I've always had the somewhat warped line of thinking, 'if the day is really awful, attack an awful job. Don't waste a great day doing something really yucky." I haven't had the flu bug for years, and looking at this house it shows! I could use a few more of these 24 hour bouts of feeling like dirt.

Yesterday was spent on the sofa, in pjs, sipping chicken broth, seven up and when I finally felt better, a childhood flu remedy favorite - rainbow sherbert. This morning I woke up and decided if the coffee and creamer stayed put, then that was enough. Time to get to work, and take full advantage of a 'feeling less than wonderful' day.

We've got three floors and more rooms than we know what to do with, and every single one of them needs help in one way or another. I decided to start with my office - clean it up, muck it out, declutter, and do some beautifying with my favorite color - kelly green.

Here's what it looked like a week ago:


Yes, it was an absolute blast trying to balance a checkbook and pay bills in the midst of this.

Here's what it looked like right before I attacked it:



Here's what it looks like now:



I bought a phone and hooked it up. It's ridiculous not to have a phone in an office. Also sorted through the notebooks on the bookshelf, threw out three 13-gallon bags of garbage, filled the 'to be shredded' wastebasket, and made a big pile for the Vietnam Vets to pick up this week. I even printed out a nice family photo and framed it for my desk. I'm famous for my lack of current photos in our home. I should honestly sign up for 12 Step Recovery for Past Scrapbookers who have a gabillion dollars of supplies and no photos in albums... so even one photo on a desk is improvement. Even the half-dead plants got watered, and I can see the TV screen again.

And I've just begun - tonight during the College National Championship game, I plan to muck through some more file folders, increasing that pile of trash before they pick up in the morning, adding to the shredder pile and the VV pile, then if I get really bored I'm going to go wild and mail out the Christmas New Year's cards that are sitting in that good intention pile. Thank the Lord there's that frozen broccoli cheese soup and a loaf of bread in the deep freeze - instant supper!

So, good use of a 'feel like dirt' day. Tomorrow we're moving on to the basement - a bit like climbing Mt. Everest I'm thinking. So how about you guys, how do you spend a crummy day, and do you have any big projects you're starting to tackle?

Labels: Girl Talk