January PCCX

I'm using the room-by-room track.  This month I'm doing the kitchen and dining room.

Challenges:

• The giant hole in the ceiling.  It's something I'd like to see repaired by the end of the month but I don't know if that's likely.
• Really bad linoleum, coming up in pieces in several places.  There's no hope of repairing that this month and probably not this year.  I should be able to trim back the loose places and at least make it look a little better.
• Difficult to work with cabinets.
• A whole lot of extraneous china and crystal that is never used and much of it isn't even mine.  There is no flinging allowed, so it's just a matter of cleaning it all and reorganizing so it hopefully takes up less space.

I'll spend this week catching up on basics and then head into deep-cleaning and organizing.

Is anyone else working PCCX at all this year?

Oh, and Did I Mention?

My in-laws are coming to visit at Thanksgiving.  Oh yeah.  5 weeks I have in which to cram a year's worth of cleaning.  I'm planning some kind of blogging event to go with it, but I haven't decided what yet.  Open to suggestions.

5 & 1/2 Months Later

Yep, it's been over 5 months since I've posted which I just happened to notice because of Amanda's new post, so I'm posting an update and a few goals for the month of September.

I ended up slacking on the decluttering process back in April because I'd started college classes. Last week I'd finally decided that I was going to just have the garage sale with what I'd already decluttered and attempt to go through the garage as well (which I did). I'm pretty sure I sold well over 500 items, leaving me with 2 totes, a box and a rack of coats.

During the month of September, I plan to:

• Sort through the garage sale items and sort to donate or sell online.
• Drop off donation items
• Post items online for sale
• Scrub the shower & tub (I hate hard water...my tub is a "goldenrod" color (5 points if you know that color) and I'd like to see it white again
• Attempt to remove the paint from carpet in bedroom with goof off (pointless but going to try anyways)
• Begin job
• Start new college classes
• Clean out filing cabinet

I *intend* to post before/after pics now that I have a memory card reader again.

Knock, knock?

No, it's not a joke, I'm just coming back in from a long absence and thought it would be polite. :)

I've started up here and there with a plan or a poa or basics, but I just wasn't getting anywhere.  And I could blame it on illness and things, or I could just suck it up and admit that I'm a lazy wench most of the time and just wasn't hauling my ample butt up out of this chair (or bed, more likely) to get any real work done.  I'm not sure what bit me Saturday night, but suddenly I thought I was really ready to get moving.  I decided to start in one end/corner of the house and move out from there doing anything and everything I could reasonably do along the way.

I woke up Sunday morning, ran over to the dollar store across town (which of course uses "run" in the sense that I drove, because there's no running from me, especially across our admittedly small town), and plunked down a bunch of money on cleaning supplies and came home to get to work.  Incidentally, all that stuff I bought?  2 things I thought I was out of I had several of, 2 things I thought I had I can't find, and in the first 5 minutes the new long-handled duster went missing.  Oh, and I still don't have anything that will cut through grease effectively.  And so it goes.

I really did work yesterday.  Probably a solid 4 hours all together.  What I got done was a generally unused, small corner of my kitchen - but it's DONE, man.  I'll give you the tour:

Oh yes, let's start here.  I was mixing dilutions of a few cleaners into empty spray bottles, when I spilled straight-up bleach onto my navy stretch capris. *headsmack*

I remembered to start taking pics after I moved the popcorn machine out of this corner and picked up the first few things - including the lid to a round, covered trash can which we haven't owned in about 2 years.  This is possibly the "deepest, darkest" corner of my house, kind of an afterthought corner in the back end of the kitchen.  The only thing it's good for is storing the popcorn machine, and as such has been much neglected an abused.

After picking up, sweeping, and scrubbing, this is as good as the floor gets.  The vinyl flooring came with the house all scratched up that badly,  I swear.  The tall piece of wood leaning in the corner is part of the door frame of C's room...a story for another day.  It's staying there, out of the way, until I work my way around to there and figure out how to reattach it decently.  Or maybe it's the one from my room?  One of us is missing part of a door frame.

