Progress and Questions....

Progress and Questions....

The addition of my new kitchen sink and counter has transformed my life already. I can take pleasure in the simple act of providing nutrition to the family again. The counters are lovely, the sink is shiny, the cabinets smoothly operating and abundant in space. Only a few little glitches-bought a microwave that was too big and the cabinets might have to get adjusted for that. Also panicked because I started purchasing stainless steel appliances and now realized black would have been just fine with the new counter color. Who exactly am I buying the stainless appliances for because by the time I sell this house, someone will want new appliances anyway. Now what to do-try to exchange the dishwasher for black? It would have been much easier to just buy the right color. What led me to that to begin with was procrastination. Because of procrastination I ended up rushing my decision at the end. On another but always related subject, I picked up the book The New Messies Manual and started reading it. Not to diss flylady, but just to check out one more system on my endless quest. The book really spoke to me but can I say, not in a good way. I felt scolded, but it was all so true. I have been making a concentrated effort since even glancing through the book, to be more mindful of every minute. The question I have is, should every minute be dedicated to keeping your house clean, or will eventually you reduce the number of minutes. I fear that this blog would be looked down upon by her, as we "messies" as she calls people like us, let our creative whims inhibit our goals to keep the house clean. But today I have spent each minute so far doing laundry, washing dishes and straightening the new kitchen to keep it perfect, trying to sort and put away the snow clothes and boots that keep littering the front door area, drying clothes for various visiting teens, shoveling snow on top of it all, that when I went to pick up my magazine, I felt that I should not be doing that but instead should face that the house was not perfect. I then began what she calls "The Mount Vernon Method" on the area near the piano. I transferred an entire shelf of music books into plain white boxes. Then what-they all went back on the shelf. I can't tell if that actually accomplished anything since I didn't get rid of any music books and still didn't organize them properly. But while I did that I found the Pokemon cards little son was looking for this this morning and I could not find. So her advice was correct, that when you organize, you find things. She advises that you group items together. I found various items that have no home and need one. I need to make a home for the pool table supplies, for example, but what should I put them in? A labeled shoebox would be better than nothing I suppose. Still haven't dealt with the paper clutter. Feel a strong need to get out of the house!