A start .....

Hello Friends,

A strange phenomenon has started to take place at my house.... organization....its weird and great and I kinda want to take a week off of work and keep doing it...but lets not go crazy!

So, the weekend before Husband went on his week away, I dug into our pantry.  Like I pulled everything out, got rid of the expired stuff, stuff we weren't going to eat, wiped down all the shelves and put it all back in, in an orderly manner.  It was NICE!  It has managed to stay that way for 3 WEEKS!

The weekend he was gone, I hunted down all the frames I have bought over the last 2+ years, opened them all up, dusted them off, cleaned the glass and reassembled so they could dry before pics get inserted. Those sat against the wall in the living room for a week waiting.

This past weekend, my mom came over on Saturday to help me finally get some pictures on the wall.  You all know this is a stresser for me, I have written about it often. The fact that I have 6 yr old pics of J in the envelope and I just picked up his 8 yr old pics......ugh!!!!  So Husband asks if I want the boxes of pictures from when we moved brought up from the basement.  Mom and I said sure......7 boxes (yes 7 she admitted sheepishly) came up.  Leaving a rather nice gap in the basement! One was pretty vases etc that I am not ready to deal with so went back down stairs.  One was 1/2 pictures and half pretty breakables that went back down after we pulled out some pics and put some that needed saving but not going on my walls back in.  One was wedding (yes from 10 years ago) knick knacks that I went through and finally made decisions on, we actually emptied out a box!  In one of them I found my jewelry I had been halfheartedly looking for since we moved. Nothing special, but some pretty costume stuff that would add some color to my wardrobe!    The other 4 were all lovingly wrapped photos in frames.  The result, when unwrapped, looked like this:

The taller pile in the middle, those are all of J....you would think he was an only child for a long time...... :)

We spent some time picking some pictures to go into 2 collage frames (why is that so hard for me?) I will share those later.  We then decided to put up the things we KNEW where they were going.  So we started in Z's room.  The end result:

The rainbow fish pics have always been up.  We put up the "Z" and somehow that corner looks complete now.

On the wall opposite the stripes, we put up a white shelf that contains a "brothers" picture and a baptism pic with his godparents along with a personalized Noah's ark bank from my sister from the same baptism.  Under that is a newborn pic of he and I.  Next to the closet door (the decals have been there all along) We added a cross from one of his god-mommies and added a hook for his bath towel.  That's it.  Thats all we did in that room and now when I go in there it is perfect!

Next up. The bathroom.  We have the tiniest bathroom on the planet.  It is only as wide as the tub you see below and as long as a sink and a toilet on the opposite wall.  The gray frame you see on the left has always been there and hides behind the door, until you close the door and sit down to do your business, then you see a pic of an old outhouse... We added 1 wet baby pic of each boy at about the same age and again, its done.   Two nails in the wall and a sigh of contentment.

We did get a few more up but those walls are not complete.  so Im not ready to share.  The pile on the bed....got depleted a bit.  We have a plan for some.  I have to go through some...some will not be put up as it would just be the J show! 

Lastly, Husband and I tend to dump paper in our room to "deal with later."  Especially when guests come over.  So on Saturday night, he sorted through and organized his side of the bed.  Sunday night, it was my turn.  I can see my dresser top again.  (Refer to bedroom pic above) I can walk along the bed and not have to follow a path.  I have to find homes for the few small piles of stuff I kept, but I reduced the piles by A LOT.  I'm also working on not letting the paper accumulate in the first place.  Deal with it as it comes in and be done with it....Hard stuff for a busy household like ours.  

Baby steps are  feeling so good.  We have a busy weekend ahead, hopefully we can squeeze in some more picture organizing/hanging.  Husband wants to finish a shelf in the basement which will allow us to better organize down there - potentially clearing off the train table again......the holes left down there by the boxes coming up....more potential!  And my first rummage sale this spring........its almost too much to think about!  :)

Have a great day everyone!