I’m taking a creative license on place…

Cleaning my room. It’s something I try to keep up with. I think that there is truth when people say that the state of your room can reflect the state of your inner world. If my room is messy – and messy for a long time – it often means that I’m not really the best space. Cleaning my room is a constant battle. Somethings never change, right mom?

So I didn’t really want to clean my room for the challenge of tidying my space (which for the record, is tidy… I went ninja on it yesterday). But did something else that I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. The place I am choosing to tidy is my body.

I’ll be doing a 30 day full body cleanse for the duration January. Colon, liver, kidney, limp nodes, skin, lungs, and whatever else is left – prepared to be cleaned out. Added points for doing this with my mom as well. A little long distance activity, together.

Heather

Reclamation

I have been quite busy this Christmas season — the staff here have been extremely lovely and have worked very hard to help us celebrate our holiday, even though we still had to work. We’ve been feted, though, to the degree that I’ve never had quite such a Christmas.

Through it all, I lost my grip on my day-to-day: laundry, sweeping, etc.

So. On Boxing Day, my only party-free day this week, I tidied. I swept and washed the floors, including underneath the washing machine. I did two loads of laundry, cleaned the counters, did the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, and tidied up my stuff.

I feel better about life.. although it’s already starting to revert again. How quickly messiness can creep back in.

Sara

Boy did I tidy!

We have a very tiny house, and I am finding that even though it’s not that messy, it looks that way and it causes me much stress. For example, after one meal all of the counter space, including both the burners on our hot plate aka “stove”, is completely covered in dishes. This is only a meal for two! Imagine the disaster that ensues if we have company. Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to moving where we have a HUGE fridge (not a bar fridge), which I know Jennifer can appreciate with me, and even a stove AND an oven. We might even get a dishwasher which might make me so excited that I go into premature labor. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen.

Anyway, back to the tidy. It had been WAY too long since Jer and I did a thorough job of cleaning the place. Jeremy and I have a wonderful deal. He cleans the bathroom, which I hate (yes, every time… he’s WAY to good for me) and I do the floors, which he hates. I got down on my hands and knees and washed the floor with a rag, people. Now THAT is a clean floor! Snap! We did the laundry, we did the dishes, I cleaned out the fridge (and found some old, mouldy, nasty, couldn’t tell you what that once was… food?), I even beat out the small rugs we have. Dang. Talk about productive.

The best part of all this, is that we were able to have friends over and I didn’t have to apologize once for the condition of our apartment. ( I usually do this when people come over and it’s a mess). I did notice today that I forgot to clean the cobwebs from the corners. Maybe next time…

Stephanie

Alternate Challenge Title, Please

I think this challenge would have been more appropriate for me if it had been “Smack Your Place Around, Call It A Ninny, Show It Who’s Boss, Dress It Up Pretty And Then Take It Out On The Town.”

Cuz that’s what I did, suckas.

Friday brought snow and cold and I decided to dedicate my weekend to silent not-so-retreat.  No music, no internet, no communication with the outside world.  The point was for revelation, for creative output, for the literal voice of God.  None of those happened, but I did get hella “tidying” done.

Every room.

Every beverage drawer.

Every art/laundry closet.

Okay, maybe the intention wasn’t so gangsta.  But it ended up that way… (Who got pwned?  Yeah, that’s right, apartment, you got pwned.)

Jennifer

Welcome to The List II

6 women (see “Participants”)

3 continents (see the locations in “Participants”)

27 challenges (see “Items of The List II”)

1.5 months (December 1, 2009 – January 15, 2010)

many reasons (see “What Is The List II?”)

1 blog (bravo! you’ve found it!)

hopefully regular updates and reflections on how we’re all faring with this undertaking…