New, New, New Everywhere

It's January! A new month, a new year, a new format and a new outlook!!

I am determined to make this a great year and I really think this change to monthly areas will be a HUGE benefit to me, and hopefully to all of us involved in the group. I haven't felt this positive about things in a long time and I look forward to seeing how we all conquer clutter and dust this year. This is the year for us! Now to put down my pompoms and move into my house and the real work.

January is Playroom/Office/Den month. I had to think about this one for a bit. There's not really a set playroom in my house. Toys are everywhere. With 5 children, it happens. The desk is in a closet right now so obviously we have no office. I haven't heard of a den in years. Exactly what is a den? I think of the room with big leather chairs where the men sit and smoke their cigars. LOL I'm sure there's some modern version, but I don't think I have one of those.

Anyway, thinking some more I came up with some rooms. First, I have a music/game room. That sounds like a playroom to me since we play games and music in it. Also, we don't have an office yet, but I know where we are going to put it when the room gets cleaned out, so why not start working in there? It's the Florida room and right now it's full of boxes that need unpacked and stuff that needs to be given away.

Since the rooms are chosen, it's time to take pictures and post them. Then it's off to the races we go. One month, two rooms...GO!

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!

Ann's Intro and Plan of Attack

Hi all! I’m Ann, stay at home mom/step-mom of 5 children, ages 11, 8, 7, 4 and 4 months. I’ve been married to John since November 2008. We live in Ohio. We home school our 11 year old daughter, who has Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome and uses a wheelchair. Our 8 (who has Asperger's /ADHD) and 7 year old boys go to public school and our 4 yo daughter goes to a preschool where my husband works. Also, the children are in various extracurricular activities. Can you tell we're busy?

We’re in the process of trying to buy a larger house. So, it’s very likely that I’ll be pccx’ing (is that a word?) 2 houses at once. Granted the new house will be empty when I clean so that will probably help. Hopefully, this week I’ll know for sure what will be happening. Then I’ll be able to plan my attack a little better.

Drumroll, please!!!! My dungeon is…..the garage! Due to combining households, we have boxes of my stuff that hasn’t gotten unpacked yet. I’m still looking for my plates. I know they are out there somewhere. We’re using a mishmash of what my husband collected. I can’t wait to get matching plates again. Anyway, I must have the garage clean before winter sets in, which could be any time. We would really like to park the vehicles in there so we don’t have to trek through the snow to the house.

I think for this week, I’m going to work on the 2 bathrooms. They need a really, really deep cleaning and it will feel good to get them done. Besides, I’m pretty sure I can get both of them done in a week and still have time to find my dishes. Finally, I want to get my fall decorations put up even if I will have to change them to a different house.

Anyway, I’ve introduced myself, declared my dungeon, and made my goals for the week so I think I’ll end here for now. I’ll check in tomorrow---the 1^st day of FALL PCCX!! Happy Cleaning all!!