Trying to Find Balance

I told myself to take a day off from cleaning out the garage, instead I only worked 2 hours in the zenning project. I am sure the good folks at my local Goodwill store will think that I am a silly mom. This batch will be mostly Hot Wheel Cars that Eric can no longer safely play with and even more McDonald's Happy Meal Toys. I think they lost some of their appeal to Eric when he could no longer see them. I also think that Teri will agree with John, "it's time to pass the toys on to other kids, so that they can have toys to play with". John already has plans for the space in the garage.

The hard part for me in letting go of some of Eric's old favorite toys is that he has lost so much ground over the years that he can no longer make the toys "work right". "Play time" is mostly hugging his favorite stuffed animals with John and I making up stories about what the friends are doing. Or even watching Sesame Street with Elmo.

I am finding it hard to make a balance between getting the garage finished before it hits the 100's in Tucson and spending enough time resting. As much as I would like to get the whole garage cleaned by this weekend, I know that much of a push will not be good for my arthritis. My body has not yet fully recovered from the yarn reorganization when I pushed it too hard this weekend to get the next project done. I have been fighting with a body that just wants to sit and sleep today.

The funny thing about this whole cleaning process, is that when I started zenning the house after reading "Zenning Your House in 5 Minutes a Day" I had a hard time just working for 5 minutes to throw things out. Now I only stop when exhaustion hits. This varies from day to day depending on my body. For the most part I can part with stuff without anxiety. I have learned which stuff to keep and which I just don't need anymore. I also learned that it is too time consuming to have a garage sale. Goodwill is the lazy woman's garage sale with a lot less work and no clean up afterward. With the added bonus of the people that Goodwill helps.

I wish I could say that it is bedtime at 11:00 pm, but I started Eric's meds late so I still have a while to stay awake. I am sure that this will not help my arthritis flare up either.

The Cleaning Moves On

Today the cleaning moved to the garage. John and I started by deciding which boxes needed to be thrown out. The recycling bin is almost full. Eric's old wheelchair will be leaving the garage to go to the loan chest for medical equipment next week. My plan is 5 minutes a day until the garage is done or it gets too warm to work in there. 

Eric is feeling much better today.  We might even be able to find a Toys for Tots drop off site tomorrow. I will also try to finish the holiday gifts and the cleaning that did not get done this week. I also need to wrap gifts this week and clean the Menorah. 

I am really hoping that Eric sleeps tonight and past 5:30am. I think it is time to call it a night. 

Exploding Soda Cans Part 2

Today was devoted to cleaning up the last of the exploding soda cans. Everything came out out of the pantry. Scooba spent 45 minutes locked up in the pantry mopping the floor, yes an entire cleaning cycle. John washed everything that needed to be washed by hand.  This saved me about 30 minutes of cleaning. As usual with any cleaning project of this type around here it lead to cascade cleaning. Two shelf's in the kitchen got redone. More tea moved off the counter. All the paper goods, plastic ware and chop sticks are in a box. This box is now in the garage. I also got rid of all the old salt and pepper packages that come with the silverware. I cleaned out part of a shelf in the garage this afternoon, after 30 minutes I was dripping in dew.  I decided to do more when it was not 104 outside. John also organized a shelf for me so I would not have to get a ladder out. I just love having a taller half.

I went back on my promise to myself not to put anything on the floor of the pantry. While finding a place for the paper goods box I found a lot of boxes of Ziploc bags in 4 different sizes and 6 unopened boxes of trash bags. I moved them into the floor of the pantry so that they would be easier to find. In about 6 months I expect that there will be a lot less and hopefully confined to one box on the pantry floor.

One thing that I always find amazing is how much get recycled and thrown out when I get into these deep cleaning jags. I also find it amazing that the house gets easier to keep clean. John does not seem surprised by this at all. I also love how John is always there at the right time and has figured out what I really don't want to clean. He just does it, with no questions asked.

I have 2 major areas left to clean, the garage and the craft/sewing/guest room. These will be done a little bit at a time. For right now I think I pushed my body a little to far and will need to let it have time to recover.

Only a few minutes of spinning got done today. I used one of my drop spindles.

For my readers in the USA please have a save and happy 4th of July. Please remember to party safely. Leave the fireworks to the professionals and above all don't drink and drive. Please take time to also give a small prayer for the safety of all our Troops over seas. Remember that they make our freedoms possible.