So, Um, How’re Those Closets Coming?
I admit it. It only took me until Day Two of the Month of Motivation, Day TWO, can you believe it, to fall short of my goal. But I had a good excuse. Oh yes, there is always a good excuse, isn’t there? My excuse was: I couldn’t spend fifteen minutes cleaning out my closets because instead I spent the whole day talking over a Big Giant Decision which is going to require me to clean out every closet—and cabinet and nook and cranny—in the whole entire house.
Because we’re moving.
I kid you not. This is all very sudden. My husband has accepted a job offer clear on the other side of the country (!!!) and we’ll be putting the house on the market, um, probably next week.
(What does it say about me that one of the first things I thought when we discussed this Enormously Huge Possibility was: well, I suppose it’d make for interesting reading on the blog…)
Coming soon: Idealistic homeschooling mother is put to the test. Can she maintain the joyful atmosphere she’s always writing about while: (a) purging her house of half its contents and (b) keeping the house in show-able condition while caring for five children eleven and under including a challenging special-needs toddler and a two-month-old baby?
I guess we’ll find out.
Anyway, the Big Declutter End-of-Week Recap:
Monday—spent one hour total on one closet (still not finished).
Tuesday—nada. Hush.
Wednesday—um…pulled a lot of books off shelves to show some friends who wanted to browse homeschooling resources, does that count?
Thursday—deleting all the spam from your inbox counts as decluttering, right?
Friday—it’s not over yet. But, well, we have company coming this afternoon, Scott’s brother and his family, and then tomorrow is Rose’s First Communion and we’ve decided to go ahead and have the baby baptized at the same instead of waiting until late July as originally planned, and who can clean closets with all that going on?
But next week, the work begins in earnest. It’ll pretty much have to, won’t it?
How did your first week of Motivation Month go?
Jill says:
I had to grin when I read the part about thinking ‘Hmm…well, it’ll make a good blog entry!’
On June 30, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Marcella says:
Laughter….. Well,we´ll be looking forward to how the entire housecleaning stories go now! Marcella
On July 1, 2006 at 6:13 am
Angela, Mother Crone says:
I have a friend who had to move suddenly as well, right while we had both joined FlyLady and were trying to organize. After a crazed three weeks (all she had to get her house ready to show!) , she said she was actually happy about it. Simply because it was easier to part with things when you valued them under of the lens, “Do I want/need this enough to pay to ship it across seven states.” A great motivator! (She also hasn’t missed a single thing, several years later!)
On July 1, 2006 at 6:13 am
Beth says:
Wow — big changes! Two questions spring to mind: will Scott still be in charge of the laundry?? And, will he still be working from home so that *you* can work from home??
Best of luck with everything!
On July 1, 2006 at 8:17 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Beth, to answer your questions:
1) Nope, after eight blissful years of respite, the laundry duties will revert to me. Now which one is the washing machine again? Hee.
2) Nope, he’ll be on staff, working in an office. Which is obviously a MAJOR change for us and will require a lot of creative scheduling on my part. But ever since Rilla was born, I haven’t been working my usual afternoon writing shift anyway. I get up very early and write before everyone wakes up, and often I’m able to get a little more work time in during the little ones’ afternoon naps. I’m finishing up a book now and should be done with it very soon, and then I’m sure I’ll take a break until after the dust settles from the move.
On July 1, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Becky says:
You sure know how to keep on your toes lol. And as you said, how to keep the blog fodder coming! Will you have any family or friends nearby after the move?
Good luck with everything, Lissa 🙂
On July 1, 2006 at 8:33 pm
xixi says:
😀
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On July 3, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Jennifer, Snapshot says:
I did that, too! My husband interviewed for a job (with someone he already knew) and just over two months later, we were moving from TX to CT. My little guy was just 3 months old. We’ve moved a fair bit, and so looked at a number of houses. I really don’t think everything has to be picture perfect. You do want to get rid of some stuff in closets, on shelves etc (either put it in storage, or really get rid of it, which is better for the move anyway). But I say this a lot, about a lot of things–it doesn’t have to be perfect.
On July 6, 2006 at 10:53 am