Finding My Heaven in 2011

I recently read on this blog, (paraphrasing) "Only have things that you love." So I'm applying a critical eye to everything in our possession. This year is about finding my heaven. First step, a peaceful abode.


On the one hand, having kids gives me an excuse to have a messy house. On the other hand, GAH do I ever hate all the clutter!

Of all the things that drive me crazy (voice-mail, people who chew with their mouths open, awkward situations that could be avoided with a tiny bit of advance communication, etc.) clutter might just be the bane of my existence. I'm tackling it. Yep, I've had enough. What's that saying about cluttered surroundings reflecting a cluttered mind?

Here's the book situation IN MY LIVING ROOM. I'm sick of straightening those books weekly, and obviously this little rack thingy is not up for the challenge of containing all these kids books, as evidenced by the piles around it.

Here is the piano/stereo/toy pile:



Mind you, I have already pulled out 3 boxes of toys and stashed them in the back room. I'll deal with that later. They haven't been missed, which is good news.

Side note on the piano: we put it there about 5 years ago, and neither of us have liked it. It seems so huge there. But it's a bear to move. It's 109 years old and is missing a caster on the back. (We have that corner propped up on some granite coasters. Whatever works.) I thought it was stuck there forever, because when we moved it there, we asked two of Brian's friends to help him get it in place. We had JUST had the hardwood floors done, and didn't want to risk scratching the floor, so we called for reinforcements. Guess what? Huge gauge in the floor. I'm afraid I was less than gracious about it. In fact, I may have said something like, "The only reason we needed your help was to avoid that exact situation!" In my defense, I was 8 months pregnant, but looking back ~ I'm embarrassed. Sorry, guys.

Back to today.
Brian, being amazing both in physical strength and in mental acumen, figured out a way for he and I to move the piano by ourselves. I know, right? He put a hand truck under the end that is missing the caster. I lifted that end by using the weight of my body as leverage, and he lifted the whole other end of the piano. My job was simply to steer us into place. Awesome. {BTW, perfect example of potentially awkward situation being avoided by employing a little communication. Every step of the way, Brian would explain exactly what we were about to do, and even what we weren't going to do. Impressive, and seamless.}

Here's what we accomplished, late into the first day of 2011:

The shelves are two Expedit from IKEA. Our plan is to move the stereo out, which will help quite a bit more, but we're not quite there yet.

I'm not ready to take a picture of the piano area yet, but I'll update as soon as I do. I'm piece by piece finding my heaven in 2011!