Seven Quick Takes - Clean Out

1. You know it's been too long when you have to sign in to your own blog. What can I say? Life has been extra busy and I've discovered that I do better when I get a little sleep here and there. Sometimes, writing has to wait. Sigh.

2. Last week was super crazy because it was production week for Aladdin Jr., performed by the youth division of the Augusta Players. This was Mackenzie’s first experience with the theater outside of school and she absolutely loved it. And, she's really good at it. She's gifted in a lot of areas, but her voice is amazing. Yes, I know I'm her mother but I'm not the only one who thinks this. She has the ability to sing on key, every time. Let me show you. She's the one on stage second from the left.

This was her only solo line but she hit it - every single time. I love listening to her.

3. The other side to the whole theater experience I did not love. That's saying a lot coming from someone who adores the stage and all things connected to it. It was intense. Rehearsals were 4 to 5 times a week beginning at 5:30. This meant she missed dinner every time she rehearsed. It also meant running carpools at dinner time. It was very disruptive to our life.

When I was directing, I was single, then married, and then a mom. The reason I got out of it was that after three kids, I decided the sacrifice was too big on the whole family. I loved it and cried when I had to throw in the towel but I realized it wasn't just about me anymore.

Musical theater is something Mackenzie could excel at so we'll have to see how it all plays out.

4. I am in the process of the great clean out. We're having a family reunion for Nelson's extended family here in January and we'll have several families staying with us as well as hosting the big common meals. This means that people will not only be in the clean and beautiful guest room, they will also be in the kids' rooms. Yikes!

Don't get me wrong, I can clean up those rooms for the house tours Nelson loves to give when we host parties, but that's different than people actually using those spaces...hanging things in the closets and gulp, looking under the beds.

 

Just for the record, this is the little boys' room at its worst. While I've been cleaning out the other kids' spaces, all the unwanted stuff from their rooms ended up here as the last hold out. Still though, it's bad.

5. What I've learned over the years, as I've cleaned out these spaces over and over and over and over (and did I say over?) again, is that little people are hoarders. Every single thing is precious and meaningful and worthy of keeping. Every...single...thing.

Case in point - the book case. I have always said you can't have too many books and my kids are big readers. But you know what? It turns out you CAN have too many of everything...even good things.

 

As I've worked on this with them, we never really get rid of much. We get things clean enough to look good on the surface.

I'm really good at making neat piles.

6. This time I tried a whole new strategy. I cleaned when they were at school. I made three piles - toss, keep and yard sale. Anything questionable I'd let them decide on when they came home.

Here's what happened. As they sensed the peace that came from the purge, they were quicker to toss themselves. It's been a beautiful thing.

This is Aiden's room which looked kind of like the little guys' room before I started. This is what it looked like when I was finished.

 

I'm so very proud. He's so very happy. And here's the kicker...it still looks like this one whole week later!

I'm definitely on to something!

7. While I was working on Mackenzie's room, a friend sent me a text inviting me to join a neighborhood-wide yard sale. What great timing...almost. The date was Saturday, the day after opening night on production week that involved many late nights, as well as the day of the closing show and two flag football games. I said yes because I'm a glutton for punishment. Might as well wrap it all into one weekend instead of spreading the madness out over several weekends.

I didn't have time to clean everything and almost pulled out but then I thought, I'll just put out what I've got and have another one when I finish. I needed the motivation to keep going.

I got to two rooms, one side of the attic, the hallway book shelf and linen closet. Those spaces produced a lot of stuff!

I basically gave everything away because the way I saw it was that people were paying me for cleaning out my house. At the end of the sale, I packed up the truck with the remainder of the stuff, drove to the local flea market and sold the truck load to a vender. Not one single thing came back into the house.

Victory!

Let's hope I can keep the ball rolling.

You know what I have on the calendar for this weekend? NOTHING! Turns out shoving it all into one weekend does have a payoff. If you're doing nothing, go here and check out some more quick takes.

Happy Weekend!