attack the clutter: day 4

today, we cleaned out chaeli’s room… zone 4! two of the closets filled mainly with my old things (most from highschool/university years). it was by far, much more difficult to clean, mainly because chaeli, after learning how not fun it was the last weekend we cleaned out zone 1, she knew right away that it wasn’t going to be a fun day when she saw me disappear and working away (she’s obviously becoming much more keen with her memory).

tantrums – ALL DAY LONG!

however, i ploughed through.

it was really interesting taking a trip down memory lane. so many things i had forgotten i had. old photos, old letters… knick knacks.

anyway… it’s done. her room has been cleaned out except for two drawers, mainly because we need to keep a few things there until we have more room from the office (the next zone to attack).

i did, however, clean out the drawers so what remains is orderly and of things we actually need.

as i clean, i’ve noticed some weak spots of areas i need to go back. but i’ll keep on working at the areas that need it the most, and go back to the few areas i want to tidy up a bit more (at least those areas are very minor and will be more manageable).

zone 5, the office. i fear it. it is the place we’ve dumped bills, paper work, documents and knick knacks into… saying we’ll get to it one way, but haven’t yet.

it is not a monstrosity.

will be taking time off from work just to tackle this one. and we’ll be sending chaeli to my parent’s place for those days. ugh.

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

life's too short...

i’m the type of person who worries more then not. and who’s planning most of the time.

planning for what, you say? oh… for the future. or even for tomorrow’s ‘to do’ needs. or even for tonight’s dinner! planning, organizing, planning…

it’s not a bad thing. but i tend to forget to stop and smell the roses every now and then. something as easy as going out for a ten minutes stroll just to take in the sun and enjoy the fresh air.

sometimes, i catch myself looking at chaeli. and i have admire her and how children are so care free. i remember what it was like to be young. the joy of lying in the grass and just watching the clouds for what seemed like hours. or sitting onto of a slide and seeing how far i can see from that height. or sitting by the window sill and watching the world move just on the other side.

i miss doing those things.

See more progress on: stop and smell the roses

attack the clutter: day 3

it’s thursday… near the end of the week. i was starting to sweat that i would never get a chance to continue the ‘attack the clutter’ project.

but finally, tonight, as my husband took FOREVER to get chaeli ready for bed (why is it that he takes THREE times as long as i do when getting her ready to bed? our little cheeky monkey goes to bed one flippin’ hour after her bedtime whenever he is dealing with her – arrrrrgggh!), i had a chance to head down to our living/dining room to start clearing and cleaning out zone 2.

it looked like a bomb went off… and i know that tomorrow, when i come home, it will look like another bomb went off. though not as much. my little miss has a way of whipping through a room like a tornado.

but… i did it. i chucked the extra junk (flyers, scrap, and three little koala bears that pinch onto things with their arms – you know the kinds i’m talking about – exactly what would i want with those?) i dusted. i re-arranged. i hung up jackets of EVERYONE’s. and most importantly, i cleaned up her toys.

and not just stack them up or side by side. i took all of her toys (minus some books and anything to do with art/craft, because those are things i believe should always be around for a developping child) to the basement. in the basement, i sorted and tidied all her toys there. i packed up some that she’s gotten bored with, and took a couple of key toys out.

chaeli has enough toys to play with. so much that i think she gets bored of them easily because she’s so use to have so many. and because they get disorganized in one heaping mess, it’s not always as clear cut what toy goes with what. at least not at her age.

so… i’m going to do what i’ve heard others do – rotate toys every 2-4 weeks.

i brought up two of her key toys to the living room. and that’s all she gets. there are, of course, some of her really big toys in the basement that will alwyas be available to her – too big to put away anyway.

the dining room table is spotless… aside from one little corner where we keep a bag and basket of her arts & craft supply, of which i will find space for in a drawer in a cabinet we have in the corner of the room.

which is where i stopped. i wanted to attack the bottom two drawers there but could not get to it due to the four foot high pile of newspaper, half of which my dear husband never reads.

i’ve decided to cancel our subscription. i warned him – if he couldn’t be religious in tidying up his stacks of newspaper, then i was going to cancel them. of which i’m about to.

i have… the messiest and least organized husband in the whole world. but that’s another story…

kitchen, the last part of zone two… hopefully tomorrow?