That's my large freezer on the left, which at one point - when my desk was in this part of the house - was "cleverly" used as a white board.  The last brainstorm session stayed too long and now it won't come off.  At least you can't see it from the rest of the kitchen.  Oh, and one of the kids *coughCcough* added to it later, I found.  The hanging cords were disGUSting.  I barely remembered to unplug them before cleaning, but I did.

There are 2 windows in this corner, which was lovely when I spent the day there at my desk.  Now, they're really just pointless.  Worse, they're awful.  I cleaned the glass and trim inside, but they're no better to look through than when I started.  It doesn't photograph well, but the screens are torn, and there are hundreds of bugs, leaves, and other things stuck between the screens or storm windows and the interior pane.  I don't even know how to clean that all out.  I'll work on that later, when I'm cleaning outside I guess.

Here is the aforementioned popcorn machine.  It, itself, still needs to be cleaned, but it's back in its home now that the surroundings are much better.  It's hiding the cleaned and better contained cords.

Once again I started moving things before taking the opening picture.  Perhaps you can see above that there were random dishes stacked to the left of the microwave and others on top, in addition to Santa there.

The microwave was actually worse than it appears, because half the mess was on the glass plate that I'd already put in the dishwasher with everything else I moved from this area.  This poor microwave, by the way, is from around 1983.  I distinctly remember when we got it; it was such a "new" thing that the appliance store that sold them held cooking classes free with purchase for something like 6 weeks, to teach new owners how to use them.  I used to have the microwave fudge recipe from a class memorized.  The fancy button settings don't work anymore, the meat probe thermometer is long gone, and it isn't even-heating anymore, but by golly it's still kicking.

The left side done...

...the right side, not so much.  Those boxes there have been sitting, unpacked, since my mom moved in, in 2007.  I found Christmas plates, crystal glasses, and an almost full (large) bottle of rum.

The microwave done...

...and there it is.  That's a lot of Pediasure on the left, that used to be stacked on the floor in front of the microwave.  The picture on the windowsill is an old one of the family from when C was a baby; I found it with the boxes and cleaned it up.  Inside the buffet is almost entirely Christmas dishes, so I'll clean those and the interior shelves in November when I get them out.  There's no need to open it until then so I'll leave it alone for now.

So that was my Sunday triumph: one useless corner, one piece of furniture (exterior), and one countertop appliance.  Onward and upward from here.

EGADS! What happened to my desk?

So my desk area has become the catch all for mail, school papers, jewelry making supplies and other misc papers. Everything has taken over to the point there's not a clear surface to be had.

I've taken before pics of it, and will try to take after pics when I finish it. I forgot after pics of my house but will try to get the desk pics up.

New year new me!

The new year has come and gone and I've been doing alot of thinking.... it's time for a new outlook on life. I've decided I need to get my house in order, I need to lose weight, I need to quit smoking and I need to get back on track with school. I know those are all things everyone has said before but this year is my year. I'm sick of being fat, I'm sick of the CHAOS in my house, I'm sick of smoking, and I want to have a college degree.

So I was telling my grandma about my new plan and she told me I needed to schedule my day. My therapist said the same thing. So last week I sat down and planned out my entire day. Making time for cleaning, exercise, family time, school work and even a couple hours for making jewelry. Monday I start my new schedule. My husband is going out of town for the month of January and I'll have plenty of time to get the schedule in place while he is gone.

I've taken pictures of my house in it's current state, trashed. And when I finish cleaning today I'll post after pictures.

I'm cranky today

I won't go into why, just thought I should mention it in case anything in this post sound snippy.

I'll own up; I haven't started the deep clean.  I can't really call it PCCX anymore I think, because now the whole group, year-long thing seems to be that.  In fact, we discussed at some length what the X might now stand for instead of extreme.  Excellence, exchange, execution (as in doing something, not killing someone), exercise, expectations, expedition, experience, experiment, exploits, exploration, exposition, extension...any thoughts, votes, alternative suggestions?  Let's remember that the PCC stands for purple chat and challenge...not my first pick for a group name, but that's what we've got so let's go with it.

That wasn't exactly the point of the post, so moving on...

