Part II, Day 21: The Great Clean Out

Today was the perfect day for a great clean out as you can see in the photo above where the floor is gleaming. The kids are having a play date after school tomorrow and they house was a disaster in every room. It feels as though we are constantly cleaning and rearranging this house. I am sure when the kids are grown, I will desperately miss this activity. For now, I am sick of stepping on Hello Kittys, Yodas, and random Lego pieces. I was actually tempted today to pitch all the Barbies and extraneous super heroes in a bin liner. My kids wailed a resounding, "No." As a compromise, they cleaned or I threatened to fill my white plastic bag with an assortment of crap from their floors and the floor of the playroom.

After initially trying to play and call that cleaning, we had an understanding. I kept shaking my bag with glee. They worked a little harder. At the end of the afternoon, the house was mostly back in order. There is no way that I can finish this entire endeavour today. Really, that would require a back hoe and some landfill, but at least it will not be an embarrassment to open our home tomorrow afternoon to our new friends.

For some reason, this song by Tracy Byrd has been in my head all afternoon. Something today reminded me of when I lived in DC. I have no idea what that could be because I was definitely not sorting through children's toys at that point in my life. Since it is on eternal repeat, I share it with you:

Day 36: The Deep Clean

Our house is all abuzz because tomorrow my husband's sister and our kids' dear Tante (Aunt) is flying over the pond to visit us. We have been excited to see her since we left her at the Koeln (Cologne) train station back in December. We knew that we were going to be together again in a few short months. It was a sad goodbye, but not devastating...plus the kids all got marshmallow pigs after we said goodbye which sweetened the blow.

For the past weeks, as part of this happiness project, we have been busy cleaning, pitching items, and donating everything that is salvageable. Today, my mother and I kicked this into a new high when we purged a lot of things from the basement monster. We recycled what we could, we donated what we could, and we threw everything else away. My husband actually asked me where our basement was. I took this as a huge compliment.

I also found out something exciting: My son loves, loves, loves, loves to do the laundry. I think we have found a new way to get our 14+ loads done each week! I keep wondering at which pace our washer will wear out (we air dry a lot of things, so that is not as many loads) since the national average is 6-8 loads per family. So far, knock on wood, our machines are holding up nicely and are spinning as we speak.

Tonight, the entire family rearranged the playroom into the adult oasis pictured above. I hope my sister-in-law appreciates that it was weeks of toy removal and repurposing that allowed for this glorious event to happen. With three kids we had so many toys in that small space that you could not even walk in there. The only surface that was clear for months was the treadmill.

This project prompted me to start the deep clean. It is theraputic and is making life so much easier. The best thing is that my son has been so calm for the past two weeks. He is a joy to be around and is truly shining as the star he is. So break out your dust cloths and trash bags...and get some happiness!

This Elton John song is my all time favorite travel song. Safe travels to all traveling today and tomorrow.