Day #4 and #5: My Worst Nightmare Came Home From Work

     I love my husband.  I love him terribly and I always will.  I can not imagine my life without him and I truthfully, almost don't remember life without him in the past.  It feels like we grew up together and sometimes I look at him and laugh in remembrance of something that he has no idea about - like part of my brain put him there for my 8yr old memory of something funny I did.  But, for this goal and project of mine, he is not a great component.  The reason is not because he doesn't love me, he doesn't care about my goal, or something crazy like that.  The reason is because he loves me so much that he wants to "fix" my "pack rat tendencies" as he calls them, and because his manners and mine are about as different at hot oil and water.  His methods of cleaning is to literally dump drawers and scrape contents of shelves into a garbage bag and run it to the dump -- DONE and move on to something else.  My method involves much more handling, many questions, nostalgia, and optimally I'd have a buddy there to sit and listen to stories that I remember about each item.  Hours and days later, I'd still have the same mess.  Somewhere in the middle is a good ground but neither of us have found that yet.
    Days #4 and #5 did not go as I had planned. Well, they were Thursday and Friday and the days just fell apart for me and my project.  It took me A.L.L.  D.A.Y. to get my stuff into piles of similar things; pants here, tops there, shoes here, lounge clothes there. Seriously??? I refuse to be disheartened.  I will own this mess! I did actually move out some disgusting shoes and things I knew would not re-enter my closet, but when I went to bed, here is what I had:

 End of Day#4

   
     Day#5, just happened to be a day Will was home from work - hence the title of my blog .....I told you he was the one thing I have been avoiding during this whole project :).  This is why I started so many days ago, because who would dream that my closet contents would still be on the couch?!?! I was in serious trouble now! After breakfast, he grabbed his coffee and I could feel the weight of his staring.  I avoided eye contact until the last possible minute -- crud, he was talking to me.  It's hard to go unnoticed in our living room.  I was sorting, folding, tossing, and he asks, "So, what is your plan for the day?"  I wondered how he could question that, since I was standing immersed in a junk pile on the couch. Long story short, he wanted to start on Ellie's bedroom while he had some free time.  That did not go along with my KonMari plan at all but this was one of those pivotal times that a wife has, to show her husband that he does make decisions for the family and that she will support him.  I tried to hide my defiance (not sure I did that 100% but I tried!!) and we went downstairs to decide a plan of action.  Ellie's room was storage/movie room and it has to be empties, carpet ripped out, wallpaper removed, walls painted, and a closet built.  Don't you think that will mess up my closet project - yes!

     So look at this and see my frustration because THIS mess just got bumped in priority over my couch; this mess that has been here for two year already; THIS mess that KonMari says should come next to last because it is way closer to my emotional storage things (piles).  Will and kids started moving furniture out, cleaning off walls, and my job was to "do something with your junk, so we can walk in here."  I thought that'd be easy because after all I have committed to the KonMari system and I no longer let things rule me. The first shelf had piles of papers from my Thesis that I never organized; old Bible story books I needed to sort through; a stack of cool projects I want to do at the house; a stack of "How to Start a Photography Biz" that I need to read; and all of a sudden I notice he is staring at me again.  I cried, he got very confused, I said I need to be alone, he left, everyone was tense and it was my fault.
     I did the only thing I could do.  I got disgusted that my junk was such a downer for my family today, and I crammed it all  in boxes that got crammed into my sewing room (with the other crammed boxes of crammed stuff).  We just hit the heart of why I  am doing this!!  Starting with my closet was supposed to ease me into this but as the Heaths do it -- we have slammed right into the heart of the issue.  That is his style and today I realized that maybe it's not so bad because after two hours, here is what the room looked like!
     I began again to sort my piles of clothes and Will thought he would do the same.  I got excited! Yes, we'll do this together!  Nope - wrong.  Within 20 minutes, he had piled an entire garbage bag of clothes to  donate, emptied four drawers, and cleaned his entire closet.  His efficiency KILLS ME!! I worked on my stuff until it was time to get sheep, feed sheep, check eggs, wash clothes, make supper (Will actually did that), and have family time.  I got piles of tops going in a chair and I filled up two bags to donate.  Here's my progress:

End of Day #5

   

Master Bedroom and Movie Room

     I thought hard about which room to start with and I chose my Master Bedroom for two reasons:  Me and Will.  We work so many hours, do so many things, and at some point in the day we would love to retire to a bedroom that offers rest, rejuvenation, and relaxation.  My mind ran rampant with ideas of canopy beds, billowy curtains, plush rugs stretching out from under a bed full of Mediterranean styled pillows and thick, silky covers.  The pallet wall behind my bed will be wired for bronze bedside lamps and the lush, tropical plants will fill the corners of the room.  An hour later, with a headache I realized I am on the same path of failure that plagues me and people like me - Perfectionists.

     I used to think a Perfectionist was someone who is perfect.  I thought they were organized, punctual, clean, polished (as my momma calls it), with bright white teeth and clean fingernails.  Ironically, many times just the opposite is true.  The perfectionists can be spotted from miles away.  They are the hectic people who sometimes do not accomplish anything because they wait for all the stars to line up, before they act on their goals.  In this case, I would normally turn this Challenge to Organize into a Challenge to Decorate and those two things are completely different.  So I am officially breaking this into two separate things.

     Monday, I will start to declutter and create organization in my home that will allow every single thing I own to have its own particular spot.  I will not waste anymore time moving things (my piles) around from one spot to another.  I will not pile up things right now, just because I'm not sure what to do with them.  I will waste no more time looking for things because I forgot where I put it.  When I am finished de-cluttering and organizing each room of my house, I'd like to turn around and start decorating more.  We have some big plans for our kitchen and upstairs bathroom but those aren't things I will do in two weeks.

     I will start with the Master Bedroom on Monday morning.  I think the first step should be to remove anything and everything that does not match my goal for that room.  What's my goal for that room?  I don't 100% know but I will on Monday!!  My incentive to hurry is that if I finish organizing the current area within the timeline I have, then I can start decorating;  but I can only decorate up until my time runs out for that room.  Any decorating project that is not 100% finished, can not stay - so that will keep me from starting big projects that I can not finish.

     My entire house is broken into ten areas but I did not include the garage because it is a monster!  I have to do complete two areas each week, to finish in five weeks.  So you see how this can not be a "decorating" challenge!  I am going to show y'all how my house looks on a normal day so it may or may not be clean the way it would be if company was going to come over.  My momma may just go into hiding when she sees this go public; and for goodness sake don't show my Granny how much dog hair is under my couch!!  I am going to show very personal stuff and I hope you will all follow the blog and leave me comments and suggestions!  If you think of great decorating ideas, please send them in!!  My ten areas are:

(1) Master Bedroom

(2) Movie Room

(3) Hallway and Bathroom Upstairs

(4) Kitchen and Living Room

(5) Front door foyer and stairs

(6) Foyer at bottom of stairs (school room maybe)

(7) Ellie's bedroom & Garrett's bedroom

(8) Laundry Room and Bathroom downstairs

(9) Sewing Room/Craft Room

(10) Front Porch and Back Deck