Spring cleaning

I'm miserable today. I just feel awful. I think a cold has caught up with me and my allergies, and I'm tired and grumpy and the kids have been normal which is amplified by my misery into awful, and everyone had to go down for nap early. Except for me. I am paying bills. Blah. Let's change the subject.

I got a sudden burst of energy this weekend to jump headfirst into full-on Spring cleaning mode. First project: Olivia's new room.

When we first brought Olivia home, it occurred to me that the third bedroom, which we'll call the pink room (even though Joe would point out that the wall color is technically called "salmon") would be perfect for a little girl. First, it's pink (salmon). Second, it has this delicate little feather-duster paint finish that I put into it when we painted eons ago. Third, it is super bright and sunny, with a vaulted ceiling and a pretty domed window.

The problem at the time was that we already had the crib set up in the second bedroom, the green-painted room, because it fit nicely in there without having to move the guest bed. Also, we got the crib as a hand-me-down several months before we jumped into the adoption arena, so it made sense to put it in the gender-neutrally colored room. And the pink (salmon) room was our office, and at the time it felt like WAY too much trouble to try to move the office.

After a couple of years and some changes (the office moved to the dining room and the pink room became a storage room/place to stash all the babysitted kids' pack-n-plays), there was really no excuse for not making the switch. The green room is better suited for storage because it has the (much) bigger closet and the room itself is bigger. It is still gender-neutral for the someday-anticipated second child. And, when you break down all those pack-n-plays, it makes a GREAT baby's room.

So I spent Friday evening and Saturday switching rooms. It was a lot of work. But I am super excited about the results. Olivia loves her sunny new room and now she has bookshelves (already in that room, and we decided to leave them there) and a TV. Now I'm not thrilled about the TV-in-the-room idea as a general rule, but I keep it unplugged until I am ready for her to use it. She has been enjoying her room all weekend and was playing in her room a lot (which is not something she did much in her old room).

Today the kids and I spent most of the morning in Olivia's room. The floor is a disaster, but my living room is super clean and peaceful. I think this could be a positive change in terms of play space, but it's a little too early to tell.

I will now rest for several days and then decide on a new cleaning project. The end.