I haven't started on the back pages (annual deep cleaning), because I haven't yet done even a decent, much less good job on the front page (dailies), and I've ignored the middle pages (weeklies) too.  Figuring a mere 1 hour each on the top 3 priorities, 1 load each of dishes and laundry, a whopping 15 minutes of exercise, and around 130 for 3 special challenges, the total is a little over 3,000.  I should have far more than an hour in each of those priorities, and there's usually more than one load of dishes, laundry, or both.  Five days a week there are weekly tasks.  Accordingly, I've set my goal at 3,500 for weekends and 4,000 for weekdays.  Reasonable.  So far I've made between 2,300 and 2,800 each day.  Why?

My back has been giving me fits for weeks and most days I can barely move without pain, but that's just a lousy excuse.  For one thing, I've still spent hours sitting here at the computer, so why don't I have more writing and desk work hours logged?  Everyone else around here is able-bodied, so why isn't there more delegating going on (half points for those)?  The facts of the matter are that a) I'm inherently lazy, and b) I don't know where all the time goes.  Those are excuses too, and I'm really sick and tired of excuses.  It doesn't seem to make me get up and do...um...stuff, it just makes me irritable.  I'll leave it at that.

The next time I check in I expect to have some progress to show for the time.

3 days in

Just thought I'd check in after a couple of days on the new system.  It's working - for me - so far, though I've discovered one very important thing.  In order to meet goal, I have to actually GET UP AND DO those basic maintenance things at the very least.  Just the rooms alone are 875 points, and another 175 minimum for dishes, laundry, and getting rid of something somewhere.  That's more than 1/4 of my daily goal, so when I don't do them, I pretty much can't make goal.  I know, right?  That's so rude.  Who writes this stuff?

Oh yeah.

Never mind.

My laundry room

I really wanted to have a slightly different post for tonight.  I had truly hoped to have my laundry room FINISHED.  After all, Chris had spent a full afternoon gutting it, and 2 of the kids spent some time picking up anything he missed, so "all" I had to do was the actual cleaning of it all.

I went in there today and swept the hell out of it.  If you happen to think that spiders and their puffy little whatever-they-are are denizens of hell - and I kinda do - then that's a literal statement.  Ceiling, walls, window frames, door frames, floor, behind the washing machine and dryer, under the water heater platform, carvings on the linen dresser, all of it got hit with the broom today.  Took me a full half hour, and that room is hardly the size of a room.

But that was only the foundation of the issue, apparently.  I was rather disappointed when I went to enter the tasks into my POA and found that the only lines I could actually mark off were cleaning the dog bed and blankets and cleaning behind the 2 machines.  I still haven't washed, wiped, or organized anything.  This is why I've not yet spammed y'all with after photos, even as drastically different as it looks already.  I'd hoped to get further today, but tomorrow will have to do.

A small triumph

I *finally* really tackled something.  And naturally I come to tell y'all about it and I find myself half an hour into a 2 hour image upload maintenance for Blogger and pictures are disabled.  So if you want to see pics you'll have to check my photo gallery (link in sidebar), the last 5 photos.

We have this "desk".  I use the term loosely because it's badly proportioned and arranged and is basically unusable as an actual desk, as in to sit at, even without a computer.  It was A's for quite a while to just store stuff on but then she got a big art desk and didn't need it (or have room for it) anymore.  Since then it's been in the corner of the living room holding some books and some of B's larger school stuff and the board games.

It's been bugging me for a while because in addition to being badly designed it's also not terribly well made.  The bottom shelf, both sides, and the slide out "keyboard tray" (which no one could really use for a keyboard) were all coming apart and it was only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed.  Nothing was missing or broken, the pegs had just come completely apart, and the tray was off the track.

I got some wood glue - don't know if it'll help anything but it makes me feel better - and forced everything back together on the bottom.  I cleaned it off the best I could, everything but the paint splotches.  It's simply not worth the time or effort to try to get those off and it's not a showpiece or anything so they stay and I'm not fussed about it.  I found a disturbing amount of junk under it and got rid of all of that.  I moved the books to another bookshelf and put what was left on the upper shelves away from E, dusting off as I went.  I wanted to get rid of those guitars (Rock Band and Guitar Hero) altogether but I don't have anywhere else to put them so I did a cursory dusting of them, what I could reach.  I should've mopped or scrubbed or otherwise cleaned the floor while I had the desk out but I was somewhat limited in time and frankly didn't feel like breaking out more tools.  I can get under it now without moving the desk so I can still do the floor later when I do the rest of the room.

