Good intentions

We've all got them. Those things we do, trying to make our lives easier. Buying a planner in January and using it for a week. Signing up for a gym membership. Purchasing fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. Don't even try to tell me that there has never been some broccoli hiding out in the bottom drawer of your fridge until the stench gives it away.

I am alright at washing clothes. I don't mind the switching of wash and the frustration when I know that our washer does not know the difference between hot and scalding hot. There is no such thing as cold water. Therefore I have a lot of clothes that are tinted just a smear bit. I don't even mind cleaning the lint out of the dryer. But I do mind folding clothes. Oh, yes, I do. It takes half a day to remember to switch and start batches of clothes and by the time they hit our bed in their dryer sheet yumminess I am not about to fold those things and put them away. No way.

So they sit there. On our bed. Until bedtime. When handsome husband carries me to bed after falling asleep in his lap watching a movie they get pushed to the floor. So they sit there. Until we have worn them through again and they are once again in the laundry basket.

This happens again and again. Story of my life in high school. Except back then, it wasn't clothes that had been pushed off the bed, it was clothes that hadn't made it to my chosen wardrobe of the day after three outfits. Any normal high school girl's room would look like that. I've never seen my parent's room look like this, however. I think we have our own thing goin' on right now. It's high school girl room multiplied by two.

Steven, wanting to keep the clothes from under-foot, even if they weren't put away, grabbed a large suitcase from downstairs and lugged it up, lifting all the clothes into it. This was fine, except that the clothes were then piled so high that it took forever to dig through them and they ended up sprawled all over the floor again. Forgive the good intentions.

I went through my clothes and took a whole great bagful to DI. I thought that if my dresser drawers were empty enough so that when laundry was done I could still close the drawers I may put clothes away. I now have half the clothes, but they just get used more often now so they are in the laundry one day and then on the floor the next.

It's getting kind of old to crawl around on the floor every morning looking for matching socks, or any socks at all. It's getting kind of old to not be able to take a quick inventory of my clean clothes. And it's getting really old hurdling clothes while clambering into bed every night.

I am starting to feel better now that this baby is floating in more water (seriously, I feel like a camel every time I drink from a water fountain) instead of laying up against whatever she was pushing on before. And the doctor specifically told me get things done and enjoy the next few months 'cause they won't last long enough. So, perhaps the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But the road to clean laundry is paved with good intentions, as well.

So, we better start gettin' on our way. Start knocking one good intention out at a time. 'Cause I can tell you one thing that I know for certain from babysitting. There's nothing like trying to find baby clothing pieces that match. Those things are seriously like Barbie shoes. You know what I am talking about. They sink to the bottom of the toy box and you can never find two at a time. We need to get some organization going on in this house.

I have strong feelings about how cute things make everything better. I always decorated my science notebooks and math notebooks with the cutest of stickers so that I would be excited to open them up and write in them. I used the cutest folders I could find and when things got really tough, I took notes with crayola markers for some added color.

Ikea is known for their awesome stuff, and guess who's going on Monday? This girl, right here. Our first good intention is to get some cute stuff to help us stay organized. Like a cutesie laundry bag, some racks for the closets and some nice boxes.

Also, perhaps the drawers need to be jazzed up a little bit. You know what I am talking about, wrapping paper glued to the insides and all that. And maybe a cute little label on the drawers with promised clean t-shirts and socks. Or maybe it just needs some paint. Everything looks better with paint. The only problem is that it's so... contemporary looking. So boring and nice. Paint looks best on scrollies and swirlies and some awesomely ridiculous hardware knobs. This dresser is so contemporary it doesn't even have knobs! I don't know how it would feel about being painted bright red or turquoise. It would probably rebel by looking nasty. But the paper in the drawers, now there's an idea that may just stick. I love those old drawers with wrapping in them. It just says, 'surprise, you have just opened a beautiful present.' Exactly what I need to get my motivation into movement of putting clothes away.