A day of cleaning

Yesterday I cleaned.For anyone who has read this blog before,you know that's a big deal for me. I hate cleaning and I try to avoid it whenever possible. Rich usually cleans when I am at work on the weekends. (Thank you,honey!)

Since I have felt rather blue lately, I wanted to change something that I had some control over. I decided to put some order in our apartment and I started with Lillianna's bedroom. At 10am,armed with my good intentions and a willing daughter, I began to straighten out her room. I started with her closet. I like her clothes to go in order: dresses,skirts,capri pants,jeans,short sets,shorts,pretty shirts,
t-shirts,a couple of long sleeved shirts (We're in Massachusetts.It could snow in the summer!),sweaters and then sweatshirts. It took a while but I got that task completed.

Then I had Lillianna crawl under her bed and pull out everything. She found her hospital socks from her 2 day stay at the hospital when she dehydrated. I don't want to know how long those furry things have been trapped under there. It was like a magician's hat under that bed. The more she pulled out,the more there was to pull out. After 3 hours, we took a one hour break for lunch. We were exhausted. At 2pm, we started in again.

We threw 2 trash bags full of stuff away. I organized her book shelf,her reading corner and her bureau,then I sent her in the living room for a while because I wanted to make a special place for her. Last month,she gave her Little Tykes toy box to a friend of mine for her daughter so there is a big space by her bureau. Until yesterday, that space was filled with all the clutter she couldn't stuff in her closet. Now that the area was clear, I did some rearranging.

I took her armoire, old fashioned desk and chair set and canopy bed for her American Girl Dolls and put them in the empty area. Her 3 dolls sat on top of the armoire. When Lillianna saw this, her face lit up. She thanked me a million times with shrieks of, "I love you Mommy!!!!!!" She said, "I can't believe you Feng Shui'd the place." Ya, well, I didn't but I did clean it up beyond recognition. When the room was finished,Lillianna was thrilled and so was I. The four hours it took to fix her room was worth it.She said it was better than Extreme Make-overs/Home Edition.

At 3pm, I straightened our bedroom;not a deep cleaning like Lil's room but it looked good....and I dusted. Then off to the living room,the bathroom and finally the kitchen. At 6pm I started dinner. When Rich got home at 7pm,I had chicken cutlets,corn on the cob and mashed potatoes waiting for him. Our meal was delicious.
After dinner, I cleaned the table and the kitchen and by 8pm I was finished!!!!

I had quite a productive day and it did me a world of good. I felt better about the things I couldn't change and I felt victorious over the things I did change.
It just about wore me out and my back is killing me from being twisted in Lillianna's beanbag chair as I rearranged her library but it was the best therapy for me.