Week 4

Spending hours in the ER with Dash on Tuesday and suffering through the stages of the cold he shared with me didn't stop me from finishing the living room this week. On Thursday I unhooked the two pieces of the couch and moved them over so I could dust that wall and thoroughly vacuum the flaked bits of faux leather. Threw the couch cover in the laundry and vacuumed, vacuumed and vacuumed the couch. Oh those little bits! I decided to shampoo that area and most of the heavily walked on area. It looks better. New flooring is on the wish list. I decided to keep the couch pieces separate putting one back on the same wall and putting the other along the half wall. That also allowed me to move the homeless rocking chair in front of the window. Seems more spacious. Since the couch cover was designed with the pieces connected, I put the uncovered ugly end at the far end by the trunk where hopefully it won't be seen by too many. The other partially covered area on the other piece is in the corner. A blanket could always be spread over that section. But really, when was the last time we had anyone over for a visit. It's fine. I washed the pillows and blankets. Used a wet cloth to scrub parts of Buster's dog bed. Threw the 3 dog beds in the dryer separately to bounce off some of the dog hair. One dog, three beds, in one room. Two are unnecessary but I'll wait for now. My first milestone of the Mt. Vernon project is complete. Thanks to the TOP program, I now have a place for the items on the list I've made for things to do in the living room--repairs, wish list, to-do's. 

The kitchen is next. Yesterday I dusted the ceiling and light fixtures. I took down the plant hanger so I could include it in the laundry on Monday. I don't think it's ever been cleaned. The first area to address is the small cupboard and counter with the microwave and the shelf above. I cleaned that area not that long ago so it should go fast. The microwave died over a week ago. I think I'll move it out to the shed for the big trash pick-up in the spring. Dash thinks we need a new one, but we've survived without one so far. Reheating a few things does take a little longer, but it's not the end of the world. Doc will probably want to get one when he gets back from his trip. The fridge is next. I'll probably focus on the outside and leave the inside which is already on my to-do list. The display case comes next. I'm thinking of putting my patriotic Beanie Babies in there. They've never been on display. The secretary is in the corner. That needs some attention. Lots of cookbooks. The goal is to finish the kitchen in November.

Week 3

 The area between the display case and the trunk was done early this week as it truly was mostly dusting and vacuuming. On Saturday I dusted and vacuumed the rocking chair that is a little homeless right now because of Dash's recliner being in the living room. Once the library has a clear space for the reading nook, the recliner will be relocated there and my rocking chair can have its spot back in the living room. I moved Trixie's art supplies to a spot under the bed in the den. I didn't sort or organize, just relocated. I put her ukulele and music stand in the den closet and the basket full of folders and music I put in her room. I'll let her sort that stuff and then we can come up with a suitable storage solution. The inside of the trunk wasn't as full as I thought. I did pull out the broken rocking chair. I'll check with my parents to see if they have any idea how to fix or if they know of someone who could. The blankets from my great grandma and grandma are in there along with four pair of pointe shoes, two pairs of tap shoes, a pair of jazz shoes and a pair of ballet slippers. I kept the point shoes and my tap shoes. I'll see if I can donate the others. I also found the Columbus Dispatch newspaper from when Doc ran in the Columbus Marathon. I'll keep that. I also found the 150 -year anniversary edition of the Lansing State Journal from 2005. I don't think I ever read it. Not sure if I even need to keep it. I'll try to read through it to see if it's worth keeping. With the chair out of there, I found plastic zippered bags, probably from new mattress pads, that I was able to stuff with the stuffed animals Cards left when he moved. Fortunately, I had a really large bag to stuff his giant Chewbacca into. Everything else fit in three smaller bags. I've now gained a laundry basket that held his stuffed animals. I could see him saving some of them. Oh well! They aren't taking up a huge amount of space now. 

The couch is the next item to tackle. It's faux leather that has been flaking for years. My mom custom made a cover for it. But little black flakes surround the couch every time I vacuum. It is so going in the trash if we have to move. Not sure how long we'll keep it if we don't move. The goal, if a move becomes a reality, is to take as little as possible and get new stuff at the new place. I'll hold out on the living room furniture as long as possible, I guess. Washing the cover, blankets and pillows, and probably dog beds will be easy to do. Moving the couch around to vacuum underneath will be a huge pain. Maybe if I can figure out how to unhook the two sections it would be easier. Just afraid I won't be able to get them rehooked. A little dusting of the wall behind the couch, the vent, a picture and the lamp that I cracked this week while vacuuming. Oh, and the cube....I'll wash that cover, too. That was Brownie's favorite spot when it was in front of the window. When I cleaned the windows a few weeks ago, it was a little sad as there was no doggie nose prints anymore. I think there is only a blanket in the cube. Maybe that would be a good spot for Trixie's musical stuff. I think I will shampoo just the main walk way between the couch and the half wall. I'll save a full shampoo job for when the couch is gone.

