nothing to show for it...yet

I have a few "Andreas" in my life who are very motivating. One I talk to every day for motivation - it just doesn't seem right to fold laundry or load laundry or load dishes or put away dishes without talking to her at the same time. The other, I may not talk to as often, but she's given me just as much stuff to take up my time as being on the phone for hours. She shares her favorite BLOGS with me - how could she - and she has a lot of them. I have told her many times now, but I am really wasting a lot of time looking at how OTHER people organize, clean, display, decorate and use their stuff and their homes. A LOT of time.
I thought playing scrabble on my phone was a time waster. I thought facebook was a time waster. I used to be a news junkie - I'd check the news on my phone every few hours, in the middle of the night, waiting in the pickup line for school, in the grocery line, etc. Now, it's looking at other people's blogs - that's my new time waster. When I see a number on my google reader, the higher the better - that's how many blog updates I get to sit and read!
My reality after reading all these blogs: a little bit of envy, a lot of new storage bins, many trips to Marshalls, JoAnn's, Michael's, Home Depot, etc. looking at which little storage bin/basket/stacking snapping container is best and on and on and on. It's a bit obsessive, and can get a little expensive if you want everything to have a happy little place that's cute (to me, I hit a total of $30 and I call it expensive). I'm happy to say that in the past week I've cooled off a bit from the bin-buying practices of the week before. Now I'm filling those bins, throwing a ton of stuff away, finding glitter and sequins everywhere, going through my kids' "art," and making things easier to find for those people in my house who are 4 1/2 feet tall and under, like this guy (the guy who is currently in charge of compartmentalizing my life into sweet little 7.5 minute intervals)


In the past week or so, I have:
-reorganized my kitchen drawers (gag, those things get dirtier than I remembered)

-put nails and screws where nails and screws are necessary to make a hinge work properly
     (no more yelling and frustration about a drawer falling off it's track or a cupboard not closing all the way)
-reorganized kitchen cupboards
-consolidated all glues/paints/craft necessities/games/puzzles
-taken apart a whole closet, and then had to leave its contents in the middle of the room for days while I was busy with something else
-annoyed my family
-stoppped to make valentines (great idea from http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-gotta-see-this_28.html )

-confused my dog (he doesn't know where to lay down, i keep moving everything)
-found a lot of dust and a few dead bugs
-worked all day long while husband is at work, and when he gets home there is nothing to show for it unless I open all drawers and cabinets - so I do
All of this is not nearly as much as I could have been doing if my days weren't filled with all the normal fun things (practices, rehearsals, meetings, dinners, meetings, computer work, phone calls, showers, and sleep).

The frustrating thing about organizing anything with another human in the house to take care of is that when you organize it, it feels great, but then you close the drawer or cabinet and look around at the growing mess around it, and you want to lay down on the cold floor and cry. But I can't lay down on the cold floor, because I've been so busy cleaning inside things, I haven't swept or mopped or vacuumed or done anything I normally would all week long. I would SO much rather be decorating and clearing little bits of clutter, and in 15 minutes having a semi-normal looking house that anyone can walk into. But during mega organize week, it's not going to happen.

For now, I have very little to show for all my hard work and ugly dry hands and cracked fingernails....but the first time someone comes to me and says "mom, where is this and that" and I can TELL them, instead of SHOWING THEM or GETTING IT MYSELF, that is when I'll receive the payout.

Some of my blog obsessions include:
http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/
http://cleanmama.blogspot.com/

Okay, I'm stopping here, because the rest of the blogs I read are less about organization and more about decorating an already organized wonderland. I'll share those later, when I'm ready for that mode.