The English Major: Taming the Chaos

If I haven't mentioned it before there are big changes afoot in my house. My sister and I first started talking about the possiblity of combining households for over a year. We brought it up last summer when the news was full of gloom and doom regarding school systems and teacher salaries. We planned, we made lists (well I made lists). and we talked endlessly about the pets and the furniture and the stuff that we have. We ultimately decided that it would be possible for the three of us (My sister, my niece, and I) to all live comfortabaly in my house....but that we weren't ready just yet.

Fast forward one school year and we've faced salary cuts, furlough days, and more gloom and doom in the news. She was anxious to pay off some debt and I was anxious to get started on my own adoption so we decided to take the plunge. We spent several months working to get her house ready to sell and to turn my 2 bedroom (and a loft) house into a 3 bedroom house. Painting was done, furniture was moved, boxes were packed, and her house was staged and put on the market. Now I don't want to jinx anything, but she is currently under contract (after only a month on the market) and she closes in just a few weeks. Woohoo!!!!! Of course, the sale was a huge relief and we celebrated briefly before realizing that, holy cow, do we have a lot of work to get done! Right now the house looks like a disaster zone but I just keep telling myself that it has to get messier before it can get cleaner.......right?

My sister insists that I point out that most of the boxes in this picture are, in fact, empty.

There is SO much trash....I was apparently trying to fill all of the kitchen cabinets just because I could and not because I actually needed all that space!!