Divide and, Like, 65% Conquer...

So, today, after a very rough day of Abbey being in pain after her surgery and much crying (To the point I had to tell her to stop crying because it would hurt her eye. I always thought I'd be the type of parent who would let their kids emote to their hearts' content...but this is not the case. Of course, the complete opposite is also true as I let New Baby cry it out tonight for the first time.) I realized that I had to redo our plan. Like, I try to make our house be in such a way that it can be totally cleaned in like 10 minutes. (Because, really, who feels like cleaning longer than that.) This means that every few months, I have to spend like 12 hours cleaning. But I'm comfortable with that. I think, over time and with much trial and error, I will figure out a way to keep it clean in 10 minute increments forever. At least, this is my motivation for these all day cleaning days, without which I might never clean again, descending into squalor and ending up on Hoarders. (Do you think they get paid for appearing?)

I'm not done. I only vacuumed one room of the whole house and if you don't vacuum often, you can take crumbs into bed with you. (Blech.) I've been tossing around ideas in my head of how to avoid that from investing in patio furniture and eating all of our meals outside (But what about rain?) to investing in all sizes of soft slippers and refusing anyone entry into our house unless they swap their shoes out for some (I feel that my guests might find this off-putting.) to purchasing enough sheet sets that they can be replaced and laundered daily. (But the way I do laundry, I'd probably have to buy seven sheet sets per bed. This is financially inadvisable.)

I noticed that when I'd get Lola out of her crib in the morning, she'd have random toys in there with her, sometimes a stray sock or shoe. And the formal dining room off our living room was the play room, but the toys had a way of migrating everywhere (living room, kitchen, hallway, my bedroom; perfectly poised for me to step on in the dark when I get up to pee.) and I had just plain had enough.

So, I enacted a new rule today. "No toys anywhere but the new, improved playroom." I took the biggest bedroom in our house and moved all the toys out of the kids' rooms and into it. Also all of the art supplies. (Which makes the fact that Abbey ground an entire red oil pastel into the carpet of that room a good thing now!) In the kids' bedrooms are their books, their beds, and their clothes and shoes. THAT'S IT.

They're really excited about the playroom. I, on the other hand, couldn't even stand on my own legs anymore after moving all that furniture around. (I don't think I'm supposed to admit that because a correlation may be drawn between that fact and the $28 of Girl Scout cookies I purchased.) (Don't judge me.)

But there's still so much to do. I am exhausted. I hope there's enough Advil in my purse for tomorrow.