The Flergers!

It has been a rollercoaster! As I sat down to think back on this last year I feel as though most of it was a blur. That is due mostly in part to grad school--while I was getting smarter the brain was feeling dumber. :(

In case you missed it (or in case I did!) here is a quick run-down of this past years events.

January

• I started my second year of grad school and my second semester as a 1st year librarian.
• Jesse turned 35 years old! (OMG!)
• As part of Jesse's birthday gift, we gave the office a facelift--new paint, new shelving and new office furniture! 

February

• I went to TCEA in Austin--my first professional conference.

March

•  The livingroom and hallway got a makeover--we pulled out the ugly, old, badly stained carpet that had been in our house since before we purchased it and replaced it with vinyl laminate wood flooring. It looks so pretty and fresh now! 
• I participated in the Firefly Run with some of my co-workers. It was my first 5K. 

April

• We didn't do holiday pictures last year, so instead we participated in a photo shoot at my friend Delia's house and got some awesome pics of us doing what we do best (being silly!) 
• Lucas was diagnosed with a speech delay.

May

• Our baby boy turned 3 on May 7th! His Honey and Papa came for his birthday and we were so happy to have them here! 
• The craft room got a facelift--reorganization, a new book shelf and curtains and its a new paradise instead of a crap hole!

June

• Jesse and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We took a Carnival cruise to Cozumel for the occasion. Honey and Papa came back to stay with Lucas while we were away, and as an anniversary present/early birthday present they painted the entryway, livingroom and hallway (all of this orchestrated by the best friend a girl could ask for, Christina Hoofnagle!) 
• Lucas started speech and occupational therapy at Our Children's House at Baylor--he'll continue once a week appointments until it is no longer needed. 
• Dad  built me a raised bed and I grew tomato plants, jalapeno peppers and attempted to grow some other stuff but failed miserably (it was just too hot!) 

July

• I turned the big 3-5 (eek!)
• Lucas started potty training on July 4th (Independence from Diapers Day!) 

August

•  Lucas and I took a trip to New Mexico to help my parents move and get settled at their new home in Glencoe, NM. 
• I began my 2nd year as a librarian and started my last semester of grad school, and Jesse began his 10th year as a teacher!
• Lucas started at a new school! 

September

• My practicum for grad school began this month, and I had to begin writing my final exam portfolio. 

October

• I got a new barbeque grill! 
• We went to an awesome Halloween party and saw our friend Dain play in his new band. Lucas went to his first Halloween carnival at school. 

November

• I had a great time at my first-ever Pinterest Party with some awesome crafty ladies! 
• I finished my final exam so I had a little extra time and chose to clean out our garage. It was a 2 day ordeal but we got all kinds of stuff tossed out and made a lot more space!
• I got a new car! We now are a two-Prius family! 

December

• Grandma Berger passed away and I came home to Albuquerque to be with my family for the services. 
• I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Masters in Library Science!!! 
• My son took his first Santa picture since 2009--this was a major celebration because he's been terrified the last 2 years! 
• We had a White Christmas! 

So there ya go--a little glimpse into the Fletcher Fam. My hope for this next year is that I will be able to start blogging again (now that I have more time on my hands!) Happy New Year! 

So, the kitchen tends to get kinda messy because it is linked to the door that goes to the garage. And since we park in the garage and come through that door, the first dumping ground is likely to be the small kitchen table or the countertop nearest to the door. Not to mention that during the week we are super busy and usually wait until the weekend to pick up our most dreadful messes, only stopping to clean up the dirty dishes and cooking utensils used during the week. Over the holidays the countertops were a disaster as I was very busy making a variety of goodies and needed some items to remain close-at-hand so that I didn't have to keep pulling them from the cabinets. Today I finally got the time and the drive to clean up the disaster kitchen, and I'm very proud of the results. I got rid of the knife blocks, which are a counter hog and kept only the magnetic knife rack (gosh I love Ikea!) All surfaces were completely ridded of their occupants, thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized before anything went back on the counter. Almost doesn't look like the same place!

I'm off to tackle the red cabinet in my kitchen and fix my cookbooks...again. I'll keep you posted!

Okay, I'm back now. The red cabinet is very dear to me. My mom bought it for my first apartment when I moved to Lewisville. It is very cute, very me, and holds some of my greatest treasures---my cookbooks. I know I have a ridiculous obsession with them, but I come by it honestly. My mom too is a collector, though she swears now that she's not going to buy anymore. Guess I'll be loaning her mine! Anyway, the red cabinet isn't too bad as far as clutter goes. There honestly isn't a lot of space for clutter to fit but on occasion a few small things end up there, which is why I decided to include it. I had to reorganize the inside of the cabinet a bit, so I showed the closed door and open door versions of how the cabinet looks now that its all prettified again!

