therapy*

i go to therapy. 

a few times a week.

but i don't see a counselor.

it's laundry.

i hang my laundry on the line.

and it's like therapy for me. 

it used to frustrate me.

how long it took to hang everything up.

one

by

one

but now i actually enjoy it.

i'm not sure what happened along the line for me to get where i am

but it's soothing.

repetitive. 

and sometimes (most times) i'm a little ocd about it.

i hang all the shorts first.

then the tees.

and sometimes i colour co-ordinate them as i hang them.

it's my little system. 

i think it's something i can accomplish and tangibly see results.

today is a perfect day for laundry.

sunny.

windy.

a perfect day for therapy.

*please don't misunderstand and think i am making fun or light of therapy or conditions like ocd. i realize there are reasons to go to therapy. hanging my laundry helps me clear my mind and feel relaxed. it is therapeutic for me. thanks.

on being productive

We've been all about packing, sorting, organizing and preparing for our BIG garage sale happening this Saturday.
As I was going through the office closet I found 8 pillows. EIGHT!
I tossed them downstairs and made a "bed" in the middle of the living room for the boys (Jude is sick and Noah's always happy to have a "movie day") and we chilled at home today.
I got some pricing done and some sorting but the way I work (is this the way it works for everyone?) is that it almost always gets messier before it gets cleaner.
So we're kinda living in chaos and disorder.
I realized something about myself recently - or perhaps I put into words and a distinct thought what I had always felt before - I can handle the mess and disorder but the outcome is that I am prone to feeling overwhelmed and I usually end up doing nothing.
An organized, clean house leads to a productive Vanessa.
And that is a good thing.
Now, to get busy "organizing".

on finding my groove

today was weird.

i couldn't find my groove until about 4pm when i finally had a shower.

i started sorting and pricing for our garage sale this weekend. (insert anxious emoticon here)

so that was something.

and then we bought noah this sesame street numbers/letters/shapes computer game and i fear i have opened pandora's box (it's his first computer game).

but it's cute.

(and portable so we'll be bringing it with us when we move.)

i hope for more productivity tomorrow.

(and warmer weather for the rest of the week. and especially saturday.)

dishes

the past week i've found it difficult to stay on top of this picture taking thing. 

it's not that i haven't been doing anything worth photographing, it's just that i've been too busy to photograph it all!

yesterday we had jacob over in the morning, then naps, then ran a couple errands and then zipped off to elijah's birthday party at fun works in kitchener where we stayed and endured mad chaos with a bazillion children until past the boys bedtimes. came home, put them to bed, cleaned up.

oh, did i mention our dishwasher broke the day before jamie left us for 4 days? yeah. that.

so dishes. plech.

then today we did the Y thing, went to jen's house and stayed there 'til dinner, rushed home, cleaned up for the lovely ladies coming over at 8pm tonight, made cupcakes, cleaned up a bit more, rearranged our living room, had some of my favourite ladies over, they went home, iced the cupcakes, sent them back with jen, sorta cleaned up and gave up on the rest.

so it's been busy to say the least.

floors

today i cleaned my floors.

i need to do that more often.

what did you do today?

Tired but satisfied.

It was a really good day.

The kind of day that when you sit down on your couch you feel tired, but satisfied.

My kitchen and living room are clean.

The laundry is done (but not put away. Sigh. Always the hardest part.).

We played outside. We went to the park. We went to the Y (I had a good run!). I bought some supplies for my first DIY project(s) from a thrift store. (I also went to a seamstress to get a dress altered only to find out I didn't need it altered. It fit me the way the dress was designed to. Which meant I didn't have to pay $100+ in alterations! Woo! And I filled out some paperwork which these days is a huge feat in and of itself for me.) We watched Jamie's soccer games.

I am tired.

But I am definitely satisfied.

I need to spend less time on my computer and more time in the real world.

Can I get an amen?

spring cleaning

Sometimes when you get a cleaning urge you must succumb and clean 'til you drop.
Things I cleaned today:

• I took everything out of the front closet, vacuumed, mopped, and sorted through all our shoes - threw out a box full of old shoes and flipflops - plus a few coats.
  

• Put everything back.

• Hammered in 2 more nails so I could hang my broom and mop beside my Swiffer.

• Vacuumed the entire house - like REALLY vacuumed - I moved all the furniture.
  

• Went through my closet and dresser drawers. Got rid of 3 garbage bags full of old clothes.

• Sorted through all our books and got rid of a box full of weird/dumb/bad books.

• Changed our sheets

• Did the laundry

• Sorted through all my purses and got rid of old ones I don't use anymore.

• Cleared and sorted through everything that had piled up on my desk.

Some more items on my cleaning "to do" list:

• sort through my bedside table drawers - I'm sure I'll find many things I thought I had previously lost.
• finish cleaning/tidying the spare bedroom.

Whew. Cleaning sure is tiring. But it's a "good" tired. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight.