It's Thursday, so I am over at Magic Smoke today, so please stop by there to check out this weeks "Challenge Yourself Challenge"
I would also like to suggest you check out Raven's Lament. I thought her post yesterday was very profound and worth taking to heart.
Click HERE to link to her post
The past two days we have talked about de junking and straightening. Now you can clean and organize. Once you have gone through all of the rooms and placed all the misplaced items in the proper rooms you can now clean and organize the rooms. We started with the kitchen, so lets go back to the kitchen. Open one cabinet door. Did stuff fall out on you? I hope you had time to duck and didn't need to run to the freezer for ice to put on the welt that is swelling on your forehead.
The kitchen is one of the most time consuming project to organize, but well worth the effort. I usually reorganize my once a year. If I lived by myself... I wouldn't ever have to do it again, however there are 5-6 other people who live with me. (Apparently spoons look like knives, and cups look like Tupperware, rarely do things get put back in the same place.) I usually a lot 4-5 hours to organize the kitchen and I do it in stages.
I first create a huge mess by taking everything out of all of the cabinets. I organize all the plastic holders with the proper lids and throw out all mismatches. I get rid of old things that have gotten cracked, chipped or just plain gross. I also put seasonal things away in storage containers that can be stored in out of the way cabinets or in the attic or basement.
Before I put everything back, the cabinets get cleaned and then I finish organizing as I place things in the cabinets.
The same goes for the drawers, pantry and refrigerator.
The idea is this: A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Good luck, consider it an adventure.
While I was doing this last spring, I found I had 9 spatulas, 5 big stirring spoons, 4 pairs of scissors and about 3 dozen lids that didn't match anything. You can't imagine the space I created by getting rid of all of those things.
If your house is anything like my house when I first did this... Room by room could take a while. You don't want to move on to another room till you finish "dejunking" the first.
So... here is what I am envisioning. Let's just say you finished the first room. Yesterday we said it was the kitchen. So now the kitchen is "dejunked" and you can see the top of your table, counters and refrigerator. It isn't clean, but it IS "dejunked".
Now you must decide what to do next. Do you clean the kitchen, or go and de-junk the next room. Going to the boxes filled with the items you put in them can help make this decision easier. Say you have a box marked "office" so you pick it up and walk down to your office and start to put things away. There seems to be a spot clear enough on the top of the desk for the stapler, but where are you going to pile those magazines? Are there places for you to immediately file the papers that are stuffed in the box? What about the receipts you need to save, do you have someplace to keep them safe? Ahh the pictures... is the album handy or do you have a box to save them in?
If have positiveanswers to the above questions... file the stuff and go clean the kitchen. If the answer is no.. then, start on the office and leave the other boxes where they are. When you find your bra under the desk in your office you can go put that in one of the bedroom boxes and go back and finish the office like we discussed.
Basically, if you are simply in a "dejunking" mode and need to to so, this will go by fast and easy. However if you need to do an overall organization of things... this will take a bit longer, but will be worth the effort.
Personal note: I had a hard time writing this entry today. Looking at the pictures of Burma and the terrible destruction that they are dealing with is overwhelming. All I can hear is Yoda saying "There is a terrible disruption in the force Luke." I know that all of you out there are praying for the people of that area. As you are looking on the challenges in your life find comfort in knowing that there are people praying for you as well. Blessings ~Rosemary
Well I have been reading some posts around J-Land and notice people are cleaning and trying to get "organized". This can be quite a challenge especially if you are overwhelmed and don't know where to begin.
Now, I am not a professional organizer, but I do have a host of ideas that might work in your situation.
Starting at the beginning, and assuming that you are feeling "OVERWHELMED" my first suggestion would be to pick a room you want to start in.
Then make sure you have the necessary supplies. A box of big trash bags and a bin or box for each room of the house. For instance in my house I would need a box for each bedroom, the garage, the den, the living room and the basement and the bathroom. Label each box and put them in a spot that is easily accessible, but somewhat out of the way.
