And So It Begins....

It was an "at home" day today. The Mister had the car today, as he had some business-related errands to run, and a home visit to make. (We often make house calls for clients who can't get into the salon, usually for health reasons. I figure that if a haircut at your house is the only perk to having a broken hip/cancer/at-risk pregnancy, then so be it; we are happy to provide that singular dividend.) This meant that I was provided with the perfect opportunity to stay at home and Get Things Done.
Last week, Thing 2 wasn't feeling well enough to go to school, and so I spent all day at home then, too. However, last week, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity to malinger and laze about and read and play on the computer, and generally while away the day in a most indulgent manner.
The difference is, that was only the day after Halloween, and today is the 47th day before Christmas. This compels my mindset to switch over from "Normal Sloth Mode" to "Holiday Terrorist Mode" in about 2.3 nanoseconds.
"Holiday Terrorist Mode" means that, for the next 47 days, my life will be dedicated to dealing with Christmas. I'll be preoccupied with getting stuff, remembering stuff, decorating stuff, organizing stuff and dealing with....stuff. Now, believe me, I run a pretty minimalist Christmas ship here at Chez Loudshoes, but as my mother once noted, if the woman of the house doesn't make Christmas happen, it doesn't happen. I don't do much, but even "not that much" adds up to plenty of time and energy when it comes to Christmas.
So, the first level of Holiday Defcon One is to clear out all the extraneous shit that this family has accumulated over the past year, to make room for the tsunami of shit that will engulf us come December. (DO NOT get me started on the ridiculousness of hurling out 2 metric tonnes of stuff we don't want, so that I can make room for another 2 metric tonnes of new stuff I'll be throwing out this time next year.)
I spent most of the day in the family room, which appeared to have been the scene of a particularly raucous Mardi Gras parade. I cleaned out cupboards and under the couch (eww.) and got rid of a whole lot of random game pieces and playing cards and craft kits that were clealy abandoned and never going to be rescued again. (I live with three committed pack rats, so my work is cut out for me, trust me.)I moved a bit of furniture around, and it looks fabulous. I keep going in there just to admire my work.
Next week, I hope to tackle the freezer room, which tends to be the place where things get put when we don't know were else to put them, the same function the dining room table serves, only larger. I figure that, eventually, I will have cleaned the house thoroughly, and maybe, for a few precious minutes on the evening of December 24th, all will be right with my world.