Challenge-A-Day Challenge #11: Counter Offensive

Launching Counter #1 on 3...

Last night Zach made mention of scheduling the next Cub Scout meeting.

Inwardly, I cringed as my eyes involuntarily drifted toward my cluttered countertops.

For some brave young campers, the Cub Scout Motto seems read off a little something like this:

• I promise to do my best
  To point out clutter in other peoples' kitchens,
  To personally disparage when necessary, and
  To ignore the Laws of Tact.

All in good fun, though, because to be fair they are absolutely spot on. My counters are out of control; bent on world domination and I swear that it will finally end here. If I haven't been spotted again by noon tomorrow, order the full on Counter Attack!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

So here's the situation as it currently stands...

PROS:

Increased counter space.

50% larger dish drying area.

CONS:

This...

Pretty much everything that used to be on the counter - minus the laundry which is scheduled for immediate relocation.
I suspect this is going to become a multi-tiered project.
I'd like to fit a lot of this stuff into the cupboards, but I have to get them cleared out first which is a mighty big but to work with. I think the plan for the moment is to launch Counter Attack #2 tomorrow, continue to store all the overflow stuff on the Tall Table for the time being, and commence Covert Cupboard Assaults early next week.

One baby step forward, Two giant steps, one Brita pitcher and a few stylish cutting boards back.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #10: Tall Order

This is what we call the Tall Table in our kitchen.

It has been so-named for it's general tallness in comparison to the (formerly two, now only one) other table in our kitchen.

Please believe the fact that we are lucky enough to have a kitchen floor space so ridiculously large that it can accommodate three separate tables has not been the least bit lost on me.

And yet what nasty little clutter collectors they are!

And not just on the surface either, but underneath and spanning the perimeter all around.

Super convenient. Super frustrating.

Seriously, what I really need here is my own HGTV episode where some awesome organizational guru knocks down my door, orders me to get rid of all of my stuff, and then finds the perfect spaces to store anything that happens to still be left lying in the aftermath.

I'm pretty sure they actually have a show exactly like that,

or at least they once did, but the odds are not very good that they'd choose me anyway so I guess for the time being here I go again on my own... again:

First, there was a midrange stage in which the Valentine's leftovers temporarily transformed into clean laundry pileup.
On the bright side, all clothing and towels have since been rerouted upstairs into their cozy homes and the tops of my washer and dryer have seldom looked better.

And then there was THIS!
And the angels rejoiced.
Or at least I did.

Now all that remains is convincing Zach to steam mop this finally visible linoleum :)

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #9: Somebunny's Watchin' Me!

Dust Bunnies that is...

Zach isn't really all that crazy about this one.

He thought he liked it until he actually started to hang it up. Now he says it looks like eyes staring out at us from the wall. I try not to let that bother me though. Eyes are a lovely feature. And everyone in our family has nice eyes. Why not outfit our home with an attractive pair as well?

As I am a certified non-professional photographer (not to mention having no patience whatsoever for dealing with lighting) this is definitely not the best possible representation of this afternoon's exertions. At the very least, however, you can probably see that the previously empty frames now contain pictures (the pictures I printed early last December when this project was initially slated for completion.)

One thing that never fails to catch my attention when I visit the homes of friends is the beautiful candid photographs that they proudly display in their living areas. In this particular illustration I do not use the word "candid" in the same sense that professional photographers (wedding photographers in particular) do wherein they sell you on the many virtues of being able to view your treasured friends and loved ones in their natural, unposed glory for many years to come and what you later find yourself with is a ridiculously overpriced album full of photos of distant relatives you hardly know stuffing their faces with shrimp and that last bite of cake, half-turned embarrasedly away from the unrelenting eyes of the matrimonial press.

(Good thing that didn't happen to us.)

To me, a candid photo is basically just any home photo shot, any old home photo at all. 

Candid. Casual. Not necessarily stealthy. Just casual.

