Declutter Week One

  You thought I forgot, dincha? Come on, admit it. You thought it was just another ball I dropped, right? He he. Nope, I remembered. I missed my own deadline, but I remembered to blog about it. No pictures this time. Trust me, one part was just ugly. 
  Now to confession time. Have you ever heard the phrase, "best laid plans..." or the one that I'm not sure I like too well that says "People make plans and God laughs"?  Well, guess what. I was all set to get all this stuff done. Had The Hubby in agreement (because there was no way i could tackle my son's room without his help). Then life happened. We had a snowstorm in the house a bean bag chair explosion --remind me to tell you about that one day. We had visits with both mothers. We had two adults not really feeling well. Ugh!
  The story doesn't end there. Things did get done. I had to play catch up with laundry and kitchen duties, and I bought a scrapbooking carrier that was on clearance that will do double duty --it will act as storage as well as be put into use for my workshops and classes. I also cleaned up a lot of bean bag filler. Billions of teeny, tiny pellets. On the to do list for this week --repair the bean bag chair so that it can be put back into use.  One other thing I did: I learned how to sew on a button and repair a hem on a pair of slacks I have. Very important.
 But the kids room challenge! Did you get anything accomplished there??? Yes. Having a child with moderate to severe autism means that life is not predictable (although he and I both would like it to be) and it also means expectations on housework and furniture tend to be lowered a little bit. As much as I would like a sparkling clean house at all times, without a full time maid or at least some outside help now and then (which I cannot afford) there will always be something or some place in the house that makes me cringe.
  J's bed was a huge source of that cringing. It was clutter. Nasty, beat up, clutter that had to go. The Hubs, healthwise, did not feel he was up to tackling that critter. Yesterday I could not stand staring at that monstrosity one moment long and began to tackle it myself. It's a king size bed and I'm a shrimpy little thing. I didn't get very far but it impressed The Hubby that I tried. He finished the job last night, with a very anxious J watching (and helping) his dad. 
  J wasn't too sure what to think about us dismantling his bed to get it out the door. After all, he'd had it for a few years and he'd gotten that thing to a point he figured was comfy. I considered it a disgrace. We have a day bed waiting for him. The frame still needs to be put together, which will happen today or tomorrow depending, and for now the mattress is in his room so that he can sleep. He seems to have adjusted well to the new change. I plan on working more in his room this week, as I've discovered that he has hiding places for things and his clothes still need to be culled. I will be working his room in addition to the plans I have for week 2 of this challenge, the kitchen / pantry. I'm really looking forward to that one, and will share my battle plan tomorrow. Thank you, Simple Mom for this challenge!

Confessions of a Disorganized Housewife: It's Declutter Time!

 Good morning! If you've read even some of my posts, not including the Morning Cup of Tea series, you know that I am a Pinterest junkie enthusiast. I find all manner of things on that site, from recipes to art journaling to household hints.  You see the box on the right from Simplemom.net ?  I saw a pin a few days from that site and I saw the words I'm decluttering. Lightbulb! Looking around my house, I can tell I need a firm shove  gentle nudge toward getting this place in order. This month, starting today, simplemom.net  is here to help. Each Monday she will post an area to declutter. Each of the four weeks has a different area --kids stuff (this week), next week is kitchen/pantry, week 3 is closets, countertops and drawers(oh my!), and the final week is choose your own adventure. 
 Sound like something you want to do with me? Great! If anyone is interested I'll figure out how to set up Mr Linky if you're a blogger, or you can just tell me in the comments how you did on Fridays.  Tish over at Simplemom.net is going to have her linky up on Friday so that bloggers can link up to her site and share before and after pictures. Hmmm... do I really want to show before pictures of this place? Could be scary for me, but I'm committing to do it.
  Here we go with week one: Kids' stuff. My "kid" is nineteen years old, but we do have some issues with clutter in his room and in the living room because his toys can't always stay in his room. They will end up being flung out the window or otherwise trashed so they are placed elsewhere. The other person who has um, toys, is me. That's correct, folks, my art supplies. I've already started going through some of them, but it's time to really look into getting that space decluttered and organized. 
  Who's with me? To learn more about this, please click here or click on the link at the right for more info. Get ready, set, declutter!
Have a great day!
PS. Depending on what's going on I may not post the end result of this week's decluttering until Saturday (which will also be linked to simplemom.net) but it will be there. Pictures and all.