Ringing in the new year

It's that time again. Time of renewed hope, lofty ambitions, and crashing after a holiday sugar high. Oh, wait, is that just me?

Winter PCCX is the time to capitalize on the resolution wave and start the year off with a bang.

Will somebody please slap some sense into me so I quit talking in sound bites? Sheesh.

Ok, so PCCX starts again on Monday and I'd really like to kick some...ahem. Seriously. I really, really, REALLY *want* to have a clean house, honest. The thing about this challenge is, once it's over there's all the follow up maintenance afterward, and I'm not so good with that. On the other hand, if I were to actually *gasp* complete the list - or even come reasonably close - odds are I would be conditioned to doing the work every day, so the maintenance (daily, weekly) lists wouldn't be a problem. Right? I'd like it to be right. I'd like to think I can really do this, that I'm not an utter failure and sad excuse for a housekeeper, and by extension, person. Oh, sorry. It's gray and snowy outside and it's been this kind of Christmas, so I seesaw between ambition and despair. Don't mind me.

Are you ready for the new year and the new challenge? Is it one of your resolutions for 2010?

PCCX, Fall 2009, Retrospective

Yeah, yeah, there's 2 more days left. I gave up about a week ago. Oh believe me, I have plenty of excuses - reasons - why this week has been an utter downer, but this is neither the place nor time for whining. Positives, no failures, remember? (Yeah, I forgot too until I saw that post when I went to write this one.)

Ok, so, the last 8 weeks. I do have some minor triumphs, some details that I probably wouldn't have bothered with if not for PCCX nipping at my heels.

• I defrosted my freezer and cleaned the inside of my refrigerator.
• I reorganized and cleaned the inside of my pantry.
• I dusted - although not well - the ceiling fan in the kitchen that hadn't been probably since it was installed.
• I completely cleaned and organized a two-sided wall unit between my living room and dining room, flinging and dusting movies and books galore.
• I cleaned my curio cabinet and flung a couple of figurines.
• I replaced my shower curtain, which desperately needed it.
• I have all of my Christmas cards and photo gifts purchased and in hand.
• I have my Thanksgiving holiday menu and timeline resurrected, refined, and shopping list made.
• I have made a concerted effort - at considerable expense - to keep laundry from completely overtaking the house.
• I cleared and cleaned the unused side of my kitchen counter, though it is covered by small appliances - but there's no help for that and they are each usable from their current location.
• I washed 2/3 of the walls in the back hallway.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, we all got new bedding and towels, but that had nothing to do with me, it was an early Christmas present from mom. But you know, that's a longer list than I thought I have when I started this post. I'll take it.

It wasn't a grand, or even a moderate success. But it was a little something I wouldn't have done without this process. So I'm glad I tried it, and I'm glad we shook things up a little even if I dropped the ball in the home stretch. And if you'll forgive me, I think I'll still post here on occasion, on pseudo-related topics. What the heck, right? Give me some place to make all my grand plans for the New Years PCCX in January. :)

A Tiny Task

You know those jobs you just put off and put off even though just doing it takes but seconds?  I discovered this problem about 3 weeks ago:

Have I mentioned I have 5 cats?  

I'm not a cat person...

Do you have any idea how hard this is to clean up?

I mean, I had to get the vacuum

Put in the attachment

Get on my knees to make sure I got it all.  

What a pain in the ...

Anyways, I finally decided to get around to it:

And then it took me 4 MORE days just to post this....

What does PCCX mean to me?

After creating CCP, PCCX is my biggest project of its kind to date. The writing of it, I mean. It was inspired by and developed with others, but the writing then and since has been my responsibility, and I'm proud of what it's become.

At the same time, it is a source of, alternately, hope and dispair, potential and disappointment. I start each one with a gleam in my eye but inevitably fall flat. Then I spend the next 6-8 weeks beating myself up for failure while at the same time looking ahead to the next one. Someday, I swear to myself, I will finish one. After all, I wrote the darn thing, right? Unfortunately, saying and doing are two entirely different things. A concept with which I'm sure everyone is familiar.

So I am here to say that from this moment forward I will not look at myself as a failure. Reflecting on the process and looking for ways to improve is ok - encouraged, even - but dwelling on shortcomings is not. Each day is its own entity, and its success or failure is based solely on the actions of that day. Even so, a day in which we are all still alive and the house is standing is never a failure. This is my new motto. Until tomorrow. :)

What does PCCX mean to you? What does it make you stop and think about? Is it an entity to you, or just a pile of drudgery to be endured? Let us know in the comments please, and help yourself to 50 points for doing so.

My complete lack of progress

Somehow I completely missed week 6. I had to look at the calendar to confirm that it is almost over and Monday starts week 7. In other words, there are effectively 2 weeks left of PCCX, and I have accomplished almost nothing. Two pieces of furniture (wall unit and curio, both in the living room) and defrosting the freezer. In 6 weeks. That, if you'll pardon my saying, is pathetic. I'm not going to school, I'm not working a job, I'm not running kids to activities, I'm really not doing anything that should hinder my ability to clean, and yet here we are. I had a few really productive days recently, but they were all about daily and weekly chores, I couldn't get past all that into the PCCX list. Looking around today I can't tell that I've lifted a finger in the last week at all.

Enough whining. Yesterday Chris made a deal with me: so long as I was up cleaning he would be too, and sitting only when I sat. Unfortunately yesterday fell apart when we left to run errands. I'm hoping the deal stands for today (though he's down with a major toothache so I'm not so sure). If so my plan is to have him take care of dailies while I tackle bigger things. Kids can help him or me as needed. That's what they're for, right? ;) The other wrinkle in this master plan to take over the universe...I mean, cleaning the house...is that Mom is insisting we put together furniture and take out boxes and bring in boxes, and basically work down there until we're lacking gumption to do anything up here.

In the immediate future Chris is going to the store for large amounts of painkillers and something to eat, so I have some down time to fix up my POA which has been largely ignored - again - for a few days, and perhaps a few other things if he's pokey. Then, the rest of the day, we clean. Excelsior!

The Anatomy of a POA

It's been a while (3 years?) since I used an Excel version of my own POA, but that's the "standard" that most others use, so far as I know. So I'm going to take a few moments (ok, it will probably take me upwards of an hour, let's be honest) and see if I can't 'splain a few things for the uninitiated and/or confuzzled. :)

This is the front page of version 7. Yeah, I got all fancy and started issuing version numbers when I made changes. V7, 7.1, 7.1.2, 8, etc. 7 is the one I believe is closest to what most others have adopted. Later versions tended to be specialized for use with another program and are not user-friendly as a stand-alone form. Have I lost you yet?

Anyway, this front page is what would generally get posted to PCC. At the top are point totals carried over from other sheets (which we'll look at in a moment). The orange section headers break down personal, irregular tasks by type: phone calls, errands, mail, shopping, etc. This is where anything that wasn't daily, weekly, or a challenge would go, all the miscellaneous stuff that comes up. The box at the bottom tallies all the points for the day, as well as the week to date and month to date and year to date, along with the point goals for those periods.

The other tabs across the bottom are like storage places for recurring tasks so they don't clutter up the front page. For instance, this shot is the Daily tab (scrolled a little way down to show more of the headings). I'm a compartmentalizer. I like grouping tasks in some way, so here I have daily cleaning together, computer tasks together, the kids' jobs (that I would need to at least check if not remind and/or supervise), PDC items, etc. The total points earned on this page are then listed on the front page on the Daily line.

Here's as good a place as any to talk about points and formulas. The far left column contains the point value that each task is worth. Red numbers mean the task is repeatable and the number is how many points for each time - like making beds, x points per bed. The second column is the item itself. Third is where you would record when something was completed. The default setting is "**done" for a non-repeatable task and a number for the number of times a repeatable task was done. The fourth column then would look at column 3, and if there's anything there it would know what point total to enter, and this is the column that is totaled for the day.

