a play with friends and a clean closet to boot!

Today as friends played I got to work and cleaned out my closet..... 

....making room for my new boots.

I have been looking for a pair of boots for a while now. I quickly found out that boots, especially ones that won't hurt my feet, are expensive! I had my eye on these Miz Mooz since last fall. As much as I loved them, I was unwilling to pay the price. I thought maybe in the summer they would go on sale, being off season. But would they have my size left?

A few weeks ago I saw that they were, in fact, on sale for 50% off, but they didn't ship to Canada. So I ordered them and had them sent to my sister-in-laws house, to be picked up when I went down last weekend to visit. Thanks Shannon. (Happy birthday. I hope you had a one!)

They fit perfectly, and the very best part - they are so comfortable. I am sure you are all so sick of hearing just how much my feet hurt........ but they do........ all the time. It is, I think, a fact of life for me from here on out. I need to be really careful. So when I find something that I like, that I can afford, and that is comfortable I get so excited. I do love shoes, after-all.

Now that summer has finally arrived I am all ready for fall. No rush, though. Fall, take your time coming. My boots will be waiting for me when you arrive.

Mom, I have a bag of things for you. It may or may not contain the grey flats you like! (They hurt my feet)
Also, good luck with your move. Missing you both. Love, Shelli

40 bags in 40 days - the continuing saga

I will not bore you with every area I clean over the next 40 days. Also, I have stopped following my list in numerical order and have started picking the spaces I want to do that day. Some days that means I do none. Other days I do 2 or 3 things, like my church binder, the paper basket on my desk, and my bag. 

{before}

{after}

Today I worked on the master bathroom. I took one bag out of there.

There used to be a table here on the landing of the stairs. 

It had no particular purpose, and I thought it would be nice to have a place to sit and get ready, so I moved it up to the bathroom.

I also picked up a new picture frame and bath mat from Winners, they add a little more color to this room. 

I still need to get a photo for the frame.

While I was doing this, the boys were doing this -

Seems marble works aren't just for marbles!

(if anyone knows how I can get my videos onto my blog without going through youtube, please let me know! I don't love having to do that.)

40 bags in 40 days - days 6 & 7: the master bedroom and closet

done.

This has taken a lot of effort, but it is so nice to go through one space at a time and get rid of things that we don't need, that we don't use, that someone else could use, or that simply need to be thrown away. I truly feel less cluttered inside when my surroundings are so.

I saw something the other day that I didn't expect to see. I have been ready to give a certain box of trains away for quite some time - Tate, on the other hand, has not. I talked with him again about it while we were doing his room and I asked him if he thought he was ready. He said yes, but only if he could give it to his cousin, Owen! When we took the box over to Owen, it was Tate who was the most excited to tell him all about it and give it to him. This boy of mine doesn't part well with things sometimes, but on this occasion he was not only able to let it go, but to see the joy it brought to someone else. He was happy to do it.

Aside from the inner organization this provides for me, I hope that my children will learn a little bit of temporal charity, and develop the ability to put things in perspective, and realize that we don't "need" as much as we think we do, that we actually make a greater space in our lives for more important things when we unclutter our hearts and our surroundings. 

40 bags in 40 days - days 3, 4, & 5: the kids bathroom, the hall closet, and the loft

done.

The kids bathroom was a quick space to do. Since none of them are at the shaving, make-up, hair spray, one-thousand-and-one-personal-hygiene-products stage yet, it was pretty much tooth brushes and a few hair accessories. Even still, I left that room with a bag full of stuff.

The hall closet has been used for toy storage since we moved in, actually for over flow toy storage.  I have all these baby toys that as much as I would love to give away, I just can't yet. I like having a box of things for our "little" guests to play with. This also houses all the dress up clothes. 2 bags from here.

The loft!!!

