The Faster I Go, The Farther I Get Behind

Yesterday, I had big plans to clean out the second closet in Lily's bedroom, which was packed full of my business attire and other clothing. After I did that, I was going to shred the three bins of old paperwork in the office and organize and file all of the other random stuff that has showed up in the last couple of weeks. I also planned to simultaneously do the laundry that's been piling up since I got sick.

Right. Yesterday, I cleaned out the closet. It took me almost 3 hours, because I had to deal with two children who would not stay put in the playroom and wanted to "see what you're doing, Mom!" I also had to deal with "Why are you throwing THAT away? I need that!" and "MILLLLKKK! Mama, MORE MILLLLLKKKKK!" I ended up throwing some stuff on the newly cleaned top shelf, and promising to go through it and organize later. I never got to the shredding or filing. I did one load of laundry (and I realized this morning it was set for the lowest water level, so I don't even know how clean the clothes got).

Today, I woke up with a plan to clean and declutter the living room and dining room, shred the paperwork, file and organize and do the laundry. Today, Lily would not put on her ballet outfit, Jack dumped an entire container of yogurt on the carpet, chair and couch before I could stop him, and I ended up agreeing to watch Emma while her parents went to an appointment at 2pm. In the midst of that, our freezer stopped working and started leaking water onto the floor. I had to clean the kitchen up before the repairman came. He just told me that they don't have a replacement part for me and if he can't find one in one of their floor models at the store, it may be 3 or 4 days before we have a working refrigerator. Terrific.

I did do two loads of laundry this morning and I was able to vacuum the rugs in the living room and dining room. I had picked up all the toys, but Jack immediately walked over to the bin and dumped everything out so he could find his hot wheels.

So...my plans for tomorrow are:

1. Go to IKEA in the morning to buy boxes, baskets and folders to organize the stuff in the office and from Lily's second closet. I also need to buy a coat rack. I'd planned to do this trip on Thursday because Lily is in school.

2. Organize the pile of stuff thrown on the top shelf of Lily's closet into labeled boxes.

3. Sort, organize and file the things that have turned up in the office over the past few weeks.

4. Shred the three cartons of paperwork in the office.

5. Take the clothes from Lily's second closet (2 garbage bags full!) and drop them at Salvation Army.

6. Declutter the living room and dining room. By this, I mean that I hope to either throw away, donate or find a home for anything lying on a flat surface in those two rooms.

7. Wash and fold any laundry that I don't finish today.

8. Deep clean the kitchen and bathroom (my usual Thursday chores).

Obviously, I'm not going to get anywhere close to completing all these things. What I really need is a week at home alone without kids. That would catch me back up to a normal level of cleanliness and order.

Arrghhh!