Other tabs work a little differently. This one, for instance, shows the PCC list. While the PDC was different each day, almost all the tasks repeated eventually if not regularly. Rather than writing them each day, I ke

pt a running list of them. Then as the PDC was issued I would highlight the appropriate items and record completion for the day.

This BMH tab (and TMT next to it) is somewhere in between the Daily and PDC tabs in purpose. These are weekly tasks from the PDC that were regular a

nd merited their own permanent place. As with all the tabs the total is reported on the front page on the BMH line, which I would simply hide when it wasn't Monday.

FBB Tasks were just like PCC Tasks but for another, now-defunct, group. Projects were ongoing multi-hour items that would not be "finished" in a single day but time was tracked and points awarded based on progress. Resolutions were similar to Projects, based on my goals for the year. PCCX and SGP were like BMH and TMT, recurring groups of tasks that were only applicable at certain times - in this case seasonally.

The last tab, Annual, tracked progress month-by-month. At the end of each month I'd copy the total to this page to compare to previous months and/or years. This is also where I got the year-to-date total for the front page.

Without going into specific formulas, I think that about covers it. :)

How to Waste a Day

If you really want to avoid everything on your to-do list, the best thing to do is create a blog.  The amount of time needed to find the "perfect" layout, choosing the font size and color, adding extras, finding pictures to add, and then actually writing the blog is time-consuming to say the least!

So, yesterday was a good cleaning day, as I reported yesterday.  But last night I was supposed to concentrate on homework.  Didn't happen.  Instead, I decided that my 2009 Goals Blog wasn't realistic.  Let's face it, the year is almost over and having a 2009 title in 2010 shows its outdated.  So, I began a new blog:

The Most Stressed Woman

Fitting title, right?

I really wanted "The Procrastinating Perfectionist" but that was taken...I'll have to check that blog out later LOL

Now, today will HAVE to be about homework catchup.  Maybe if I'm lucky, the homework won't be too difficult and I can still get some homework done.  If only...

Excuses, Excuses~!!!

For me it is one excuse after the other so that I do not have to clean this house. I don't know if it is because I don't get to leave the house very much or if its just laziness. But nonetheless, I hate to move off the couch most days. It seems like the morning is horrible for me in the energy area. But yet in the evening when I "Feel" like cleaning, I can't because the kids are home and we are doing homework, dinner, baths...etc. to keep me from working. I also feel guilty when I do not clean because I AM here all day and I shouldn't have an excuse for not cleaning. Yet, when my wonderful, hard working husband comes home to this nasty house, I have to make up a reason why I didn't move off my lazy tail all day long. It seems like the more I try the worse I get.

My house is not in shambles by any means...but I DO need to clean daily and I can't seem to ever get there. I may do the same stuff almost daily, but not everything I need to do. I know it is possible because I used to do it 2 yrs ago. I got up and drilled with you all and my house stayed clean, and that was with kids home. So not doing it now with no kids home, makes no sense to me. It is like I have gotten selfish of my alone time. I am not a selfish person normally. But yet it seems I cannot get past this. Does anyone else experience this?

If it wasn't for you ladies and our drilling, I would never do anything...EVER!

For some reason when we make lists, play "games" or something of the kind...I am able to actually move. I guess it just motivates me somehow.

I am hoping to get into a better routine. I plan on making a list at night...I have never understood the points keeping and POA and PODA thing. But I am thinking it might help me get motivated and help me move at least some daily.

I am asking if anyone would be willing to invest time in showing me how to use it and help me understand it? If so, let me know. If not, then I will figure another way out. Thanks!!

This blogging thing could become addicting...:)

Which way to go?

Every day I face the same dilemma: What will I do today? Part of the problem is that I refuse to acknowledge that I can't do everything in one day. If I were capable of doing *some* of everything I know I could hit every item, but therein lies the next part of the problem. I get bogged down thinking that if I can't finish a large project - be it cleaning or writing or anything else - due to time, physical, monetary, or mental constraints, why bother starting? This is fueled by the fact that many times when I do get started on something saying that I'll do it for x amount of time and then move on to something else, when x is up I don't *want* to move on.

There's also the circular argument. I want to do x, but (for whatever reason) y must be done first, but then z must be done before y, but a must be done before z...and eventually I usually get back to x must be done before q...so where in the loop do I start? This is worst in the morning, where it's not so much circular as just having too many things that should be done "first". Laundry should start first so it can go on its merry way while I do other things. Breakfast should certainly be done first; we don't want to start on an empty stomach. Setting up for school should be first so B can get started on time. Picking up the living room should be done first so E can get down and run around since he's been awake since dawn. And so it goes.

Let's not forget the priority clash*. Of course the kids are important, and by extension then B's school is important. Cleaning the house is important, and heaven knows I have a long enough list of chores to prove it. I have online responsibilities, which are important *to me*. Chris and Mom are important, and they each come with their own list of tasks. Holidays and friends and extended family are important, and this time of year especially brings a new slew of things to do. General household maintenance is important, particularly if we want to avoid the nasty side effects of not paying bills or forgetting to buy toilet paper, and the people who live here will insist on eating regularly. Writing is important, again *to me*, and that is certainly time consuming. There are always a host of other things which are also important in their own ways.

And to round out the difficulties in time management, I am inherently lazy and selfish. :) So anything that requires the least effort and/or I particularly want to do regardless of need tends to be pushed to the forefront. Computer tasks are far less taxing than scrubbing floors. Prime time TV is far more entertaining (even in reruns) than cleaning the stovetop. I also procrastinate. Something may be important - it may even be VERY important - but it's not necessarily *urgent*, and the distinction is relevant.

So where do I go with my list, given all of the above combined with real and artificial deadlines on many tasks?

*That list of priorities is in no particular order. I have a very difficult time prioritizing priorities, hence the overall problem.

A Little Bit Here and a Little Bit There...

So I realized after taking a few pics regarding today's housework that I had other photos from last week I hadn't shared. This is what happens when I don't blog daily LOL

You know those couple of things around the house that just irritate the hell out of you. And yet you procrastinate them because it just seems like so much work. Well, last week I finally decided to break down and clean the blinds. I hate window blinds. It's almost easier to just buy new ones. Dusting on a regular basis doesn't help because we have three smokers in the house, and tobacco stains don't just dust off. So, every time I would go to the bathroom, I would look at these nasty blinds and sigh, thinking I have got to clean those. Then walk out. LOL

I forgot to take a before picture so you could see the icky stains I always looked at, but did remember while I was cleaning them in the tub.



Can I just say: Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....

Now, usually when I clean blinds, I'll hang them outside to dry. However, it's COLD outside and I didn't want to go out there, so instead, I chose to hang them back up and laid a towel on the floor to catch the water droplets. (This also meant wiping down the wall underneath it because of the water streaking down, hence...I also got a portion of the wall clean LOL)



So now back to "real time." Today hasn't been pccx work thus far, just daily cleaning. But its gone a little bit beyond daily cleaning. Did that make sense? Anyways...one of the tasks was to wipe down appliances. So, I decided to take off the couple of items on magnets and do a good wipe down. Now, my fridge is a nice eggshell type color so I don't have to worry about glaring dirt or tobacco stains because they pretty much blend in, so I don't notice just how dirty it is. I took everything off and OMG....Ewwwwwww again!!



Thankfully, a couple shots of Fantastic cleaned it up very nicely!! The next daily but beyond task was to dust. Normally, I'll just dust the living room and 2 bedrooms. But today, I decided to tackle Dad's office and get to that dang bookshelf of his. Just as a reminder, here's the before:



and the after:



So, we're now up-to-date with posts AND I've blogged two days in a row....baby steps = progress!

Last Weeks Results

Ok, I'm a horrible blogger. But I swear, I'm going to get better! Now that Dad has finished his radiation treatment, I have more time in my day and can better organize my schedule.

