Spring Cleaning

It's no secret that I love cleaning and organizing. I love to have clean sheets, fresh towels and I absolutely TOTALLY love vacuuming and having clean floors and carpets!
Dave and I have our own schedule on how often we clean things....gratefully, we have just about identical thoughts on clean!
I found this "Clean Home Every Day" chart and thought I'd pass it on. I agree with it wholeheartedly! (I LOVE coming home to a clean house after work each day!)
Today was a 'day off' for me and, being that tomorrow we start a fresh new month, I decided to do the 'monthly' checklist. Dave bought us a FABULOUS vacuum a few months ago--one that you 'dump out' the contents after each use. It's a Eureka Muticyclonic and IT'S AMAZING!

I highly recommend you purchase this type the next time you need a vacuum. I believe you will be ASTOUNDED at what is in your home! Plus the attachments and hose are SO easy to use and they actually STAY on the vacuum while you're using it!

I did all the 'monthly' chores today as well as most of the others.
Only things I would change: We take out the trash every day. We're lucky to have dumpsters in our complex so there is no limit to how much trash we can dispose of. Truthfully, sometimes we take trash out two or three times a day.
Also, I vacuum on average twice a week. Not daily for sure. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE vacuuming?!) And I iron (and do mending) once a week too.
And, I would add WASH KITCHEN AND BATHROOM AREA RUGS and vacuum your mattress on the 'monthly' list too. (Honestly, if I could make a living vacuuming, I would!)

The house looks good. It smells good. It's in order. The baseboards are clean, everything is dust-free  and the last load of towels are in the dryer. And I can't wait to go to bed tonight. Is there anything more enjoyable than getting in fresh, clean sheets?
Honestly, I freaking love this. Nothing feels better than a clean home.
Well, OK...things seem even better when our home is clean.

Happy 38th Birthday Sarah!

JuJu 1966

Lately, this is nearly a daily occurrence.

I over react

I talk too much

I am stressed about 'silly' things

I am back to feeling as though I really do hold the world up each day

I have been catching myself on this OH SO much lately. I stop and PHYSICALLY take a step back. 

And say, 'Julie Hibbard, you're not the key to holding this world/business/hotel/etc together.

Breathe. Smile. Stop talking. Move on.

You're being ridiculous.'

One man's trash...

I quite literally battle my inner hoarder every single day.

I grew up in a home where, quite honestly, there was a lot of...stuff. Books, magazines, recipe clippings. Collections. Knick knacks. Closets that you couldn't open if anyone was over. A garage that never housed a car. 

I'm not saying this is a bad thing...I'm just saying we didn't go through things and give away much over the years. And, if something had ANY sort of sentimental value (you know, Cousin Joe's wife, Gaby, left it to you in her will...or Grandma MADE that for you...or those were Nana's and she hand carried them here from Montreal in 1957...) well, we could not get rid of it. 

No. We were not ABLE to get rid of it. 

For a LONG time, these feelings overwhelmed me. I couldn't give away ANYTHING that anyone had made me or given me or even something that I bought that even REMOTELY reminded me of some amazing memory...good or bad! 

This lasted, of course, up until I lost my 1,450 square foot home (with a two car garage) and knwe I'd be moving into a 700 square foot apartment (with a carport.)

I knew it was time for EVERYTHING to go. 

It was tough to do. Extremely tough! It seemed like I could literally tell a story about every single item in my home! Where I got it, what song was playing when I last used it, what a DEAL it was...

it was truly a little cray cray. 

I slowly but surely realized (as I took carloads of boxes and bags to the Goodwill each day) that none of these THINGS were my memories. And, as I began to sell and give away the majority of my belongings, I began to feel a little better. A little lighter. 

Happier in many ways.

That was three years ago THIS WEEK! I moved on St. Patrick's Day 2011 and every single thing I owned fit in that apartment...very comfortably. 

If I'm honest tho....I have to admit that I did, however, have several small 'baskets' of 'things.' 

Things I couldn't part with. And...a whole Hope Chest full of silliness that I couldn't let go of.

Until this last month. 

Dave says that I'm 'nesting'...not sure why, but that does seem pretty accurate. I can't stop cleaning, gleaning and organizing our home. So, now I've gone through all those baskets and I even (finally!) tackled the Hope Chest. 