I know that's improper usage, but it feels candid enough to me, so when I was planning out this whole watching-eye-photo-frame projection I began to think to myself, "What's so much better about my friends' home photos that I think they're worthy of hanging on the wall, but I have to relegate all the awesome home photos that I'm so proud of to Facebook and my abnormally large supply of portable backup hard drives anyway?!"

Well, nothing I supposed, so here they are.

The kids' hard-won official school (and one of my favorite Avery's First Birthday) pictures are in the mix as well, but all  of the others are about as "candid" as they can possibly be (in the absence of cake, shrimp, or unknown wedding guest, that is.)

I hold out hope that these new additions will cause the Great Eyes to finally start to grow on Zach, 

you know, now that there are so many more of them...

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #8: The Piano

This has always been a clutter-collector for me.

It used to be the bench that was the problem. The bench was Wedding Central during Planning Stages 2004 and I never could find anything in or on it back then either.

Now the honeymoon's over. The bench has been removed following accompliss-ship in Unauthorized Climbing, Roughing the Keyboard, and Illegal Use of Pedals.

Thanks to the removal of the Christmas Clutter and a recent Pre-Challenge Re-Assessment of bookshelf allocation which freed up almost an entire upper cubby for sheet-music storage, only a small pile of clutter (and a whole lot of dust) was left over, making for reasonably painless sorting. 

The original plan was to take on the mirror-framing photo collage thing above it. (You know, the one I bought myself as a Christmas gift two years ago, then finally convinced Zach he must hang immediately before the 2015 holidays, and that now, two months later still remains sadly and mysteriously void of photographs....) (deep sigh) Oh well.

Maybe tomorrow.

The Finished Product
Clearing off the piano called to mind a conversation I had with a really nice guy who came out to tune the piano for me a few years ago. He asked me if I still play and I told him I'd kind of given up on it because I couldn't really find the time, you know, what with raising these hundred or so kids and all. He nodded knowingly, but said it really was a very nice piano and encouraged me to fit it into my schedule here and there all the same. Thank goodness for my cantor music or I probably never would, but I did find myself feeling nostalgic enough to dust off one of my favorite piano songbooks and I was even inspired to bring back The Bench in the hopes of rekindling the forgotten piano lessons I had started with the kids last year over the summer.

It must have been hidden away for quite a while because when I pulled it out Mason stared at it intently for some time because uttering breathlessly, "What's that???"

Stay tuned, but as of yet, no Unauthorized Climbing incidents to report.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #7: MicroManaging Meltdown

Try saying that three times fast!

Our microwave area was pretty disgusting. I'll be the first to admit it.

However, it was certainly not today's original project.

That is, not until yesterday afternoon when the kids added Leftover Pizza to the lunch menu.

Logan instructed Julianne to microwave her slice for 40 seconds exactly.

Exactly (give or take) 4 minutes later, Julianne trekked nervously across the downstairs to inform me that her pizza slice was "taking a very very long time."

Just then it beeped, and all was well.... or not...

A swarm of shuffling, stomping feet accompanied the many little mouths that rushed back into the living room to inform me about the horror of the "exploded pizza." Doubtful about the actual, unexaggerated magnitude of the situation, I took my sweet time arriving at the crime scene. 

I admit that I was quick to blame Julianne, accusing her of setting the timer to 4 minutes by mistake, but after disposing of the blackened pizza slice permanently adhered to its cracked and splintered platter and beginning the unpleasant task of scrubbing down the ensuing splatter, the belly of the beast began to fall apart and I was eventually forced to come to terms with its inevitable demise.

Happily, it has since been replaced with a slightly updated, though nearly identical, version of the original. And since I was too thoroughly disgusted by the dark, sticky (and thankfully bug-free) mess of who-knows-what that lay beneath it, all you have to look at today is clutter... and cleanliness.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #6: The Long Wait Home

Around this time last year we received the most awesome gift ever: 

Two free days at the Dells Wilderness Resort!

We were super excited to have this opportunity, but just couldn't find a good time to use it.

