Seven, Eight, Lay them Straight

One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks. Seven, eight, lay them straight. Nine, ten, a big fat hen! Week seven, last week, I was completely and utterly stuck. I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed by clutter in every direction. Construction was mostly completed, but we still weren’t sure if we could move back into the rooms. Once our contractor gave us the A-Ok to move back into the rooms, I didn’t know where to begin. I just stood there in a 360-motion, catatonic, staring at three months of messes in all directions.

Fortunately, friends came to the rescue (thanks, Jeff and Josh!) and helped us unload that huge storage POD, and move the larger items back into the bedroom. Then I went to my happy place for all my storage needs—IKEA and spent a boatload of money on adorable Kallax storage boxes for my Expedit cube storage shelf. (Expedit is now called Kallax, in case you were wondering. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, ignore this and watch this video because it’s funny and there are a gazillion puns like this going around in our house regularly.)

Steve kept telling me to push through, that we could make it happen, one box at a time. He was right. Now we’re almost to the end of week eight, and I feel like we are ‘laying them straight’. Things have come together. (Bookshelves, room dividers, desk, chairs, and storage boxes. Thank God for the Makita. I love you Makita. I love me some power tools and yes, I am a female. Breakin’ stereotypes over here on Baseline. Doin’ my part, friends, doin’ my part.) We have gotten rid of bags of clothes, furniture, and other items we didn’t need, like tie-dying dyes that the neighbor happily received, a storage cabinet and bunk beds that our other neighbors acquired, free of charge. (We love our neighbors, even more, when they take our junk. Won’t you be my neighbor? <<You just sang that in Mr. Roger’s voice, I know you did.>>. It’s okay to admit it.) It really does feel good to purge. Are you with me? If you haven’t started purging, start with one shelf, one cabinet, or one drawer. Baby steps. From What about Bob?, Bill Murray’s character says, “One little step at a time and I can do anything!” Best advice for decluttering, physically and emotionally. Best.

Taking that first few steps over to the first box is one of the hardest parts for me. Getting started is a major hurdle. I did as Bob said. I baby-stepped. I am ALMOST walking through this decluttered house, safely. (BTW, Steve did try a few of those IKEA puns while we were shopping, and I said, naturally, on cue, just like the girlfriend, Donna, in the video, “STOOOOPPPPP!”)

End of Week 7 excitement in this next video. This is just after we moved our furniture back into the room. I know my face is super freaky in this video. The lighting makes me look ultra creepy. Ultra. (Click bait.)

Now the Big Fat Hen, is the Big Fat Debt we have to pay off as a result of all this construction.

I’m actually going to make you…wait for it.

Wait for it.

I’m going to show you week 8 & 9 once we’re fully completed unloading all of the boxes and getting this house back into working order. I’ve had to wait, so I’m going to make you wait.

We bought Boy a chair from IKEA and had him assemble it on his own tonight. It’s like a Big-Boy Lego set.

This just happened: “It does not work at all. There’s all this extra crap. There was no instructions to use this! It was not in the instructions! Nowhere in the instructions! I almost dropped this on my foot. I’m 100% sure they messed it up. I haven’t completely figured out the screws because the screws are jacked up.” (Awesome IKEA furniture rant from a newbie. Don’t you love it? …..I’m a bad mom for logging this in my blog. I couldn’t help it. I did pay him 5 bucks to assemble my desk chair also, so I’m not SO bad. Parenting guilt. He got much better at the assembly on my chair, on his 2nd try. Yes, I’m a bad mom.)

Until next Friday. Love you loves.

Gastric Bypass Update:

Still walking.

My foot hurts from walking. I think that’s why.

I’m going to get a tennis ball and roll out the ache in the bottom of my foot.

I’m hoping that helps because I have to keep walking.

Just like I kept unpacking those boxes, I’m going to keep on walkin’.

In case you didn’t hear it the first 3 times, I’m going to keep walkin’.

Steve had an appointment early this morning and I had to bring him home, so while I was waiting, I walked an Arcadia neighborhood. I’ve learned to fit in the walks whenever I can. It’s workin’ for me.

Now, I think we all need to rewatch What About Bob? There you go, homework.