HADA 2013: Days 1 and 2

I had every intention of packing and moving in a completely organized fashion; with every box neatly labeled, and color-coded with letters to designate which room each item was going to. But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and crappy housewives. About half of my boxes ended up being clearly labeled, and the other half got thrown together at the last second, with little forethought. My biggest goal for the first week of HADA was to get every box into its correct room, so that I could tackle the unpacking of extraneous stuff over the rest of the month. But when I started trying to move things around on day 1, I realized how many boxes/tubs/items were a little bit bigger than I should be carrying around by myself. My SPD flared up pretty bad while I was packing, and I would really like to give it the chance to settle down, since I still have a long way to go in this pregnancy. So I'm taking the "moving stuff around" tasks in small doses. The downside of this is that I'm not going to see the awesome photo-worthy progress as quickly. The upside is, hopefully, less debilitating pain.

So, I've been tackling smaller tasks throughout the house, moving things only when absolutely necessary. I have yet to set an actual timer - just grabbing a few minutes here and there throughout the day whenever I can. I'm confident that I hit at least an hour both days, however.

Day 1

• set up and wiped down the bookshelf and desk in my third floor office/craft room
• moved a few boxes up to the third floor that were blocking the second floor hallway
• wiped down the girls' walls where I intend to stick up the sticker mural
• stuck up the glow-in-the-dark stars on the girls' ceiling
• changed the batteries on the keyboard, discovered the new batteries didn't work at all, and changed them back
• cleared a path to the laundry room for the new washer and dryer
• started to anchor the over-toilet shelf to the wall (I needed a bit of help in the end, and recruited my father-in-law when he was done with the washer/dryer)
• moved several items from the side yard to the basement to make more room for playing/gardening

Day 2

• found a bin to put the recyclables out in
• tidied up the purpose-to-be-determined shelf in the kitchen a bit
• moved a bookshelf into the kitchen to go in the corner where the mini fridge was just taking up space, cleaned it, and put cookbooks on it
• brought the old boombox down to the kitchen, scrubbed it down, and hooked it up (Bonus: I thought the CD player on it was broken, but on a whim, I stuck a CD in, and it worked!)
• baked bread
• finished anchoring the over-toilet shelf to the wall, and started putting things away on it
• swept and mopped the kitchen floor
• stripped the guest bed, and set it up with pillows/cushions for day use

I'm sure there are more little tasks that I am forgetting, but you get the gist. Lots of miscellaneous, not-very visible, but wholly necessary tasks.

I've also been striving, since moving to the new house, to get into better habits with normal, daily tasks. I've been cooking a proper meal for dinner every night, feeding the girls at regular intervals, washing dirty dishes within a day, wiping down the table at least twice a day, and sweeping under the table after almost every dinner. I've also been doing projects and/or park trips with the girls most days. I even packed Jer a lunch tonight! I often struggle with finding balance in my life, and I'm really trying to figure out how to apply the HADA philosophies (a little is better than nothing, don't throw in the towel when you miss one day) to the rest of my life, too.