Need Motivation? Throw a Party

At my last decluttering update, I was stuck shy of 1100 things. I have made pretty good progress since then, you know why? Because there's going to be a birthday party at our house soon. And let me tell you, there is no higher motivation to clean than people coming over.

It is a time-honoured tradition in our house.

There is a trick to success, though. You (well, at least *I*) have to start early. Otherwise you (or at least *I*) just end up throwing everything in a bin and putting the bin in the basement or the office. Which defeats the purpose of tidying up. It goes against every fibre of my procrastinator-y being to do ANYTHING in advance, but let me tell you, with 3 kids, I have learned that you have to start some things verrrrrrry early.

(One other thing I have learned is that our main living space's floor will not be clean until mere seconds before the party starts, if at all. We tidy it up and before we're even finished putting everything away there is a little 11 month old imp pulling things out of the shelves. This can be disheartening. I am so fucking tired of tidying up the same mess every day. It is what it is, though, and I have been focusing instead on areas my imp can't reach.)

The September long weekend also helped. I find it very hard to get a lot done on a two day weekend, mostly because if I do a lot one day, I need the other day to recover. The third day gives me a second opportunity to accomplish something.

Thanks to the cosmic union of extreme motivation and mucho time, I got rid of many things.

Like old ticket stubs...

and more old ticket stubs...

.

I just want to point out that these are proof that I used to go out, Exhibits A and B.

I also spent an hour or so refolding all the clothes in the kids' dresser drawers. But that is a post for another time. Stay tuned!

The count on the list now hovers around 1300. In related news, there is a lot more space on my office floor. It's pretty incredible, actually, and I'm quite proud of myself. The real test is going to be the day of the party - will I dump containers of stuff in the office???

On the Side Table: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Browsing the Express Bestsellers shelves at the library, I saw it: The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith... or, as was revealed, J. K. Rowling.

Ah, the dilemma. Do I read a book I never would have read, just because it was written by Harry Potter's puppetmaster? Do I want to be one of THOSE people, one more in the stampeding herd of followers??? I don't even LIKE most crime novels. Don't get me wrong, I will read almost anything, but I find mystery novels to be a bit of a crapshoot, mostly because I don't like anything too creepy. I don't like creepy. And what if I hated the book? It might sully my opinion of J. K.

But then I figured, well, I don't particularly like fantasy novels but I love the Harry Potter series. So I decided to give it a shot.

Do I hear hooves?

(At least I know I'm not alone, the book hit the top of the Maclean's bestseller list and it's still up there.)

Galloping along... the book. It's a good read and a good story. The writing is solid. The novel is not fabulous. Nor does it suck. It's not gripping - I managed to put it down at 11 to go to bed on the day I started reading it - but at the same time it moves at a decent pace and held my interest. But, and I can't stress enough how key this is, it was NOT CREEPY. So I'm not going to be scarred for life. Yay! All in all, feel free to read it but don't expect it to rock your world.

I suggested that The Husband read it, so he is.

Verdict: Recommended