So there's my first big push...only 3 1/3 weeks into PCCX.  Yay?

What is wrong with me?

You know how "they" are always telling people who are trying to reach a goal or change something that the first step (or one of them) is to visualize themselves doing whatever it is they're trying to do?  I guess for some people who don't have confidence or faith or whatever this would be difficult.  I have no problem with that.  I can - and frequently do - picture myself with great clarity in the act of really getting down and dirty as it were, cleaning everything in sight.  It seems so easy, at least one bit at a time it is.  And yet I can't seem to get up and actually do it.  What's wrong with me?

I also really need to get over my aversion to using water to clean things.  I know, weird.  I tend to go out of my way to clean things with wipes or sprays or dusters or dry cloths instead of a good, old-fashioned bucket o' water and rags or sponges.  I think it has something to do with the thought of getting something clean only to have to deal with the puddles or drips or spills or whatever.  Dumb.

I've been called out....

Ok so I haven't posted to the blog yet this PCCX, but there was no reason to call me out. I've been working on keeping up with the house work, homeschooling my son in preschool and trying to finish up my college classes.

I've done some PCCX, I moved the furniture and detail vacuumed the carpet, I need to shampoo it but have to borrow my friend's carpet cleaner first. I washed the living room window and cleaned the tracks. I polished all the tables and the entertainment center, including the electronics. I haven't done any of the holiday tasks except printing out lists. I still need to clean the furniture and organize my books and DVDs. Then the living room will be done. Then it's on to the dining room and front porch.

No pics this time around, I don't feel like taking them. Maybe I'll do afters when its all done.

Steam Cleaning Part 3

I know I haven't posted a part 1 and 2, but I've done the work and posted it under ummm...my last post, which was Monday, or Tuesday. Tuesday...yeah, that's it. Cuz I was a day late posting. Right then. On to the tale...

So as stated previously, I'm detail vacuuming and steam cleaning in sections. Partly because its easier than having the entire floor wet and trying to move furniture around and mostly because I'm too lazy to do it all at once.

Oh if only there was a magical steam cleaner that would get rid of the cigarette burns too.  These burns are along the main walkway (although normally covered by the red rug) because Dad used to have a rocker in the area and would fall asleep while smoking.  So, now its time to start moving the rocker and lamp.

Anyways...back to the living room I go and move the lamp.  Now, I'd like to point out that I DO vacuum several times per week, but only the "middles" as suggested by Flylady and leave this "detailed" vacuuming to PCCX.  We won't discuss how I never finish PCCX.

I love my cats. I love my cats. I love my cats.

So I spent about a good 20 minutes just vacuuming the floor and along the baseboards.  I followed that up with about an hour steam cleaning the section.  Overall, it came out pretty well.

 

So, that's my blog post.  I haven't done anything else PCCX wise because its been too hot or I've felt lousy.  But, I'll *try* to do at least 1 project per day, even if its just to wipe down a light switch so I can blog about it and keep Amanda from nagging me. LOL

Summer PCCX

Whose dumb idea was it to have PCCX in the summer? When it's hot? VERY hot!!  It doesn't matter where you are in the U.S., July is the hottest month of the year.  So, let's sweat our asses off and clean like our mothers-in-law are coming over in 2 days.  Except, we're gonna clean for 6 straight weeks.  Thanks so much for remembering Amanda.  Appreciate it.  Really.

Anyways, I actually started pccx a few days early.  I decided my living room is easier to do in sections to detail vacuum and steam clean because of moving furniture around and let's face it, its easier to say "avoid this 4x8 section of the floor" then "NOBODY walk in the living room for the next 8 hours!!!"  Besides, the bathroom is off of the living room, and the cats don't listen. So, I'm doing sections.

Now, I'm going to apologize in advance.  I rarely remember to take pictures for the before/after effect.  I usually remember while in process or after I'm done.  Maybe I'll get better at it if I do this daily, right? Right???

