Just as If You Give a Moose a Muffin is the sequel to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, over the weekend I felt like I was living the sequel to my "Mouse" day. Luckily I didn't feel as big as a moose, but the day sort of progressed a bit like Mooses' If You Give a Moose a Muffin book.
It began pretty tamely...by swishing and swiping 2 of the toilets without chemicals, but with a little leftover liquid soap (I call it swishing and swiping in honor of Flylady of Flylady.net who recommends to swish and swipe daily). Bathroom number 2 got the bonus round because I also swished and swiped the sink, faucets, and counters. Now I wish I could brag that I swish and swipe daily, but even every few days makes a huge difference. Flylady has also made me a believer of "soap is soap", so why use cleaning chemicals daily when you don't need to? Using leftover soap is a great way to reduce harsh chemical use, and also use up leftover soap you don't like or use up the end of the bottle...you know the one that no one wants to bother with? Just add some water to get it all out and use it up.
After the swish and swipe, I ended up in the laundry room with the hand towels from the bathroom (you can never switch those out enough), and while I was in the laundry room, I spied some laundry to go up to Rhody's room. Which I delivered, and decided to put away since the last batch was on his desk. While I was putting away the clothes I noticed 3 pictures that needed hanging, soooo that lead me back to the laundry room to fetch a hammer and some hooks. Back to the bedroom, tap tap tap, 3 pictures up and off the desk and table. I surveyed my work and decided they looked nice. Back to the laundry room to put away the hammer and hooks, and drop off the bag of dirty laundry from Rhody's room. Moved laundry from washer to dryer, and put in the new load of dirty boy clothes.
While I was in the laundry room I spied my sewing machine, which reminded me that I needed to sew on some Boy Scout patches, mend a blanket, try to take in some pants, and fix a book cover. I relocated the machine, the thread and the items to work on to the dining room table so that I could spread out. I have NO idea how I distracted myself from the sewing, but I think I made a conscious decision to sew in the evening when it's cooler because the blanket to repair was unappealing in the heat. At any rate, somehow, some way I ended up watching a few interesting minutes of TV with Rhody who had on the Science/Discovery channel about how things are made. And while I was watching TV I noticed one of the kid's laptops was not put away neatly. So I investigated why that might be and discovered that there wasn't really room where the laptop was supposed to be. Soooo, I took a moment to survey the TV cabinet, and decided that the barely accessible, rarely used CDs (everyone has moved to digital music) could be moved to the newly cleaned out bookcase where they'd be much more visible and possibly more used (remember the episode of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie the other day?) http://alacartegreen.blogspot.com/2012/08/if-you-give-mouse-cookie.html. With the relocation of the CDs completed, there was plenty of room for the laptop where it was supposed to be. I digressed a bit more and labeled the power supplies, and attached velcro devices to the cords to keep them wrapped neatly instead of the wild tangle of cords that seems to develop when I'm not looking. http://alacartegreen.blogspot.com/2011/02/eat-your-greens-with-modern-twist.html Special bonus: with things nice and neat in the TV cabinet, some photo albums fit in just beautifully!While arranging the photo albums I discovered 2 more books that were in need of a new home...which of course lead me to my computer, and then to Swap.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend it! http://market.swap.com/ It's a great way to get rid of what you want, and get something you do need or want in return...and the best part is that each party keeps something unused, unwanted, and unloved out of the landfill.
A previous episode of me reorganizing and deleting resulted in a large pile of 2 blankets, comforters, and a quilt. Somehow I managed to make it to the playroom today, and bagged those up for a friend who will get them to her church, thereby helping me to de-clutter, and get the items to some folks in need. The blanket de-cluttering was long overdue since the armoire they'd been housed in was SO jammed packed with sheets, pillows, and blankets for sleepovers that after a night of snacks, giggling, and sleep-not, the tired crew never seemed to be able to put things away neatly the following morning. Now there is no excuse for sleepheads ;)Is anyone hungry for a muffin? Maybe I should head to the kitchen and see if we have something muffin-ish to eat...but wait, what was I supposed to be doing next? I think hubby is beginning to think that I suffer from cleaning ADD, which is entirely possible, but as long as I'm productively decluttering, donating, and cleaning as I go does it really matter? Stay tuned...I'm sure there will be a sequel to my If You Give a Moose a Muffin episode of green decluttering.
