Clearing away the Clutter: Starting anew in 2022!

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Ending the Year with Bad Decisions(ok, not THAT bad!)

I took a little break from posting over the school holiday. Mainly because I was trying to deal with being home for two weeks with my two year old while recovering from carpal tunnel surgery. You may be thinking Why in the world would anybody schedule a surgery that renders your hand pretty much useless during a two week stint with a toddler?! And you would be correct to doubt that decision!

After day one of my recovery I was seriously regretting my life choices. In my defense, when I was scheduling the surgery I was trying to miss as little work days as possible. Two weeks over Christmas break would be perfect! Not once did it ever cross my mind that my son would be home too… And I’m a little miffed that NO ONE in my life brought that serious oversight to my attention!

After surgery, I realized that I really should have practiced doing everyday things with my left hand because it is not very coordinated. Trying to get a toddler changed, bathed, dressed, fed, put in the carseat, ect. without using my right hand was kind of a nightmare! Give it a try if you don’t believe me. I resorted to using it a little….and then a little too much. But my Hubby was a lot of help when he was home and my bandaged hand has recieved lots of big kisses from my son. I get the stitches out tomorrow and I’m hoping they will allow me to use it more.

So here I am, typing this like an elementary student because I’m still not supposed to be typing. It’s not really typing if you’re just using one finger right?

Starting anew in 2022

I can’t believe 2021 is gone already. Like, how did that even happen? I think we were all hoping that it would not be a repeat of 2020 (shudders), so we just tiptoed around it, not paying it too much attention lest it start showing out. Then it just kind of slipped through the cracks and BOOM suddenly it’s in the past and here we are in a new year. Poor 2021.

The new year has already brought some good things though. That lovely little play kitchen makeover I did for my son’s Christmas present was a big hit with him and Instagram! Y’all, Kidkraft shared my makeover photo as their FIRST post of 2022! Maybe I’m easy to impress, but this made me so excited! Like giddy excited. Over 800 likes excited!

Anyway, I wanted to do a quick post about a big shift I want to make in 2022. I’m not going to call it a resolution, because I feel like that’s setting me up for failure. LOL! Over the break I stumbled upon a book in a mom group I’m in. I started listening to it on Audible and it has really inspired me! It’s read by the author and she’s quite enjoyable to listen to! It’s called How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets.

Speaking of Dirty Little Secrets

I’ll let you in on one. My husband and I are not in any way, shape or form neat freaks. We’re not disgusting people by any means, but our house, yard, and shop are always in a perpetual state of messiness. We are pilers, collectors of randomness and entirely too sentimental over pretty much every thing. We are also thrift store fanatics.

Even when I’m on top of daily cleaning tasks, the house is still not at all comparable to the swoon worthy home inspiration photos I save. We have little knick knacks in every window sill, random stuff on top of the fridge and freezer, things lining the kitchen counters and usually a load (or four) of laundry sitting on the couch. Things may be clean, but my house is always cluttered. And sometimes because it’s so cluttered, cleaning tasks seem WAY more daunting than they should and don’t get completed like they should.

That clutter, and the resulting problem with cleaning up, is stressfull and inventually anxiety inducing. I can’t sweep the floors until all the toys are picked up. I put it off another day, until I have “more time”. But the next day there are more toys scattered and more dirt on the floor. It just keeps going like this until it’s going to be an all day event just to clean the floors. That’s when I come home, look around and feel that panicky feeling rising in my chest. My anxiety levels are through the roof when my house gets to that point.

But There is Hope

When I found this book, I thought Oh, what a great title! But I didn’t think it would really be about me. Well, let me tell you… this book resonated with me to the very depths of my soul. This book made me realize that I’m not alone. This book gave me hope!

So, now that my eyes are open to perhaps why we are the way we are and I’m armed with tools and strategies that might actually work, I’m excited to start off this new year with the mindset of decluttering our life. Maybe this year it will stick. Perhaps it will even inspire a few posts. Here’s to 2022, y’all!