Begin cleaning. Lets say you are starting in the kitchen. Pick a corner to start in and work your way around clockwise. When we clean we tend to get sidetracked very easily. As you clean and come across things that do not belong in that room, put them in the boxes you labeled. For instance, you find a hammer on the kitchen table... put it in the box marked garage. (Unless you keep your tools with your fine china in the dining room)
OK, why you ask? You start cleaning the kitchen at nine in the morning. How many times have you gone to put the book they left on the table away in the kids room and then seen what a mess that room is. "Oh geeze!" you say to yourself, then you start cleaning that room. "There it is!" you exclaim as you find your favorite T Shirt under your kids bed. So, you walk yourself down to the laundry room to toss it in the washer and see the pile of clothes that you need to fold. You start folding the towels and socks and time goes by and your stomach is growling so you decide you need to go have a sandwich. It is three hours later. You stop folding and go down to the kitchen. Now you starting trying to figure out how you can kick your own ass for shirking your promise to clean the kitchen. You started cleaning the kitchen at nine and it is now twelve. Have you been cleaning the kitchen for three hours?
GET THE BOXES OR BINS!! TRUST ME!
Focus on the one room. Don't leave it till you have cleaned it. If it is too much to do in one day, make a commitment to how much you will do and then don't leave till you have done it.
Then, when you have finished, you can go to the boxes and put the items in their proper rooms.
Many of you share the sights from around your area and I thought I would share these pictures with you today. They are GRAPHIC and animals WERE hurt in the making of what you are about to see. Yet, it is so bizarre, I needed to stop and take a picture of it.
I pass it or it passes me every day. The driver seems nice enough as he waves to me when he sees me, but every time I see it I break out into Gaston's song from the Disney Version of Beauty and the Beast. "I use antlers in all of my decorating".
NOW: You really can't make this stuff up!!!
The car is painted camoflage and there are antelers on the hood, roof and trunk.
The rims are painted camoflage also!
You really can't see it, but inside the back window on the ledge by the rear window are more antlers!
Here is the video with the lyrics below in case you need a refresher course on Gaston:
[Gaston:] Who does she think she is? That girl has tangled with
the wrong man! No one says "no" to Gaston!
[LeFou:] Heh heh. Darn right.
[Gaston:] Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly Humiliated! Why, it's
more than I can bear.
[LeFou:] More beer?
[Gaston:] What for? Nothing helps. I'm disgraced.
[LeFou:] Who, you? Never! Gaston, you've got to pull yourself
together.
Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gaston
Looking so down in the dumps
Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston
Even when taking your lumps
There's no man in town as admired as you
You're ev'ryone's favorite guy
Ev'ryone's awed and inspired by you
And it's not very hard to see why
No one's slick as Gaston
No one's quick as Gaston
No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaston
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon
You can ask any Tom, Dick or Stanley
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on
[Chorus:] No one's been like Gaston
A king pin like Gaston
[LeFou:] No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston
[Gaston:] As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating
[Chorus:] My what a guy, that Gaston
Give five "hurrahs!"
Give twelve "hip-hips!"
[LeFou:] Gaston is the best
And the rest is all drips
[Chorus:] No one fights like Gaston
Douses lights like Gaston
[Cronie:] In a wrestling match nobody bites like Gaston
[Bimbettes:] For there's no one as burly and brawny
[Gaston:] As you see I've got biceps to spare
[LeFou:] Not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
[Gaston] (That's right!)
And ev'ry last inch of me's covered with hair
[Cronies:] No one hits like Gaston
[Townsman:] Matches wits like Gaston
[LeFou:] In a spitting match nobody spits like Gaston
[Gaston:] I'm espcially good at expectorating
(Ptooey!)
[Chorus:] Ten points for Gaston!
[Gaston:] When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs
Ev'ry morning to help me get large
And now thatI'm grown I eat five dozen eggs
So I'm roughly the size of a barge
[Chorus:] No one shoots like Gaston
Makes those beauts like Gaston
[LeFou:] Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston
[Gaston:] I use antlers in all of my decorating
[Chorus:] Say it again
Who's a man among men?
And then say it once more
Who's the hero next door?
Who's a super success?
Don't you know? Can't you guess?
Ask his fans and his five hangers-on
There's just one guy in town who's got all of it down
[LeFou:] And his name's G-A-S- T -
G-A-S-T - E -
G-A-S-T-O - oh!
[Chorus:] Gaston
Barter
Poem lyrics of Barter by Sarah Teasdale.
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Please stop by Magic Smoke and check out today's Challenge.
Additionally, if you are recently new to my journal, I have been on vacation and promise to catch up with you this week.
