I was writing that title and wondering – does anyone these days even know what that means??? If not, Google is your friend.

It is a fairly ill-kept secret that I’ve had a lot of difficulty finding motivation this last year. The first year after I left work was full of book stuff – writing, editing, going through all the steps to get it published, etc. I also kept busy early on with this rule I gave myself to try and do something productive, no matter how small, everyday.

But then year two happened. I managed to convince myself that making dinner, which I do almost every night, counted as my “something productive,” and I stopped doing a whole lot else. There are no shortage of things to do – there are a ton of house projects, mainly organizing/purging that need done, but I had no will to do them. So I didn’t. This made me feel incredibly bad about myself, I’m sure drove Dave to distraction, and meant nothing was getting done, so the house is a bit of a wreck. This despite my having more time now to keep it straight than I ever used to.

However, a friend of mine has a really big milestone coming up and I offered to hold a smallish dinner party in celebration of that. Suddenly I have less than a month before a bunch of strangers (to me) descend upon my house.

Talk about something putting a foot up your butt. Suddenly I’m looking around going – “there’s no way in hell I’m letting anyone in here with this place looking like this.” And cancelling the party is not an option I would ever be willing to consider, so purge, organize, and clean it is.

It’s actually been great. In just one week my kitchen is well on its way to looking like it hasn’t in YEARS. It would be even further along but I had to wait for some organizational stuff to be delivered from Amazon. What I think is the last of that stuff comes tomorrow, so by early to middle of next week I should be able to check the kitchen off my list.

Then comes organizing the PILES/baskets of shoes at the top of my stairs. I’ve needed to go through them and donate a bunch of stuff for two years (not working anymore means there are things I just don’t wear anymore and really need to say goodbye to.) I’m finally going to get that done.

Then the bathroom. That’ll be the quickest since it was recently done when I redecorated, but as happens, the clutter builds back up over time. As does the dirt, lol. Then lastly, right before people come of course, a good vacuuming/floor and furniture cleaning. We’re also doing some “freshen up” things in the living room, as well as a general straighting before people come over.

All this by early February. No small feat, so I gotta keep my ass in gear. And don’t get me wrong, I hate doing the actual work, but am really enjoying the results, so I greatly appreciate the external motivation of the party to get me going and keep me going.

Here’s to a much more pulled together house!