Last week I decided I had to get my Christmas list together. Just making a list of who to buy for and what to buy would be too simple. You see, I have this tendency to buy gifts throughout the year with no idea who the gift will be for until this time of year. For example, I found two quilt stands, new in the box, on sale at a thrift store for $10 each over the summer. So, anyways....I had the majority of gifts inside 1 tote and stacked on top of it in my attic space. When I opened the attic door, I discovered Jordan had stacked Kris' belongings right inside the door. Add the garage sale stuff, assorted Christmas decorations and other crap, and I had a job in front of me.

I began by pulling out everything:



Okay, I didn't pull out everything. I did leave Kris' bed, luggage, a kitchen chair, cat carriers and the Christmas tree. But I did organize all of that stuff. Then, I began condensing the other stuff. First and foremost was Kris' belongings, followed by Christmas decorations. Once I had that crap put away, I just had to make a list of the gifts I had already purchased. Here's a lovely picture of Jordan's room after everything was put back in:



Jordan had made mention that he wanted his desk (in the back right of his room) moved out so it was usable.





Now that the attic space was clean and organized and Jordan's room was all set, I decided to attack Jordan's closet too! I wish I had this much energy every day! You'll be shocked at the difference of before/after...and it only took me about 30 minutes to do!!! Trust me, it was bad! It looks fabulous now!!!





The rest of the week SUCKED! Dad's radiation was supposed to end Wednesday, but they extended it for yet another day, just in case. That just depressed the hell out of me! Then Friday came with no trips to radiation but a boat load of homework to do. All weekend I played catch up.

It's now a new week. The plan is a little cleaning and a lot of homework every day.

Today: I ran errands shopping for deals at Walmart and Walgreens, you can find those on my personal blog. I busted my butt trying to clean as soon as I got home, and then started homework. Let's hope the rest of the week goes as well!

Progress!

It was only 1 piece of furniture and 2 hours, 15 minutes of actual work. It may as well have been the finish line tape of an Olympic race though, I'm so darned pleased. Somehow 2 hours became my entire day's accomplishment, or at least it seems that way. This is my first *completed* PCCX task I'm talking about. The fridge and the freezer and the hallway, none of those was totally finished. Today I cleaned off a wall unit/room divider between the dining room and living room with cabinets and drawers and two-sided shelves and hundreds of individual items to be dealt with and wiped off. The top is completely empty for the first time in...well, probably ever. I *hate* how Chris keeps stashing things on top of the big furniture. I guess he figures if only he can reach it only he can see it and he doesn't care. I've got news for him, it bugs the HECK out of me. Anyway, I just wanted to brag a little extra bit about my completed project. :) I missed the FB challenge by 15 minutes, but I'm ok with that. It's DONE, and that's what matters. Now if I can just carry that momentum into another day, and another, and another...

Oh, after pictures of both sides are in the gallery now; there's a link to my progress in the sidebar to the right.

PCCX Goals

I haven't gotten much done with PCCX, I've painted a couple walls to clean them up a bit, I've dusted my bedroom completely.....That's really not much. I'm ashamed at the state of my house right now.

Yesterday was the halfway mark, I did get the main areas of my house picked up finally. Today is the day I hit up the kids' bedrooms. I need to go through toys and get rid of about half of them. I'd also like to get in the closets and clean them up a bit. We'll see how today goes. I've been up since 3:30. Will hopefully update later with pics.

Decided to Join!

Hey ladies...

Yep its me, Renee...dont faint, but I decided to finally join PCCX. I am excited about getting motivation from blogging and reading up on everyone elses!

Glad to be here.

Renee

My 5x5

5 Positives from 1st 4 weeks:

1. I got the freezer defrosted and cleaned out so I was able to store all the things I needed to as they came in.
2. I washed 3/4 of the walls and floor of the back hallway. The walls are no longer covered in kid smudge.
3. Washing down the hallway proved to myself that I really could get it done.
4. I am making a more concerted effort (not that you'd notice after the last four days) to keep up with the regular chores in order to have some time to commit to PCCX.
5. I also cleaned all but one of the refrigerator shelves, it no longer looks quite like someone shoved a bleeding body inside.

5 Goals for next 4 weeks:

1. Get the floors in every room at least mopped if not better.
2. Catch up on the holiday list.
3. Scrub the heck out of the outside of my kitchen appliances.
4. Clear the piles off the tops of my big furniture (breakfronts, entertainment center, wall units, bookcases, etc.)
5. Get all of our clothes organized and weeded out and put away properly.

**Did anyone else notice that half the challenges today involved sitting down and writing? That's my kind of day. :)**

Looking Back....Looking Forward

Well thank you for reminding me that I have fallen down on the job here...LOL, just kidding.

I seriously have not done much that could be classified as PCCX during these last 5 weeks. I hang my head in shame......

And on that note, I say that this next 5 weeks will be different. I will actually find my list that I printed, um, had someone print for me, and I will try to do as many of the remaining jobs on the list as I can. I have company coming hopefully the weekend before Christmas and since one of those people is a bit of a clean freak/OCD about germs/picky person I would like to be able to open my door to her with peace this time.

First goal: To get in my laundry room and restack all boxes I've let get out of place. This will actually let me walk on more than a foot of the floor in there.

Second goal: To dust all rooms in this house from ceiling to floor. Trust me it needs it.

Third goal: To declutter yet even more toys, beyond the 2 trash bags in the trunk of my car.

Fourth goal: To get my kitchen cleaned and keep my dishes done up each day. I know that's not technically a PCCX goal but hey, it will help me to be able to eat to keep up my strenght.

and finally,

Fifth goal: To thoroughly clean all the floors in this house, hopefully with a steam cleaner and a good mop.

I will be posting more often hopefully...don't hold your breath for more than a sentence or two each time though. Wouldn't want to disappoint you.

5 by 5

That was a favorite phrase of Faith's on BTVS...I don't think anybody ever knew what it meant. Which reminds me...I wanted to paint our room in an Asian style to go with the furniture and put the characters (Chinese, Japanese, either one) for "Faith", "Hope", and "Trick" on the walls...but I digress.

Today is the first day of the 5th week, which makes this the halfway mark for Fall PCCX. I don't know of anyone who's gotten anywhere near that point, but that's OK! Any progress is still progress, and even though the only things I've done are the insides of the freezer and fridge and 3/4 of one empty hallway, I can point at those things and say "see, I did something." There will be many more things in the second half that I will accomplish - and so will you. :)

50/50 Challenge: Look back at the first half of PCCX and choose 5 *positive* aspects of the challenge so far for you - this could be specific accomplishments, positive changes in your home as a result, positive changes in your outlook, etc. Then decide on 5 specific goals for the second half. If you have a blog, write a post about it and share the link here. If you're a contributor to this blog - and you know who you are - post here, obviously. If you have no blog of your own, post to the Yahoo group. 50 points for positive changes, 50 more for goals.

PCCX gone wrong

The past two weeks have been a bust for me. I've been lucky to keep up with dishes and laundry and cleaning up after the monsters. Between surgery 2 weeks ago, kids and hubby getting sick then I got sick I haven't done ANYTHING. Monday is a new day. I'll hopefully get my info so I can start my school work. I'd like to spend a few hours a day on that, and a few hours a day on PCCX. We'll see how it goes.

An Easy Saturday

I woke up in a really good mood and ready to attack the day. My son woke me up and said "I wanted you to have enough time to wake up and drink coffee before you had to drive me to the bowling alley" This absolutely cracked me up! He's 15 and perfectly capable of walking or riding his bike the 1 mile, but the way he said it (or maybe I'd actually had enough sleep for once) just made it sound like the funniest thing I'd heard in ages. Anyways, that all came crashing down as soon as I came downstairs for coffee. My father was up and I began to tell him this hilarious story when he began yelling at me "Why did he wake you up?" Suddenly I was a 7 year old with no good explanation and was about to get the third degree. I stammered "I don't know" and tears began to well. So much for my good day. My father continued to yell at me about how he had taken my son to get my son's bowling ball out of my car (4 miles away where the car was stuck until some Fix-A-Flat was put into it) and how he told my son to let me sleep. For the next hour I just kept recounting the incident trying to come up with an explanation of why *I* got yelled at, but couldn't come up with one.

