And the Nesting Begins . . .

Today I found myself in a strange situation.  Very strange.  I woke up and decided that I needed to deep clean every area of my kitchen.  Now this may be an ordinary, every day sort of activity for the rest of the world, but for me it is an occasion worthy of some sort of great celebration.  My children saw me on my hands and knees scrubbing away, and all they could do was sit and stare at me with expressions that ranged from awed to utterly confused.  What in the world was their mother doing?  I'm convinced that there are enough crumbs stuffed in the nooks and crannies of my kitchen to feed an entire nation of mice.  I don't know why there isn't some sort of mouse resort vacation package that sends mice to my kitchen, promising each mouse family a life of comfort and ease as they feast upon an unlimited supply of people food.  Maybe it is the giant fat pug that prevents this from happening.  See Herman?  Brownie (our pug dog) is good for something! 

So anyway, today I started a project that I have needed to do for a long, long time.  My cupboards are overflowing with junk that I never use.  Everything is in a state of chaos.  I have a general idea where everything in my kitchen is located, but sometimes I have to tear apart a section of cupboard space before I find what I am looking for.  Well, today I decided that my days of cursing my disgustingly gross and unorganized kitchen are over.  I declared war on the chaos, loaded up my video of the recent BBC adaptation of Emma (Oh, how I love thee, Mr. Knightley!), and I got to work scrubbing away years of grime and grease.  And what a job it was!  I'm about half-way done with my task.  My fingers are wrinkled to an unrecognizable state, and I have discovered that my gag reflex is pretty well controlled.  I found some seriously nasty looking food (or at least I think it was food).  If even Brownie won't eat it, it has to be nasty.  It is amazing just how much junk I can accumulate in such a short amount of time.  I seriously should take a picture of my cupboards when they get this out of control and pull it out any time I get a hankering to buy some new kitchen equipment. 

So what led me to take such a drastic step?  I am trying to get my house in order before we head to China in the next few weeks.  I have laid in bed many nights and mornings over the past few weeks and thought about how I need to get my house organized before this big event.  I am sure that overall it won't really matter that much if I have a cluttered closet when we bring Minsy home, but I really, really would like to spend as much time as possible getting to know her and making her feel welcome in her new home.  I don't want to become Super Stress Mom as I try to keep everything in order.  Okay, I'm not normally super stressed about having a perfectly organized and clean house.  That's why there is a need for super cleaning days like today.  But, even when I'm not working on cleaning the house I am worried about how messy it is, and I just don't want to have to worry about it for a few weeks once we're home.  There are a couple ways to achieve this Eden-like condition.  Either my family will magically transform into a well-oiled group of cleaning machines, or I'm going to need to simplify things and declutter my life.  I'm going to work on the second scenario since it is more likely. 

There is something about opening up a drawer and seeing it clean and organized that brings a smile to my face.  It makes me happy.  I don't really feel like becoming completely anal retentive about having an organized and clean home, so I guess I'm not really willing to make the sacrifices necessary to have that happy smile on my face all the time.  But living in an atmosphere of happy chaos all the time does make me appreciate the small triumphs of cleanliness that happen once in a while.  I like to walk through my kitchen and not have my bare feet stick to the ground where I walk.  It's refreshing. 

I feel like I have been planning and planning and planning for this trip to China for the last year.  I have figured out the best way to pack for eight (and then nine) people that will be simple and light.  I have figured out where to go and what to do.  Now I am just in a holding pattern until we get our travel approval (hopefully sometime next week).  Until then I want to devote my time to really getting this house under control.  But, like the FlyLady says:  "It didn't get this way in a day, and it isn't going to get clean in a day either."  Check out her awesome cleaning system at http://flylady.com/.  Well, it really is awesome when I choose to follow the plan.  I admit:  I'm a binge cleaner.  I go for long periods of time without taking the small steps to keep things clean, and then I go plain crazy trying to clean everything up.  It isn't really a healthy thing to do, I'm sure.  So, when I'm feeling really together, I do try to do her system.  It's simple and easy.

So, anyway, here I am, taking some big baby steps by starting with the kitchen.  I should get it finished tomorrow, and then I'll systematically head through the rest of the house, trying to make a small dent in the disarray.  I'm feeling a burst of nervous energy.  I've said all along that in a weird way this adoption feels a lot like my pregnancies did, without the swollen ankles and heartburn.  Maybe this nesting is my mind just helping me to know that the process is almost over.  Then the real adventure begins.  For now I'm off to the kitchen again.  I hear my silverware drawer calling me.