After returning home from spending a week with my sister, brother-in-law, and new baby niece, my nesting instinct really kicked into high gear. I experienced the sudden need and urge to get our house in order.
First came the laundry which probably amounted to three loads. Unfortunately our dryer is not working properly and it takes over two hours to dry a large load. Thus laundry became an all day affair. I folded the last load of laundry at eleven in the evening.
The following day I decided to clean the main level of our house (living room, dining room, half bathroom, and kitchen. The carpet was in dire need of a good vacuuming. Our vacuum cleaner, however, is quite poor at picking up debris in a timely fashion so I borrowed a much bigger vacuum from my sister (who just happens to live next door). This got the vacuuming done in a quarter of the time (I think it is time for us to get a “real” vacuum). Once the carpet was vacuumed, I turned my attention to the book shelves that had been gathering clutter since we moved. This de-cluttering process turned into rearranging the furniture in the living room, especially since the book shelves were empty and somewhat easy to move. I tried lots of different arrangements and finally settled on the one that allowed for balance and proper light distribution, keeping in mind a potential space for the Christmas tree. After getting the books reorganized, I was exhausted.
The next day I turned my attention to the kitchen (which was not completely cleaned the day before) and to cleaning and organizing the bedrooms. Since no rearranging was involved this time, the cleaning went quickly and I was able to enjoy watching a movie in my clean and rearranged house!