Long Time Coming

Well, it's finally happened...

My entire house is clean, all at the same time...

Yup, you read that right...the WHOLE. FREAKING. PLACE.

I am giddy...yup...giddy...

You see, it hasn't been this way since BB and I took Captain Chaos to the In-Law's for his first Christmas 4 years ago Dec 10...and then, the only reason it was clean, is because I had spent the previous 3 weeks washing, drying, folding, sorting, organizing, scrubbing, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, and packing.

My folks came over during that trip to clean and give me my Christmas present, a modified version of "While You Were Out"...it was so cool!

But, back to today...

I spent the last week sorting, purging, organizing, and cleaning our basement. This included my office, the kids' playroom, and our storage room. There was a LOT of stuff that got thrown away or recycled, many bags of things that got donated, and several boxes that are now priced and ready for a garage sale! I actually used a long-handled scrub brush and some mild bleach water to scrub the concrete floor, set up 2 fans to dry the floor and keep us from inhaling noxious fumes (although maybe breathing Clorox bleach fumes would kill this stupid cold virus once and for all!), cleaned out the window wells, actually washed the windows, vacuumed out all the webs and dust bunnies and other accumulated gunk, cleaned the carpet that we have down there (which was from a friend's house when they replaced the carpet and just lays on the concrete floor), dusted the furniture, organized books and videos and toys and my office. All the paperwork is properly filed and put away, the kids' clothing is sorted and stacked neatly once again, as opposed to BB's "organization" of stacking plastic tubs in size order, rather than keeping them in order of contents, which, at this point, is ever so much more crucial to me...

After I finished the basement, I purged BB's office of all non-office items, put them ALL in their appropriate home (be it the trash/recycling bins or a closet or drawer somewhere), cleaned and oiled his furniture, washed the ceiling fan, and then cleaned the carpets. I dusted and vacuumed everything that didn't move in the living room, dining room, and family room. All toys are back in the playroom where they belong...my kitchen has been scrubbed from top to bottom, and the bedrooms are all equally clean, INCLUDING the closets containing only clothing and shoes for each of the kids.

The master bedroom also fell victim to my motivation...I emptied the entire closet, sorting my clothing by that which I will never wear again, that which is too big, that which needed mending/repairing, that which needed cleaning, created a donation bag and a garage sale bag. I polished all my shoes, and put several pairs in the garage sale bag. I rearranged all of BB's clothing, mended several things, actually had to wash several loads of things that he hasn't worn in so long that they are DUSTY (ick!), and made sense of it all. The bathroom cabinets and drawers got emptied, purged, cleaned and organized. The bathroom is so clean that you can only smell the scent of our shampoo and soap. Our bedroom got dusted and vacuumed.

I have about 25 pounds of zucchini to put up, several pounds of summer squash, and about another 25 pounds of tomatoes to put up. My carrots will be ready for harvest in about 3 more weeks (I'm hoping for a frost so they're sweet!), and my onions will follow close behind...I'm tempted to plant some lettuce but am not sure if it'll grow before we get a frost, but I'm thinking of heading out after nap time to plant some today...hmmmmmm...

I am finishing up laundry, and tomorrow will get to iron and do some baking.

The house stayed clean this weekend, which is HUGE for me...now, if only I can keep it this way.

Although, I will say that now that it is all tidy and neat and clean it is ever so much easier to keep it up...I'm not overwhelmed by all the piles and stacks...the kids actually got excited to put their toys away and take them down to the basement last night.

I might even get my seasonal decorations out for the current season! I'm already planning my holiday baking and stocking up on ingredients, and will sort through my Christmas things to determine that which will be put out and where.

Well, I'm off to finish tidying the kitchen so I can get out the food processor and shred zucchini in clean conditions. I think I'll put the food processor into the sink so I can minimize the mess...hmmmmmm....