So, to begin. I have before/after pics of my front entry.  Mind you, hardly anyone visits that area because we strictly use the back door.  The cats however, like to throw up there. Often.  Leaving wonderful stains for me to clean up because nobody else in this house has the balls (Yeah, I said it. Three men in the house and I'm the one with the balls).  I digress.  So, my only visitors to that area are perfect strangers that don't know any better and come to the front door. Isn't this the site I want them to see when first meeting us? NOT!!  So, I took everything out (a bench and about 50,000 boxes because my Dad can't bear to throw them out because we'll need a box that size one day).  THEN remembered to grab the camera

So, that was Friday.  Saturday, I did the section near the bathroom, about 4 x 8 in size.  Do you think I remembered the camera? Nope.  So, no pictures, but I swear, I did it.  Sunday I tackled the section across from the bathroom where we have a desk/computer.  If you own a pet, you'll understand the amount of pet hair in the before picture. (Oh, and I remembered RIGHT after I did one sweep of the vacuum LOL)

The next day, I took a break from the floor because I ran out of cleaner for the steam vac (except I found out last night that I do have another small bottle under the kitchen sink, which means that 1.) I can work on the living room floor again tomorrow, and 2.) I need to clean under the kitchen sink and see if I can find other cleaners and maybe Jimmy Hoffa.  Anyways, I decided to tackle the microwave.  Didn't get a before pic, did get an after shot though :)

My last group of pictures are strictly after shots, you'll just have to trust me that I did the job.  Why? Because I'm too hot to get up and take a pictures because its JULY!!! These shots are in the entryway. Today I decided to look up and dust. Can I just say, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...never look up!!!

Okay, so that's my last 5 days. Even though PCCX technically didn't start until yesterday. So, consider me ahead by starting a few days beforehand, or late because I didn't post yesterday LOL

Wow that was hellacious

I don't know what got into me this morning, and I almost didn't make it through the day, but I accomplished a HUGE thing today. I did have help; I drafted the kids into picking up most of the monstrous pile. I started in the back of the house, in the boys' rooms, and swept EVERYTHING into the living room. In some (most) houses this probably wouldn't amount to much, but let me tell you, without exaggeration, that was a lot. When I'd gotten it all out of the boys' rooms, the back of the hallway, and 1/3 of my room, there was a solid mass of sh...stuff through half the hall and all of the living room, wall to wall to wall, a minimum of 6" deep. A good dozen baskets of laundry hauled downstairs later, it looked like the picture below.

I also moved C's dresser out of E's room. It's stashed in the hallway for now; I don't have anywhere else to put it that doesn't disturb someone else's room. Can someone remind me why the girls are sharing a smaller room than B has to himself? There's a little more furniture rearranging to do there, but that's a job for another day.

We always say that one cannot *clean* (PCCX especially) what is cluttered. I don't necessarily have a clutter issue, per se, as I don't have a lot of collections and things to be whittled down and weeded out, but there is a veritable ton of stuff just out...trash on the floor, laundry on the floor, toys on the floor, papers on the floor, everything on the floor. There's no way I can clean anything until all of that is gone. That's what today was about: taking back at least a couple of rooms so that I can get in there and really clean stuff. When I recover from today that is.

I started, I really did

Yesterday and today I've holed myself up in my room and tried to dig down to the floor. Dividing the room roughly in thirds: closet and floor between door, bed, and closet; 2 dressers and under the bed; and my side of the bed, 2 bookcases, and the third dresser. I've gotten most of the first third done. Only the nightstand remains to be cleaned up and out and under and behind. Oh, and my jewelry box needs to be wiped down but it's buried under a pile of things I found that need to be put away somewhere. The closet is in much better shape. I had Chris get a closet pole yesterday at the lumber store to mostly replace the lousy wire "system" that was in there. I'm not entirely sure that really helped much in the end...I'd be happier if it didn't sag so. I also got one dresser done. Emptied it and wiped it out, turned it on side and back and front and tried to bang it back into shape where pieces have shifted loose. It worked a little bit. I swept under and behind it and refilled it with Chris' things. I started pulling things out from under the bed, thought maybe I'd find Hoffa under there, and then moved on to other things. I've dusted corners for cobwebs, and I've dusted the ceiling fan, and I've cleared off a second dresser, and I've pulled out clothes to give away and store for next fall. All together I think I'm just over 1/3 done. I could wash and scrub and clean further in the areas I've gone through, but as much crap as I've had to sort through just to find the floor to sweep it, mopping and scrubbing can wait. Unfortunately, that was the easy 1/3.

