My husband and I bought our house from plans almost 12 years ago. We knew what we wanted; only one dining area, a big kitchen, a nice view of something other than a neighbour's house, a southern exposure and a main floor laundry. I wasn't hung up on the number of bedrooms or the size of the place, most new homes had the appropriate number of bathrooms and good flow, nice windows and space for a dishwasher. We figured we could fix anything necessary over the years because our intention was always to stay for the long haul. And when we saw the plans for our 1700 square foot bungalow, with its small but practical main floor laundry room, I was sold. I have never regretted our decision in choosing this house. And because our home is a bungalow we were able to create a lovely apartment for my mother in our basement, a space that has since morphed into our rec room and office, our old office becoming my business kitchen. Lots of room for our family of four + poochie.
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That beloved little laundry room is located right by the front door. You can enter it from the front hall or the garage. I'd like to call it a mudroom, but the truth is, there is no room for mud. It is crammed full - our 15+ year old washer and dryer (well used and oft repaired), laundry sink and the smallest linen closet you have ever seen. Within weeks of moving in I hung shelves and hooks in every spot possible and the room is a storage area for all my vases, rags, garbage bags, light bulbs, shoe care, cleaning supplies, extra sponges, clean laundry temporary storage, the never-empty-yet-to-be-sorted-clean-sock basket, boot and shoe overflow area, extra detergents, my gym bag, brooms and mops, heart-rate monitors, goggles and other sport gear, extra reusable grocery bags and our dog's food and water bowls as well as her treats. I'm okay with all of that. Everything has its place and when in its place, it is a very full yet organized room.
Unfortunately, when we have company coming, it is also the place for overflow, everything that needs to be out of the way gets dumped in there - unread newspapers, unwashed or unfolded laundry - which is soon mixed up and all deemed dirty again, recycling, recently three boxes filled with old dishes, all things that have been hanging around the house that don't have a home. When the company arrives the door gets closed and no one knows what is hiding behind there. But while the stuff goes in, it never really comes out again, and in all honesty, it had been months since I did something about it. So, this past weekend I took the time to clean up. It took half a day of sorting, tidying and throwing out, and things looked much, much worse before they got better and really, it's never going to be a beautiful room, but there a good feeling now when I step into this tidy little space. Just like when I wash the windows or clean the fridge, I want to keep enjoying the new feeling of cleanliness. To walk in without stumbling with a clear path right to Marley's food dish, to have access to the sink, to know where things are and be able to get at them, to be able to open the dryer door without bumping into something (although usually the dog is in the way, isn't she always?) even to be able to open the garage door without first having to move the boxes of dishes out of the way, it feels light and has brought me more than one moment of joy this week!
Years ago I participated in a couple of duathlon events consisting of running and biking, but since then I have eliminated running from my life due to stiffness and pain. When I learned about aquathon events that involve just biking and swimming, I figured I could consider participating in those. First, I had to conquer my fears in the pool and learn the front crawl. It was so bad, that at my first tri-club swim class I almost had a panic attack at the thought of putting my face in the water. But in the months since then, I have spent many hours each week in the pool and I can now say I have conquered my fears and mastered the front crawl; in fact at yesterday's class I was timed doing 200 meters of front crawl. It's not pretty and certainly not fast, but I am pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this at my age!
