Backward and Forward: My Home

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Home accomplishments in 2011:
We have a housecleaning service come to the house once a month. As a working mama with very little spare time, cleaning bathrooms and dusting just doesn't make it into the rotation. When I'm home, I'm focused on spending time with my family and fitting in all the other daily tasks that need to be kept up on. The amount of stress this has removed from my life is monumental. Worth every penny.

I got myself a kitchen bookshelf (for $25 on Craiglist!) to house all my cookbooks and crafting books. The cookbooks were taking over the counter and now look so pretty and colorful on their shelf.

I organized the garage in a mad fit of holiday cleaning. This will certainly need to be done in a few months again, but it was a start.

I finally found a rhythm with cycling through the clothes of this growing daughter of ours. With all the hand-me-downs we receive and generous gifted clothes from family, I sometimes feel like I'm buried by Sadie's wardrobe. I've finally got a good system for clearing out her drawers every few months and either donating clothes to Goodwill or packing them up for other mamas.

Home goals for 2012:
I want to paint upstairs and get bookshelves for upstairs. We're still using two particle-board bookshelves that I bought at Target 15 years ago. Not only are they ugly, but they're nearly falling over from the weight of the triple stacked books that fill them. I've always dreamed about having the entire wall of our upstairs living room filled with bookshelves, so we may finally make the financial commitment. I hesitate to spend the money, but I think it will make a HUGE difference to our peace of mind and enjoyment of our home.

I'd also like to make some progress on the out of control CD situation in our lives. It's a goal, but one I'm not holding out too much hope for accomplishing.

And outside of all this surficial stuff....my home is so much more than the stuff in it, the way it looks, or how clean and organized it is. My home is where my family is, it's where I feel most comfortable, it's where I long to be when I'm away, it's where I can be myself, it's where I love to open my door to family, friends, and strangers alike, it's where I listen to, make, and host music. It's my favorite place of all.