I really did try to get myself motivated after that. I did some basic house cleaning, but for the most part, I just wanted to go back to bed and have the day over with already. So, instead I pretty much played on Facebook all day. The be all, end all of time waste.

I did do sweep and mop the kitchen floor, which was sorely needed. Don't believe me?



This is the section of the floor near the sink and coffee pot and is the worst (okay, besides under the garbage can). So, now it looks more like this:



Today my main goals are the attic space in the boys room (I mean Jordan's room). Sighhhhh, I really have to get used to only having one child left in the house. I'll basically be taking everything out and putting it back in some form of organization. My Christmas stuff is in there as well, so I'll be able to start my Christmas list and see who I still need to buy for this year.

Bad 'manda

I am a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad PCCX-er. We are very nearly at the mid-point - you hear that, people, halfway done! * panic* - and the only pccx related things I have done are the inside of the freezer and the inside of one small dresser, oh, and most of an empty hallway (walls and floor). *hanging head in shame* I had the house looking fairly decent (if one didn't look too closely), and then I had back-to-back Bad Days this week and it's back to being a wreck. Possibly some areas not as wrecked as before, but still...

I'm bi-polar. I also have arthritis and other issues. So my mental status swings from depressed and useless to happy and ambitious, and my physical status swings from nearly crippled to not so bad. On an exceptionally good day the ups match, and on a particularly bad day the downs match. This week was one of those bad days...actually two in a row. On the plus side that is now behind me for a while, and things should be looking up. If I'm really lucky I won't have another downer until after PCCX is all over. Yeah, that'll happen. *snort*

Anyway...the house is trashed so one might think that this weekend's goal would be to get it picked up. Not so, Grasshopper. It's a weekend, which means everyone's home and in the way. It also means trips to town and shopping, which in turn means prep and follow-up and coupons to clip and file and mail and... So my goal for the rest of this weekend is to get ALL computer and paper related work done (as much as possible) before bedtime Sunday night. Correction: before NIC and ICA Sunday night, and I suppose Challenge too. So that's everything done by, say, 7:30pm tomorrow (I like to start late so I can skip commercials). The biggest thing on my side is that there's almost no shopping to be done tomorrow morning. Partly because grocery money is low, being the end of the month, and partly because there aren't any great deals at the store this week. There's a very few deals at other stores that maybe I might want to pick up if I wanted to store-hop, but I really don't so I'll just pass on them. That saves a ton in terms of time and effort. Shoot, I wouldn't even have to go if it weren't for the weekly requirement of newspapers and dog food and milk. What I wouldn't give for a store here that carried the big city paper on Sundays.

So much of the writing and coupon filing and such tonight and tomorrow, general pickup and getting back to order Monday, one room to be determined Tuesday, another Wednesday, another Thursday, panic about Halloween costumes Friday, Halloween carnival Saturday, back to shopping and writing Sunday. Sounds like a plan. Keep an eye out for mid-point challenges to be posted here and elsewhere this weekend.

Oh! I almost forgot - again - that I really, really need to take some pictures for holiday cards. That will definitely be this weekend as well.

Blog Catch Up

I have no excuses for not posting the last couple of days. I've not only done some pccx work, I've even remembered to take photos. I've made goal every day this week and will reach my monthly point goal today. So, why does posting seem like SO much work? It's sad when you'd rather scrub the bathroom down then post a blog LOL

So, here's a little catch up over the last few days. I did a bit of cleaning in the boys room, which is just Jordan's room now. It's time to pack up Kris' belongings that he didn't take with him when he moved earlier this year and put into the attic until he has room to take them. I stopped at Walmart on Tuesday and purchased 2 totes (only $4 each, a great buy!). Here's the before and afters of the boxes stacked in the corner (in front of the closet and attic doors, making it difficult to get into either):




I do plan to get this into the attic space, just as soon as I'm prepared to clean out the attic so this will fit LOL Getting into the attic also means I'll be going through the tote of gifts I've purchased throughout the year and putting them into my file so I know who has gifts/who needs gifts still. Overall, I'm probably 50% done with my shopping. Maybe I'll attack that tomorrow....

Then on Wednesday, or was it Thursday...whatever, ONE of those 2 days, I did start working on the bathroom. I decided to start with the bathroom organizer, which wasn't really organized at all. The first drawer was a bit of a mess of this and that stuff that didn't go anywhere else and oral care. The 2nd drawer was a combination of cosmetics and hair care. Most days I had trouble shutting the stupid drawer and would have to push things around so it would shut again. The third drawer was travel kits. I decided to just do one drawer at a time, removing everything and then scrubbing it inside and out before putting stuff back in. Now, the first drawer is cosmetics, second drawer is hair care, and the third drawer is oral care and razors.

Here's some of the after shots of the bathroom organizer (I do plan to get the before shots in here, but having sizing issues):













My new college classes begin on Monday, but one benefit of an online class is that the professors generally open them a week early so you can get a head start on work, which is exactly what I've done. Not a lot, but at least 15 minutes a day I do something. Dad's radiation treatment ends on Wednesday, so I'll have a LOT more time to work on pccx. Granted, its only 2.5 hours out of my day, but its during prime energy time...and who wants to start cleaning after that long of a drive?

I don't think I'll be able to finish pccx, but I will put a good dent into it so that when we start again in January, I'll be in much better shape!

What was I thinking?????

I am such a glutton for punishment and I really have the desire to have a clean and organized home, I really do.....BUT, I can't seem to get it all together AT THE SAME TIME *snort* I am a 1 step forward, 9 steps back kinda girl apparently, lol. I did manage to get all my coupons clipped, organized, sorted and shared last night....this used to be part of my Sunday routine and beleive it or not helped me get on track for the week, when I did it regularly.

On the other hand...........I have a 60th surprise birthday party for my dad that is only 1/2 planned, homeschool with dd every day, hair cuts for both myself and dd, eyebrow waxing, family holiday portraits, sign language class for dd, pe for dd, art for dd, a community yard sale that I am in charge of, weekly client work, a field trip to the pumpkin patch, shopping for birthday decorations, meal planning and preparing, quarterly payroll returns, personal tax prep, unpacking, cleaning for said surprise birthday party this weekend. Ummmmmm, where oh where do I put in pccx and going potty????????????????????????????

One tada and then I am outie....Dd and I sat in her room for 5+ hours on Saturday and cleaned out her closet, under her bed, all her nooks and crannies. She has bins for all her toys, but enjoys irritating me by putting stuff where it doesn't belong....the only thing left to do in there is hang her wall art, hang her window treatments and go thru her closet to purge smallish clothes and summer wear. I also managed to scrub down, clean and polish our stainless steel gas grill. I took all the grill grates....8 peices in all and then I used stainless steel cleaner on the outside. Saturday was wrapped up with trimming and watering all hedges out front and cleaning up the scraps. OOH, OOH, OOH....I guesss that cleaning the grill and trimming the hedges could be on PCCX under "winterizing".....hmmmm, I definately need to check that out, lol.

Tomorrow will be spent on client work, clearing off my desk, credenza and filing cabinets and hanging clothes back in my closet. After losing 3 dress sizes, I was forced *gasp* lol to buy new clothes and they are ALL on my bed....my closet is completely empty, so that MUST be taken care of tomorrow.

Monday's Before/After Debacle

So, as promised, here's my before:



and here's my after:


and here's what happened as a result:



I'm going to cry over my burnt dinner now...

Monday Mania

Yesterday went off pretty well. I got the majority of the house in order enough that if someone came over, I wouldn't be totally embarrassed. I didn't get around to vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc but I could live with that for a day. I'm hoping to accomplish all of that this afternoon after Dad's radiation appointment. I did get through a LOT of paperwork and sold my college books back to Barnes and Noble and got them packaged for shipment to the post office.

