Making my house fair: Day One

I actually did it. Maybe I am a goal-oriented worker.

By dinnertime all the laundry was washed, folded and put away. And it was a lot of laundry. I was counting on a good two hours this evening to get the freezers organized and all the other evening chores done. I forgot, of course, that Eric switched his weekly Holy Hour to Monday night from 6-7. I was trying out a new recipe this evening and it took longer than usual. The kids had tandem meltdowns at 6:15 and I decided to put Margaret to bed since she's usually ready by 6:30 anyway. At 6:45 I took up dinner once again. At 7:00 Margaret woke up--very unusual for her--and she stayed up until she heard her Daddy come home half an hour later. She adores her father lately, so bedtime was over. We didn't finish eating until well after 8:00 and I took Margaret back to bed. She nursed for awhile and then threw up all over me. A few times. Also very unusual. By 9:00 she was back asleep and, undeterred, I decided to tackle the chest freezer despite being ninety minutes behind schedule. Tasks never take as long as I think they will (unless that task is preparing a meal).

I love having this freezer. It saves time and money in several ways but the only way to make it work is to have an accurate inventory. There is just no way to remember everything in there and use it without a list. We had an inventory going for a long time but since we moved this summer we've used the "hope and rummage" method. It's now absolutely full and that method is really failing me. Just at the point that every last item was on the floor and written on my clipboard (and my back was breaking) Margaret woke up again. After settling her I repacked the freezer, really hoping to find more space in there for a bulk cooking project next week. No luck.

The good news is that I unearthed a half gallon of Breyer's chocolate ice cream and that break to nurse Margaret tempered it to the perfect scooping temperature. And, because not only did I do all the laundry and inventory the freezer but also made bread and yogurt and planned a big bulk cooking week, I thought I'd have some.

The kitchen is a mess but that wasn't on my list today, was it? Well--Margaret doesn't usually end her days by drenching me in, well, whatever . . . I'll get to the dishes tomorrow. Might as well let the mice party one more night.

Eric very wisely suggested that my pre-Advent cleaning spree focus less on deep cleaning and more on organizational problems. I think that's wise, so with that in mind

Tomorrow's goals:
inventory the kitchen freezer and try to make it neater
reclaim my desk

Is all this exciting for anyone else?