My Happiness Project 1/2/14

Of course, deciding to go against the grain for New Year's backfired on me, as my evil plans usually do.  My wonderful hubby called New Year's morning on his way home from work and asked if I wanted him to stop by the store to get a pork roast and sauerkraut.  How could I say no?  Afterall, it sounded good and we haven't had it since what, a year?  All my life, we've always put brand new pennies under our plates so we will never be poor in the New Year.  Since I was so determined to jinx my New Year to my benefit, I thought about NOT putting pennies under our plates, but since my daughter-in-law, grandkids and my in-laws were all over for dinner too, how could I deny them of the possibility of good fortune for the New Year?  I couldn't help it.... am I willing to take such chances????  I went ahead and found all the newest and shiniest pennies I could find and put one under each plate.

But I couldn't stop there. 

I'm so determined to be happy in the New Year and change my soul for the better, I asked Marcella to help me draw smiley faces and we added those under our plates as well.

 

With this new tradition, I decided to change "My Adventure 2014" to "My Happiness Project".   Sure, it would be nice to fill 2014 full of adventures and fun things to do, and full of adventures it will be, but my goal for this year is to improve myself and my soul.  If you're just now joining me on this journey, please read my first post about how this all came to be here.

So today, I got a new burst of energy (no thanks to coffee by the way!!!) and I became motivated to get my house in order first.  I figured an organized house, is an organized soul.  Sounds silly and I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who don't agree with that statement and could care less about their cluttered closets, but I will say how happy I feel when I stand in front of the refrigerator after a good cleaning and admire the crystal-clear glass shelves and neatly stacked containers and fresh produce and.... smile. 

My home is my domain.  If I don't like the way my home is, then I can't be a happy person.  (I do have to live here.) I used to be very good at mopping the kitchen floor and scrubbing the toilets every week but life lately prevents me from doing those things like I used to.  Now, those rooms only get cleaned when I can't stand it any longer.  Weeks could fly by and my socks start sticking to the kitchen floor, only then do I get motivated enough to do something about it.  That's when I can appreciate the job more.  I'll stand in the middle of my kitchen and admire the shiny floor, the uncluttered countertops and the fresh smell of Pine Sol and.... smile.

On a big "HOWEVER", I believe in starting big projects small.  My parents used to tell me when I was growing up, "If you don't feel like doing something, start doing it anyway and eventually you'll feel like doing it and before you know it, it'll be done."  How right they were when I decided to start small and clean out my smallest kitchen drawer.  I couldn't stand it any longer anyways.  So I began...

This is what it looked like before I started:

This is what it looked like when I got the first layer of note papers out of the way:

Yes, your eyes are not tricking you.  I'd bet I threw away about 20 pencils and pens.  That doesn't count the two big handfuls of pencils I threw out a couple months ago AND the stack of brand new pencils we added in with the Halloween candy to give away.

This is what it looks like now:

Ahhh!!!!  I made origami boxes to hold the stick glue and highlighters.  I wasn't about to start digging through my container cabinet to find an old container to do the same job.  (that would open up a whole other project I didn't know I was ready for).  And I stood back and... smiled!

As right as my parents often are, organizing that small kitchen drawer started a landslide.  I didn't stop there.  I re-organized my cabinet with all my plastic/Tupperware containers.  This is what it looked like before:

And this is what it looks like now:

I'm going to get tension rods and place them up high way in the back (where you can't see) and place lighter items on top of the rods, like a shelf for my bread baskets, etc.  I absolutely hate this cabinet.  It's far too deep and I can't reach far enough to get the lost items way in the back.  It's so much wasted space.

Then of course, I shifted over to the nearest cabinet and worked on that one, too.

Before:

 

After: 

 

 

You can't tell very well, but I moved quite a few items in the way back that I don't use often and put them up on a higher shelf. 

Then I opened my silverware drawer.  I'll spare you a picture.  It was pretty nasty.  So nasty that anyone who's eaten at my house lately would appreciate not knowing where their 'clean' silverware came from.  Let's just say, "Magic Eraser, you're my hero!"

And so, I stood back and admired my clutter-free cabinets in my kitchen and it felt like a weight has been lifted from my chest, and... I smiled!

*****

I am still working on my Wish List for 2014 so please stay tuned.  My next project:  my bedroom closet.  Oh the dreaded fear of my bedroom closet!  But oh, it would make me so happy to see it all done!