Preparing for the New Year

Well, it's the last day of 2008. Tomorrow starts a new year. A chance for a fresh start. We'll soon have a new President in office with a promise of a better future for us all. And so once again, it's time for me to try to make a better future for myself and my family.

I'm trying to start the new year off right. Thanks to the upbringing of my mother, I have been running around like a chicken without a head for the last couple of days. She always raised us to have things a certain way for the start of the new year;
The house must be clean - not just tidy either, REALLY clean. There must be NO dirty laundry in the house. And there must be plenty of food in the refrigerator and the pantry.

So, right now there is load of laundry in the wash, one in the dryer and two waiting to be folded and put away. The sheets on the beds have all been changed, the baseboards throughout the house scrubbed down. The couch has been steam cleaned. The playroom has been dusted and all the toys sanitized. My craft/sewing area has been re-organized and wiped down. The office area has been organized and dusted. All ceiling fans have been dusted. All of our Christmas presents have finally found their homes. The kitchen has been cleaned. All the furniture in the entire house has been dusted and polished with pledge. I've gone through the filing cabinets, disposing of what we no longer need and making new folders for the stuff we will need to save next year.

But there's still so much left to do! I still need to:

• Do about three more loads of regular laundry (I'm unusually behind on laundry these days) plus two more loads of the cleaning rags.
• Run the dishwasher one last time and then put that stuff away
• Fold and put away the loads of laundry that are already done
• Clean and sanitize both bathrooms
• Vacuum all carpets
• Sweep and mop all floors
• Clean the sliding glass doors and windows
• Make a final trip to the grocery store to pick up a couple things.

Luckily, my mom has said that when she is done working for the day she will come over and watch the kids so I can finish up what I need to do.
With all this that needs to get done you may be asking yourself,
"Why are you on the computer blogging?!?!?"
Well, I am doing so with one hand as I nurse my son...again.

He sure does eat a lot!