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

leading by example

i’ve been more focused on eating healthy and being more consistent with my workouts lately… and while i must admit that i’m doing it mainly for my own health, a really big part of it is to raise chaeli to live a healthy lifestyle as well.

i don’t think it’s very effective to nag one’s child to eat properly and exercise when they don’t see their parents practicing what they preach.

growing up, i had issues with my weight. my parents were constantly nagging me to lose weight… but they never exercised. nor ate all that well.

i don’t want the same thing to happen to chaeli and i. i’m hoping that by being healthy, she will just incorporate it into her lifestyle as well.

See more progress on: be a better parent

attack the clutter: day 2

yesterday, we completed the scrub, chuck and basic clean of our master suite bathroom. it’s a large bathroom, no doubt, so it took a lot longer then we thought.

unfortunately, we didn’t get around to the diving/living room and kitchen. i’m hoping to get to it sometime the end of this week when i know i’ll have more time.

we actually could have worked on it after chaeli woke from her nap but we really hadn’t been there for her. she was constantly trying to get our attention and while we kept her close to us, and tried our best to play with her in short spurts here and there, it was obvious that she wasn’t herself – grumpy and upset that she had no quality playtime with mommy and daddy.

so… come sunday afternoon, i made an executive decision to call it a day, and spend the remainder time with our daughter.

one thing i am proud of, though… in the evening, i had two more large baskets of cloths to fold (this is addition to the large heap piling in the corner, which i completed the night before).

in the past, i would have just left it, thinking i would do it the next day – which i would never do. as mondays, the start of the week, are always crazy-busy.

so i did it last night, put the cloths neatly away, and was able to go to bed peacefully, knowing the baskets were empty.

well… except for the underwear and socks we wore before going to bed. :)

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

craft supply nook

with all this spring cleaning and ‘attack the clutter’ project, i’ve pleasantly realized that i have space in my walk-in closet for my craft supplies.

so many of my shevlves are empty now. i plan to buy some of the weaved, rectangular baskets lined with cloth so i can just pull out (or bring with me to where ever in the house i want to do my crafting) in the basket. easy slip in and slip out.

i’m excited. as we continue to clean our house, i’m realizing more and more that the reason why i’ve been procrasinating about certain homemade projects is because i simply can not get into the spirit of it w/out having some order and control over our chaotic mess.

once everything has been cleaned, i will feel more freedom to start new projects… as the ‘must-do’ lists shrinks away.

See more progress on: craft more

attack the clutter: day 1 continuation

i’m done may share of the room. i can’t believe it. looking at it, it still looks like a mess but only because we have the bags and bags of cloths to move to our cars tonight (for our travel to various charity locations) and a pile of misc. items we’re not too sure what to do with. i think most will be chucked into the garbage bin tonight.

what’s left is doug’s cloths. he has so many unworn items. i hadn’t a clue how much worse he is then i am. i’ll be amazed if we get through his tonight.

tomorrow morning, i will start with our ensuite bathroom. i’m sure that will take a good part of tomorrow morning.

tomorrow afternoon, while chaeli is napping, we will work on zone 2 – the living room and kitchen. neither should take too long as we normally keep the place uncluttered (due to hosting parties and dinners).

it’s doubtful that we will have the chance to sort and chuck anywhere else for this weekend.

zone 3 will be chaeli’s room (her closet is still filled mostly with my junk (pre-doug before he moved in). it shouldn’t take too as it’s been cleaned out to make room for when chaeli came into our lives.

zone 4 is the scariest… the office. the office is our collection of junk and paper-work. when guests arrive, it’s simply, “put it in the office for now!” i hate this zone. the computer is in this zone and as we speak, i can’t stare anywhere but the monitor for fear of self-combustion.

zone 5 is the 2nd floor bathroom. it’s a small bathroom. but the bathtub has been used for storage. yes, i know… sad.

zone 6 and 7… the basement and laundry room respectively.

when we find ourselves hitting zone 6 and 7, i will feel more relief then anything else. for i know that we will find half of the things belonging to my parents where we can say, with glee, “here. take this back. now.” nothing will give me more pleasure then to shove back things that they are storing at our place. even though they have 5 times the more storage space then we do.

sigh

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

getting back to strength

i use to love lifting weights… going to the gym and spending 2 hours to get my cardio and my weights in properly was like heaven to me.

but now that i’m working full time and am a parent, how realistic would that lifestyle be now? i want to spend the extra time that i have with our daughter now.

yet, i know that i can’t JUST do cardio. i need to add the resistance training back in. at some level. so i’ve found a way to via circuit training where i can use hand held waits or resistance bands while still doing cardio.

hopefully, if i do this 2-3 times a week, it will be better then nothing…

it will at least tie me over to a day (far in the future) where chaeli is older, off doing her own thing, and i have more time to lift weights (hopefully, she’ll even come to the gym with me!)