This week I spent two days in the Plan-a-Palooza workshop learning how to do an annual plan. It was very neat. We did some homework before the workshop looking back at 2022 and looking forward to 2023. I had a hard time with my word of the year. I reached out to the Facebook group and those ladies were so helpful. My word this year is Reclaim. I'm going to reclaim my home from the dust and clutter that has plagued it the whole time we've lived here. If I can focus on this Mt. Vernon project in the coming year, although I've already started, I feel like, not only will I be ready in the event of a move, but all those annoying things I've put off forever will either get done or deemed totally unworthy of another minute of thought and taken off my list forever or will be scheduled to be done with a plan of action thanks to what I'm learning in the TOP program. I missed the bit of the workshop describing how to put our "want-to's" into our annual plan. The replays are available so I will work on that this week. I also had some other "want-to's" I want to work on for 2023. Fortunately, I still have a few months left of 2022 to work out the plan. I wish I could join the PAP23 membership. That includes the quarterly planning sessions. That's the puzzle piece I'm missing now. I'll just have to take what I know about annual, monthly and weekly planning and try to piece the quarterly plan together myself. The membership was quite pricey, like more than the TOP program itself. I'll just have to see where I can squeeze a few dollars from the budget which is getting harder to do. I'll save what I can and take advantage of the things I can afford. 

Anyway, I'm very excited that it's possible that I can complete my Mt. Vernon project with the planning tools I have available. In the workshop I did write out some milestones as to when I wanted to have rooms complete. The first being the living room being done in October. With what I have left to do is very doable. My office and library will be the biggest projects by far. If I can get some of the other rooms done quicker than I currently have scheduled, that will leave more time for the big ones and I'll still hopefully reach my goal of September for the whole house. I have thought of working on some of the boxes of papers and things in the office now just so I don't get bogged down when I get to this room. Maybe start going to the library to sort and read paperwork each week. Our library is going to be crazy. The books can certainly be organized. This year the goal was to read the books on the first bookcase. I'm on the bottom shelf of mostly picture books. I've boxed up my keepers. Need another box! (And a place for these storage boxes???) I have a small pile of books to rehome. My 2023 reading goal was to pick books from my recommendation list requiring check-outs from the library instead of just reading books we already have. Maybe save weekends for picture books that I can box up making room for what is primarily Trixie's collection of books. Decluttering of books may extend beyond 2023, way beyond. Neatly shelving might be the best I can do for 2023.

Week 2

 I did make some progress this week on the Mt. Vernon adventure. The little marble table got a good wipe down and I cleaned out the basket that lives underneath the table. Some items were relocated and I moved my coloring stuff from the table to the basket. I also redid the Wizard of Oz display. I had to adjust a couple shelves to accommodate the 2000 piece puzzle box and one of the new tin signs. I left in a couple tiny items that were in there before, mostly figurines. After I was done and the collection box was back in storage, I remembered the Pez dispenser set is on the top of a bookcase in the library. That hasn't been in the display case for a long time. Will have to remember that for next time.

The next little stretch will be easy as it's mostly dusting and moving some DVDs down to the library. The big challenge will be the trunk. Trixie has some art supplies and music items on the trunk. Inside is a wooden rocking chair my grandfather made. Something is wrong with it and I can't get it unfolded. One of the spindles on the chair back is also cracked. I think I'll check around and see if there are any woodworkers in the area that could maybe fix it. I really don't want to throw it away, but on the other hand, do I need it? Maybe I could find someone who would like it. Not sure what else is living in the trunk besides some old ballet shoes and a quilt started by my great grandmother and finished by my mother when I was in high school when we repainted my room. After the trunk is the couch and the floor and I can move on to the kitchen.

Instead of a little bit every day, last week was a bit of a marathon for the two areas I did. I was going to do the table and then something else, come back and do the display case and then something else, come back and do the next little section and do something else.....but once I pulled the table out to dust and vacuum, I realized that the table had to be moved so I could get into the case. I moved the case to vacuum behind it, set up the new display, then put the table back and dealt with the table and basket items. I think it took close to two hours. Then I made a dessert for an event for Saturday, then it was lunchtime, then Dash needed to go to work, then I took a nap, then a shower, then I had to go to an event for Trixie. Establishing routines and habits is so hard.

Week 1

 I didn't get as much done as I should or could have. I didn't fill out my weekly plan last Sunday knowing that taxi mom duty was now done and that would free up a lot of time. Time that was basically wasted because I didn't fill out the weekly plan. Fail to plan, plan to fail. I was also plagued by headaches this week. I need to start documenting them in case they ever get bad enough to warrant a doctor visit. What I did get done was mostly cleaning, no organizing or decluttering. In the living room, I dusted the ceiling, baseboards on the half wall and to the windows. I cleaned the inside of windows and dusted the trim all around the windows. I think I'll do the outside of the windows  and wash curtains in the spring. Added some items to my list of repairs and notes to relocate a couple things. 

