Catch-up: Past, Present, and Future

It’s been over two weeks since I have posted, but I have an excuse; several in fact. My Crohn’s disease has been reeking havoc with my body and life. I am indeed fortunate that I can work from home because the past couple of weeks, I have had a close relationship with my home bathroom (enough said). With working and also trying to clean things up for Thanksgiving guests, I have had no time nor energy for blogging. Sleep takes precedence!

That was the part of the past. The best part–or at least the most rewarding for me–is that I participated in Declutter Weekend. This was a kick-in-the butt final surge before the holiday week and it was a tough one. But I did it and here’s the proof.

BEFORE  The kitchen and dining room seem to act as the junk drawer for the entire house. Everything ends up on the kitchen island or the dining room table. Since it is just me at home, I don’t sit down to eat at the dining room table, so what if it is cluttered. And the kitchen island — same story.

(before) kitchen clutter

(before) kitchen island (even the floor is cluttered)

(before) dining room catch-all

AFTER  I packed up a bunch of water bottles, hot drink cups, and assorted do-dads that I rarely use. Threw those in the garage or gave away. Besides decluttering and cleaning, I  installed two pendant lights over the island. WAHOO – that was fun. Now I just have to replace the light over the dining room table.

MeiMei washing dishes!

(after) kitchen; new pendant lights

(after) kitchen island and dining room

I also did a semi-declutter of the living room. One of the issues is that Sunni (the evil kitty) did not take to toilet training, so she decided that the living room was a much better place to take care of her personal business. I finally had enough and gave up the battle last week. I then spent several hours shampooing the carpet to remove any traces of Sunni. Unfortunately, Sunni also had peed on the papasan cushion. That really pissed me off (ha ha) because it was the most comfortable reading spot in the house. So I hit the shops and found another cushion that is the correct color. I liked it so much, I then went back to the same store and bought a few pillows that would also go with the rest of the living room. Unfortunately, the picture  lighting is poor so you can’t see the lovely pillows I bought, and it still shows some clutter that I just didn’t have time to take care of before I had to leave.

(before) living room

(after) living room

Since I am having guests, I also spit-polished both bathrooms. The downstairs bathroom is no longer just for the cats and it is looking good! The upstairs bathroom had all hardware replaced (what a pain). I even replaced the toilet seat. Though now the toilet seat cover won’t fit the new seat. Damn, it’s always something! Due to the hard water and my lack of seriously containment, I spent several hours scrubbing hard water stains and build-up.  Much better now, but still not totally gone.

bathroom; notice the cat nightlite

The downstairs family room was not too bad. Seems I just had to put away all the clean laundry that tends to accumulate on the couch. The cats helped of course. And then my daughter’s room was the last little job requiring attention before company arrives.

family room

(before) daughter's room with cats helping fold towels

(after) daughter's room (cats did a good job)

Oh wait — let’s not forget the garage! I’m baby-sitting my daughter’s car while she’s away at college. This summer half of the garage was full of stuff being sorted for garbage, charity, or storage. And I had used the garage to do some painting for Xmas presents. But with snow coming, I needed to clean it out and get both cars parked in the garage. So I also spent one weekend cleaning up the garage. And apparently just in the nick of time. The next day after I was able to put both cars in the garage, snow fell and covered the driveway. Rats, not enough though for me to crank up my snowblower! I have to be careful for what I wish for, but I admit that I do like the snowblower!

(after) still crowded, but holds 2 cars!

The Declutter Weekend has two more weekend missions scheduled. I plan on using one of those weekends for my bedroom and the other for the sewing room. Now that the rest of the house is clean, I need to stay on top of everything. I will, I will, I will!!!

The FUTURE is that tomorrow morning I pick up daughter and two Japanese exchange students to drive back home. We will be having Thanksgiving dinner at my mom’s house with family members. It should be fun times for all. Last year with exchange students, we all had a blast.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friends.

Now for the PRESENT. I am sitting in a motel in the college town where my daughter goes to school. It is so nice to not be cleaning something! Or feeling guilty because I’m not cleaning up. Daughter and I went out to dinner tonight and we shared this marvelous dessert. What a tasty end to a long haul getting ready for guests!

Yummmm