One down, many to go

One week down, One Artwork completed!
Seven more weeks, seven more to go and 3 projects already started.

When I don't feel accomplished, like this morning seeing all the boxes in our bedroom as I'm putting away clean laundry, I keep going back to the numbers.

I'd like to point out that as you see a family of 3 or 4 out and about, and you notice that the kids and husband are dressed nice and cleanly but the mother's clothes are rumbled or slightly faded but clean, that you're probably looking at a stay at home mom. Why? Because we tend to do every one else's laundry first. (I imagine this is similar for Stay at Home Dads too!) Since our spouse is going out of the house for work, and also will forget to tell us that they have no clean socks until there are NO socks left in their drawer, we make sure we wash their clothes every week. Our children are, in many cases, the people we spend the most time with and see the most so and help dress in the mornings so, obviously, we have a handle on where their "clean clothes status" is. Which leaves ourselves, the stay at home parent, last.

I realized and was pissed off by this over this past weekend when I couldn't find the pants I wanted to wear to church... one of two Sundays this entire year where I will have to go stand up up front so I wanted to look nice. (I still have not found those black dress pants!) I wore a skirt & sweater instead. So I now have most of my laundry clean, but again, because I come last, it's everyone else's which is being put away first... and because my lovely husband won't part with any of his clothing, even though a portion of them no longer fit him (he's finally not underweight anymore!) I have run out of space to put away his clothes and thus am wasting time, quite probably in vain, trying to "make room" for his clean clothes. We've had a few discussions about this. He simply doesn't get it. So since I'm in a snit about it he tells me to leave his clean clothes on the bed and he'll put them away. There is a small pile of his clean clothes floating around our bedroom. He refuses to admit defeat but has no idea where he's going to put the clothes without rebreaking the dresser drawer. (He doesn't admit that he has no idea, but seriously, once you've looked inside the closet and gone through each of your drawers and still not put away anything in that pile, I know you've seen defeat.)

So, since I turn 30 this week, and the old adage "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." is very true, I'm going to declare April "de-clutter or create" month. No one's things are not up for consideration for donation. I mean, I got rid of 1/5 of my wardrobe before I left NY for Massachusetts. I've gotten rid of a lot of clothes since then of mine too. (If a top was super tight before having a child it is simply never ever going to fit again, so why keep it taking up space?!?) In comparison, I have saved a fraction of Sebastian's outgrown clothes but largely donated or traded in outgrown clothes. I sold his high chair. I try to discourage family from getting him large toys. His tricycle wintered in my parents basement (and will be retrieved at Easter - I'm still working on finding a helmet that fits Sebastian.). I got ANOTHER bookcase... and yet we still have a "proper storage" issue. I still see a pile of boxes before I go to bed at night. (Unless, as was the case last night, silly boy refuses to go back to sleep without Mommy spending the night in his room. I LOVE that he finally has a big bed with trundle. I dislike that silly boy still woke up and wanted to talk every hour through the night)

Now, in the time I took to type all that I could've put away some of my clothes, but sometimes, getting the frustrations of life off your chest is more important. However, in my personal life as in my art life, the reward in the sense of accomplishment when a task is completed is quite high for me. So, while I am about to go out and get some relaxing massage therapy (which should be the best thing for this aching right arm that's on fire!) I've also got my entire day after that planned out... which includes another clothing donation (children's clothes and dresses I had wanted to sell but don't have the patience to keep putting up online), returning soda cans, grocery shopping so I can do casseroles for this weekend & chicken tonight,