SO, What Have You Been Up To?

Since I quit work, I have been getting that question constantly. I don’t think the people asking mean anything negative or judgmental by it, but I do think they’re envisioning a lot of Oprah and bon-bons. (Which, by the way, I’ve never eaten. I actually have no idea what they are. Chocolate candies, I guess? Anyway, I digress…)

I just politely answer that I’ve been catching up on some projects. If they know me well, they immediately understand. If they don’t know me that well, they just nod and smile with visions of bon-bons dancing in their heads. So, for those people and for my own personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, here is a list of what I’ve done in the past 8 days:

• Took down all the window screens and scrubbed them with comet. I washed all the windows inside and out and scrubbed every sill spotless. Seriously, feel free to come eat off my window sills. Total time: 10-12 hours over 3 days. No joke. It was ridiculous. Next year we’re hiring someone.

• Wrote and mailed 15 thank you notes from my last baby shower. Total time: 2 hours

• Reorganized the kitchen cabinets, drawers, and pantry to make room for bottles, baby food, etc. Took a box full of stuff to Goodwill. That always makes me happy. Total time: 3 hours

• Removed the shelf liner from all of the kitchen cabinets and drawers, scraped off the residue of the old contact paper, cleaned each and every cranny, and relined the shelves and drawers with new liner. Total time: 10 hours over 2 days, not including the time it took to make three trips to Walmart for more shelf liner. I’m not planning on doing this again while we live in this house, I don’t care if it needs it or not.
  
  
• Took apart, cleaned, spray painted countless coats onto, and reassembled all of our outdoor light fixtures. (David did the actual taking down and putting up, being the electrical engineer and all.) Total time: 2.5 hours
  
  
• Researched and created a birth plan. I’ll spare you the details, but the hardest and most time-consuming part was keeping it to one page (I do want them to actually read the thing.) Total time: 2 hours
  
  
• Straightened up the garage. More tossing of junk. We did a major cleaning out last spring, so it wasn’t too bad, but it did need a touch-up. Total time: 2.5 hours
  
  
• Put together a Family Emergency Kit based on http://www.ready.gov/ recommendation. Yes, I realize this makes me a huge dork. Whatever…at least I’m prepared. Including shopping for supplies at several stores and typing up all of our insurance/financial information in one document, Total Time: 3 hours
  
  
• Put away the latest shower gifts and straightened/organized the nursery. Total time: 2 hours
  
  
• Cleaned out all of our paper files and shredded a trash bag and a half full of old financial documents and receipts. Created files and folders for new stuff. Total time: 4 hours
  
  
• Cleaned out my car, put stuff where it belonged, and threw away unrecognizable fast food crumbs and bank receipts. Total time: 1 hour

There you have it: 42 hours of projects in 8 days. Of course, this list doesn’t include trips to the grocery store, bank, doctor’s office, or dry cleaners. Nor does it count the hours spent couponing, cooking, cleaning, paying bills, and doing laundry. I would guess I’ve had at least a 55 hour work week. I’ve always been a bit OCD, but I think pregnancy “nesting” has thrown me into over-drive.

So, sure, I’ve caught up on some TV. But mostly I’ve been doing projects. I think I’m ready to go back to work so I can catch my breath. Of course, I know it’s not going to slow down when Baby Girl gets here. That’s the main reason I’m trying to get this stuff finished and out of the way! Now off to tackle the master bathroom cabinets and drawers and then to the grocery store…maybe I’ll get me some bon-bons.