Those Grandkids!

There's something about--after Christmas and January coming up that motivates me to really clean out. I've been working hard all week. I have a huge list of everything I want to accomplish and have gotten quite a lot of it completed this week. Of course, the freezer biting the dust added more work. 

All the things I've done look like this:

1. Cleaned out the freezer.

2. Cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen. Actually that happened before Christmas as the giant, restaurant size spinach that Justin got me (since our store was sold out), leaked all over--every shelf, nook and cranny. Butch helped as we removed everything. That's when it was almost full--so quite a big job--in the middle of cooking and baking for the holidays!

3. Cleaned out my box of wrapping paper, ribbons, tags, bows, and bags in preparation for next year. Note to self, buy more wrapping paper. It's on the list.

4. Took down and put away all the Christmas decorations. I did it over 3 days rather than killing myself to do it all at one time like I used to. Spreading it out wasn't so bad.

5. Spent a few hours putting scrapbook pages into albums. I hate this part--I shouldn't wait so long.

6. Did my round-robin layout with a custom cut title. Loving my new, easy-to-operate Cricut.

7. Moved all of the old garland and wreaths from one side of the attic to the other (that's what this post is really about---but just hang on a bit).

8. Got the laundry caught up and put away all the Christmas linens.

9. Sorted through and put aside dozens of Christmas decorations for the family to go through.

10. Sorted a hundred pictures for a Christmas album.

11. Made the list of physical labor I needed "the boys" to help us with (also what this post is really about).

12. Made a list of all my needlepoint and who's getting what. 

13. Cleaned out the cabinets in the library that are full of boxes. They still are, but I organized it a bit better. I have a box problem.

14. Cleaned out the pantry:

Before:

Kind of a jumbled mess from the holidays. 

After:

I have a lot of paper products. I took all the Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff out and put that in the Christmas closet. It was all just too stuffed and messy looking. 

Considering we rarely use water bottles (on that upper shelf), Butch wouldn't get rid of a single one! He has some of his own hoarding problems. You should see our coolers!

Okay, now on to what this post is really about---those grandkids!!

So, I had a list of things we needed help with. Heavy stuff. I enlisted the boys--Olly and Robbie. I had intended to get Mitchell involved, but they got here first and just got right to it--almost eagerly!:

1. The nutcracker on the front porch weighs over 100 lbs. For years, Butch and I carried it around from the garage. I can't do it anymore and it's not good for him either. Those boys acted like it was nothing--of course, they properly flexed their muscles for me first! Boys! Never having boys, I guess this is just what they do. They are so cute!

2. With the arrival of our new furniture in January, I wanted to switch out the mattresses. Yes, Butch and I could have done it, but I'm not doing anything that can be a falling hazard. Our mattress is the best, so I wanted that upstairs in the guest bedroom. They put the mattress from that bed on ours. 

All in all, it took those boys about 15 minutes to do both heavy jobs! And so quick. And with NO complaints!

They just got to it!! They are sweethearts and I'm lucky to have them. It makes me so happy that I can ask them to give us a hand now and then! And without complaint! That's key!! They don't make me feel guilty. They just do it!

On the other hand, there's this:

3. Remember I mentioned that I moved all of the old garland and wreaths from one side of the attic to the other? It was no big deal. I simply wanted the girls to carry all of it down to the garage to be discarded. OMGosh! Could they have been more prissy! The complaining! "Oooh, it's so gross and dusty!" Uh, yeah, it's the attic! "It got stuff all over my clothes!" Uh yeah, but it's funny that I moved all of it without complaining--nor really realizing there was a problem. Steph was the worst, "You should have told us how bad this would be. We would have brought work gloves. The garland was a tangled mess and all pokey!" Uh yeah, it's been a jumbled pile for years. Somehow, I didn't think it was that big of a deal when I moved it.

I'm afraid the girls are "wusses!" (Oh look there, I spelled it correctly. I don't think I've ever written that word before, but spell-check accepted it!) Yeah, I have to admit, I've raised a bunch of big babies. I'm a hard worker and always have been. Or maybe, I never made them do enough hard work! Well look out girls, it's coming down the pike!!

And guess what? I didn't even ask them to vacuum the attic. I did it myself yesterday. Talk about backbreaking! There was an area that the vacuum wouldn't reach. I'm going to have to sweep that part. I'll get to it sometime this week.

All I can say is thank goodness for the boys!! I appreciate that they seem eager to help!

I hope you have something fun planned for New Year's Eve! As for me, I'm going to stitch, and watch a movie with my bottle of champagne! Butch will be watching sports. He'll come down to watch the ball drop shortly before 11. It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since we were in New York for that!