It's 9:45 a.m. and I've already dropped them off at the post office - not bad for only getting 4 hours of sleep LOL I don't know why, but I just was not tired last night. Maybe it had something to do with the chocolate that I ate around 8 p.m. (I'm referring to an entire bag of Hostess chocolate doughnuts, yes I ate the entire bag). I'm giving up on my weight loss efforts until after Dad's radiation is complete and I have time to get back on the treadmill. So shush....

I didn't get to clip newspaper coupons yesterday, which really bummed me out. While the lack of the job saved me a lot of time, I really like clipping my weekly coupons! From now on, I'll make sure I get to the store much earlier than 2 p.m.

Today's plans:

Post office - Done
Dad radiation
Maple syrup farm
IGA for Totinos pizza rolls sale
WHB (Weekly Home Blessing)
At least 30 minutes of pccx - room to be determined later. I'll post before/after pics of whatever job I choose.

The Calm Before the Storm

I know I haven't been good about posting my blogs as well as I should. But, I have a really good reason: I'm swamped!

Friday I finally completed two of my classes: Geography and Psychology. Last week I had 2 projects to complete as well as 3 tests and other miscellaneous assignments, so I was on a major deadline and everything else had to wait. I did just enough housework so that the house didn't look like a F5 tornado hit it, now its more like an F3.

I'm still taking Dad to radiation (a 2.5 hour loss of prime time energy each day) but he should wrap up his treatments around the 28th of this month. Nearly 8 weeks of radiation is just cruel. I want to cry every time some new person comes in and only has 3 weeks of treatments.

Today will be basic house cleaning, laundry and shopping. Fortunately I don't have major shopping to do, so it won't take too long. As I stated before, house cleaning and laundry will be a huge effort.


So, my new classes don't begin until the 26th (Business Ethics and Chemistry). Which means more time to clean this week. I'll be working super hard - as in trying to do a room every day or two. I will post daily...

Progress, or the lack thereof

Anyone who thinks I'm some kind of "leader" or inspiration or even facilitator has got to be out of their mind - and you know who you are. ;)

It has been such a struggle just to get back to where my daily chores actually get done daily - and I'm still not there. Part of this is lack of inertia; it's so much easier to sit here than to get up and actually work. Part is pure laziness. Part is physical limitations. And part is the sheer volume of "daily chores".

I sat down last night and made a list of things that needed to be done by 8:00am in order for me to feel ready to start the day, along with estimates of time needed for each step. It added up to 3 hours and 10 minutes. Sorry, I am NOT starting my day at 4:50 just so I can "start my day" at 8 without a sense of already being behind. So this morning I got up at 6:00 and got to work on the list to see how long it would take me to finish it. It's now 10 after 9 and this blog post is part of the next to last item (the last item is starting laundry which doesn't take long but the sky is still looking like rain despite assertions to the contrary by the weatherman, so I'm waiting for proof before going out on that limb). I did spend some time just sitting and chatting, and I did drive the girls to the bus stop and got a coke at Sonic, so those took up at least half an hour. Once I finish this post and write one for my personal blog I'll have no excuse (no good one anyway) to sit and fiddle with the computer instead of cleaning.

I have made a teensy tiny bit of progress in the cleaning arena in the last couple of days though. The other day I bought an actual mop, the kind with a bunch of string for a mop head. I have 2 kinds of wet Swiffers, a steam mop, and a scrubber on a pole, but for one reason or another none of those were quite cutting it on these floors. The good news is that this mop does seem to work beautifully on most of the tasks I put it to. The bad news is that it doesn't get into corners or crevices, much of the floor is too stained or damaged for it to make a great difference in appearance, and there are some spots that still require the scrubber or scraper. The worse news is that in its first day out yesterday I managed to get the string loops so tangled that it's difficult to use now. However, I *did* get most of the back hallway floor mopped (except for the edges where it wouldn't reach) AND I used it to wash the walls too. These are old fashioned wood paneled walls painted white (where the paint hasn't been peeled off) and they were *filthy* from kids' messy hands and in a few places crayons or pencils. I still need to do some detail cleaning in the crevices of the paneling and the edges of the floor, and try some polish on the floor, but what I did get done is a significant improvement.

So here I am, with a lot of daily things and most computer things out of the way, so it's time to get to work. Oh look, one task has just been decided for me. A shipment of frozen meat arrived (mom likes ordering such things) and now I have to reorganize my freezer which will also require defrosting it. There goes the rest of my morning. :)

Part 1 of my dungeon

Before & After Photos of the Coupons - Part of my dungeon

The first photo is of all the MONTHS, yes months of inserts that I had accumulated as well as coupons I picked up along the way or received in trains or from other group members. There was NOT semblance of organization, they were scattered everywhere and I had no idea where in the heck the ones were that I actually needed to use. My daughter went to her dad's this weekend and I spent a total of 13 hours on organizing the heaps of the mess. (4 hours on Thursday night, 6 hours on Friday and 3 hours on Sunday)

First, I had to go thru all the uncut inserts and determine which were expired (sadly, that was alot). This was approximately 9 1/2 " of inserts to go thru and does not include the enormous stack that was already clipped. Then I clipped all the good dated coupons. After getting them all clipped, I sorted them into stacks of coupons I need/use and ones that I will send to friends and members of my coupon groups that can use them. I tackled the "other" coupons for the groups first and grouped all like coupons together. I keep these in a bin with cards labeled by month. I chose to do this by month because when we send out coupon trains in the group, we must make sure that the coupons aren't short dated to go around to 4 people. I keep the current month first and then in month order work back. The coupons photo'd in the very back of the bin are either NON expiring or expire 12/2010 or LATER. Yes, I grabbed an entire stack of organic coupons. I don't see them often, use them when I can and I experience NO SHAME in helping myself and my friends :D

Once that was accomplished, I did the happy dance, not only for completing 1/2 of that task, but also because I got to take fling points for all those wasted coupons :) I "auctioned" off several stacks of the unwanted coupons to the girls (the collaborators of this blog) and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed it...we kinda felt like we were at an auction, lol. Next began the task of organizing all my personal coupons. I do the organizing for those a little differently. I organize my personal coupons by "type" of coupon. For example....beverages, breakfast items, bread, ice cream, frozen, frozen veggies, medicine, deoderant, paper products...you get the idea I hope. I shop the sales and I stockpile, so I often times have multiples of coupons and actually welcome them from friends, neighbors, family and fellow couponers. :) If I can get items for free or close to free that we won't personally use, I donate them to women's shelters, pet shelters, churches and even victims of wild fires, tornadoes and hurricanes. I paperclip all like coupons together, with the earliest expiration date first. I also like to have each variety of coupon clipped together, meaning.....I have a section for soups, but I have all the chunky campbell's coupons together, all healthy choice campbell's coupons together, all cream soup campbell's coupons together, etc. That's probably a bit anal, but if I see a sale, I can grab the coupons quickly and take them with me.

The final step in completing the coupon organizing is to organize my bin by ailes in the store. I have not done that yet and am waiting when I can leave my daughter at home to walk the aisle at kroger. I do shop at other stores, but mainly kroger, and I could actually probably just do this at home since I am smart enough to figure out that all cheeses, milk, yogurt, butter, cookie dough, etc are all in the same section, same with all the frozens, canned goods, etc. :)

I think I mentioned I have several BIG issues with my dungeons in trying to get unpacked, but I am happy that I was able to get this large task completed although it was only a VERY VERY small, minute dent in the big picture. I went shopping Saturday afternoon and it was so nice to look at the ads, make my list and pull my coupons....took me 30 minutes tops for this weeks shopping at 5 stores. YAY me!