See more progress on: do resistance training 2-3 times a week

attack the clutter: day 1

when i’m on a roll, i’m on a roll. the question is… do i have the stamina to keep on doing what i’m doing?

the challenge isn’t tackling the job. the challenge is finding time. AND doing it while i have a toddler who wants to be involved in everything.

alas, it does feel good to get started…

this morning, after breakfast, we went grocery shopping. i bought 20 garbage bags KNOWING that we would use all of them by the time we finish our ‘attack the clutter’ project.

we came back, had lunch, put little miss down for a nap and marched right upstairs to zone 1… the master ensuite.

since my husband and i moved together to this place, we sort of just stuffed and jammed things in storage spaces. it doesn’t really make that much sense how we organized.

no wait… let me correct myself. there wasn’t any organization. it was just a quick fix to hide the mess.

what resulted as the three years passed, was that the clutter started to accumulate. and because there was so much clutter in the already, small storage spaces, we had no more places to hide our newly acquired clutter.

well… i’m fed up with it. we’re going to clean this place from top to bottom. ALL FOUR FLOORS (including the basement that is! just like we would if we were selling and moving from this place.

anyway, i digress…

as i was saying, we are tackling zone 1 – the master bedroom, which takes up the entire third floor, which includes the master bathroom.

i have successfully, in the two hour nap that chaeli took, cleaned out my walk-in closet, while my husband sorted and chucked through all the crap on whatever surface one could find (and he dusted as well).

i have now, a bag of cloths for my mother to sort through, one for a friend of doug’s (who’s not too well off and could use some nice cloths that we don’t touch anymore) and FIVE BAGS of cloths just from ME to give to charity.

this… just from my closet alone. i have not touched doug’s closet nor my drawers yet… which i’m about to attack after this short break.

i’m hoping to clean out the bathroom tonight. and tomorrow, i want to clean up the main floor (kitchen, dining room and living room). we will also drop our cloths off at the charity bins.

hope they have room for us.

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

baskets full of laundry

i’m good at washing clothe.

two times a week, on schedule, you will find me in our laundry room… separately colours from whites, washing the delicates last, putting the clothes in the dryer…

it’s the folding and putting away part i hate most. and with this past winter (my husband is out of town every other weekend to ski patrol), i just could not keep up.

what’s now left, is a corner of our bedroom with 2 baskets of clothes needing to be folded and put away. what’s worse is that the larger of the two baskets has a pile so high, that half of it could easily fill up another basket.

i don’t know what happened… motherhood? busy life? or perhaps the fact that my husband goes through so many clothes per week (what two average people go through)? when i lived with my parents, i certainly didn’t get lazy with finishing the laundry. but with my own family now?

oh lord…

so tonight. am tackling the mountain of clothes… and making my doug help me.

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

20 minute workout

being busy as a mother… and not being able to afford those expensive pilates studios at the moment, i decided to borrow my aunt’s ‘winsor pilates’ series.

tonight, i did the 20 minute workout. the easiest of the series. and believe me, i was modifying moves left and right just so i can keep up.

it’s a lot tougher then it is. and sadly, my flexibility is shot.

seriously… how does one ‘roll like a ball?’ i can’t even stay in tucked in the position without rolling all over the place.

not to mention… mari winsor is annoying.

See more progress on: learn pilates

riverdale farm

a couple of weeks ago, we took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather.

right at the heart of cabbage town (a district in the east part of downtown toronto) is a farm. it’s truely an odd location. i didn’t know it existed until i became a parent.

but there you have it… riverdale farm.

chaeli had a fairly good time. she’s always at her best when we are out – i suppose there’s a sense a freedom that we all enjoy together. plus, the new sights and sounds distract her enough to keep her goin.

we walked the grounds and then found ourselves at this little restaurant called ‘piggies!’ the restaurant is only opened for sunday brunch, with a snack bar for the rest of the week.

yummy brunch. chaeli had a grill cheese sandwhich and fries. doug and i both shared a roasted red pepper, goat cheese over spring greens, and ordered two smoked salmon scramble with home fries and an english muffin.

we took our time home so little miss could fall asleep in the car.

