I've lost my mojo!!

Last week I was on a roll--decluttering and cleaning like it was my business. Technically, since I'm staying home, it IS my business. I don't know if it's because I went all out, including my birthday, that I seem to have run out of steam....but it's gone. Maybe because there's not as much to do (but still a good amount), I don't feel the pressure. The fact that it's cold out and all I wanna do is be snuggly and lazy. I've always been a major procrastinator (with the exception of grad school), and I thrive on that last-minute work. Is my procrastinator self coming back?? I've gone from doing work to house hunting again. A reasonable person would do the work to get their house on the market BEFORE searching all hours for another house, BUT I can't seem to do things the normal and sane way. So instead, I found myself with 3/4 of a clean and uncluttered house, but plenty of houses I want to go see. To top it off, I've been staying up late searching the internet and doing my research on all things houses, so I'm ready to pass out during the day. Not. helping. at. all. In my defense, I haven't been completely lazy. I've had a few appointments this week, have done a couple trips to Goodwill, rented a storage unit and have brought a load over...and chased around a bug. BUT, I'm just not making the progress I need to be and I could be if I was more motivated.

Cleopatra offered to come help me out tomorrow night, so maybe that will be the kick in the butt I need to get things rolling tonight in preparation for her help. I'm hoping that since I'm throwing it out there, it'll guilt me or motivate me into movin' and groovin' like I was before because I need steam in a bad way!! If someone finds my cleaning mojo, please send it back to me ASAP!

And the worst blogger of the week goes to.....

ME!!!

So sorry guys....it's been a crazy week. So I discussed a "Tackle It Tuesday"...well, that theme has continued throughout the week. We've decided that we're going to put our house on the market after the holidays, which means we've got a LOT to do in just over a month (we're in NY over Christmas--so the last 2 weeks of December are shot). So yeah...that's what I've been doing. I've even been so obsessed that I decided to spend my birthday (Friday, the 13th---creepy, I know) taking on the war against the creatures under the bathroom sinks. PLEASE tell me some of your sinks look like mine!! I don't even know how they've managed to stay shut with the amount of crap under there. Seriously....is it even possible for me to have any more lotions, sprays, hair products??? Thanks to former students and Christmas presents...I've got Bath and Body Works under my sink (if only it could hold its weight around here and bring in some profit). Guess we know what all the ladies I know will be getting this Christmas (Mom, just because you're reading this doesn't mean you can't act surprised when you get a full set of lotion, spray, and body wash. Oh, you should also act oblivious to the fact that 1/4 of it is gone!!). So I've cleared out a good amount of my stash and my sinks are slightly more organize...but still full to the max. Oh well....I tried!!

Did I mention I'm currently typing this blog from the guest bedroom CLOSET?? I know, totally ghetto. But I just think we're taking a hint from IKEA and developing our own space saver. Yes, I realize this pimpin' set-up probably won't be able to stick around when we actually open our doors to buyers, but our guest room was functioning as a bedroom/office. Darling Dearest is not about to part with his man den completely (yes, the TV in here is going to have to head to storage too--spacious rooms, right??), so here the desk will stay tucked neatly away in our little clothesless closet. The sad thing is....it's kinda cute! You'd still consider a house with a desk in the closet, right?? Ok, we still have our laptop....but I've already staked my claim on DELL and I don't know how I feel about him two-timing me with my husband. Things get messy that way.

So yeah, this week has been spent in my PJs as I've been de-cluttering like a mad woman. I only wish Bug hadn't decided to start crawling before we embarked on this journey. It's quite the experience attempting to entertain her while keeping her out of trouble/danger (haven't been 100% successful--but that's for another post) AND getting stuff done around the house. Gone are the days where I could sit her in her exersaucer and do some dishes while she squawked and squeeled (if you knew Bug, you know she makes such high-pitched sounds that only dogs understand). Now she wants to be on the move exploring every facet of the house at ALL times. Needless to say, I'm relieved when it's time for her nap so I can really concentrate on my work. Full disclosure: showering is one task (and yes, it's definitely become a "task" lately) that I haven't fit it as often as I should. How gross am I???

If this picture isn't pathetic enough (and if you're still reading this post while ignoring the fact that you just puked up in your mouth while reading of my nasty self), I seem to have gotten a case of serious project ADD. Now I question whether this is something that just has gone undiagnosed, because I AM all over the place. And being a teacher, I've seen plenty of ADD....and I can totally identify with those little guys. Case in point: Tonight, I was talking to Cleopatra's cute little hubby about real estate when I glanced up at my mirror and in mid-sentence of talking to him, I said to Cleopatra, "Oh, I'm going to put a floating shelf under there," (yes, I DO need her input when it comes to the decor of my house given the fact that hers looks like a model home and mine needs to) then I continued talkingwith her hubby as if I had not totally interupted myself. How ADD am I??

