Blarg...Cleaning Overhaul

     Well this has been coming for sometime now but I'm finally starting the project of doing a complete deep cleaning/organizing/purging overhaul. Back in July of this year Mr. Big and I moved in together. Or more specifically my munchkins and I moved into his house. I used to live in an apartment to the logical step of living together was to move into his house.
     As you can imagine being a single Mother and living on my own with my kids for so long we had a ton of stuff. So basically you have two fully loaded households now trying to merge everything into the space of one of them. Think trying to park two SUVs in a two car garage. Ideally it all should fit but good luck getting out through one of the doors. Well seeing as both of us suffer from some minor OCD the clutter is not okay. It will literally drive us both insane. Not really conductive to raising 5 five kiddos if you ask me. I'd say about 50% of my belongings are still packed in boxes and taking up part of the garage. This is not ideal. I love Mr. Big and my new life but I would like for this to feel 100% like home. I'd say right now I'm sitting at a 75% feeling of home.
     So that brings me to the lovely operation clean house. Originally I had told myself that finishing two entire rooms a day would be no problem. Well as I am already almost three hours in and still working on one room I don't know how well that is going to turn out. I guess I neglected to take into account the two munchkins at home with me who have now decided that they can only play in the room I am in or the fact that I am dealing with some things that are pushing my stress to an insane high, oh and did I forget to mention I went to the Chiropractor last time for my first adjustment in oh seven years. Yeah I am in a little a lot of pain and trying to sit and take the time to do all the stretches is proving difficult. And yes I am neglecting the cleaning for the little bit of time its going to take me to write this but hey I'm entitled to a little break.
      Well onto the first room I am tackling. Its the living room. Out of all the rooms this is probably going to be the easiest but its also one of the ones where we spend most of our time. So far I have emptied the back shelf of stuff that doesn't belong, dusted, cleaned up all the toys, got rid of all the papers, and fixed the movie collection. Yes this doesn't sound like much in type but trust me it was. Left on the checklist I still have to sweep, vacuum, and clean the coffee table and window seat. If I really push myself I should be able to get this done in the next hour. Worst part about getting this room done... the next room is going to be the kitchen. And let me tell you that is the second worst. Once I get to the basement I'm in trouble. Its literally a disaster area down there. If i'm not heard from for a couple of days someone should probably send a search party. I'll more then likely be buried under an avalanche of toys.
   

Minor OCD



So I have been clinically diagnosed with OCD and I often make fun of myself for it. Don't get me wrong it is a serious disorder and there are people out there who suffer from it so bad that it takes over and dramatically alters their lives. Thankfully mine is not that extreme. I do have the normal issues: even numbers freak me out, I have to triple check my doors, my closet is color coordinated, can labels all have to face forward, etc... I also can't deal with having my house be trashed. When it gets to a certain point it gets depressing and as much as I want to clean it I get into a funk where I literally cant. Well my kids room has been at that point for a while. It was to the point where I just avoided their room all together because I couldn't handle it. Just last month I had done a complete over haul on my craft / storage closet so I had  been trying to find the time to get into their room and do the same. Every time I would set aside time something would come up and I would just go back to avoiding the room. Well at about 3 a.m Monday morning Little Man woke up puking, all over his bed and floor, so needless to say he stayed home from school and I stayed home from work. After catching up on a little sleep and then getting him comfortable I decided to tackle the room. I knew it would take a little bit of time but what I wasn't counting on was it to take fricken six hours! I guess deciding to dump out all the toys and go through everything took longer then        

I thought but on the upside I was able to gather multiple bags of toys that they no longer play with to donate to one of our favorite charities, Families Helping Each Other. I know the founder of this charity personally and she is a great person. She has helped so many families including myself that whenever the kids and I can give back we do.