Snow Day!!!

Well, Alabama had a little snow this morning. When I say a little, I mean "a little" too. It lasted for a couple of hours and gave us a dusting. The girls had fun taking pictures and playing though. I can't believe they actually managed to make a snow ball or two, but I think they scraped snow from the cars to do it!

I am in "organize and declutter" mode this month. While I didn't make a formal "resolution" per se, I have decided that I am going to try and get one room decluttered and cleaned up each weekend. So far, so good. The first project/room was the foyer. Now, I know to many people, the foyer isn't a room. Since ours is about 16x10 though, I think it qualifies. Will actually took the tree down and put it away for me before January 11--that is a record in itself. Last year was June and the tree never got put away from the living room floor. Embarrassing but true. This year it is down and away and I feel liberated. We also put away all the tubs of Christmas ornaments that have littered my foyer for the past 14 months. I had forgotten how large my foyer was! Now, if I could just get him to hand over the key to the shed so I can put the girls bikes away there instead of in the house and we would be in business!

Last weekend, I worked on the living room. The living room has never really been a "living room" and that is my fault. I started out 15 years ago, during our renovation process, telling Will that I wanted it to be a formal parlor--no TV, no cable, etc. He took me at my word. Of course, that was before 3 children and 3 growing children at that. I have reclaimed it now. Last weekend, I organized and decluttered, except for the always large stack of books littering the top of the pump organ (need Will to work on those built-ins). Olivia and I hit an estate sale last weekend too and scored. We found a 27" TV for $95 and snapped it up. It is now in our living room, with cable run from the study next door and a VCR/DVD player that I had in the closet. We have really enjoyed our living room this week. We also ran by Bombay Furniture Company and bought 2 end tables that Amelia is using as night stands now and 2 end tables that are in the living room. I then headed to the study--two rooms in one weekend? I cleaned up most of the study, but had a couple of boxes left. In the process of clearing Will's desk, I cluttered back up a table in the living room, hoping to clear it all week. That didn't happen during the week.

I worked on it today though. The table is 98% clear--just need homes for the last couple of items. I had 2 or 3 boxes of things (manuals, warranties, filing, etc. and CDs/floppys) in the study that needed to be looked at and gone through. That is now done. There is a pile of things on Will's desk that he needs to go through tomorrow--he's working today. I'm going to finish up with what is left in a few minutes and vacuum the downstairs. Eleanor is keeping the laundry going for me and I guess I need to think about folding it soon. I may call it a day after that.

The nice thing is that my energy has apparently lit a fire under Will. He now wants to get working on finishing up projects at the house too. Yeah! Tomorrow's agenda is to clear out the closet under the stairs. Will had it plumbed for a half bath about 14 years ago and we've never put it in. I told him that was the first project I wanted him to work on. Next project will be Eleanor's closet organization. She is working on cleaning up her closet. I found the plans she drew for him to organize it and I hope he will start on that as soon as the bathroom is in. Then I will move upstairs to our bedroom and try to get him on our closet and getting it going.

So far, it's the third weekend of the year and I'm almost done with 3 rooms...hope I can keep up this pace. At that rate, maybe I'll be done by the time school gets out! :-)

Now to work on weight issues too--I found a picture of myself from 2 Easters ago and I had REALLY lost a lot of weight at that point--I looked really good. I think this may provide the impetus I need to get serious about weight loss. That, and the fact that I need to get in walking shape for Europe. I don't want another year of vacation pictures looking so fat either!