Stay on Top of It!

"Stay on top of it!"
"I'm trying!"

Image and Star Wars courtesy of Lucasfilms (and now Disney, I guess?).

I have not been the best housekeeper. There were always stacks of papers on the end of the dining room table and toys scattered all over the floor. I'd do laundry weekly, but the clean clothes would take their time getting put away. Dishes were washed nightly (lately by Senpai while I'm nursing Poppy to sleep. Thank you, Love), but would pile up by the sink during the day. Our entire second story was the definition to the word "clutter."

Well, we're embarking on the adventure of trying to sell our house; the size and location don't work for us anymore. When it comes to home sales, one of the first things you must do after meeting with your realtor is to put pictures of your totally awesome house online. That way everybody and their mother can see just how desirable your house is and want to buy it right out from under you.

Uh oh.

We delayed the photographer: Can you come sometime next week? The END of the week? Late in the day? Later? Okay!

I had no idea where to start. I looked around at the mess feeling completely overwhelmed and unable to begin. Then one night, Senpai tackled the upstairs. He found hiding places for all of the crap, moved some furniture, did lots of cleaning, and suddenly, it was beautiful. That miraculous change inspired me to attack the main level. If he could work his voodoo magic on the second story, I could make the first story shine. And I did, with lots of elbow grease, and even more going up and down the stairs to the basement, hiding all of the toys.

Of course, on picture day, the realtor showed up much later than we had initially arranged and all of the pictures were taken with low lighting. Sigh. The listing isn't online yet so I don't know how the pictures turned out, but I really hope our cleaning efforts were worthwhile. Sparkle, baby, sparkle!

Now we get to wait for the house tours. I am trying to be better about keeping the house clean. We already put in all of that hard work to get it looking this nice, I can keep it up, right? No more slacking. You know that old adage, "Don't put off for tomorrow that which can be done today?" Yeah, I used to live by the "putting off for tomorrow" part. Well, no more. My new mantra is, "Do it now." Forget tomorrow, "Do it now."

I must observe everything with a keen eye. What is this doing here? Put it away. What is that doing there? Wash it and put it away. I find myself running around more and sitting less. I find ways to keep Poppy entertained without me and play with my kids slightly less. Am I a worse mother for shifting these priorities? Depends on who you ask.

But the house is clean.