Spring cleaning
No it’s not spring, but the new year coupled with this unseasonably warm weather (almost 60 today!) sure makes it feel like spring.
All around the blog-o-sphere moms are cleaning up and clearing out. Me too, and I started with my diet. I have stopped eating all sugar and gluten in an attempt to get my body back in balance and relieve the symptoms of Candidasis I have been suffering from. I’m only on day 4 but I am feeling great and I have lost just shy of 5 pounds to boot! I am following the Body Ecology Diet and give credit to Jennie Lou for mentioning it to me (congrats to the Tippetts as they just announced they are expecting a new baby!). The Body Ecology Diet (BED) answered a lot of questions for me and helped me to really get a sense of what was going on with my body. The basic principle is about balance and restoring the ecosystem that is naturally present in our bodies. The focus of the diet (and that’s diet as a way of life not diet as a weight loss plan - though that may be a benefit) is to restore your inner health, strengthen your immune system and establish a pattern of living and eating well that will extend your vitality for years to come. OK I know what you are thinking; no sugar and gluten? How can you survive? Well rest assured I am surviving and quite well thank you. But lest you think I will never eat a piece of chocolate again let me assure you that the plan does allow you to reintroduce some small amounts of sugar and gluten back into your diet (provided you can tolerate them) but just not until those Candida things are under control. That’s what I’m working on now. I went through some serious detox the first day or two but I am feeling quite well now and quite energetic. OK sure, I tend to be pretty high energy anyway but given the amount of stress in our lives lately and the fact that it’s winter. . . I feel very good!
I’m cleaning house too. Basically I am reorganizing and putting home improvement projects on a schedule. Strangely, except for my extensive stash of fabric, I don’t have a clutter issue. I don’t know why I don’t have a clutter issue, given we are a family of 12, but I really don’t. As a child I was messy. My room was always a mess and I left messes in my wake. I’m not sure what happened to change that but somewhere along the line I started to realize the beauty and serenity of uncluttered space. Of course it didn’t happen overnight but I do think hubby being in the military had something to do with it. When you move every three years you get tired of hauling things around so you pitch them - at least that’s what I did. Now I am to the point that I hate clutter and culling it has become second nature to me. It’s a constant battle for sure when you have this many people working against you, but I tend to do it pretty much without thinking and it works for me. For example, I will pluck hubby’s coat from the chair he hung it on as I walk through the dining room, deposit it on the closet hook, scoop up his shoes on my way upstairs, immediately tell a child “do not leave that there” as they place something on the dining room table that, apart from schoolwork, does not belong there, ask the lounging 8yr. old “is your room clean?’ (the answer to which is almost always “sort of”) and send her to clean it immediately. I will then notice the floor needs swept and call the recalcitrant child who forgot to do their chore, etc, etc.
Uh. . . OK so I can probably be a bit overwhelming to my family at times, but honestly I can’t help it. It must be the choleric in me. Mind you I’m not always this way, but I do like order. Please don’t misunderstand, my house is NOT spotless by any means. On any given day you can find dust bunnies under my sofas and cobwebs in the far corners of my 10 foot ceilings (they’re so high!), not to mention dust that seems to accumulate on flat spaces in copious amounts while we sleep. . . but clutter I cannot stand!
So, since my house is already perfect (not!) what am I doing? Reorganizing of course! Cholerics love change. “Out with the old and in with the new” we say and “there must be a better way to do this”. So I am moving furniture, wallpapering walls, revamping the schedule, tweaking the routine and making changes where change is needed. I’ll update as we make progress (you don’t think I’m doing this all by myself do you?) and keep you bored informed.
Kevin (15) and I got back to meal planning this week and it’s working out great. We went through the paper checking out all the sales, composed a menu and went shopping with an eye to staying on budget ($200/week for all food including extra bread and milk as the week goes on). Kevin loves to cook (and does it very well!) so we will split that task too.
Today we are rearranging bedrooms, moving the business stuff to a smallish third floor room and moving the bigger boys to the front, more spacious, third floor room. That means my sewing area (now in my bedroom since babykins was moved to the tiny spare room that used to be my sewing room) will now expand as part of my bedroom. This actually works well as my bedroom is quite large and gets loads of sun throughout the day.
I had better get back to work. It’s 3:00 and although it may feel like spring we will lose daylight soon and I haven’t yet told the boys they are cleaning out the cars. . .
Subscribe to the comments for this post
2 People have left comments on this post
Jan 8, 2008 - 06:01:33That is my aim this year. I want my home to be simple, clutter free and inviting. I have such trouble letting go of things and you are amazing to be clutter free with a family of 12. We will be a family of 7 come June and it seems like there is so much stuff. You are an inspiration. I enjoy your blog.
Thank You,
Dana
I too hate clutter and I love to rearrange the furniture. However, my husband HATES it when I even move a chair. He’s not into change!!! LOL So I have to tread carefully when I get into one of those moods!!! Enjoy your spring cleaning…