tackle it tuesday - making room for the turkey!

Warning: Lots of talk about cleaning ahead!!

I'm busy prepping the house for guests coming on Thursday for a Thanksgiving feast and also this weekend for some more fun family time. Today's job was to get the kitchen cleaned up, not just the quick swipe of the kitchen counters, but the washing down the cupboards, cleaning off the top of the refrigerator, deep cleaning of the inside of the refrigerator to make room for the turkey, of course! Please keep in mind that for this week's Tackle it Tuesday, I would have much rather been doing the fun crafty stuff, like making placecards for the Thanksgiving table, or starting on some Christmas projects, but the "priority list" just kept screaming in my ear and so I said, "fine" (with dragging of feet, mind you).

I'm pretty good at starting a project and then as I continue along, little things get added into the mix, turning into a much bigger project. (Case in point: my closet tackle) Today, I started out just kind of straightening up things, like this here little area that always has piles of stuff...


To make it a little more functional and less of a place to just dump stuff, I found a basket and pen holder and weeded out all of the junk mail, coupons, and other stuff hanging around. I don't really know why things tend to pile up so much. I'm pretty good at having places for everything. Maybe it's some kind of rebellion I have against organizing. Don't worry, it doesn't last long...I wouldn't be able to handle it.

AFTER

From here I moved onto the refrigerator. I straightened up the magnets on the side and front of the fridge and then wiped the outside down. I even took a rag to the top of the refrigerator. Well, hello my dust bunny friends!

Then, came the inside of the refrigerator. I had just gone shopping and threw my groceries inside in an effort to just get them in the fridge. Well, in order for our 20-pound turkey to fit, I had to do a little reorganizing. And, in true Heidi fashion, I couldn't just do it a little, so I ended up deep cleaning and threw out some stuff that had been hanging out in the back of the fridge. I was going to make a list of all the things I threw away, but then I realized I didn't need to get that personal.

BEFORE

AFTER
see our little turkey down there?
it fits nicely, don't you think?

After the fridge and the purging, I moved onto clearing off the counters and wiping them down. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something on the outside of one of the cupboards. So guess what, my friends? Yes, that's right. I ended up wiping down every cupboard. That's how I work, folks. I'm pretty good at getting distracted.

So, finally after all of that, I finished the countertops and was about ready to move onto the oven when...bummer, my son needed me. Gotta tend to the kids, you know? So, needless to say I didn't get to the inside of the oven, which I would have really liked to have done. Really, I would have. It's not that bad, so if I don't get to it oh well, the turkey will still taste great!

And in an effort to show off all of my hard work (and to prove to my husband that the kitchen did look clean at one point today), here are some final pictures of the cleanliness...

Bring on the turkey!! Let's get some use out of this clean kitchen.

Oh, and by the way, no one is allowed in the kitchen until Thursday.

Seriously, they aren't.

For more Tuesday Tacklers, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Or if you want to see more of my Tackle it Tuesday obsessive before and after shots, come on over here.