I have a new appreciation for all the mornings I was up and around at 5:30 in the morning because my alarm had gone off, and not because my child was throwing up in my bed. The alarm clock might be my least favorite appliance, but it’ll always win over vomit.

So Emma and I had some forced down time yesterday. Once she was settled and feeling better, I re-organized one of the cabinets I shared on Monday, which mostly held food storage containers. Even though I semi-regularly go through it, it gets messy because of all the different lids. A couple years ago I bought a set of containers with attached lids, which I kept. I put about 10 containers in my donate box and a couple odd lids in the recycle bin. We save plastic containers from Chinese take-out, which I am going to set aside to use in the garage. We do a lot of DIY stuff and I think they will work well for nails, screws and other little things. Here’s the after:

Food containers and a few miscellaneous things

I relocated a few things too. I’m hoping this arrangement is easier to maintain.

I’d planned to begin washing heavy sweaters and winter coats. But all of our bedding- sheets, duvet cover, insert, and quilt needed to be washed, and that took a lot of time. So I moved winter laundry to the weekend and I can’t wait. I’m tired of looking at winter gear.

I used to follow A Bowl Full of Lemons on Facebook, but it turned into information overload. ‘Command centers’ were a popular topic for a while, and when we finished our kitchen I was excited to set one up. Unfortunately it’s turned into this:

Good intentions, big mess.

Today I had a little spare time before I had to take Emma off the bus, so I pulled out all the papers and began recycling. She brings home at least two or three papers each day, not including homework, and I keep everything temporarily and then recycle when I feel close to insanity. I could get rid of stuff the day she brings it home because in her three years of being in school we have never had to refer back to an old worksheet. The mail usually comes right around the time I take her off the bus, and I think I should combine recycling junk mail with recycling school papers. This is either one of my more brilliant ideas, or just two more things I will forget to do.

Fortunately Emma woke up today feeling better, and went to school. Life has been busier than usual, but it should let up by the end of the month. I’m going to keep focusing on small things I can do quickly, just to maintain momentum. I’m also getting the itch to do a little redecorating, which means asking my husband to paint. Our bedroom furniture is ten years old, and I still love it but am tired of its distressed pine color, so I’m going to stain it darker and spray paint the hardware. I have the paint for the walls and I splurged on new bedding, which as of now has not yet been puked on.

Once it’s out of the package, all bets are off.

I forgot to say thank you for all the great comments on the Book Club post. I’m still catching up on the comments and I’m thinking about next month’s book which I will share by next week.