February 4, 5, and 6

Daily blogging may not be my thing.

Sorry for the lack of exciting, exciting cleaning updates.  I am sure you've had a hard time living without them.

:)

Quick update:  Saturday, we went to a wedding. Just Nat and I, out with other grown ups, all dressed up, for a good 5 hours.  Crazy. 

Also this weekend we took several walks, took the kids swimming at the J, and rearranged our living room. 

You wouldn't believe what a difference that makes.  The room seems huge now, if a bit off-kilter.  The couch is sitting at a jaunty angle to allow us to expose the radiator in front of the window, for which Nat is making custom cover/window seat bench.  Also in the works:  Plans for built-in-looking bookshelves to either side of the fireplace, a new paint color scheme, and a new 2-seater couch and several chairs.  The last 3 items listed are awaiting and influx of time and/or money (or perhaps merely an idle weekend and a calling to go to IKEA....hmmmm...)  but we DID manage to clean thoroughly under not only the couch but the radiator that's been hiding behind it all this time.  Talk about forgotten. 

Also tackled in 30 minutes or less this weekend:  overhaul of pantry in kitchen.  Goodbye expired canned goods, hello to a new arrangement that allows one to see at least 86% of the food we have. Plastic bins on the pull out shelves-- a brainstorm I can't believe I didn't think of til now...

Tonight, most of my cleaning time was spent on something outside of the house.  The kids and I took the can to the car wash where they played hide and seek while I vacuumed, followed by lots of giggling in the automatic wash bay.  Further cleaning time was devoted to unloading the bag of random crap I took out of the van before we left.  So, the only house-bettering job of the evening was to rearrange the junk drawer.   Once again, I got to throw out a lot of old and useless things.  I do believe there is a "rule of 1/3": by removing about 1/3 of whatever is in a space, things can be improved immensely.  So far, it's been pretty easy to get to "1/3" simply by taking out things I won't really miss anyways.  If I can apply the rule of 1/3 to the entire house??  Just imagine!

Haiku for a February night

Sunshine and laughter
Playing tag in the backyard
When did they grow up?