Spring Cleaning, Day 4!

Well, I'm still on the wagon with the Spring Cleaning party over at Simple Mom. Monday was a clean sweep, and I got that one done. Tuesday and Wednesday were the living room...I did a lot of organizing on Tuesday, and while I was out of town on Wednesday, hubby cleaned all the ceiling fans in our house for me (it's best to do when Eva, who has a horrible fan phobia, isn't home!). Thursday and Friday were the kitchen. Since our kitchen is so huge, and I'm a day behind anyway, I am continuing the cleaning today. So, for your amusement (and my embarrassment), here are some before and after photos: (although, in my defense, as of today I am 30 days past surgery...we don't normally live like these before pictures!)


I still have to clean off the piano, clean out the piano bench, put all the shoes on the "shoe mat" away, take the shoe mat, rug under dining table, and floor mats outside to beat them clean and dust, vacuum and mop in the living/dining room. In the kitchen, I need to clean out the fridge, clean off the bookcase things on the ends of my kitchen island, and vacuum and mop the floor...I guess I should also consider cleaning the microwave while I'm at it!


Monday I will be doing the bathroom (and whining the whole time, I don't doubt...I hate cleaning bathrooms!), and I am really looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday when I do a good cleaning of the girl's room. There is an end in sight!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about something I meant to put in my quick takes...hubby reminded me on Tuesday that today would be the "Stamp out Hunger" food drive by the letter carriers...I almost always forget things like that, but since I was traveling to the city where good grocery deals could be found, I decided to go shopping with my coupons and get as much food as I could for approximately our weekly grocery budget (pre-surgery...I haven't been cooking or shopping the same as I used to since my surgery.) of $45-50. When I walked into Safeway to do this, the first thing I came across was a deal for the smaller sized boxes of Cheerios (not the huge family sized ones), where if you bought 10 boxes, they were $1 a box (or $3.29 per individual box). I found really good deals throughout the store, matched up some coupons and for just under $40 (which was after I used my $10 catalina from the Living Well promotion that just ended) I sent 10 boxes of cereal, 10 cans of tuna, 10 boxes of macaroni, 6 cans of vegetables, 3 jars of peanut butter, 1 jar of jelly, 1 6-pack of applesauce cups, and about 6 jars of baby food to the post office this morning for the food drive. I was so impressed that I could get that much food for our town's food pantry in one inexpensive shopping trip! I just felt so bad when hubby told me that he had talked to someone who helps run the food pantry here in town who mentioned that at the moment the food pantry is almost empty. Just thinking of kids in a family who can't really afford to buy food right now made me really want to do something. I know how cranky my kids get if they don't eat every 3 1/2 minutes (okay, it feels that way, but they eat 5-6 times a day!) and that motivated me.