Day 85 ~ Cleaning and Organizing

My spring break was full of baseball and a lovely sinus/upper respiratory infection because of the dreaded pollen.  Before spring break started, I had visions of cleaning out closets, drawers, and cabinets.  I was going to clean my carpets and do some yard work.  I know that sounds like lots of fun but I knew I would feel better going back to work with all that done and behind me.  I was going to do some of it after baseball each day and then really hit it hard on Thursday and Friday (the days without baseball).  But, I felt horrible each day after baseball.  On Thursday, I did clean out my bedroom closet and clean my bedroom.  I just couldn't take it anymore on Friday so I threw in the towel and went to the doctor.  I spent the rest of that day and night in bed.  Yesterday, I took a fun day off with Erin.
Today, I hit the ground running and put everyone to work.  Mark and the kids did yard work.  I swear, when we make the kids do yard work, they act and complain like we are making them do hard manual labor all by themselves and we are just sooooo unfair!!  I took EVERYTHING out of our pantry.  Let me back up a little, our pantry was were the washer and dryer were in our kitchen when we first moved into our house.  I had so little cabinet and drawer space in the kitchen that I got Mark and a friend to set up a laundry room downstairs and we converted the big closet that the washer and dryer used to be in the kitchen into a pantry.  So, we just put an old wooden shelf in the big closet and stacked food, etc. on it.  You know how things go.. if you have a little extra room in a storage area, you will fill it to the brim with random junk.  Well, that is what always happens with my pantry.  Every so often, I have to clean it all out.  This time, I decided to get rid of the old wooden shelf and replace it with a more sturdy and kitchen pantry like shelf.  Here is what it looks like now...

But wait, there's more...

After Will helped me put the shelf together and I put everything I deemed worthy to go back into the pantry back in there, I decided that my screened porch needed some attention.  Lately, every time I looked out there, everything was covered in that awful yellow powder like POLLEN!  I pulled all the furniture out onto the deck and sprayed it down. I vacuumed the carpet and each cushion and pillow.  Then, I had to wash the glass tops of the tables.  Once everything was dry, I put it all back together.  Here is the finished product...

I love my screened porch!  It doesn't get used enough.  It is sort of like a formal living room or dining room (which we have neither in our house) in that it usually only gets used when we are having a party or get together.  It is a peaceful place to think or read.  I have had some great talks out there with friends.  Maybe we would use it more in the summer if I could just get Mark to put that ceiling fan up out there that we bought years ago...

So, off to work I go tomorrow and I do feel good about what did get done this week!!  41 more school days to go until this school year ends.  I have such mixed feelings about that....