Thursday, March 12, 2009

Plan the Work, Work the Plan

I made up a plan for cleaning for Passover that started February 11th (and completing other preparations as well, such as buying stuff, cooking, etc.) but I have continued to fall behind.

Tonight I finally completed one task that is actually on my list for this week. I totally cleaned Dear Child's dresser. This involved emptying the dresser and clearing it off totally. The dresser itself was cleaned both inside and out. Then only clean clothes went back in neatly. I put back stacks of cleaned books on top neatly and symmetrically. The only 2 other items that went back on the dresser top were her new jewellery box and a tzedakah [charity] box she made this past summer. It looks lovely.

Too bad the rest of her room is still piled with boxes, clothes, stuffed animals, etc. But I'm trying not to beat myself up for the things that remain undone. Rather, I want to focus on what is good and go from there. I've created an island of Pesachdik order in the midst of chaos. Now I just have to keep expanding the order or creating more little islands that will eventually overlap. I just have to take it One. Day. At. A. Time.

I don't know if there will be time tomorrow before Shabbat begins (although it starts an hour later this week, now that we've changed the clocks) but I would really, really like hubby to attach my glass door cabinet to the wall in the living room so I can put in the glass shelves and put the beautiful and mostly fragile things that belong in it on the shelves. That will take care of at least five whole boxes out of DC's room.

I was looking at her closet tonight. Now that I've gone through her clothes for donation, I see there's not much left that really needs to hang up. The few things that do, with the exception of her Shabbos dresses, are not clothes she'll wear during Pesach. So I've decided that I'm going to put some of the excess boxes into her closet, fill it right up, and then sell her closet for Pesach. [This is how we get around owning forbidden things like our everyday dishes on Pesach. They're sold for the duration of the holiday and bought back afterwards.] I'm hoping that, between filling the closet and emptying as many boxes as possible, I'll take care of all the boxes that are taking up space in DC's room at the moment.

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