Slacker #2

Where did this last week go? Seriously, I posted blogs on Sunday and Monday - and nothing since...how is it Saturday already??? It's not as if I have nothing to say, I have written entire blogs in my head while out of the house - get home and never get around to posting them LOL

I honestly don't even know what the room was for pccx this week! But its okay...there are still 6 weeks, 2 days left. However, today I will not be doing any heavy cleaning, just the basics and getting homework done. I have 8 chapters to read, a discussion forum post to write, a portfolio due for psych, 3 tests to take, and 2 labs for geography. All due by Friday. Come to think of it, I may just go back to bed and hide under the covers until next Saturday.

Today I'll be doing my infamous homework for 30 minutes, housework for 30 minutes. I'll post later on how that's working for me.

I've been slacking big time on pccx. I decided that I am not going to wash walls, I'm going to repaint them instead. I can get the paint free and it'll take less time than washing to just touch up some dirty spots. So I can cross that off the list.

I had surgery yesterday for a cyst removal. I should be taking it easy but I feel good and need to get stuff done around the house. I'm not doing any heavy duty cleaning but I can at least do the little things on th pccx list. I've decided my next area to work on is my "office." Meaning my desk area. It's a mess around this area and I need it clean for a clear work space.

How is everyone else doing??

Ye-ah, that worked well

The first day of my "job" plan, and I woke up sick. And not just a little under the weather; puking, falling asleep on the couch sick. I sort of slept until noon and then got up and did as little as possible the rest of the day.

But today is a new day. It was raining so I drove the girls to school, which then required (heh) a stop at Sonic, so I didn't get back until about 10 after 8. No worries, I ate breakfast and started dishes and got everyone else breakfast and all those usual morning things, and sat down to start "work" by 9:00. So far, so good. I'll continue work (with a short lunch break) until 2:00, and then clean (and do the homework thing when the girls come home) until about 5:00, make dinner, and pretty much watch tv the rest of the night because it's Thursday and I have lots to watch tonight. Sounds like a plan to me.

So, what kind of schedule, if any, do you have for when you clean or chill or do other things? 25 points for answering in comments.

Changing the status quo

There are a lot of things on my daily to-do list, for one reason or another, that involve sitting at the computer. They are all, in some way, productive, though some are productive only for a relatively insignificant "job" that I have assigned myself. Would the world end if I quit moderating my local Freecycle group, for instance? Of course not, but I'd feel as if I were shirking responsibility. Even though many of the members piss me off royally at some time or another, I just can't seem to let it go. I know it would fall to pieces, and for some reason I give a damn. :)

There are tasks related to saving money or "earning" it, albeit in miniscule amounts, tasks related to the kids, tasks related to running the household, tasks related to my website and other Yahoo groups, just a lot of things. A lot of days I get bogged down in or excited about one or more of these things and before I know it hours have gone by and the house is falling apart around me and the kids are hungry...

So. This is my new plan. I'm going to pretend I have an office job. For a set period of time each day I will devote my attention to whichever of these tasks I can fit into the time allowed based on urgency and whatever. After that it becomes cleaning time, and then when dinner's done I'll call it a day. Obviously kid needs and other urgencies will come up throughout and those don't count. But I really think that treating it like a *job* will be key to limiting the time spent. Which in a way seems kind of backwards, but that's generally how I think. :)

Have any of you ever tried to apply business tactics to your home efforts?

What a lousy way to start

An entire week is over, and I have done NOTHING on the PCCX list. Ok, I sort of take that back. I did the first two holiday items and all but one of the bonus challenges. The one I missed? Get one PCCX item done by 9am...which I posted because I was in the bathroom that morning looking, once again, at the destroyed shower curtain hanging from the rod and the new one in the package on the shelf, where it's been for 2 MONTHS. So I thought if I made that a challenge I'd get right back in there and change it and have that done and not staring at me all the time. But noooooo. I left the bathroom and did all the usual morning stuff and the next thing I knew it was 11 and I hadn't done it. I kicked myself and cursed, but I STILL haven't changed the !#$%@! shower curtain. Wth is wrong with me?? That's it, I'm going to do it now. Please hold. Your call is very important to us. Please enjoy the hold music...

*******************************************************

There, it's done. The new one doesn't have metal grommets. That's probably not good. I don't see it lasting the 4 1/2 years the other one (sort of) did. I'm also missing a ring. But it's changed. Here's proof (cuz y'all are nice trusting people, I'm sure, but if I were me I wouldn't necessarily trust me, if you follow me).

Before and After:

I don't think the Before picture quite does justice to the nastiness that it was.

So here's a bonus challenge for you:

Go, right now, and do something that you've been putting off for at least a week. It doesn't have to be PCCX related, but it can be. 150 bonus points for doing so.

My Family Hates Me

What else could possibly explain the messes they leave behind for me to clean up?



Okay, I admit you can't see my complaint in this picture, but trust me, my husband shaved last night and the evidence was left there. I attempted a close up picture, but flashes and white/beige sinks do not mix well. Don't think for one second that I ran behind him and took this picture either. He shaved around 7 p.m. last night. He didn't go to bed until 10 p.m. He was up at 6:30 a.m. He didn't leave until 8:30 a.m. That's 5 solid hours he could have cleaned up. This is not a difficult clean up. I have Clorox wipes under the bathroom sink. Open, pull out 1 wipe, swipe, toss. Not hard, right? So how come I have to do it? Is this their way of making sure I'm not bored? Trust me, I'm not. I have other things to do.

My rant isn't just about my husband either. My 15 year old son has this wonderful tendency to leave all of the drawers open on his dresser every morning. EVERY stinkin' morning! If you follow Flylady's advice, do it and they'll eventually pick up on it - uh hello? 15 years...

So is it worth it to nag? To remind them on a daily basis of what they've done wrong and how to resolve the issue. No. It's easier for me to just do the thankless jobs they leave behind for me and then rant on occasion when I wake up in a bad mood.

Weekend Update

First a gripe of mine: My father likes to garden. Which is all fine and dandy. Except he got sick in June, so he really hasn't done much in the garden this year. However, he did plant 2 tomato plants and put up 2 Topsy Turvy planters. Can I just say this is WAY too many tomatoes when only 2 people in the house eat them??? I can't stand them, so I avoid cooking with them as much as possible!!! Let's just say they will be going to the compost pile tomorrow:



So anyways...
Saturday began pretty well. I was alternating between homework and housework. 30 minutes of psychology reading, 30 minutes of cleaning. Then, around 2:30 p.m., my dear husband calls me over to look at a house on the Flip This House t.v. show. The entire house had 2-3 feet of garbage in every room. Cats, rats and cockroaches throughout. I sat down and said "Okay, I can sit for 30 minutes to watch the rest of this." As it ended, the show Hoarders began. I've seen a few clips on it, but was intrigued to see this episode about a couple that lost their children due to the amount of stuff accumulated and their attempt to clean out the house and get the kids back. Then another Hoarders show began. The next thing I knew, it was 1 a.m.

Today I decided I was going to alternate my time again. But absolutely NO television watching until prime time (which will actually only be 2 shows tonight: Drop Dead Diva and Brothers and Sisters)

The house is clean and I've read quite a bit today, but I'm currently only at 70% of my day. I'm sure I can break 100% of my points before I go to bed tonight. If you're unclear what points are, visit the PCC group.

Busy busy busy....

I've been busy the past couple days. My husband came home after 9 days of being gone so I spent time with him and fell off the PCCX wagon. I climbed back on the wagon last night. I finished wiping down the flat surfaces and started going through my jewelry boxes. I have far too much jewelry. I got through 2 boxes completely only keeping sentimental pieces and stuff I wear. I still have one box to get through and some odds and ends around the house to put away. Once I'm done with that I need to scrub the floor and moldings and see about spot washing walls. I'm hoping to move VERY soon and they are going to repaint anyways.

I also need to get my husband into move some stuff around so that we can fit the dog's kennel in the bedroom. I'm sick and tired of waking up to find she's gone to the bathroom in my house again.

I really hope to finish my bedroom today.

So Tired...

So tired...just need more sleep....TGIF and I will be able to sleep in tomorrow...

