Emma goes home today for a week, she's so excited. She especially can't wait to see Mommy's Christmas tree and she says "a bunches more presents". She was very content last night going through all her new stuff and playing quietly, listening to Kid Tunes. (on dish) She got so many really ince presents, nothing silly or wasteful that she isn't interested in. Seems like everyone really took her personality to heart and got her some wonderful things.

Of course the main problem is that it's entirely too much!. Most of it is laid out in the hall, waiting for me to tidy her room this week. I am going to tackle her room and my room the same way we did the kitchen and livig room yesterday, relentlessly getting rid of *crap*, ala Life Laundry. (Airs Weds at 6pm on BBC America). Does anyone watch that show? I love it. They come in to someone's house that is a mess mess mess! And take everything out of the house and pile it on the lawn. They make the people go through it and throw away or sell a good amount of it. Then they re-do their house and it's wonderful. Some of these people's houses are embarassingly cluttered. Narrow paths to get from the front door to the kitchen. Bedrooms that are virtually unusable because of the clutter.

Seriously, watching this show for a few weeks has shown me that I can get rid of a LOT of things, and never miss them, and that I am not really cleaning the right way. Yesterday they had a family of 6 on there, and the mother had the same problem I do. She'll start cleaning, and spends so much time making one thing perfect, that there's no time for anything else. Like she'll start organizing her filing system and before you know it she's spent 6 hours on it, and the clutter around the desk hasn't changed a bit. This woman was a perfectionist, and yet had a nearly condemnable home because she didn't know how to clean properly. They talk a lot on there too about how you feel in your home. Is it a nice place to be? What do you feel like when you walk through the door and look around? How do you think your home makes your children feel? Do you freak out when someone knocks on the door? It's a good show, check it out.

So, anyway. I'm trying to adopt a new, cleaner attitude about my house. The kitchen and living room look so good. The rest of the house will be fabulous by Friday too. I'll post pictures, you'll see!