23 February 2010

We Clean High and Low

underneath the cabinet- yuck!

I had to come up with a project for CC in a hurry this week, because Shannon's hubby was home from work sick and she thought it would be better not to have the Club descend on their home when he needed to rest. So we looked around and found a few things that were in need of some work.

drawing cabinet before

We settled on this little cabinet to start with. The picture at the top of the page is the view underneath (yuck!) and as you can see, the cabinet was such a mess inside that the door wouldn't even close properly. I wanted to clear it out and put back only the basic drawing and coloring supplies, so that we could easily get to them.

So Rachel fished for lost treasure with a yard stick,

Rachel fishing for lost treasure

And we sorted through all the papers and old coloring books in the cabinet.

sorting through the cabinet

Of course, Michael was close at hand barking out orders and trying to keep us slackers in line.

michael

It wasn't long before the shelves were wiped out and we were putting things back into place. A quick and easy project! But one that will make a HUGE difference in our day to day lives. When we have drawing supplies within easy reach, it provides a quick and easy activity and helps transition us from one thing to the next. All 4 of my kids love to draw so much, and this makes it so much easier.

drawing cabinet after

After we had some lunch, we checked my list and decided to tackle the other job I had written down, which was to clear the tops of my kitchen cabinets. This may not be a problem area for some people, but at nearly 6 feet tall, I tend to stick things up there to get them out of the way or just to deal with them later. I didn't even REALLY notice how much junk was up there until we started taking it all down. In fact, I suffered from an attack of camnesia there for a minute and did not get a photo until all the stuff was actually on the countertop. I almost made Rachel put it all back up there just for the sake of the picture, but that's another good thing about working in a group- they don't let you do ridiculous things like that. (Yes, I probably would have done it if I were working alone. It's the photo-perfectionist in me. And you thought all my photos were candid! HA!)

all the stuff off the top of the cabinets

Rachel did all the dirty work this time. My hero! She got up there with the vacuum and a rag and knocked out the cleaning while Shannon and I put all the stuff where it belonged.

Rachel on the countertop


Michael was so proud of us, he was kicking his legs and doing cheers!

Up, up, and away!

After everyone left, I stayed in the groove and got the stove cleaned and took out the compost (both long overdue) and loaded the dishwasher. My kitchen feels so great!

top of cabinets after 


the kitchen after


kitchen after

Another excellent meeting of the Cleaning Club. We got a lot accomplished and had time to sit and chat too. And my family felt the difference immediately- that clutter up above our heads was weighing us down! Everything feels more balanced and I can close my little corner cabinet again, which was completely messing up the chi in my special room. Yay!


michael

2 comments:

Jennifer's Mom said...

The kitchen looks great & I see your Christmas cactus still has a few blooms on it. Also your under-the-counter light looks great ;-) And, how would you manage to get it all done without Michael barking out all those orders - what a great taskmaster he is!

Rachel (it wouldn't let me post w/ Google account for some reason) said...

This is such a great post, Jennifer! It made me smile so hard I have tears in my eyes! It may be I've watched too much of the Olympics lately and just quick with the tear. I'm glad you rode out the Cleaning Club Effect and wiped all my sock funk off your counters. Kitchen looks fabulous!

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