Before the Week Begins

I thought I would sneak in here during the wee morning hours prior to my week and tell you a few things. I cherish these quiet few minutes before bed when there’s no sound but the fan in my bedroom and the air conditioner popping on every now and then to remind me that fall isn’t finished doing her work to usher winter in yet.

Random things? My hip is bruised from three rounds of a bowling game Saturday night with my biggest kid. I’m fighting off the sniffles; I’m the last to domino after three solid weeks of one after the other of my family of six falling down before this viral curse. I have to hand it to my immune system for standing strong despite sloppy kisses from little people who had fever and more. I’m just hoping the Benedryl will hold off the onset of the worst part of this yucky stuff.

Even the guy at the pump next to me when I got gas yesterday was sneezing and coughing. Seems like all of town is passing it around. There are some things you shouldn’t share.

Confession? My laundry never got done over the weekend and my kitchen is a mess. There are toys all over the upstairs and my desk looks like a bomb went off nearby. I’ll be waking up to a tidal wave of work in the morning – sick or not sick – and will start everything with prayer and a cup of Dandy Blend with cream and stevia. I’ll be reading my Bible prior to starting my day. Because when the mountain is tall, I need strength for the climb.

Next up will be my list. It will include things like…

Assignment list for the teens
Update my weekly calendar dayplanner teacher-planner thing
Menu for the week
Clean out the refrigerator and eat leftovers for lunch
Cook the snapper for dinner – husband to grill it
Clean off the desk and go through the to-do box & folders
Declutter the box of junk from the car/bedroom and put away
Take senior portraits this week – email time/schedule to client
Thank you cards
Print unit study on planets for boys
Purge images from iPhone and organize/back up
Pay bills, reconcile checkbook, file papers, update spreadsheet
School with little ones, crafts for Thanksgiving this week
Blog Emily’s wedding
Take the little boys on a nature walk, read Storybook of Science
Purge email and closets
Vacuum
Finish book I’m reading
Clean out the garage, bring in the China, purge some dishes, buy a couple of new pans/pots
Holiday plans

I’m also doing a few personal things in November that are helping me be creative. Creativity is a great way to channel your gifts and connect with your Creator. One of my goals is to create art more often and I’m actually taking my daughter’s art class, so I’ll be trying to get caught up with homework for her class this week, which I think includes sketching and watercoloring. I’m going to paint something on a canvas also – as soon as I find where I hid it. Hopefully she hasn’t already used it.

Another artsy thing is to create a color theme for Instagram and this month I’m doing grey as my focus along with browns/tans, muted pale whites/creams, black, blue and yellows. It is similar to my orange themed picks for October but I focused on greens with that set. I enjoyed the challenge a lot and hope that I can keep it up. It’s cathartic for me. I just love Instagram.

One of my projects is listed up there on the to-do items… the garage. It is going to take a lot more than just me to get that done, but hopefully I can enlist the man (who also wants to get this done) and the teenagers to help me.

I have a dream that I can actually “re-purpose” the garage into a usable space. That would be a dream come true. I’d love to have rubber spray-on flooring out there (thick paint) and painted walls and a craft table that we could use. Right now the table is covered with muck, cat hair, and the many forgotten artifacts of suburbia. It’s a regular junk purgatory out there. I think I started out wanting to have a garage sale and gave up years ago. Now it’s just a reminder every time I go to get things from the refrigerator out there that I have too much clutter.

We have neighbors that do sewing and stitching in their garage. I assume they are tailors of some sort or maybe they own an online clothing shop? They have the neatest workspace in their garage with a TV, couch, and sewing stations that everyone can sit together at and work at the same time. I stare and secretly wish I could tour it when we drive by. I’m sure they are used to it. Their garage door is up a lot.

How fun would it be to have a homeschool room out in the garage?! I would love it. On pretty days you could even raise the door and just enjoy the outdoors while you cuddled on your garage-couch together! Dad could work at his little man-cave shop in the corner while mom worked on her art with the boys. This is what I hope to transition towards… but this week will mostly just be cobweb clean-up and sweeping the filth out… maybe a trip or two to Goodwill, throwing some things away, and bringing in the China that has been boxed up out there for over seven years.

Seven years is too long to have a messy garage.

I dread doing all this work out there in a way, though… because the last time I unpacked the “last box”, we moved out and sold the house that month. If that’s what happens, so be it; it’s time to purge.

I guess November for me will be the month of uncluttering. I like the sound of that.

Have a great week. If you pray – be sure to remember me this week – pray for my body to kick this cold, for the to-do list not to kick my hiney, and for BIG DECLUTTERING SUCCESS.