The Blue Thing is BACK!

Trying to make up for Week 3 where I didn't do anything while we were on vacation, for Week 4 I decided to tackle not only the dining room, but also the back hall and adjoining bathroom. This is the part of the house you see when you enter through the garage. Piles of coats and bags and clutter meeting you at the door - sometimes making it hard to get in with armloads of groceries. There is also a little bathroom back there. It has a shower, but we never use it.

Two of my favorite things in the house are in this little alcove: "The Blue Thing" and the window with the pots of african violets. The Blue Thing is a giant pine piece of furniture that was painted bright blue. It reminds me of the walls in the family room of our first house. Sadly, it has been so over piled, you can't even tell there is a piece of furniture in there. As for the violets - they are doing ok, but there is lots of dirt and dead leaves cluttering it up. (And, as Kevin will attest, a curtain that is too small to offer enough privacy from the back yard).

So, cleaning back here was really mostly about putting things away. Now that there is room - out of season coats (pretty much all of them when were going through a month-long 100 degree stretch) can all go in the hall coat closet. Bags and purses were emptied and stored. I even managed to find a dozen pens in one old purse. I can't find a single pen in my entire desk, but there were 12 of 'em hiding out in last fall's handbag? Lots of old mail and junk to toss. I even managed to wash a few of the sports bags that were lost back there.

After a good wipe down, it was so nice in there. It has been a week since I got it clean, and I still catch myself being surprised - in a good way - when I come in from the garage and I don't trip over all the stuff on the way in.

The bath room was kinda the opposite. Not too messy on the surface, but really in need of a good clean. I busted out the rubber gloves and bucket of soap, and got to all the disgusting nooks and crannies. I even bought new fabric to make better drapes - but that'll have to be a project for another day. Still too much other cleaning to do. It is cute fabric though and I am looking forward to a little sewing. In the meantime - I'll just enjoy my little violets.