it will probably end up in the garbage, but I didn't have time to go through it so I was boxing up junk and putting it in the office closet where it will probably sit for another 6 months. I cleaned up all of my junk, straightened up my desk and things and then we moved one of the gaming systems up to the loft....we now have gaming options on all levels of the house, all the board games and puzzles are up in the loft, and there is now a space for all of my craft and scrap booking stuff to be moved into.....not enough time to do that before the party. It looks so good, not perfect yet, but clean and party ready....it makes me happy.

I still have general house cleaning to do before the party but that is easy compared to what I have finished.

The countdown is on......football, party, Halloween, family birthdays, Hayden's birthday.....everyday is an event!

MCC