Today we did a lot of Pesach cleaning – it was ambitious, but we mostly met our goals!  

My goal for today was to clean three of the four floors of our house for Pesach (all the bedrooms, three bathrooms, linen closet, attic, and basement).  My kids and husband made skeptical faces and raised their eyebrows when I told them my plans, but I felt that we did so much preliminary work (giving away/selling things) in the last couple of weeks that it was doable.  The reason I needed to do so much today is that my schedule is jam packed – in addition to the regular busyness of Pesach, I need to get our house ready for sale, organize the Torah Home Education Conference, and take care of myriad details for our move to Israel. 

Right now I’m getting dental appointments for everyone taken care of – I’m doing as much as I can now and I already feel glad that I’m doing it like this rather than leaving lots to do closer to our departure date (tentatively mid August) – because there will be plenty to do in the last few weeks, so why complicate it with things that can be done in advance? 

Last week I took ds12 for a root canal (he injured a tooth and killed the nerve), and then took ds8 for a checkup (that was a total of three appointments).  This coming last week I have three days with appointments scheduled (two dental, one orthodontist), and ds17 is coming home Friday afternoon and since everyone wants to go meet him at the bus stop, I’d like to finish all my Shabbos preparations on Thursday.    And there are other things planned for most days, as well (eg I told the littles we’d have a special outing to the library tomorrow on our way to pick dh up from work).  Which leaves me only Weds. that doesn’t already have something planned, and I might use that for doing my monthly/Pesach shopping since the only other possible day is the Thursday right before Pesach, which I think might be too intense. 

Since we want to put our house up for sale after Pesach, the week after ds gets home will be spent taking care of things around the house.  Today dh replaced a bathroom door that had a hole in it (which got progressively bigger as little hands kept poking and prodding) – it was an eyesore, and it looks so nice now!  The last three times ds17 called, I warned him that I’m going to put him to work as my personal handyman and he better be pyschologically ready when he gets here!  😛   (He told me with a smile that he’s ready!) 

In addition to dh replacing the door, the rest of us also got a lot done today!  It ended up being a productive and relaxed day for everyone – ds12 had several hours to go to his first baseball practice of the season, followed by the beginning of the season parade, and the other kids had fun playing board games with dh in the afternoon.  Most of the rooms look good (mine isn’t finished, because I needed to be around where the kids were working to supervise what was happening), and the basement is mostly done.  Another three hours by just me or one hour with all of us will finish it up. 

Now that we’ve done a thorough cleaning, it’s noticeable that we got rid of so many things (mostly clothes, some odds and ends, and the dressers in each bedroom), and it’s feeling more open and spacious.  It’s very pleasant, and all of the kids are appreciating it!  Dd14 is encouraging me to get rid of even  more things – she loves decluttering, but tonight when she suggested we give away or sell most of our books right now (because the littles twice a day dump out dozens of books at a time when they’re looking for something to read), I told her I already gave away over a large amount two weeks ago, and we need to keep something in our house for us to use for the next 4.5 months!  I think she’s ready to just pack whatever we’re going to take with us in a box and put it out of sight until we’re ready to go, and I understand that – I have a similar desire myself!

So Pesach cleaning is going well, and for the most part, I’m going to leave most of the other cleaning until the week after next, so that I can do the main floor (living room/dining room/kitchen) within a couple of days and then turn the kitchen over for Pesach.

I hope you’re all enjoying this lovely season of clearing away the old and making room for the new!

Avivah