Unemployed... Day 2

Yesterday was the second day of my unemployment domesticity... my quest to take advantage of time off to organize the apartment, finish projects, learn, rest, and use my time constructively. I knew very well what I had to tackle yesterday. It was looming over my head (or more like, biting my ankles) every time I went in the bedroom.





I say this as a confession, and I hope never to have to say this again: it had been more than a month since I had done laundry.

I actually am pretty sure I hadn't done more than a load since the wedding. 6 weeks ago. That's pretty embarrassing. And to make matters worse, a few weeks ago I had every intention of doing it, so I dumped it all onto the floor to look for something. But then I didn't do it, and the sight of a bit of laundry on the floor made us lazy, and we just dumped every day's clothes on the floor, instead of hanging them up or putting them in the hamper.

Now, these pictures aren't totally truthful, because if you look closely you can see a huge bag full of two loads of clean whites that I had done on Saturday, but hadn't put away yet (thus, creating lots of future ironing of wrinkly whites).

Two weekends in San Diego meant two unpacked duffel bags sitting on the floor. Plus, there were various boxes, bags, and trinkets scattered all over.


The detergent was my constant companion through the day. I was blessed that seemingly everyone else in the apartment had done their washing over the weekend, so both of the washers were free... all day. That is a great blessing and not to be taken lightly. So, I took advantage of them.

Six loads of laundry later, and several hours of organizing, rearranging, vacuuming later, we have this:

VISIBLE FLOORS

There are still some boxes in the corner for when I tackle Unpacking, but the floor is visible and there is not a single piece of dirty laundry (ok, there is now...there wasn't at time of picture). And yes, that is a framed photo sitting on the ground. We really need to hang the few decorations we have. That is my favorite one. What is it?

Our engagement picture that everyone signed at the wedding! One of my very favorite possessions. We'll have to hang this soon!

Unemployed... Day 1

Today is my first official day of unemployment. It will last anywhere from 2 weeks to the end of December. And it's really tempting to sit around and play online games and read blogs for a month, but I'm excited to have this chance to create ORDER. Things are still so disorganized from the chaos of the wedding, so I'm playing Domestic Wife for a month.

To help track my progress and keep me from procrastinating, I've decided to blog the journey of my month off. Although today is the first real day of unemployment, we did a bit of work on Saturday. We had friends coming over Saturday night for our weekly pizza and games night, and the apartment needed a bit of work. As you can see.

Pile of wedding gifts that need a place in a cabinet or closet

A mess in the dining room

A mess in the kitchen

A mess in the living room.

This is what happens when you get married and then go back to work full-time. Messes.

First things first. We actually just got this couch from Husband's aunt and uncle, which is why it was sitting awkwardly in the middle of the living room. So we had some rearranging to do. The couch went from the middle of the room to against one wall, and the TV and the bookshelf swapped walls so the TV would be opposite the couch.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


Then I took pictures of my bookcase because I was tired of working, and what could be more fun than documenting your bookcase? These are some of my most prized possessions, and yes, they are alphabetical by author.



And then... we cleaned. For about an hour. We left enough time to work on grad school applications before company came. And here are the results:





You can actually see the floor. You can walk through the living room without falling on anything. You can set things down on the dining room table AND on the serving bar. You can even... sit on the couch!!

I know it's not great, but it's a start.

Today: tackling laundry. The bedroom is being consumed by mountains of clothes. I don't think I've washed any since the honeymoon. That means I have about a month and a half of clothes to wash for two people. Which means, I'd better leave the library and get started!