Opportunity Knocks (With Grimy Little Knuckles)

Remember last week when I was grumping about my invitation from God to clean the basement? Well, it worked out astonishingly well. The basement is only partly cleaned, but the garage is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Or at least a joy until we pile too much junk in there again. I am optimistic, though, that it will be a joy for a good long time.

The best part was that we all worked on it together. The kids hauled boxes of record albums in the basement and wheeled out all the bicycles from the garage. It was filthy in there, from the roofing last fall and the painting in '06, but they worked together to scrub down the table and chairs and shelves. One of them had some sulky moments, but mostly they worked hard and they got along and they didn't whine. My husband got out the shop vac to suck up all the debris, and we put back a modest fraction of the stuff we took out.

I keep going out to stand at the door and admire it. It makes me very happy.

We have just been handed a similar invitation to straighten out the boys' room. Three of them share a room with approximately a quattuorvigintillion Legos. As you might imagine, this is not conducive to tidiness. (<- understatement alert)

Today an electrician came to install boxes for overhead fixtures in our living room and in the boys' room, something we've talked about doing since we moved in more than four years ago. He had to move the bunkbed to get to the wall, and OH MY GOODNESS the wall is appalling. Four years' worth of grimy prints along both top and bottom bunks -- it is crying out for a bucket of soapy water.

I think we're going to move the Legos into the secret room, the low-ceilinged space over our porch. It's a poorly insulated space and so it's an imperfect solution (too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter), but we'll give it a whirl. For now I am going to wash the plaster dust off the bedding and the prints off the wall. I'm going to do it cheerfully, even, remembering how good it felt to finish up the garage. Here's hoping round two of Gladlys Get Organized goes as well as round one.

Comments

[Sarah @ This Heavenly Life]

Congratulations! I’ve nominated you for the Honest Scrap Award. Have fun with it.
In accepting this award, I need to do the following:
1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2) Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving it.

(I know I don't really know you, but the directions said 'brilliant' and you came to mind immediately! If you have time in your Gladly Cleaning Spree, I'd love to read your honest scraps!)

[Lilian]

Oh, I'm so happy for you! I hope some of this diligence rubs off on me! Well, as soon as my parents get here I want to get into a cleaning and organizing spree. Our garage needs work and the basement too.

Did you use a magic eraser for the wall? Those are GREAT to get all the grime that small hands spread so expertly ;-). oh, and I never knew how easy and satisfying it was to clean textured microwave and fridge handles, as well as other appliances -- the dirt from the tiny textured ridges comes right off!

Happy cleaning and thanks for the encouragement that you give me when you post this. The only thing is that I only have two little ones, 5 and 7. They're learning more and more to help, but it's still hard (tiny attention spans).