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.

And so it begins

Whose brilliant idea was it to start PCCX during Spring Break? Perhaps some people can leverage their kids' extra presence into help in cleaning, but apparently I'm not that adept at that beyond getting a few things picked up. It's now Thursday and I can't even say I'm all that caught up on basics right now. We've had extra kids over playing, I opened the Wii Fit and now *everyone* has to take their turn all the time, there's more mess than usual if that's even possible, and I haven't gotten started on a single project. Unless you count planting an Aero Garden and adopting a new virtual Touch Pets puppy. Yeah, that's productive. Fun though. :)

A time machine, please?

Was there ever a time when you actually had things together? Not *everything*, I am instantly suspicious of anyone who thinks they have *everything* together. But you know, things are going pretty well, you have stuff on your plate but the juggling is going fine? In 2006 I had it going on. Stuff happens, any year has its share of downs with the ups, but on the whole, looking back, I had it together that year. I want my 2006 mojo back. At the risk of jinxing myself, I'm feeling a little bit of it coming back. I had this day this week, and I demand more.

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.

Letting things slide

There's been a lot of sliding around here. So much so that I'm having a hard time getting my footing back. And not all of that is metaphorical, given that we've had more snow and ice this winter than any other in history for this area.

In happy news, I now have a brand-spanking-new set of laundry machines! Not a matching set, not even the same brand, but new and working and all that good stuff. There was a little drama with the dryer (mostly because I'm an idiot), but as of yesterday both are fully functional and have been running almost nonstop ever since.

I am cautiously optimistic about improvements around here. The washer and dryer are a big part of that, and also that today was bright and clear (still cold but I can't ask for much in February), and I have some new toys to play with. But I'm also wary because I know that my disposition, as well as external factors, can be mercurial and while I'm up and functioning and ambitious tonight there's no guarantee for tomorrow, much less next week or month.

I am determined, from now on, PCCX or not, to do one thing a day that is not the bare minimum. No matter how small an act that might be, if it's something that does not have to be repeated one or more times per day it counts as progress. Today, for example, when I was putting away yesterday's non-urgent groceries I also picked up a large amount of trash from the "pit" end of the kitchen. This is the dead end corner of the room between the freezer and the microwave where food packaging tends to be discarded without regard for any receptacle in which to place it. I didn't "clean the room" or even that side of it, I didn't "finish" the floor, I didn't get every last bit of everything, I just took a few extra minutes to go that one step beyond the task at hand, which was putting away food.

Which, by the way, is getting ever more impossible. I really need a bigger pantry.

I've also fallen waaay behind on my blogging responsibilities. Even if I'm only responsible to myself in my own mind, I'm still off kilter. I know better than to promise, but I do intend to make an effort to post much more often, if only to list my one "extra" task of the day. Winter can be such a blah time of year with weather restricting activities and affecting moods, among other things. It's going to take a concerted effort to not effectively hibernate until spring, so this is my declaration of intent.

Help me out. Leave comments. Post your own entries (you know who you are). Set goals, brag about accomplishments, even if it was only that you got all-the-way dressed on a day you weren't going anywhere, and have a conversation about how the season is affecting your work.

It can't be a bust already

I'm sensing a general lack of enthusiasm for PCCX this round. I don't know if it's the season or what, but I think all of us are having "issues" keeping us off track. But you know what? I refuse to give up already. There's more than half of the run time left, it's early in the week, it's way early in the year, and it's far too early to call anything quits. So what if I was in a week-long bi-polar funk concurrent with a bout of the stomach flu? So what if nearly everyone in my house has been sick in the last 2 weeks? So what if I haven't had a single day with everyone out of the house like they're supposed to be? That's changing, and it's changing NOW. Ok, tomorrow. Right now I have a nasty pain across the base of my neck that's seriously limiting my desire and ability to do most physical work. I hope to sleep that off and ship everyone off to school and work in the morning and get some actual work done around here.

Speaking of tomorrow, Celeste and I have declared Clean Your Ceiling Fan Day. She said one fan/fixture, I'm saying all of them - 5 in my case. According to the PCCX file, ceiling fans count for 75 points each, PLUS 10 points for each glass flute things over the bulbs. What are those called? Anyway, 10 per plus 75 for the rest of the fixture. I suppose if you wanted to wash your actual bulbs too they'd be another 10 a piece, but make sure they've been off a good long while so they're cold, and completely dry before you put them back in. AND, for participation in CYCFD I'll offer double points for any ceiling fans cleaned Wednesday, January 20!

If you're on track with PCCX, or holding your own with daily chores, or keeping up with homework, or in any other way in good shape right now, my most sincere congratulations. Leave a comment and toot your own horn; I want to hear some inspiring examples! If you're trailing, feel like you're failing, or even drowning, heads up. It's time. Time to pick yourself up out of the mental ditch and get back on the road. You - we - may be still at the beginning of the path, we may have even backtracked, but the road is still open and the journey laid out ahead of us. Take the first step and the rest will follow.

Anyone ever notice how I suddenly turn into a motivational speaker - and a bad one - when I'm coming up from a funk? Sorry 'bout that.

P.S. We miss you Kim. :)