You know how that goes... Blackout Dates.

No summer, no weekends, no convenience.

We thought of using it over Christmas break, but in the holiday chaos we somehow managed to forget all about it. Suddenly here it was, early January, and we realized it was about to expire.

We picked out the perfect date in early February when the kids had a couple of days off from school, pulled out the paperwork to call for reservations, and realized the darn thing ended February 1st!

Fortunately, we still had time to shuffle everything back to January, were able to do so with minimal missed school hours, and proceeded to have the time of our lives:

...and then it was time to unpack.

I took off like a rocket at the outset, then stalled out entirely on the suitcase. Other than a few random items that the kids may have required on one specific day or another, this monstrous, unnecessary eyesore just sat uselessly in the mudroom (and later the dining room!) gathering dust.

As you can see, it even began to function as an ottoman of sorts where I piled additional clothing up on top!  

In terms of having learned my lesson about post-vacation procrastinating, I wouldn't puts your bets on me just yet. But in lieu of an "after" picture which in this case wouldn't be very interesting, I have stumbled upon some useful "after"thoughts that I would like to share:

Due to Julianne's ever-present biofeedback issue, I am caught in a cycle of constantly laundering little girl underwear and somehow still having none available when it is most needed.
Guess what the unpacked suitcase was just chock full of!
Unexpected Bonus #1

On a whim, Zach & I picked out the two most adorable little Valentine onesies for Avery one day at the store. He's worn one of them a few times, but a frantic couple-of-days-before-Valentine's search revealed that the other one - the one I had been saving specifically for Valentine's Day itself! - had gone astray.
Just in the nick of time, guess where it finally turned up!
Unexpected Bonus #2

and, last but not least...

Unexpected Bonus #3:
A pretty awesome "after" picture "after" all!

Granted, this picture is neither of the suitcase itself nor is it of the location where it was formerly located, but it is a very pleasant byproduct of the undertaking as a whole.
The filing cabinet was one of the first challenges I took on and I am pleased to announce that thus far I have managed to keep it free from clutter so that upon receipt of Grandma's much-anticipated Valentine's cards, I scarcely had to search at all for the perfect spot to display them*.
It's turned out to be pretty good storage for the tissue box and library-haul-that-never-really-seems-to-have-a-place as well. Right next to the coat rack and out the door!


*In this house, holiday cards are not considered clutter.
They are pure, unadulterated, (bonus: temporary!) awesomeness :) 

Challenge-A-Day Challenge # 5: Christmas Past

Final stage removal of all remaining Christmas decorations, art projects, and general holiday remnants: Complete

We even managed to flush out a couple of stealthy birthday and...

 (gulp) Thanksgiving decorations as well.

On the bright side, seeing as how it is technically still winter, I was able to keep one of my 2015 favorites, Melting Snowman by Logan right there under the thermostat where there's a reasonably good chance it will remain until Frosty returns in all of his non-melting glory later this year.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #4: Taxting

Oh, but would you look at this?!

The very reason I spent 3 days cleaning out the filing cabinet!

Goodbye 2015 Tax Forms! You wasted 2+ hours of my life and I am certainly not going to miss you.

I picked a lucky day to file because, in addition to Avery's somewhat uncommon decision to sleep in, a large construction machine of some variety has chosen today to relocate the enormous piles of snow cluttering our roads and street corners via dump truck. Young Mason took note of this process during one of my many trips out to the car for misplaced paperwork, pulled the bathroom stepstool up to the door, and has been suitably occupied ever since.

I always try to get my taxes done "early" (whatever your definition of early may be) for refund reasons and also because I'm afraid if I don't get them done right away I'll suddenly wake up one day, realize it's April 16th, and have to deal with ensuing penalties or worse, IRS customer service employees.

Now if you'll excuse me, the thermometer outside reads a balmy five degrees and I believe I have earned myself a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #3: Valentiming

Every year I go a little bit overboard with the fancy homemade valentines.