See more progress on: be a better parent

scrapping

easter has come and gone… i had bought a slew of things to create easter cards with.

they haven’t even been opened from their packaging.

however, not all is at lost as i have completed one birthday card for my sister-in-law… click to view.

See more progress on: craft more

a monster in my closet

well… okay. not quite a monster…

but the clutter of clothes i have not touched from anywhere from 2-5 years is quite scary. INCLUDING my maternity cloths for heaven sakes.

i need to make up a rule… if i haven’t worn it in two years… salvation army here we come.

this weekend will be a rainy one. must tackle the skeletons in my closet.

wish me luck.

See more progress on: clean out the clutter

"angels and demons" by dan brown

it’s been over a year since i’ve been consistantly reading. i know i need to get back in fear of my brains turning into mush.

i borrowed a book several months ago from a friend.

and i haven’t gotten past the first 35 pages or so. SAD.

a part of me feels i should give up but then another part of me feels obligated to finish it in fear of returning it after all this time and not even being able to discuss this book with her.

ugh. tonight… i promise. will read before going to bed (instead of watching t.v.)

See more progress on: read, read, and read some more

starting up again...

it’s not that i DON’T do cardio – it’s just that after a couple of weeks of really intensive sessions, i make up excuses to allow for some laziness.

now that this cold is gone, i’m trying to get back into it… and this time, on a more committed level.

today, i did 43 minutes during my lunch workout.

felt good…

except… the row of cardio machines in front of me were stationary bikes. and for some reason, a man came by about a third into my workout session and re-positioned one of the bikes on an angle right infront of me.

for the rest of the workout, i felt like we were almost facing each other.

how very annoying.

See more progress on: Do more Cardio

brayden's birthday party

brayden's bday party was held in one of those indoor playgrounds... grasshopper playhouse.

brilliant. more for the parents then the kids. i mean, the kids had a blast. but what made this one of god's gift to parents was that we - the parents - actually had a chance to put our feet up every now and then... AND HAVE SOME ADULT CONVERSATIONS!

no guilt here. from none of the parents. we took pleasure in letting our kids run wild while we sat and drank coffee and talked and laughed and shared stories and laughed some more...

looking around, i honestly would not believe that, growing up with these people (some as early as kindergarden), we would one day be sitting around while our own kids played togther... sharing this parental-experience, while looking at each other with the same thought crossing our minds.

we're old. and this parenting this is constantly tiring.

oh yeah...

latest chaeli news... she has started to ask 'why?'

we're in trouble.

boxes

chaeli's new discovery... playing with large, cardboard boxes is cool.

well, it's not cool. she thinks it's cool.

we feel somewhat ashamed. our little girl, climbing in and out of boxes.

we didn't know what to do. so we just gave a bigger one.

her reply was, "oh kewl! bigger!"

hey - whatever keeps her busy, i always say.

sweet good morning

am happy with chaeli today. even though there's so many crappy things happening to doug and i, she certainly is giving us the strength to push forward.

i technically had to leave at 7:30am this morning to get an early start. but chaeli wanted me to pick her out of her crib today. so i did. and she gave me a big hug with lots of kisses.

we lied on the bed next to each other for a moment, just staring up at the ceiling. i whispered, i love you, chaeli!

she whispered back, i you too, mommy!

'i you too' is chaeli's way of saying 'i love you.'

she wrapped her little arms tightly around my neck for another series of hugs and kisses.

i was a few minutes late leaving the house.

totally worth it.

p.s.

maybe i shouldn't call this my temporary home just in case i never do get around to designing a new site?

temporary home

until i find time (and the creativity) to design, i'm forced to use some one else's template. not that it's not a good template. it's actually quite a wonderful design. but i've always been finicky of using something more... well, home-made, per say.

but i can't really type a lot at the moment, because chaeli is standing next me and repeating over and over again, "what are you doin', mommy?"

except that because i'm not answering her, it sounds more like this... "whatyoudoinwhatyoudoingmommywhatyoudoinhuhwhatyouyoin???"

can i hear a very loud and solid ARRRRRGGGGGGHHH!

*sigh*