Work in Progress

I managed to do what I set out to do last weekend and that was clean up the room and organize the second floor bookcase. This is part of my ongoing effort to fulfill the 10 things I needed to get better at (sorry Ces!). So, for the past two weeks I have not bought a thing for myself from the shops, and I have already cleaned up our bathroom (and it's still tidy! Yay!).

We share a bedroom with my two kids, so it is almost always filled to the brim with whatever toys the kids play with. Add to that two adults with the predilection to buy lots of books and magazines which are piled everywhere there is a free surface and you get the picture of the state of our bedroom. Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get right down to it in case I get cold feet and decide to just go watch a movie (we haven't seen Eragon yet), I didn't pause to take pictures.

So by 10am on Saturday morning, I instructed the maid to take out all the toys from the room and place them in the play area in the second floor. After that, we dusted and swept and mopped and moved furniture (or rather, my husband moved the furniture). Once I was satisfied with the arrangement, we tackled the tv stand next. It was a jumble of VCDs and DVDs which were not in their proper cases and lying around on top of the tv and dvd player thanks to the kids and their nanny, tons of children's books that were haphazardly stacked and were spilling out the back.

We called it a night at 9pm so we could get the kids ready for bed. The next day was spent organizing the books and drawers and then fixing the second floor bookcase. This is what we ended up with:


The shelves right next to the closet used to overflow with books, magazines, papers and two Santa hats. The floor was where we used to keep our supply of diapers and a huge Toys r us plastic bag filled with Joshua's power rangers. The tv used to stand where the couch is (have to remember to have it re-upholstered -- someone went gaga with a marker) and I've repositioned the green rocker (I spent countless hours nursing Joshua with my feet up on this rocker!) where we can actually use it again instead of being used as a repository of freshly ironed laundry. And that's Faith's yellow duckie plush chair which was our Christmas present last year.


The other half of the room where the bed used to be. Joshua's chest of drawers used to be at the opposite end and on top of it rested his dinosaur collection. And on top of his dinosaur collection were bits and pieces of toys, Faith's barbie dolls, a doll house and some dvds. Then that's Joshua's froggie chair, a partner to Faith's yellow duck.


The tv stand, for lack of a better term. Took us a long time to sort through all the vcds and dvds and try to put them all in their cases. I never realized how many Sesame Street vcds we had. Have to watch all of them again (I grew up on Sesame street!). I've also fixed the books -- wonder how long it'll take before it gets "re-arranged"?


Ah, the bookcase. I removed all the books I didn't want and put them aside for donations or a future garage sale. The books on the floor are my sister's medical books, Jun's finance books and other reference books which are intended for the office bookshelves on the first floor. This will be a project that needs to be scheduled for when my sister is home (and not lightheaded from night duty) since she also has a lot of stuff stored in that tiny place. And because I do not want a fight when I inadvertently throw away something she still needs.


Above is next weekend's cleaning project. Tons of toys to sort through, put away (all the baby stuff), throw out (the ones with missing bits and pieces) and give away. I fell in love with a toy organizer I saw at the mall last night. It's a bit expensive so I will have to look around for a cheaper alternative. Below is the rest of the second floor which I will re-arrange once all the sorting out and cleaning is done.


I had such a sense of satisfaction and well-being after this weekend. All the mess was beginning to get to me. I can't say I enjoyed it but it was worth it. However, I did enjoy pawing through my bedside table drawer where I found treasure: letters from my mom and sister given to me after my wedding day *gulp*, a pearl necklace, cards from my hubby during the early days, checks that were used to pay for our wedding suppliers, and our boarding passes from our honeymoon in Thailand. I'd forgotten that's where I put them. Oh! And I found an illustrated Kama Sutra and another illustrated guide to sex book that were gifts from my bridal shower! I guess I hid it so well even I forgot all about it!

One last bit, it is the the 10th anniversary of our blind date and we are going out tonight. My sweetie of a husband still has the restaurant receipt from our first date. :D