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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Tah Dah

Do you believe in magic? The last three days of my week prove that magic is real and my mom is a magician. She made all my junk disappear! It took hours of work, a bit of sweat, a few exclamations of "Oh My Word!", and quite a few Rubbermaid bins from Walmart - but it is all gone. I will now humiliate myself by showing you the pig sty we were living in and then the splendor in which we will sleep tonight.

Mom arrived 30 min. early on Wednesday. This allowed for proper smooches and fun with the kiddos before the hard work began.
My mother had told me to have a plan (we Cheelys are planners, for those who didn't already know) and so, while the girls ate lunch I went over the plan with mom - who will from here out be called "The General". The plan involved cleaning the upstairs. I had asked Honey, "If you could have any part of the house cleaned while mom is here, what would you want cleaned?" His reply, "The bedroom, landing, and basement." I immediately informed him that there wasn't enough time left in October to clean the basement, much less during a three day visit, so we settled on the bedroom and landing.

Our bedroom includes a home office and walk in closet (a.k.a. disaster area) and the landing you have seen before. The online yard sale had completely killed any sign of order in both places. The piles were breeding, I tell you, and it was beyond my control. So, here are the revolting before shots (they are small so that the mess might look smaller - or not):
The Office
The Bedroom
The Closet
The Landing
The General came in and took control just like someone on HGTV. We made three piles: Get Rid Of, Store, and Keep and waged war on the office. We finished it the first night and started bright and early Thursday on the closet. We took EVERYTHING out and it looked like this:
By midday Friday we were done with all three "rooms". Honey had gone away for the night and arrived back home to the unveiling of pure magic.
The Office
The Bedroom
The Closet
The Landing

Isn't it wonderful? The stuff on the top of the bookshelf in the office has one week to be removed (we are going to try to sell it on Craigslist) and then it gets chucked. There is one pile of papers to go through too. The need for SOMETHING on the walls is much more apparent since your eyes are not glued to the filth covering the floor. Still, isn't it WONDERFUL?? AND we have kept it clean for three days!!!

I am so grateful to my mom for the time she gave, money she spent, and energy she expended on our behalf. What a labor of love!

And guess what! There are six more rooms to do so she is coming back in March! My mom is the best mom EVER!!!

6 comments:

achildsjoy said...

Hurray for The General! Is she for hire? Great job, Becky! It looks fantastic. I just love me some good organization! :-)

Catherine said...

So.. how much would she charge for a trip over here to help me out?? I am jealous....

But, your house looks GREAT. Hurray for mums!

jessica said...

to make you feel better i didn't think the rooms were that bad in the before pictures. That is what my house looks like. But your mom and you did a great job! It looks wonderful!

annaj said...

woo hoo! maybe she can give me lessons and we can do a room while i'm there for christmas!

Anonymous said...

My mom enjoyed reading your post with me :). She volunteered to vacuum for me this morning and cleaned my stove top and then I made her accomany me to Walmart and Costco. I agree that moms are wonderful and even better when they clean for us :). Enjoy having a clean house for even just a few days.

Anonymous said...

Yea for a clean house! In my opinion, there's nothing better than a little bit of organization...but I think that's the teacher in me coming out. Travis laughs because I can never have enough rubbermaid tubs and baskets! Have fun basking in the clean!!!