CRAZY is putting it mildly. Inside was every single note and card and letter that ANY HUMAN ON EARTH every wrote to me. I started with those. Honestly, over HALF were from people that I honestly could not remember. Trash. 

Of the half left, I kept a very few--the cards from my kids when they were little, the special note my Nana wrote me when I moved out in 2005, my acceptance for pre-admission to UCLA...and a couple of other special notes.

And, truly, the rest went in the trash. 

The People magazines with Michael J. Fox, Peter Frampton, John Denver, etc etc....come on. Trash. 

Then came old jewelry (most of it was from Avon circa 1968--Goodwill) and all the mice from my 10 year mouse collection? I kept one.

Then...well, I have to admit there is one VERY silly thing that I had held onto for 34 years. 

The fact that I kept it over the last NINE is the crazy part. 

It was the shirt that William was wearing on our first date. 

I KNOW! RIGHT?! A Red iZod that was THE shirt to wear in 1980. Why was I keeping this?!

I held it in my hand and smiled--as I had every time I'd held it over the last nine years. I CAN tell you exactly where we were when I first saw him in that shirt, what song was playing, where we were going...and, of course, how HAPPY I was that night. 

THAT is why I kept it. THAT is why. 

But, without a doubt, it was time for it to hit the road. 

I said goodbye and put it in the Goodwill bag. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward to last week when I had a few things that needed to carry down to my car after work. Jonathan, my partner, grabbed a few things and helped me out to the garage.  As I opened the back of my car, Jonathan saw the bag for Goodwill...and, picked up the iZod shirt with excitement in his eyes! 

"Are you giving this away?! It's vintage iZod! It's in great shape! I love it." 

...You guessed it. 

 

The next day I received this photo.
I was thrilled.
I was so excited that the shirt was being loved and worn and appreciated.
And, most of all, that I was able to let it go.

It's March 13!

Happy Birthday to the man who puts a smile on my face every single day!

My new vow...

There is no reason for me to get involved with anybody else's drama. Period.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
My job is just to take care of me...and my own circus.

32 years ago today!

My day in pictures...the place is sparkling!

 (I did once get a vacuum for Christmas...it was an early-day Oreck, and I was stoked!)

Yep...all day.

More things I can relate to!

All the things on my desktop...

 I often just drag things that I like to my desktop...thinking, of course, that, eventually, I will write profound words to accompany them on my blog. Most of these things require very little explanation. You understand, I am sure, just by reading them, why they mean something to me. And, why they will most probably effect (affect?) you in some way too...

 I love sweatpants--yoga pants, actually...They always say, "You're the perfect size..." And, if only some of those I had to say 'Goodbye' to would at least know how very often I wish I could say hello.

 I OFTEN recall the VERY few unkind words that I have said to people in my life. I regret every one.

 I do believe, that I have--FINALLY--gotten over the MANY mistakes I have made in my life.
Oh, have I learned a lot. Most of those 'mistakes' had amazing and OFTEN wonderful consequences that have made me the VERY strong woman I am today.

And, speaking of strong...for the eight years that I lived alone, I had MANY a person tell me that I was too strong to attract any man. That I was intimidating. That I should be more "needy" or I would spend the rest of my life alone. Yeah. I'm a strong woman. It's just who I am...and where those concequences of life have taken me. But, gratefully, I have found my strong man. He knows I am the furthest person from "needy" that he will ever know. And, I love that he loves me,  appreciates my stregnth and wouldn't allow me to be any other way.

As strong as I may be, I am oh so very tired of struggling with my weight. It's been a lifetime of stepping on the scale every single day. 40 years of looking in the mirror and wishing that I was looking at something else. Forever wondering why my body doesn't cooperate with what I did to make it thinner. I wish I didn't have this constant struggle. I eat less and less all the time. I am hungry every day. I DREAM of food. And I can't zip my jeans. Silly, I know. But it's a constant craziness in my world.

I love deeply! I laugh ALL THE TIME. I have a BEAUTIFUL life. Sure, I struggle with food (and my jeans) and the things I have said to people that I should not have said (some things I said to my kids and some to kids in 5th grade!)...

I'm too strong for my own good sometimes...I am rough and tough and defensive..

and, even when I'm not on the scale, I cry just about every day. 

Sometimes sad tears, but, more often than that, very happy tears. 

I have a beautiful life...that I know. 

I love and laugh abundantly. 

And dream of donuts and kind words.