Good evening!

Things are going pretty-freakin-fabulously here at our place!! Jason and I are both doing really well with our new pre-bariatric surgery clean living diet. All veggies, all the time, lean protein, and 2 servings of fruit, and dairy daily!! I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I have acquired an AMAZING amount of energy, and it has really gotten me motivated to not only continue on with my arting, but get our house back in tip-top shape!!

As I have been busy re-creating myself and having a blast with my newly re-found creative side, for the past 6 months, our house and all of the chores necessary to keep a nice, clean, clutter-free home has really been suffering; and I realized as I had surprise company this past weekend, that the state of my home has really started to bother me. SO, instead of whining and complaining about it, I decided that it was time to take come serious action, and take back control of the chaos that has become our home!!

The action I decided to take was a combination of making a plan, and taking the whole process in baby steps, so I don’t overwhelm myself and just give up for the next 6 months. So what I did was first create a list of all of the household chores that I could think of:

• Dishes
• Counter tops
• Laundry
• Making the bed
• Bathrooms
• Floors
• Dusting
• Taking out the garbage
• Windows
• Entry way
• Back patio
• Bathe the dogs
• Wash the dog bowls
• Picking up after ourselves

I then took everything on this list and then assigned a day of the week for each chore, leaving Sunday open to just relax.

Next I decided to take it a step further, and made a wish list of chores I wish would get done around here like:

• Vacuuming the vent covers
• Vacuuming the refrigerator coils
• Cleaning under the fridge
• Cleaning under the stove
• Wash the Car
• Detailing the car
• Pressure washing the window blinds
• Cleaning the oven
• Cleaning the barbecue
• Shampooing the carpets
• Cleaning out the dryer vents
• Organizing the coat closet
• Organizing the game closet
• Organizing the Linen closet
• Organizing the laundry room
• Organizing the art studio
• Organizing the walk-in closet
• Organizing Jason’s closet

I then decided how often I wanted these tasks done; monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Next I wrote on a paper the months of the year, and took each task and assigned it a month in which it would get done in.

Then I thought about all the tasks around the house that have to get done, but are one-time things that may not actually need to be scheduled on an ongoing basis. I decided to make a list of these things too:

• Replace the broken linen closet door
• Paint and install the baseboards
• Install hardwood floors throughout 1st floor
• Paint the front door
• Paint the garage door
• Paint the laundry room
• Rebuild shelving in the laundry room
• Reupholstering the 2 chairs and ottoman in the garage
• Refinish the coffee table in the garage
• Refinish the antique dresser in the garage
• Get rid of the miscellaneous cabinets from the garage
• Replace window in art studio with a noise barrier window

I then made this my “Honey-Do” list and my sweetie and I have agreed to work on tackling each one of these items, one-at-a-time during our Saturdays, so that went on the chore chart calendar as well. I am not sure if we are going to spend time every Saturday doing these things, or every other Saturday. The good thing about this entire chore chart is that it is not set in stone, and we can change whatever we want!!

I have to admit that now the chore chart is ready to go, it is pretty large and a little daunting at first glance, but Jason and I did our list of chores for this evening, and it took us about 1/2 an hour, and the house already looks great!! WHEW! What a great feeling!!

Anyway, I am off to go do some arting homework, while my sweetie gets some game time in this evening, and then we are off for our evening walk!! Life really is good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!!

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!