Didn't get much done yesterday as I.....zzzzzzzzzz....

I LOVE Fall!

I never realized that I loved fall until I spent time in Tennessee the past two years. I lived in Florida the past 14 years and our fall's consisted of 80 degree days instead of 95. ;) I always did my "major" clean every January. I had renewed energy after the holidays and hope to continue that, but I really want to be prepared and organized for the holidays this year. The air is dryer and cooler and days of windows open are just around the corner. With the start of PCCX each time, I am optimistic I'll get EVERYTHING done, and it never happens. I will take what I can however; because I do get MORE done when PCCX is in the midst. I make my daily points and stay active, but just can't get quite to PCCX, lol. For now, I am ok with that. Maybe if I can get all this other "stuff" done, I will be successful at PCCX the next time.

I have made goal each day this week; however I haven't completed all I wanted on my list. Things come up like middle of the night upset stomach's and laying wide awake when I am supposed to be sleeping...not condusive to a 5:30 alarm sounding off. This morning I got to add two extra loads of laundry to my list as my daughter didn't quite make it to the bathroom early this morning....fun, fun. I have had emergency client deadlines come up and dishwashers go out....but I am plugging along.Today, we managed to get two days of math done and I reorganized the stockpile of food in our stairwell closet. We have more we are gathering to put in there, but for now it's organized should we need it. :) The photos are above....

The remainder of the day will be spent whittling away my 48 item list, errands and client work....another day with no PCCX items completed, but I'm ok with that. :)

A New Month Begins

Yesterday was just a horrible day for me, I couldn't concentrate. Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep...

New goal: Get to bed by midnight. HA! That's gonna be a hard one!!! But, I'll at least try taking a sleeping pill for about a week and see if I can change my circadian rhythm and go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Like everyone else in the world, I'm wondering how its October already. The good news is that October means that we're getting closer to the finish line of Dad's radiation. At least, that's what the doctors are saying for now. Yesterday the oncologist increased the number of sessions from 35 to 38 and says a couple of additional may be needed on top of that, but we won't know until we're near that point. Yesterday was session #20. Originally we were told 30, so we'll see. October also means I'm nearing the end of the 2 classes I'm currently taking and 2 new ones will start. Which is excellent, because I'm already tired of these classes LOL It'll be nice to have classes and not lose 3-4 hours a day because of Dad's radiation/drive.

Looking forward to the season premiere of Private Practice tonight and encourage all women to watch the new show "The Middle" with Patricia Heaton on ABC. Check their Web site at http://www.abc.com to view the show online - its hilarious!

Off to the daily grind...

Tackling My Tuesday

Do you know how when you don't manage to get done the things you wanted to get done during a day that the day feels like a complete bust? Yeah, I had one of those days...

Initially, my plan for the day was to take Dad to radiation and get some Psych reading done; Take husband to hospital for surgery and get some more reading done; Come home and clean for 3 hours.

I took Dad but had another patient arrive in a chatty mood so I only got 4 pages read.

I took my husband to the hospital (for an outpatient surgery) but 2 chatty women in the waiting room and were tired of their discussion with each other and then had to ask "what's your husband here for? ohhh my husband had that done and this is what happened and this is why we're here now." One benefit of living in an urban area is that nobody talks to each other. Move to a rural area - everybody knows everybody and if they don't know you, they will talk long enough until they do.....So I wasn't able to get any reading done until those women left, which means a whopping 2 additional pages.

Sigh.

I was hoping to get the entire chapter read. 6 lousy pages. Unbelievable.

So I came home and had every intention to start cleaning. But at that point, I was wiped out. 3 hours of driving and 3 hours of sitting in hospitals just took everything out of me. I sucked down a pot of coffee and did manage to get dinner done and cleaned the entertainment center in the living room.

PCCX Work
I didn't require my son to do anything pccx wise, only because he managed to get out of the house before I got home from hospital #2. Previously, the entertainment center looked like this:


I took out all of the DVD's, books, and VHS tapes. Dusted/polished the shelf and then sorted through the items determining what to keep, what to toss, what to put in Jordan's room and then put it all back in alphabetical order. That was the hard part. The rest was pretty easy as I dusted/polished the rest of the center and cleaned all of the electronics. In the end, this is what it looks like:



So I got something done for pccx, just not enough reading to make the day feel like I accomplished enough. Oh well, such is life.

Jamie's Befores

Day 1 - Teresa

Well, day 1 didn't go exactly as planned. I'm seeing a trend here folks...

Got up yesterday morning expecting that we would make the trek up to the bus stop and I would come back and get to work. Didn't happen. Woke up late-ish, no time to make the bus so we opted to drive the short distance to school. Not sure exactly what made us so late but I have the feeling it was button care. If anyone reads this and doesn't know what I mean when I talk about "button care" please feel free to read my personal blog for more information. Anyway, she made it to school with just enough time to get to her class without being tardy.

Once I got back home I was set to get busy cleaning. Started with routine stuff and pretty much that 's all I got done. I stripped the bed, washed the sheets, tried to catch up on dishes (everyday occurence lately), made a meal plan for the week, and before I knew it it was time for me to go get her off the bus. Just a little side note here, I got really irritated when I went to the bus stop because there was a little ankle nipper dog there that wouldn't let me into the driveway so I could wait for the bus out of the road. Thankfully there is no traffic to speak of on our roads in town.

Homework happened next, then dinner, then it was time to put B to bed so I could watch my House and Trauma. Of course bedtime, as usual, didn't go smoothly either since again I had to do button care and make sure she got one of her Boost drinks. We're averaging 2 a day which is 1 less than what they want us to do. Insert heavy sigh here...

Well today is another day in the life so I'm off to see what I can accomplish. I'm hitting post on this without rereading because I'll try to edit it if I reread. Not a good thing since I won't get it posted if I do that. Bye All!

What happened to Day 1?

I thought I was going to go into town for a short couple hours--a meeting at the bank and a chiropractor appointment. It turns out we had both of those plus lunch, a meeting with one of the boys' teacher and a meeting with the realtor. By that time it was supper, so we splurged and went to Cold Stone Creamery and had an ice cream supper. B, LJ and I left home at 1:30 and we didn't get home until 7:00. By that time, I was done. No house cleaning was going to be done today. Oh well. I'm home all day Tuesday so surely I can make up for it then. So we'll see what happens then. And it's off to the races!

Chou for now!

Don't Talk to Me, I'll Bite Your Head Off!

I don't want to say I was under a lot of stress yesterday, but if one more person reminded me of something I had to do, they were going to die. I am determined to get more done in this PCCX than any other, but the start date couldn't have come at a worse time!

• I have massively fallen behind in my 2 college classes (Geography and Psychology) and had a ton of Geography homework due but first had to read 60 pages, complete a lab report, a 90 minute test to take, a posting on how to solve climate change due in a discussion forum as well as 2 postings to comment on other people's submissions
• Dad's radiation therapy (5x a week with a little more than 3 weeks to go which is a 1 hour drive each way + 30 minutes for treatment and sometimes up to 30 minutes waiting)
• My husband is having a colonoscopy today which meant that as of yesterday around 3 p.m. he was restricted to a clear liquid diet (fun times) and can't eat/drink anything today
• My son actually came home with homework yesterday and wanted me to help with his linear functions (uh, what?)
• And for some reason, my son decided he wanted to rearrange his room and needed my assistance a couple of times.
• Oh, and I had an eye doctor appointment to verify the trial contacts I got last week were okay.
• Finally I had to make sure I snagged my son to do at least 1 PCCX item after school, otherwise he would defect and I'd never get his help since I reminded him all weekend he was going to do this.
  

I lost it at one point yesterday as my husband decided to ask what time Dad's radiation would be today because he's concerned I won't get him to the hospital on time for his surgery. I yelled at him for about 10 minutes. I'm sick and tired of people reminding me of everything I have to do. I KNOW!! I have a calendar. I have a blog. I have notes on my POA (Plan of Attack) so I don't forget. Reminding me is like nails on a chalkboard. I KNOW....BACK OFF!

