Oh, Baby, it's C-O-L-D inside!

Yes, posting photos of the infamous freezer. I was searching for something in the black hole of freezerdom and found something initially purchased in quantity for Andy and Mo's wedding reception. Hmm. It was extra, had too much, not needed.  BUT it was December 2007. Yes, 2007. Ok, I think thta makes the "no longer viable freezer rules."  Then I found less old stuff, but decidedly freezer burned.  So we must invest the little time it takes to wrap the meat properly in order to take advantage of those sales or, by virtue of having to THROW OUT the food, it is NOT a good sale. Lesson learned. Spend the extra 5 minutes to wrap it up with no air, date the wrapping with a marker.  Note to self.

Wonder how many people forget to use those "buy one roast, get one free" opportunities?

Oops! Olympics!

You know how you start something, then get sidetracked? Well, I tend to do a little more of that than most people, but I am trying to focus again on my goal. It is NOT that I did no more organizing since the last post, but that I took photos, and hadn't uploaded them. Then I got caught up in the Olympics to some degree. Fun!

So, now I must figure out how to start posting the photos. I did clean out the fridge, the BIG freezer, and this huge linen closet. Also tackled the several other small closets (which I have not yet photographed, so I owe you) and have been going through closets separating nice and usable items that can be donated.

Today's tasks will actually be cleaning the kitchen and working on the laundry room closet (which serves as a pantry). But I have to balance that with dropping off papers to the Architectural Committee, getting blood tests and picking up Katie from college so she can be home for the weekend. And we have to drop off some tables for a baby shower next week!

As to the kitchen, do you find that as you clean one area that the overflow accumulates in an adjacent room? That is what has happened in the kitchen...with 2 huge piles of paper towel rools taking over the counters, along with the junk mail I haven't had time to get rid of.

And a magazine that I bought and laid on the kitchen table that has articles in it about "Getting Rid Of Clutter"......HHmmmm....does that sound WRONG somehow?

Another day...another drawer...

Tuesday was productive - lots of junk thrown out, and good stuff was donated. Worked on another drawer. Guess what? You do not need special and expensive organizers to contain pens and pencils or other little items. I found that the cherry turnover clam shell box could be cut in half and used in very shallow drawers for pens and pencils!

Today is the day I take down the Christmas decorations from outside around the front door. Yes, it is almost Valentine's Day and the garland around the front door is still up! It has been SOOOooooo cold here in the Chicago suburbs all January, really prohibiting activity outside. BRrrrrr.........

But I WILL get this down, I have started Easter decorations, and I WILL clean the refrigerator. AND I will take pictures to post later!

The short term goals are coming together, but there are 2 long term goals: Clean out the storeroom in the basement, and clean out the garage so the floor & walls can be painted.

If these long-term goals can be achieved by June 1, I will be ecstatic. The real issue is to not allow myself to be distracted too much in the meantime.

Gee, I would really like to go to Florida. Yeah.

Progress!

I did it! I finished the 3 bedroom desk drawers and the kitchen drawer! I even added to this objective and cleaned out the linen closet and the linen press!



So, despite my desperate efforts to avoid doing anything in the advancement of my tiny goal of these 4 drawers, I did it! I do, however, believe, that I must have somehow become the proud owner of a pen factory. This is clearly evidenced in the huge collection of pens I found while cleaning out these drawers. How can any family of 3 need 100 pens and pencils at arms reach in the kitchen and bedroom? It's not exactly like we spend much time writing anything longhand. To make matters worse, more than half the pencils (the mechnical type) had no lead, so they were not even functional. What a space waster!



I decided that since one bookcase was right next ot the linen press in the loft by the stairs, I should go through it to see if there was anything we absolutely still needed. As expected, there were books in there no one had touched in at least 5 or 6 years. And some books that we moved from our old house to the new house (2003) had not seen eyes since Katie was 8. Since she is now 18 (AGH!), these books need a new home.



I put together some pretty linens, a box of books, a few pieces of nice costume jewelry, and a television set for donation. Luckily, my son called me this morning to tell me one of our local charities called and will have a truck in the area tomorrow morning. The stuff is getting a new home, some other people are getting some nice stuff and reading material, and I am clearing out.



A win-win day is had by all!



Now, I need to start taking pictures before I get too far into the project so I have enough "before and after" photographs. It is this visual evidence that will probably be my only chance to not accumulate more stuff to take the place of the reduced inventory!