Speaking of.........Where was I going with this? Back to my my original topic--my project ADD. I've been all over my house de-cluttering, but NOTHING is done. I start boxing up books in my room to put in storage when I remember that there are books in the guest room that I should add. So I go to the guest room, get those books, then start on something else in the guest room, which reminds me of something I need to do in the kitchen...then I start on something in there. Do you see where I'm going with this?? Do you feel my spastic insanity?? Do you understand why I have the worst case of project ADD there is?? I've been working my butt off for a week and what do I have to show for it?? A house that looks like a tornado ran through it---piles everywhere (to get boxed, to go to Goodwill, to get put away, etc), in every room!! UGH! It's making me stressed just typing this.

My kitchen pantry, cabinets, and cupboards are all done and organized...but my countertops have some random things on them in the "garbage" and "Goodwill" piles. Kitchen--UNCHECK!! My bedroom--my closet is done (oops, except for one pile of dress pants that I won't be wearing anytime soon--hello jobless--that couldn't fit in one of my packed bins and need to go in another for storage), my dressers (oops, no...they're 1/2 done too), my master bath sink (all the drawers except for my ridiculous make-up drawer---who can even organize that thin drawer in the middle anyway?? HELP PLEASE!).....oh, and I haven't even touched the cleaning aspect. Master bedroom---UNCHECK!! Guest bedroom still has a couple piles, and we've already discussed the desk in the closet---UNCHECK!! Bug's room only has a few things---UNCHECK!!. My garage---oh, I can't even talk about the mess that is, but I've made a dent in it. Why?? Because I have project ADD and am doing EVERYTHING, but finishing NOTHING. What's worse is that I still have all this de-cluttering & cleaning to do and today, I'm out shopping for finishing decor for staging (thanks to my new 24/7 obsession with HGTV--seriously, if you're not into it....it's what all the cool kids are doing. Jump off the bridge with us!!) and contemplating paint colors!! What in the world?? Somebody stop me!! I need some serious intervention! I'm a hot mess and someone needs to put me in my place.

I've decided that no matter how it gets done--project ADD or the one-room-at-a-time approach (like SHOULD be done), it WILL get done this week. All of my de-cluttering and spotless cleaning MUST get done this week. Why?? Because I said so! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to ask why? And hey, I may even add "shower" on my list of things to do (Bug and I have appts on Mon. and Wed---so that's 2 days out of 7, right??). And I leave you with that---the epitome of a hot mess!!

Tackle It Tuesday

So in my blog surfing, I found someone who had Tackle It Tuesday as her theme for today(if this was you, let me know so I can give you credit). Anyway, her theme inspired me to do some tackling of my own. In keeping with imaginary house hunting, which I hope to turn into REAL house hunting....a decision has been made to get our house ready to put on the market. This means, a LOT of de-cluttering and hiding things in friend's basements organizing, not to mention cleaning, decorating, and staging. So today, I tackled one of the biggest projects of all---the master closet!

Cleopatra told me I needed to go through and get things into piles, so I decided upon "Goodwill--aka. Why the heck do I still own this? I think I bought this in middle school!", "Summer clothes that I've never EVER actually put away for summer and typically just take up space in my closet and dresser", "Maternity clothes that should've been put away at least 6 months ago but I keep them around because I'm convinced that I can get more bang for my buck if I keep wearing the tops", and finally "I'm no longer working so why do I need dress pants?? aka...I'll wear you later." The clothes that didn't fit into these 4 categories stayed in my closet.

So I left Bug to crawl around on the floor and get into trouble every 5 seconds in her curious exploration of this new world around her while I tore myself through my closet like a Kansas tornado (ok, my only knowledge of Kansas tornados comes from Twister--was that even Kansas?). I had clothes flying off their hangers and parachuting to their appropriate overflowing piles, all while watching Bug eat paper tags she managed to steal from the Walmart bag playing with Bug. Oh, don't hate or chastise me just yet....I was at least watching her chew on these tags. And YES, I did take them away, so don't call child protective services for tag-chewing negligence.

This is what my closet and bathroom looked like after the tornado whipped through.

Once my closet managed to puke up these separate piles, I folded and organized them. I even employed the "EXTREME folding" strategy (aka...nursing Bug on the floor of my walk-in closet while folding clothes). I don't mess around when trying to become Cleopatra. :-) It's all or nothing, baby!! Darling Dearest even brought home storage bins that he picked up on his lunch because there was no way in the world I was heading out in the torrential downpour with Bug. It hasn't stopped all day and is still pounding on my window as I write this. So off to Goodwill and friend's basements storage these bins will go!

Unfortunately, this "Tackle It" theme will have to go on every day until our house shines like the top of the Chrysler Building, as my dad and Mrs. Hannigan would say. I'm regretting that I didn't take any "before" pictures of the closet, but am proud that I even went through undies, bras, winter wear, shoes, belts...you name it! This may be the normal scene for some of you, but the packrat inside me is dying a slow and painful death in the war against clutter. Onto dreams of a clutterless, model home (the one I hope mine will transform into) before waking up to another day of tackling the chaos that is my house and chasing around the cutest Bug ever!