I will do my weekly plan today! The next space is the marble side table. That does need some organizing, especially the basket below the table. I will also replace the items in the Wizard of Oz display case. That will be a job to get the boxes out of storage in the crawl space. I got a couple tin signs last Black Friday that have been next to the case for almost a year. Those will go in the case. Not sure if I want to put plates in this time or maybe display other items. The rest of that wall is mostly cleaning until I get to the trunk. This room would go quick if I would just spend a little time each day. It needs to become a habit to do a little Mt. Vernon each day. 

Been a Long Time.....

 So it's been a really long time. We moved back to Michigan after two years in Wisconsin. We arrived a week before the start of school. Cards was starting 10th grade, Dash 7th grade and Trixie 6th grade. Doc got his old job back. We bought a house in our old neighborhood, but on the south side. In January, I went back to work as lunch lady for the sister school of the school the kids went to after running into the principal at a band concert. I did that for 5-1/2 years which boosted college funds and paid off the mortgage. So the last school year, which was Trixie's senior year, I was home. Mostly because she had an internship and had to be picked up from school at lunch time four days a week. No way I could have done that with work and that would have required quite a commitment from my parents. All that time at home, but nothing really got done. What else is new. Doc got a new job in May. Financially, it is terrible. He may be making more money, but now we have to pay tuition for Dash and Trixie and the job is based in another state so the traveling he does comes out of our pocket. Thankfully, the house is paid off. Other financial goals will have to wait until the kids are done with school or I go back to work. Cards graduated from college and moved to Seattle for his first job. Trixie is living on campus. Only Dash is living at home. Our dog Brownie passed away in March and Buster is not aging well. I'd be surprised if he makes it to the end of the year. 

I signed up for the Beautiful Home Beautiful Life summit in the spring. I watched a session by Megan Sumrell and learned about her TOP Program. I did her bootcamp right after that. I've been trying to save and cashed in reward points from various programs to sign up for her program which I did a few weeks ago. I also signed up for her Plan-a-Palooza for annual planning. I'm very excited about this program and look forward to learning a lot and becoming more productive.

A couple weeks ago I signed up for the Get Organized HQ22 event. Doc was out of town. I didn't buy the all-access pass which would let me watch the sessions anytime forever. Instead, I binged the whole week. I didn't watch them all but probably close to 75%. I'm in the FB group which has been motivating, encouraging, and celebratory. So many like minded ladies struggling with the clutter and chaos of our homes. Hence, the digging up of this space to hopefully track my progress as I once again attempt to Mt. Vernon my home. This is my third house and I have yet to make a complete trip through my home. I hope this time will be different. Why? Now I have a FB support group. I mentioned on there today that I was starting this journey with the goal of being done before the GOHQ23 event which will probably be in September. Second, I'm home with a lot less kid responsibility. Dash goes to campus twice a week for classes and he works two days a week. Third, Doc's new job, while remote at this time, could in the future require a move. If that becomes a reality, I hope it's after the kids are done with school. Hoping it doesn't become necessary because I'm not sure what to do with my parents. Future location is very expensive. I don't think we can afford it. If we can't, they can't. Better if we stay here although his travels there is a financial drain. The last two moves were a bit of a nightmare. Way too much stuff! I don't have a deadline, just a looming possibility which I should take advantage of now instead of it becoming a stressful sprint to pack and get the house in order. 

I started today at the front door. Timer set for 15 minutes. I think that should be the bare minimum. I'm sure I'll have days when I'm rocking it and keep going. But at least 15 minutes. The only two rooms I won't do will be Dash's and Trixie's. I'll save those until they move out or we move. I wiped the wall and baseboards from the door to the top of the stairs. I used my Norwex with a bottle of laundry detergent and water and cleaned the hand rail. I glued the bit of trim at the top of the stairs that keeps popping off. I hammered the trim nail that has been sticking out at the top of the half wall and I sanded the gouges in the half wall trim from when the new fridge was moved in. I have a notebook to keep track of things like my wish list for improvements, like painting, list of repairs, list of furniture that is not moving with us, notes on where to relocate items, like I want to move Dash's recliner to the library and make a reading nook which won't be until closer to the end of this journey since the library is downstairs, and a list of chores. Once I clean something, I want to add it to a list for regular maintenance. Deep cleaning and decluttering in a systematic fashion counterclockwise from the front door through the house. I'm proud of me for not putting it off until January 1st which I had considered. There were ladies on the FB page tackling projects big and small even before the GOHQ went live. I should of done something to get a small win, like with a debt snowball. With the annual planning workshop coming up, I think I'll be able to use what I learn to actually keep this project going to completion. I'm really excited about this. It's something I need to do. I'm going to do it.