Posted on by CG

Around the House

What have you been up to around the house?

We have all been at home for a long time now. Have you been doing quarantine-inspired stuff around the house? You know what I’m talking about:

  • Make banana bread (check)
  • Make bread (check)
  • Make that fluffy coffee (I haven’t tried this yet; I worry that it might be too delicious and take over my life)
  • Clean your closets (at this point, I only need the clothes in my sweatpants drawer, but I might regret getting rid of everything else, so I’m holding off)
  • Take an online class (check)
  • Crafts (check) *more about this later
  • Gardening (check)
  • Marie Kondo your whole house and garage (Ay caramba! No way!)
  • Williams-Sonoma Rosemary, Lemon Dutch Oven Bread
  • soon, there will be veggies

The list of possibilities is endless really. I’m sure that I’ve missed some good ones.

I haven’t done anything major, but I have done a few little things here and there that have really made a big difference in how I feel about my home. For me, when I finally break down and do something that I’ve been avoiding, I know that it was worth it because I feel taller when I’m finished.  I know, it’s a little strange, but there is no other way to describe it.

For me, sticking to little, bite-sized projects is key. When I think of a big project that I’ve been wanting to magically take care of itself (like reorganizing the kitchen), I get a feeling of dread that quickly leads to anxiety and avoidance. So, I have been thinking about my kitchen reorg as a bunch of small projects. Sometimes I do one a week … or less, but it’s not so overwhelming. In that spirit, reorganizing the kitchen became:

  • Clean the refrigerator (like where you take the shelves out and wash everything)
  • Move the coffee maker
  • Find a place to store the ice cream maker (even though we use it a lot, it doesn’t need to live on the counter)
  • Clean the cupboard under the sink
  • Find a new home for that silver tray that has been living on the counter for the past XX years
  • A bunch of other stuff that I haven’t started thinking about yet

Even cleaning the refrigerator was tackled one shelf at a time. It doesn’t matter that I did it slowly, I still felt taller when I was finished.

I’ve also made some progress with consolidating/organizing/purging some of my other clutter catchers. Sometimes, just moving whatever doesn’t belong out of a particular location is enough to jump start some sort of resolution to the issue, like when I collected the various piles of books from the various locations around the house into one, big pile in the middle of the living room. I may have had to stare at it for a week, but one day, motivation took over and I organized the whole mess (including re-homing many).

book stack
some of the books that were re-homed

Anyway, I was feeling relatively productive and accomplished about staying home until I saw this story about an artist who is painting flowers ALL OVER her home. It is so whimsical and happy. I mean, look at those doors!

I don’t think that I’m going to start painting flowers everywhere, but I do think that I will keep trying to find little ways to make the most of my home. How about you?  Have you tackled any around-the-house projects?  Did you feel taller when you finished or is that just me?

7 Replies to “Around the House”

  1. Homeschooling has taken over our lives. I feel like if it was our own lesson plans we could have made it more interactive for the boys but there was a lot of screen time. So we are trying to set-up the summer with less screen time but they are still going to be doing some science projects and writing assignments (since they both complain about writing, I want them to just get more comfortable doing it).

  2. BTW, Fluffy Coffee has become Andy’s obsession. He has it worked out pretty well by now. Some of his recommendations are-
    1) The instant coffee from Trader’s works great it in.
    2) Use only 1 tbsp of sugar unless you like your coffee super sweet.
    3) You can do it by hand if it is arms day.

    1. Maybe I’ll put it on my list of things to request the next time I visit you.

      BTW – I need a good (easy) recipe for pizza dough

  3. I absolutely love this post, it’s helped me shake off the bad mood I’ve been in all morning. I’ve done the whipped coffee, banana bread, and cleaned out my closet tasks. I Marie Kondo’d the entire house last July, and have done a few spot checks here and there. I wasn’t going to attempt regular bread until I saw your picture and am now putting that on my to do list. And it’s not just you, I feel taller when I’ve finished (and loved that description!). Thanks for putting the pep back in my step today. 🙂

  4. I wanted to see the photo of the artist who painted flowers all over their house. Maybe next time you’ll share the photo.
    My new project is cleaning up my health from the inside out.
    I am reading The Fatburn Fix: Boost energy, end hunger, and lose weight by Using Body Fat for Fuel, by Catherine Shanahan, M.D.
    I just cleared out all of the seed oils in my kitchen cabinets and replaced them with healthy oils: avocado oil, olive oil, and coconut oil. I have stopped eating sugar, and I only drink wine once a week after dinner, that’s the best time to have dessert. I feel great, and that’s the most important thing for me. Because, “When you feel good, you look good. When you look good, you do good. When you do good, everything you want flows to you with ease and grace.” – A Sweet tip from Lola!’s Lips

Comments are closed.