So, this is what my day will look like today:

6:30 - 9:30 Wake up and do morning routine items
9:30 - 12:30 Dad's radiation (I'll do homework reading while in waiting room)
12:30 - 3:30 Eric's colonoscopy (Again, homework reading)
3:30 - 6:30 Housecleaning/Dinner Prep
6:30 - 7:30 Cook/Eat
7:30 - 8:00 Dishes
8:00 - 10:00 Hide in bedroom and watch The Biggest Loser

Yeah that's right, I'm watching reality tv to escape reality, don't judge me.

I'd probably gone on a bit more, but I just looked at the clock and Jordan isn't up for school yet and he has to be there in 20 minutes!

Jamie's Day 1

My computer is EXTREMELY slow and photobucket was extremely uncooperative this evening. :( I made my daily goal and am pleased with my overall day, although I did not get any PCCX done, so to speak. I got somewhat of a gameplan together and will only be able to work on PCCX two full days a week. I am going to have to stay on task and make sure I am following the schedule that I have set up to keep my work, homeschool, dailies and pccx done. I am pleased that I kept up with my POA, I worked steadily, I got my water in, we completed school and I got all my rumbles done.

Off to bed....tomorrow will be full with school activities for dd, so I will have to work after dinner.....toodles.

First day....

It's the first day of pccx and I've decided to start with my bedroom. I woke up at 5 this morning ready to go. Til my son woke up at 5:30 and felt warm....then my daughter woke at 6 and felt warm too.....insert your favorite cuss words here cause I said them all. My husband's out of town til tomorrow and I had a ton of errands to run today. So errands are done on a must need basis today. Must have coffee for tomorrow so we are going to the store. I called my daughter's school and said she wouldn't be in today. That's about the only time I can work on my own school work. You don't realize how much a 4 year old talks until they are gone for 3 hrs a day. Everything else will have to wait. Back to work for me now.

Teresa's Intro

Hi, I'm Teresa, single stay at home mom of an 8 year old daughter and a 20 year old daughter who is married and has a home of her own. We have a cat and dog who let us share their house, LOL, and an outside cat who adopted all of us.

I am probably the oldest blog contributor and should by all rights have all this cleaning and "housekeeping" stuff down but to be honest I don't have it down at all. Life has a way of keeping me off kilter most of the time. Currently, the curve ball that has been thrown my way is that my 8yo has just had a feeding tube button put in and we are still trying to get the routine care of it and the associated feedings incorporated into what little routine we had prior to this. My house is serving a dual purpose right now in that it is our home and is also a temporary storage place for my older daughters stuff that stayed when she left home. The house is small and there is no storage outside. There isn't very much space inside either so finding somewhere to put everything is a challenge.

Currently, my 20 year olds stuff is housed in the laundry room which also houses all of the "off season" things such as the fans we used during the summer. Because one of our heaters is in the laundry room and is totally blocked by stuff right now I am declaring the laundry room as my dungeon. I won't be able to totally clear it out unless I can find storage somewhere away from my home, but I do need to at least have access to the 2nd Dearborn heater in there for the coming winter months.

We rent this house so there won't be any major changes done during PCCX but hopefully I'll be able to at least do a thorough cleaning job on it. I will be posting pictures shortly so hang around and I'll give you the guided tour.

Aaargh!

Day 1 and I'm already behind. I spent too much time last night on my regular blog posts for the week, and I didn't want to stay up any later than I already was, so I didn't get properly prepped for today. I still don't have a working list for today, I still have posts to write, I still have paperwork to do, and at this rate it'll be lunchtime before I'm ready to get up and do anything.

You know what? Screw it. We did a lot of work this weekend, and except for a few places on the floor that I want to get cleaned all the "condemnable" bits got cleaned. If the place as it is now (minus those spots on the floor) isn't good enough, then I guess I'm not good enough. I have enough to do today without stressing about making things picture perfect. So my official cleaning goals for the day include half an hour on the floors, half an hour on my room, half an hour on dishes and dining room, and a couple loads of laundry. Given that, I can safely start whenever I finish the rest of this stuff.

So how about you? Are you prepared to start today, or even this week? What do you feel you need to do before you begin? 50 points for answering in the comments.

And to get us off on the right foot, 50 points for declaring a dungeon (take it if you've already done so or if you do it today), and another 50 for adding yourself to the database (ditto).

The 1st Day of PCCX

I feel like a kid on the 1st day of school. I have all my papers together. I have a list prepared for the week. I've already informed Jordan (my son) that he will be helping daily. I am just itching to start but secretly know that the newness of it all will wear off quickly LOL

I know I'm like this with the beginning of every pccx. But I honestly think I can finish this time. Granted Dad has radiation 5 times a week and I have a ton of homework, but if I'm disciplined enough, I can do it!

I'd keep on blogging, but I have a serious amount of work to do today!

Jamie's Introduction….Productivity….Completion

My name is Jamie and I am a 30ish WAHSHM….for those of you still learning all the email/blog lingo (like me), I am a Work At Home Single Homeschool Mom. I stumbled across yahoo groups and PCC all in the same week completely by accident. :) At the time, I was married with a 2 year old and was joining a local Mom’s group that was recommended to me. That opened up an entire underworld of yahoo groups, lol. My mother has always said that I am an organized person, but I wasn’t feeling very organized trying to care for my toddler, be the lover and best friend to my dh, run a perfect household right down to the hot, home cooked meal every night, regular dinner parties and play dates, perfectly ironed sheets and pillowcases…yes, you read that right….all that while being perfectly healthy and fit! Something had to give…..SO, I chose to ditch the dh, put the perfect household on the back burner and opted for getting healthy praying that fit would come along, lol.

All kidding aside, I thought I was coming along in my quest for a tidy and organized home and life. I was on track to complete PCCX last year prior to selling our home and moving out of Florida, so that my husband could take a job that he wanted. It was October and I had our Thanksgiving dinner planned and was well on my way to having Christmas organized. I even had my baking/cooking lists prepared and budgeted to make goodies for our neighbors and friends. I had begun listing on ebay regularly and was looking forward to reclaiming my guest bedroom. The day we got the contract on our home my husband told me he wasn’t happy with his job and wanted to move to Texas where there were more opportunities in his company. In a nutshell, our daughter and I were to come to Texas and stay temporarily with my mom and dad until he could get his transfer to come join us. We got to Texas the week before Thanksgiving and put all of our items in storage. He went on his merry way for several job interviews. He called me the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to tell me that HE wasn’t marriage material (uh, we have been married 7 years) and that he wouldn’t be joining us out in Texas. I no longer had a home that I dearly loved and was enjoying getting in order and I no longer had one of the most cherished “roles” of my life….housewife.

The past year has been a roller coaster of emotions, events and new learning experiences. I am so incredibly blessed to be working from home and homeschooling my daughter as we had planned all along. I have a home that is still in the VERY beginning stages of being unpacked and I am re-learning how important it is to be organized, so when your life is turned upside down, you have a fighting chance. I am learning and tweaking my daily routine which has to include cleaning/maintaining the home, meal planning, my work (to earn a paycheck), schooling my daughter, activities with her, activities with my parents and my brother and some how manage to find “me” time, exercise time, errands, church and all those other things that make you wish there were 40 hours in a work day instead of the work week.

My dungeon: ALL unpacked boxes in the house (did I mention, we have been here 10 months and are still unpacking!) and the storage unit where the rest of our “stuff” is, including all items that we have purged so far for a huge garage sale in November. If I complete the unpacking of the boxes, my “reward” is a new digital camera. I want one of the ones with the detachable zoom lens.

I will be posting photo links of my “before’s” and “after’s” and I hope you enjoy the journey that we are on as well as your own. I have learned in 3 years of attempting pccx, that it comes around more than once a year, so I get multiple tries! :)