February 2010

These pictures are pretty but please...NO MORE SNOW! =)

Week 4 update

Here are some last pictures of week 4:

Lots & lots of old papers!

Not much left...YES!

Another reason the attic seemed so cluttered was that I have A LOT of storage containers & they were not all full. Most of these containers have smaller containers stacked inside of them.

I will be posting the final before & after pictures tomorrow!

Catching Up

No, I haven't given up pr forgotten about posting about the organizing challenge; I'm just not quite with it! =)

After going through more stuff in the attic, I've realized what a great job I did about a year ago while getting things ready for a garage sale. There is actually a lot less than I thought there was. Yay! So I've been working more on deciding & trying out where things will go after I'm all done. So, there are no pictures!

This is the last week of the challenge so I do need to go through all the old papers/bills & get them organized (I'm procrastinating with that one!) then I need to get EVERYTHING back in place & nice and neat. I see the light at the end of the tunnel! =)

Me, me, me

We discussed chapter 2 of Francis Chan's Crazy Love in Sunday School today; there is so much to think about in this chapter.

"On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don't consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor." Crazy Love, p. 39

"Both worry & stress reak of arrogance." p.42

"Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are? I find myself relearning this lesson often. Even though I glimpse God's holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not at all about me." p.42

"You could be the next person in your family to die. I could be the nest person at my church to die. We have to realize it. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. " p.50-51



This life is about me. The way I worry about whether Jif is a girl or not, the way I parent, the way I think my opinions are right, the way I drive, the way I treat my husband, the way he treats me, the way I get upset when snow ruins our plans, blah, blah, blah.

It hurts to see the truth, that we are just a vapor here on this planet, a mist that will lift & then be forgotten. It hurts to realize that I am so arrogant, my pride doesn't like it. But will it change the way I live? Frankly, I need to get over myself.

Week 2 update & Week 3 Plan

Week 2 threw me a curveball so I didn't get everything done that I wanted. I only have an after picture of the clothes part of the week....



Believe me when I say that before the sort, it would never have fit into this tiny closet. I also realized that I had already decimated my craft stash last year; all I needed to do was get rid of all the leftovers from last summer's garage sale! (I've had a garage sale almost every year for quite a few years but I've decided that with baby Jif coming, I just won't have the time or energy to do it again & the clutter just needs to be gone!)

I'd still like to go through all my home decor stuff & purge even more; having kids has limited my decorating & I've come to realize less really can look awesome.

Curveball #1 came in the form of a second round of snow midweek-which means Peter Pan was home from school & Farmer was out A LOT doing this:

I realize not everyone has the opportunity these days to have a good job or to make overtime but Farmer put in 54 extra hours of work in 8 days! He has to be up & at work sometimes by 4:00 am. Unfortunately right now, one of their 2 trucks is out of commission which makes everything take twice as long. And we are expecting more snow again this week. Ugh.

Curveball #2 came when Skippy woke up Thursday with a fever, so on Friday, I took him & Peter Pan to their doctors. Skippy has a bilateral ear infection & Peter Pan has infected adenoids with the possibilty of having to get them removed after the infection is cleared up. We knew Peter Pan had been having trouble with his hearing & now we know why! So both are on antibiotics for 10 days.

Curveball #3 is that I now have a sinus/head cold & don't feel like doing a whole lot.

Needless to say, it has not been a routine week & it's been hard for me to stay on track.

For week 3 I would like to finish with home decor & start on paper/old bills, personal mementos (you know, all that stuff you save from high school), old electronic equipment/current equipment boxes, etc. & all the baby equipment shoved back in the corner. Oohh, it's going to be a long week! I am also hoping to prime & paint the shelves Farmer made for baby Jif's room sometime too. I have a feeling all this won't happen but I'll give it my best shot!

I better get to work...

Week 2 Plan

Week 2 is here! This weekend I took a vanload of stuff to the donation center...it felt good, but I sometimes still fight the guilt of getting rid of something. "What if we need that?!" It's all good though. I also repainted baby Jif's room and I think this time it's just what I was looking for. I also ordered new fabric (on sale!) for curtains....so cute!

This week I will be focusing on CLOTHES, CRAFTS/HOME DECOR, & FURNITURE. There are a lot of off-season coats & jackets that need to be purged & I'm just going to have to get tough & slaughter my craft stash. Hope I can do it! =) I doubt there will be any furniture leaving, but there isn't a whole lot. (We'll see when I get up there & dig around though!)

Week One - Done!

I can't believe it, but week one is done already & I couldn't wait until Friday to show the before & afters!

Toys before:


Toys after:

(These are not all the toys Peter Pan & Skippy have, just the ones that were shoved up in the attic. BUT all together there is quite a bit less!)

Christmas before:

Christmas after:

(I didn't have a lot in the way of Christmas decorations, etc. so the after isn't a whole lot different but definitely more organized! Going through it all I found things I didn't know I had.)

I do still need to box everything up & head to the donation center; I can't wait to get it out of Jif's room! It was clean & spacious for the first time in a long time & now it's back to being full so I'm ready to have it that way again, even if only for the weekend until week 2 starts. =)

P.A.A.

P.A.A. = Plan of Attack for the Attic.

I will post a plan of attack at the first of the week and progress pictures at the end of the week for the next 4 weeks and I'm counting on you to keep me accountable! =)

Here is the plan for this first week:

Monday: figure out master plan of attack Done!
Tuesday: collect & sort* through toys!
Wednesday: toys again!
Thursday: sort through Christmas decorations
Friday: take pictures & post
first trip to donation center

*Sort means dividing into 3 categories: Keep, Donate, Trash

Nesting

*If you came here from OrgJunkies challenge, please click this link to get to the right post. I don't know how to fix it! Sorry!*



I guess they call it nesting, that weird phenomenon during pregnancy where cleaning & organizing & decorating....Must.Be.Done. I think I'm there. I've already painted baby Jif's room, complete with flowers & birds & bugs (I'm starting to get into the girl thing), I even sewed some valances. But, I don't like it. (I'm blaming my fickleness on this pregnancy ok?) Soooo, I'm going to pick out a better shade of paint & cover up those tacky little flowers & animals and go with something a little more sophisticated & not-so-childish. And maybe sew some more curtains to go with. I also have quite a bit of other sewing I want to do before the baby comes (which by the way will be in about 10 weeks). Not to mention painting walls & a BUNCH of shelves that sweet Farmer is making for Peter Pan & Skippy's room. I have my plate full! But since I am in the nesting stage, I want to get as much done as possible...which brings me to the attic. The over-stuffed, go-to space for any junk stuff that needs to be out of any room in the main house. It's horrible! See....! Oh the shame! =) And not to mention just plain not safe! Org Junkie is starting a challenge today & it goes thru the month of February. I am going to try my hardest to get this attic into tip-top shape this month & enjoy the tips & encouragement Laura has for us challengers! I think my best chance to get this done is to make a plan/list/schedule to try to stick to; that is what I'll be doing the rest of today & tomorrow. If you'd like to join too, click on the button & it'll take you to all the details! There are prizes too!

I do really want to do this & get it done this month but always in the back of my mind I have the thought that I will fail & that I will be a laughingstock for even having tried. I know, I know, I'm trying to overcome things like this in my life so I will be bold and post this & REALLY try to get all of my projects completed.

That should mean plenty of "post"ing material for you faithful readers! =)

P.S. I've been trying to post a short video tour of the attic but I can't seem to get it to upload anywhere! Grrrr!!! Maybe I will be able to post it on my Before & After post on March 1!