Operation Organization

As many of you already know, I am a little OCD about everything having its place in this world. I love, love, love labels and containers and decluttering however I often get overwhelmed at where to start once things get out of order. This is how I've been feeling all summer. When the kids left for the beach on Saturday and I realized I would have ONE week to get everything done that I've wanted to accomplish all year, I was ready to pull my hair out. My "to-do" lists were even starting to look like a mess.

So, needing some energy and feeling pretty rough after waking up late Sunday morning, I told Rich I needed some iced tea or something else to get the cob webs out of my brain. My darling husband came up with a brillant plan. He broke open one of his ADHD pills and said just mix a little of this in some water and you'll perk right up and be in a better mood. Skeptical, not just of taking medication that is not prescribed for me, but more of whether this stuff word work on someone who isn't diagnosed with ADHD, I took a swig of water and sat in front of the television in anticipation of "what would happen".

Fast forward twenty minutes later, the TV clicked off and I started tearing this house apart, literally. It started when I was folding sheets and putting them away. I didn't like the mess that the linen closet had become so I ripped everything out, refolded, and put everything back. Of course, some items needed to be moved to the other linen closet so I had to rip that one apart as well.

This process continued until I had piles for Goodwill, trash, returns, etc. all over the living room floor. I would jump from one cabinet to another without thinking about anything else other than getting things organized and clean. I was a cleaning, throwing out, organizing machine. Rich said he knew the medication was working because I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't have time to yell at him for what he wasn't doing:)

I ended up pulling everything out of ALL the kitchen cabinets, wiping down the shelves, and then organizing everything all over again. That in itself was a major undertaking. My jewerly box was dumped, organized, and now I have a pile of gold and silver to turn in for some cash. Pretty much anything in this house that was not nailed down or in the kids' rooms got an overhaul.

This went on from 11:00 am Sunday morning til 4:00 am Monday morning. Yep, 13 hours straight. And, by straight, I seriously mean straight, no eating, no drinking (other than the tea that I had already poured at 10:45 am), no sitting down. Tired and hungry were not even in my vocabulary, which is a miracle in itself. I skipped lunch, dinner, snacks and almost breakfast the next morning! It finally hit me around 3:00 am that a shower would be needed before I went to bed. When I got in the shower, I realized that not much more could be accomplished because my feet and back ached so much from all of the standing and lifting all day. However, it was like once I started, I could not stop until every task was finished. Around 4:00 am, I had some cereal and called it a very long, but productive and almost scary day!

Here are a few pictures of some of my work. I don't want to bore you with pictures of every cabinet, but believe me when I say they are all clean and organized!

(The coat closet.)

(Albums organized chronologically and two extra shelves in this cabinet after throwing crap out!)

(Jessica's bathroom closet.)

(The spice cabinet, which looks almost bare after I grabbed a trash can and went to town.)

(Utensil drawer that used to have everything under the sun and a few utensils.)

(The junk drawer that used to be overflowing and jammed. I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking on the spot and shredding old checkbooks to use the check boxes as part of my organization.)

(Yep, they all have matching lids now. Those that didn't went out with the recycling!)

(The pantry, which makes me happy just to look at.)

(Hay Hay's drawer. There used to be bits and pieces in three or four drawers, but now everything is in one place.)

(And, finally, our linen closet, where the madness began.)

Before pictures would sure make me feel a lot better, but those weren't even a thought when I started this process. It's a shame that pretty much everything I did is hidden from everyone else's sight, but as long as I know where to find everything and the kids keep things in order I will be one happy camper.

Maybe a swig of water with some of Rich's medication is in order at the end of the week to tackle the basement and garage?