I have 2 more dressers that need the usual emptying, moving, cleaning behind, and cleaning. Further, they also need pounding and restructuring to make them actually useful, and the one that I already did was the one that needed the least by far. It's this set of 3 antique Chinese dressers that belonged to my great-grandparents. They're great, carved, teak things, not very large by modern standards, but they'll do, if barely, if they're in proper working order. They're constructed entirely with fit and tension and dovetail joints, and over many decades, and many years of abuse in our house, many things have come apart. Some drawers are missing a bottom, or the slides are loose and the drawer falls out easily, or the whole thing has come wide and drawers and supports have come out altogether. There's a pair of nightstands that are the same way, too. On the positive side, the lack of mechanical joins means that in most cases a good walloping with a rubber mallet goes a long way toward returning the pieces to their proper placement. The down side is that I possess neither the skill nor strength to truly do the job properly. But something is usually better than nothing, so I'm going to tack a whack at it - literally - anyway.

There's also 2 bookcases on that side of the room. One of them is only missing a post or 2 for one of its shelves, so that's easily repaired. The other one...not so much. I was never able to put it together *quite* right, and the sides bow out just enough that the shelves can't stay on their pegs and many months ago....like almost 2 years?...the top 3 shelves fell down onto the 4th and it's just kind of sat there like a train wreck ever since.

There's also the disturbing amount of utter rubbish under the bed, that Chris moments ago was oh-so-helpful in attempting to force into the light of day. I'll be back to work in here more later tonight, but in the meantime, please excuse me while I go KILL HIM.

Spring's coming, honest

The weather may or may not agree depending upon where you are, but Spring really is approaching, and with it the widely recognized "spring cleaning" season. PCCX is here to help. Really the PCCX chore list is virtually identical in all 4 seasons, except that Spring and Fall have season-specific transitional tasks. For that reason, and also because I think people tend to be more receptive to the concept during "spring cleaning" and when preparing for major holidays, Spring and Fall PCCX take up 8 weeks each instead of 5. It's sort of understood that some of the more detailed or out of the way things can reasonably be skipped during the Winter and Summer rounds, but since I'm in no position to draw those lines for people the cleaning lists are the same each time.

Prior to last Fall's PCCX we debuted the 20 Days of Clutter preparation. It seemed popular so I'm bringing it back for Spring, starting tomorrow. Since it's more difficult, if not impossible, to properly clean surfaces and areas that are piled, stuffed, overflowing with *stuff*. Each day there is a new focus, some area or category of clutter to tackle. How you choose to deal with it is left to the individual. If you want to spend 5 minutes on a 27 Fling Boogie of the most obvious or intrusive items, fine. 15 minutes is great. If you are so moved, spend longer on a particular area and really get it taken care of. Every thing that is gone or put away when we start to actually clean shelves and drawers and floors is going to be seconds or minutes saved. The purpose of the 20DoC is to remind you of things you might have too many of, or that may have outgrown their usefulness or their homes, things that are perpetually "out" instead of put away, and to prepare your home for a good spring cleaning. I hope you find it useful.

It's that time of year again. Time for another pccx. The last one didn't go so well. I didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to. This one has got to be better. I'm moving in 6 months.....holy crap. I've got to get my house organized and ready for packers to come in and get it all packed up. I'm so not ready.

I've got a plan, and hopefully I can stick to it.

I've mapped out my days, I'll spend 3-4 hrs a day on general upkeep of the house, 2-3 hrs a day on school work, 2-3 hrs a day on pccx and getting the house organized, at least one hour a day doing something I enjoy that is relaxing, at least one hour with my kids playing with them, work up to 1 hour of exercise everyday. I'm starting the Atkins diet this month....that will take a little time to get into the swing of things. I've figured that's 15 hrs of work stuff a day. That leaves 9 hours for sleep and extra stuff. HOLY CRAP I don't know if I can do it.

Yes I can.....Just stick to the plan it's not that bad. That's all for now, will check in soon.

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. :)

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!