TACKLE IT TUESDAY

Last week A friend turned me on to this great new concept called "Tackle it Tuesday" which you can find on 5minutesformom.com The idea is to tackle a job(s) that you have been putting off for far too long, every Tuesday. It can be simple, or an all day job, as long as it's something that really needs doing, and you've been putting it off. Well I had a long list of items I've been putting off, too many to admit. I narrowed it down to 2. The first of which was:

Reclaiming my den that over the last month has become a temporary holding area for boat stuff that was stored in the attic all winter, laundry, and just plain junk.
The boat stuff (in the red & green tubs) have been a real thorn in my side. We started with about 8 of those, and slowly I would weed through, and as Cap finished his usual winter repairs, and modifications to the now 20-year-old "summer home", I would start to put things back where they belonged. In the meantime however, the big totes just took up space...As you can see, it was the point we could barely walk in the room any more, let alone "use it"! You couldn't even sit on the futon, and JR couldn't reach his Smart Cycle game!
I went to sleep last night with visions of a functional den once more, and decided I would get to it just as soon as I dropped JR off at Pre-K. Well, around midnight I began to hear the seal "barking"... Not a real seal of course, JR hacking and coughing, and sounding very much like a barking seal. He of course stayed home from school, and between keepin him pumped with tylenol and cough med. I tackled the den anyway. I'm proud to report that by 9:30 this a.m. we had our room back:

I took the cover off the futon, and sent it to be cleaned, but I really, like the light color that the pad has, so I think I'm gonna buy a new one, that is lighter than the dark brown it came with!
No clutter, no bins (they're up in the attic - empty, since I put the last of the stuff on the boat as well) and OH so refreshing! As pleased as I was, I wasn't done. After some games with JR, lunch, a little ironing, some low-key outdoor stuff including a little bit of reading on the deck during the midafternoon sun, I tackled my second job:

My desk - a.k.a. the basement dumping grounds. Cap and I share an office that also serves as JR's playroom in the finished basement.


The room is big, as it is almost half the basement, and the concept is good in that JR can play while either or both of us work, but, since my desk is the first thing you see as you enter, it becomes a very convenient place to just "drop" stuff that needs to be put away later.
As you can see, "later" never came, and suddenly I had no desk left!

Until today that is, because in no time at all I managed to rid my workspace of the junk, and manage to fit my chair back where it belongs as well:
It really didn't take that long, but like anything else, I needed the motivation.

And motivated I was. I flew through the job undaunted with great results. The blue basket still hold papers and stuff I need to file, but they are at least sorted, and ready to find their way into the file drawers. I'll add that to my list of possible candidates for next Tuesday. I deserve a break, and as soon as I play a few more games with a very bored, yet sick 5-year-old, maybe an Iced Coffee and 15 minutes of reading before I tackle another job I don't enjoy on beautiful days like today, preparing dinner!