Good-bye to an Old Friend

For those who have been following along the last week or so, you know I have been doing some cleaning up and out. As I was packing the van this afternoon with things to drop off at our local Life Services office (crib mattress, bedding, etc.), I had to get one item back out for one last picture.

I don't know who all reads this blog, but for anyone who has known me for a long time, you might recognize this. It is the comforter I bought when I went to college. I used it up until the day I got married. When Robbie moved into a twin bed, I gave him the choice to go buy something or use this one. He chose this one, so he has been using it the last (almost) four years as well. I would say I definitely got my money's worth.

It is kind of sad to see it go, and I actually considered keeping it for extra bedding when we have company or for picnics or whatever. However, I have been at a "clean out" stage of life for the last few years, so I would rather share it with someone else who might be able to enjoy it for four years or more than have it sit in my closet.

I did have to take one last picture though!

Am I pathetic or what?!?! Getting all sappy about a comforter!

Operation Organization Update

The drawer in its purest state . . .



Unfortunately, I haven't made a whole lot of progress on the office yet. I will press on though!

Making Progress

Among the three little bodies playing with toys this morning, I was able to finish finding homes for all our new goodies while pulling out things I plan to pass along. Before we left the play room for morning snack, we even managed to get everything cleaned up. These pictures show the finished product . . . or at least finished-for-now product. I am known for rearranging often as the mood hits or as I am inspired to make things more efficient.




UNFORTUNATELY, all the toys (and bedding) I pulled out for sharing are hanging out in our "office" and need to be organized to be ready to pass along. There is also some more packaging (read- trash!) to deal with now that all toys have been put away.


There is also this drawer to deal with . . .

This drawer is the home to playing cards, card games, and misc. little toys like bouncy balls and such. Because there is extra space in the drawer and it's location is central in our house, it also is the place where I put random game and puzzle pieces that get left behind during clean up. Therefore, every couple of months I go through the drawer and return the collected items to their real homes. It is definitely time to do that as the drawer is close to not being able to shut.

Sidetracked!

One of the things I did earlier this morning was go to Stillwater Bedmart to put an order in for another set of bunkbeds. All four kids have been sleeping in the same room for a couple of months now, but the little ones are still in their toddler beds which they are quickly outgrowing (...especially Cole).

At the shop, I was told they actually had one last set of bunkbeds in the store room ready to go home with me. The one mattress I needed to buy was coming in on the noon truck. They had the "bunky boards" and everything. I paid the cost, and went home with the good news.

The next several hours went like this . . .

Take apart toddler beds and let the people who are waiting to have them next know that they are available.

Did some of the toy sorting, arranging, etc.

Made lunch to feed hungry little people

Went to Wal-Mart to get the extra bedding we needed to make up four twin size beds

Headed back to pick up the bed and supplies

Let the man of the house assemble the new bunk beds

Did four loads of laundry including old bedding we don't need anymore, new stuff that we are using, and old things we will continue to use

Made dinner

Cleaned up dinner

Put bedding on all four bunk beds . . . for anyone who has made up a bunk bed before, you all know this is NOT EASY . . . Whew!

Bathed three kids

Did a whirl wind pick up of the rest of the house

Put four kids to bed

All this to say, that I got sidetracked today from my main goal of taking care of toys. Like I said, I did make some progress in the toy area. I will work on it more tomorrow while the little kids are playing and my big kids are back at school for their first day of school in 2010.

And, for those smarty pants out there, who want to tell me I didn't HAVE to bring home the bunk beds today -or at least did not have to set them up today- just because they were available, well, you just don't know me very well! :)

Mission Accomplished!

With some serious help from Rob, we managed to get all decorations boxed up and put in the attic, floors swept and mopped (where needed), trash hauled to the curb, the last of the laundry cylced through (though still waiting to be folded), regular decorations back in place on freshly dusted shelves, and all new toys at least in the toy room.

As mentioned previously, tomorrow I will do the toy exchange.

Whew!

I feel like things are much more under control now which means I can rest much easier tonight, and I will feel more motivated to get up in the morning because the end is in sight.

Sometimes things get worse before they get better

Case in point . . .

Our dining room


The play room


All in all, though, progress IS being made! Just a few more decorations to be rounded up, and then the boxes can vacate the premises to go up to the attic. And, tomorrow is trash day, so then we can say good-bye to all the packaging mess.

Still laundry to fold and put away, and the big toy exchange where we put get things ready to share that we don't need (not that we need any of it) and find a place for all the new things.

Our House

currently also known as a "DANGER ZONE"!

Play Room

Living Room

Entryway

Living Room

Kitchen


We got back from an eight day stay in Dallas at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning. We all slept in on Sunday morning, and when we awoke we celebrated Christmas AGAIN (the third time) as presents from Indiana/Illinois family managed to get under our tree while we were away, delivered by our own personal Santa (a.k.a., Grandma Kroll).

Between our luggage, laundry, bowl gifts, additional Christmas gifts, the first two rounds of Christmas gifts, Christmas decorations which are still up, and all the packaging of above mentioned gifts, our house is a WRECK! Thank goodness my day baby doesn't come until Wednesday.

All I managed to get done Sunday was put away travel things and get most of the laundry washed (but it has yet to be folded or put away). The amount of things to get done makes it very hard for me to start. I think I have decided to start with Christmas decorations, but first I had to take some pictures. I hope what you saw here makes you feel better about how your house looks like!