Hi. My name is Amy and I am a Clutter Queen. I view it as one of my least favorite quirks to be honest. It somehow makes me feel like a failure in some ways--I mean, I'm a Home Economist...shouldn't I have a better grasp on my own home?

At any rate, I've decided to confess my clutter sins so that I might feel more accountable for them. I also hope it will help me be more aware and strive to de-clutter more often because seriously folks...this is ridiculous.

Pretty much every surface in my house was covered with CRAP this morning. Mail crap. School crap. Food crap. Non-food crap. Reading crap. Newspaper crap. Crafting crap. Christmas crap.  I broke out the camera because I thought it might help me come to grips with it. If I could see the "before" and "after" I might be willing to keep up with it.

I took pictures of the most commonly cluttered places in my home and I've worked all afternoon to try and rectify the situation. (Insert Jesse joke about "rectify" here...) <-----------------

The problem is not that I'm lazy. Mostly its just that I'm pre-occupied a lot of the time because I'm a Mom! :) If I have the choice between going through 3 weeks of mail and snuggling with a cute little dude, you know I'm going to choose Option B everytime. I work during the week, we come home, eat dinner, bathe a dude and put him to bed, and then I want to do something fun (not clean up all the crap!) But its actually gotten so bad now that I'm afraid that if I don't get ahead of it now that someone who loves me is going to submit my name to Hoarders and I'll end up on National television. No thanks.

Okay...so trouble spot number one...the piano. Its the first flat surface you see when you come through the front door. Monday-Saturday I go to the mailbox, come back in, and drop the mail in a little basket on the piano. The basket is relatively new.  I put it there thinking it would help about a month ago which it has, but only slightly. Before the basket all the mail, newspapers, and other crap that people leave on our doorknob got thrown on my beautiful, antique piano which I am sad to say does not get played as much as it gets dumped on. I need to quit that. My husband paid a lot of money to get it tuned up and shiny for me last Mother's Day and I enjoy sitting at it with Lucas, playing and singing to him. I moved some of the pictures so that I could re-arrange a little bit and I think it looks much nicer now. I also gave it a nice treatment with some furniture oil to re-shiny it a bit. Don't you think it looks pretty?

The second trouble spot is just past the piano on the way to the livingroom. Its actually an old record player that Jesse's grandmother gave him but it doubles as a buffet table and is a great place to hold framed pics. Trouble is, I needed a place to deal with the mail and I didn't have one until today. I went to Dollar Tree and bought some cute little baskets and some colored index cards and made myself a place to organize the mail immediately. I find that I need 3 categories: File, Bills and Coupons (which could include coupons from the paper, the mail, or discounts and weekly mailers that I like to use.) I also put the shredder (you can see it above in the bottom piano pic) somewhere close so that I can open the mail, categorize the stuff I need to, and shred all the other crap (that might otherwise get put on the buffet and left there for weeks until I get annoyed an finally sit down to sort it.) Here's the before and after shot of trouble spot number two:


This next one is not a horrible one but often things get set on the fireplace and that is where they go to die. Boxes and plastic tubs will sit there for weeks until they are covered in dust and pet fur. Lucas's toys get set there a lot but that's a rotating mess and you never know what will be there from one day to the next. I really just need to be more aware of this space. It looks so nice when its clean!


Okay...the following two tables are the bane of my existence. The one in the kitchen is the worst crap-catcher in our whole house. Its where we unload all of our junk when we come through the garage after work, shopping, etc. It almost ALWAYS looks similar to the before picture, just with different crap. I'm really proud of the after pic though. I decided that each of us needed a bin so that things that end up in the kitchen (that don't belong there) will have a place. Lucas's bin is probably going to be full a lot because he's a kid and is always moving his stuff from one room to the next. I hope the bins will help us to put things back where they go, even if its a few times a week.


The second table is our gorgeous, Ethan Allen cherry wood dining table. Yes....isn't it pretty without all that crap on it? This one gets used daily. Its where I fold laundry, use my sewing machine and wrap presents. Its the table I put stuff on that I don't want Lucas to grab (he's so dang tall that most of the surfaces in our house are not safe for that purpose.) When we eat here, I usually just scoot the crap to the other end of the table so that the 3 of us can fit on the end without our crap dipping into the gravy (or red chile, as the case may be.) I love this table. It was my grandmother's table and she gave it to me. I have GOT to stop using it as a catch-all.


So...that is my progress so far. I still have much more to do tomorrow so check back then! Until then, this is the Clutter Queen signing off. Goodbye.