De-Cluttering Continues

Have you heard the phrase..."What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."?   Well...I think this de-cluttering stuff is enough to kill me.  The dust that I have been too lazy or too tired to take care of is everywhere...and my throat burns!  But, I think we have overcome and so that must mean we are stronger, right?  Of course we are!

The children have been troupers...the plan was to take two days and get all the work done...so we could prepare for our trip to San Antonio (I am sure the first of many!).  But, just before we got started, I had a brainstorm...well call it a Momma-moment.  The boys were already getting a little fussy about who would do what job or who would help each other.  SO...I said that each person was going to have a job and we would put all the jobs in a hat a each would take whatever was drawn.  It turned out there were just enough jobs for each of us!  AND...I had the sense to say that if one person finished before the others it would be KIND to help someone else!

So...here is the luck of the draw:

Momma-clean out the shoe closet...It is a closet that runs under the full length of the stairs...it is a DIRTY spot that know one likes to take care to clean because it gets crammed with everything!  I cringed at what I might find...but it was an inside job and I could do it while Zaira slept...which thankfully she would do most of the time we worked.  Thank you, Lord, for that special grace!  And...I also had her help along with Brendan...so sweet!

Amanda-tape and move the boxes from master bedroom to the garage...what a plush job!  But there were a lot of boxes and it did make the room look amazing...and she did do the job without any help...so I was very glad to have the job under our belts!  I can actually walk in my room again!  Yes...I will probably need to throw out stuff on the other end of this move...I really need to get rid of stuff!

Christina-such a hard worker!-She got the job of pulling out the old raised beds that were overgrown after our lack luster harvest this year.  We pulled the beds because the area is a small fenced in spot behind the house that as always been hard to mow around...now it is an open area that can be taken care of with ease.  More on Christina in a bit!

Sean-he had to gather as much of the thrift store items that would fit in the van...this included the books I set aside from the remains of the book sale still going on through Saturday...and anything that he could find in the garage.  It did not take him long...to start coming to me asking about each item he found!  LOL!...actually he did have a hard job...because it was not a task that was very straight forward.  I was proud of him for being able to make choices and then confirm with me.  Great job!  And the van did get filled and taken to the thrift store for the first of many trips when we all finished our various jobs.  YAY!  A major de-cluttering of items from our house!

Henry-clearing out the carport...He probably got stuck with the hardest job....but the boys had all gone out and cleared away a lot of this "junk" earlier in the "cool" of the day.  He also got some help from Christina so it became a team effort.  Most of all...a HUGE victory against the UGLY monster!  It really looked bad and I was thrilled when I saw the area cleaned!

Edward-moving the pavers out of the area beside the deck.  This was my punishment job for the boys over the last few days.  We had once had an awesome life-size chess board set up in this area, but when lawn care became too overwhelming, this area became severely neglected....so the solution was to mow the area.  Unfortunately, the chessboard needed to be removed.  SO...when anyone bickered they were sent out to pull a paver.  Edward was asked to complete the job...there were only a few left.  However, Edward is not a big guy and he is not one to do heavy labor...so he ended up getting A LOT of help from Christina!  Job accomplished and now we can mow, so it will look much better soon!

By the end of the day...the house is clean and ready for realtor to start showing to clients.  The outside is ready for the landscaper to come and work his magic at the beginning of next week!  I think we are definitely stronger from the work...and EXHAUSTED!!!

After all of that...Henry made an amazing dinner with kielbasa, bowtie pasta and green beans....then I took everyone into town....we got a group picture in front of our CLOSED (for good!) Planned Parenthood...We praised God and asked for the building to be dedicated to a Pro-life cause.  Then we made our way to the thrift store drop off before heading home for ice cream sundaes.

An awesome day and the best...we got BOTH days of work completed so we can rest and pack for our trip tomorrow!!!!