Success!

Today, I had two major chores on my list: clean out the garage and clean off the pool table. While I certainly didn't get both of them done, I definitely consider today a success. Initially I cleaned out a corner of the garage and reorganized the shelves. I was absolutely shocked to discover that the 72 pints of strawberry jam I put up has been reduced to 15. Fourteen if you don't count the one that got opened today. Apparently I'll need to do that again sometime soonish.

From there, I moved on to the attic. I spent a good portion of today up in the rafters sorting through totes of clothes, marking boxes, consolidating and reorganizing. I was able to move quite a bit of stuff up into the attic, and some stuff (more shorts that actually fit Little Dude) down. After sweating considerably, I moved on to the rest of the garage. While I still have much work left to do in the garage, the fact that the car (for the first time in months) fits back into it's spot in the garage is enough for me to call today a success.

The pool table, however, still needs significant attention. I've been purging pre-school items, consolidating my school collections and streamlining my storage and "treasures." It's an intense process. I did manage to put away 3 boxes from around the pool table in the process of cleaning out the garage, so I believe there is still hope. It's just another one of those big, thankless projects that gets put off far too long.

My motivation for all of this comes in the form of time. I have precisely two and one half weeks until my big trip. While I'm gone, two college age kids will live here. I need to get the house back in order. It was April when the roof leaked and things generally fell apart. It's high time I get my act together and put things back where they belong.

In other news, I may have signed up for the craziest schedule known. Today went something like this:

3:45 drop 1 off to teach karate
3:50 drop 3 & 4 off for swim lessons
4:15 pick up 1 from karate
4:20 pick 3 & 4 up from swim lessons, start them changing
4:30 drop 1 & 2 off for swim lessons, drive like mad to other side of town
4:30ish drop 3 & 4 off for karate
5:00 pick up 1 & 2 from swim lessons (other side of town from karate)
drive back to karate dojo to...
5:30 pick up 3 & 4 and drop off 1 & 2 at karate
run errands
6:30 pick up 1 & 2 from karate

Thursday should be slightly less crazy because Little Miss won't have to teach karate before swim lessons. Wednesday and Friday should be just peachy since no one has karate after swim lessons. There is a reason for all of this madness. Swim lessons for 2 weeks are just $20 for each kid. The times lessons are offered aren't ideal for our schedule, but for $20, I'm willing to go crazy for a couple of weeks. And perhaps by the end of the summer, we'll have 4 strong swimmers instead of 2 1/2. :o)