It's hard to explain exactly why I put myself through this, but I think if I had to pinpoint one specific reason it would be Time Urgency. I always feel this sense of time slipping away with my children. Some days I look at them and think, "Aren't these kids getting any older yet? I could have sworn Logan was at least 10 by now,) but it's the other days that really motivate me;

The days when I look at them and say, cliche though it may be, "Where was I when they starting growing up so fast?!" They only have so many years to deliver valentine's before the teachers stop sending home class lists and sparkly shoe boxes and the kids stop flipping eagerly through magazines pointing out Pinterest-worthy designs that are way over Mama's head. 

(Logan actually found his on the Target website this year. They're not terribly complicated to make and I was duly impressed with his technological savvy.)

I've decided to allow myself a very generous 3 whole days to complete these valentine projects; you know, because I have to make valentines for 3 whole kids this year. However, since I failed to move beyond the mental planning stage (a very lengthy stage involving doing little more than turning the darn thing over in my head repeatedly and occasionally beating myself up for spending so much time pondering the challenge and none doing any actual work) for a number of weeks, I just finally started digging in to it today. The school Valentine's Day festivities are slated for Thursday owing to a poorly-timed in-service day on Friday, so if you don't count Thursday morning when all of these items will hopefully be en route to school, I should find myself completing this challenge AHEAD OF SCHEDULE - a surprising and energizing FIRST!

Update: Challenge 3, Day 2

Finite!

Homemade Valentine's (and additional treats) are finally a GO!

I adore them, but I can't wait to get them out the door.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #2:

File This 

In case anyone was wondering if the break between posts meant that I had already fallen off the organizing wagon - you know, after only one day!

My answer is a surprising NO. Challenge #2 just turned out to be more of a trilogy... or whatever they'd call a group of four books or movies tied together rather than three. I could easily look it up, but organizing is exhausting business and today I've had enough. For the time being, let's just keep it simple and refer to this as a quadropology. Quadropology: Accepted. 

I started off nicely on Thursday with the Christmas tree which was put away over the weekend as intended, then moved on to the filing cabinet on Friday, finally coming to terms with the fact that this was not going to be a one day project after all by about 6 PM. Still... better to make slow progress than none at all though, right? (That's some of my best Positive Spin material right there.)

 Fortunately, it all came out in the wash, so to speak. The top surface was clear (thank goodness) by the end of Friday, top drawer on Saturday, took a break from the filing cabinet and cleared off the dining room table so the family could enjoy Super Bowl snacks in the living room on Sunday, then back to the bottom drawer to kick off the school week. Look out taxes, here I come!

Friday Morning

Friday Night

Saturday Morning

Saturday Night

This one is of my boys eating a sundae at the church Super Bowl Pregame Party.
I didn't really get any good ones of them snack-having (new compound word) on the newly clean table, but you've forgotten all about that anyway now that you've seen just how awesome they are at sharing :)

Monday Night
Some weeks I have more trouble than others in saying goodbye to the weekend.  It appears that on Monday morning I neglected to take a "before" picture of the bottom drawer, but if you apply the simple mathematical process of taking the sums of the original messes of both the Top surface and Upper drawer, multiplying this amount by oh, say... 500,000 or so, the total will roughly begin to remind you of something similar in scope and magnitude to  the disorganized disaster area that was the Bottom drawer.
For you numerical types that's (T+U) * 500,000 ~ B
You're Very Welcome.

Challenge-A-Day Challenge #1: Treed

Beginning today I have determined to embark upon a Challenge a Day Challenge. Each day I will eliminate one thing from my path that makes living in this house challenging. 
Challenge #1: Mason (no just kidding) actually it's The Christmas Tree (I know it's February 4th; don't judge me.) That's right, folks, no Easter Tree for us this season. Lights, garland, and all the ornaments I could locate have been stowed safely in the basement and the ever-present tree that doesn't grow in our dining room has been transformed into the Weekend Challenge for my husband. One for One. So far, so good.

Until next year, old friend.
We'll miss you!

smile emoticon