FLYLADY - Living Room

The living room is the one area of the house I see most of my waking hours when Bob is gone. Our living room/ dining room area is one open space  - 15' x 24'. When Bob is gone and my 'office' is set up on the dining room table, I can see it all! The living room isn't bad but the dining room needs serious work. I have two major tasks for this week:

LIVING ROOM:
Dust everything!
Put the items for the girls scrapbooks in a tote that I can keep in the office.

DINING ROOM:
The girls' old book case has become a catch-all for garden books and recently-purchased cook books. I want that shelf to be strictly garden books. I have shelves in the garden shed for my books/ magazines but I also have mice that are destroying them.

Dresser we had for Adrian when she lived here. I want to get that cleared out of accumulation so the girls can use it when they're here this summer. That's still kind of up in the air due to travel issues on Sue's end but we're sending good vibes all works out and we can have them again this summer.

This is the week Bob may be home (I'm typing this up on the 2nd). I'd really like to have this area looking sharp and at least less-cluttered when he comes home. We spend a lot of time in these two areas - either watching TV or playing cards. We shall see!

What's your focus area this week?
Whatever I'm able to accomplish, I'm going to Enjoy the Journey and I hope you do to!

FLYLADY - Living Room

I am moving Fly Lady to Tuesdays for now. I'm getting better at having recipes for Wednesday so Tuesday's it is.

This week is all about the Living Room.
After what seemed forever, I finally got the Christmas tree down over the weekend. Don't judge! I had not been putting the task off because it was difficult but because I love the colored lights.

Every morning, I would come out and turn the tree on. Seemed so peaceful while I enjoyed a cup of fluffy and cruised Pinterest or watched YouTube videos. The living room looks soul-less without the pretty lights. But I have a plan... :-D

However, the tree coming down meant there was room to pull the Gazelle out so I can finally start getting the exercise I so desperately need. I'll be talking more about the Gazelle on Thursday.

We use sheets to cover our micro-fiber relciners. I detest micro-fiber fabric but since Bob was graciously spending money to build my office AND I was getting the sleeper sofa in the bargain, I told Bob to pick out the new recliners.  Two Words - ANIMAL HAIR! We have 3 cats in the house and a Beagle/ Basset/ Spaniel mix. All shed horribly and trying to keep that micro-fiber clean was a task I just don't have time for. So sheets it is. Didn't our grandparents cover their furniture? Remember those pretty crocheted arm and head rest covers. So pretty.

Ours are covered with $15 flat sheets from Walmart with a coordinating pillow case on the headrest. I have brown ones with cream pillowcases for fall. White with red pillow cases for Christmas. This week when I go shopping I'll pick up a couple of cream sheets and soft blue pillow cases - or vice versa. The everyday drapes, which are blue, need to go back up so that will work. I've already purchased flannel backed table clothes in spring blues/ yellows for under and on top of the dog kennel.. which sits between the two recliners, serving as a coffee table.

Now if I could just make myself tackle the small book case and top of Adrian's dresser that sits here in the dining room. A MUST! but I'm thinking next month's deep clean zone of that part will be soon enough.

A Clean House is a Healthy House and all a part of...

Enjoying the Journey!

RECIPE WEDNESDAY - Flylady

Yes, I know it's Thursday. But considering I was part of the way through yesterday before I realized Wednesday was half gone....

Anyhow... I'm showcasing Living Room progress this week. Keep in mind, that a week ago there was a path between stuff and our chairs, with an opening big enough to see the TV screen through.

I never seem to take 'before' pictures. Not because I'm embarrased for people to see the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) but because I just dive right in to the cleaning and don't think about taking a 'before' photo. I'm going to make a point to do that for the office this weekend. 

Anyhow... this is the East side of the living room. Prior to it looking like this, there was a large Sterilite tub in front of the window (which may go back because it's a favorite sleeping spot for the cats) as well as the portable kitchen island and the dog supply cart. This is also where the treadmill used to take up twice the space the gazelle does. This side of the entertainment unit holds Bob's videos and also has a couple of shelves designated for the girls' coloring books/ games/ videos. The empty shelf on the bottom is used to house the Wii board. I'm going to move the girls' videos to this shelf.

The Gazelle is heavier than it looks when it comes to folding it up. I'm going to buy short bungi chords this weekend so that when I fold it up against the book case, it doesn't roll back out on it's own. Once the office is cleaned up, I can move it in there for the holidays as this is where our big 8' tree goes.. the one I've been unable to put up in the past four years! The last time our big tree saw the light of day was in 2013. You can see it HERE

This is the West side of the living room. A little more bare. We have to have the blanket rack to keep the cats from laying on our lap blankets when not in use, otherwise I'd get rid of it. The black tripod is temporary. That's where I'm putting my blog boards this weekend while the office cleaning is in progress. I should be able to move it back to the office by the following weekend at the latest.

I have little things on the shelves that don't belong that I'll move to their appropriate homes over the next couple of weeks. This was about decluttering the big items.

The point of this first step is that I can see the floor. 

Next week - the office. And I promise... before pictures will be taken. They will come with a warning :-)  

Enjoy the Journey!

Kelly