I purposely put all the hard areas at the top of my list, so that I am still fresh and somewhat energetic about this project when I tackle them. Had I left them until the end of my 40 days, I think I would have cried. The rest of my list is going to seem pretty simple in comparison to the beginning. Having said that, there were some tears today. Firstly from Noelle, who, although she didn't say as such, pretty much thought I was the meanest mom in the world for asking her to part with any of her beloved treasures. Secondly from me, who pretty much felt like the meanest mom in the world once the tears started to flow. I have found these spaces the very hardest to do. Not only does it take physical energy, but there is so much emotion involved. I didn't feel right about doing this space without them. These are their things, and I told them they could keep what they wanted and give away the things of their choosing, it all just had to fit away in their baskets and drawers once they were finished. I did not feel this way when I went through their closet. I buy the clothes, I know what fits, what needs to go, and what items are particularly important to their owners, and I was thoughtful about their feelings. But when it comes to toys, and I remember feeling this way when I was a child, each stuffy is as special as the next, and when I ask them to part with one, you would think I was asking them to part with one of their children! Impossible! But we got through it and smiles returned near the end. I don't feel quite so mean as I did, and Noelle is talking to me as I type, so I assume we will be alright. 2 bags from here.

And I know, from past experience, as big of a chore as it is, they are always so happy to have a clean and organized space to play in. 

I need a shower and a nap! 

40 bags in 40 days - day 2: the boys room

done.

The boys room was not nearly as complicated as the girls - they collect much less stuff. Although, I still took 5 or 6 bags out of there. 
This was, by far, the easier room to do.  

(Mind you, I went nowhere near the lego - I could have been lost in there for weeks!)

40 bags in 40 days - day 1: the girls room

done.

With 3 girls in one room we have to take advantage of every inch, and every inch is now clean and tidy.

Nya sleeps in her crib (still), in the closet. She calls it her room. 

I am not sure what the future holds for us with 5 kids sleeping in 2 bedrooms, but for now they are small, and they must learn to minimize and work together.

(Don't feel badly for them, they have it pretty good!)

out of the peewees and into the big leagues

40 bags in 40 days is beginning tomorrow. You can read about it here and here. And since I love all things organizational I find this absolutely fascinating. I have never participated - I didn't think there was any way that I could ever fill 40 bags. Not because I am terribly tidy, simply because I don't handle clutter very well, and I already purge on a regular basis. But with the girls closet in desperate need of a thorough cleaning out, I thought I would test my theory. So on Saturday while Darren was playing with the kids, I went to work.

5 hours later, I got 3 dressers of clothes down to 2, and 7 bags worth of stuff out of that room! I think I just might participate in 40 bags in 40 days this year!

I also realized that I had not purchased pajamas for my baby since she was 18 months old. She is now 3 1/2. We noticed, of course, that all her jammies had turned into capris, but it didn't keep her awake at night, so it didn't seem to matter.

After I was done that room, I needed to get out of the house, so the girls and I hopped in the van, while the boys (big and small) stayed home and played Lego. It is way too much fun for the 4 of us to shop together. Sometimes we buy, sometimes we don't. This time we were on the hunt for pajamas for Nya. Along the way I realized that I have no children left in the baby department of Superstore, nor will I ever again. Turns out my baby is not such a baby.

~before~

~after~ 

Much better! She was pretty pleased. She spent the entire day today changing from one pair of new pajamas to another.

For this girl who ripped her favorite dress while wearing it and riding her bike, we found this:

And for this girl, who not only left the baby department a decade ago, but is now beginning to fit  women's clothing, we found this:

It is such a fun and fascinating thing to see ones daughter growing up and become aware of what she likes and what she doesn't. I realize that this can happen at a much younger age for some girls, but Noelle has never been terribly concerned about what she wears. She is one of those super easy, whatever is in the drawer, kind of people I have always admired. The kind that look cute in sweats or a skirt. Noelle now has a very strong opinion of what she likes and what she doesn't. Nothing too bright, too flashy, or immodest. She likes to be comfortable and co-ordinated. But I also see her stepping out of her box every once in a while and trying some sort of new and fun combination. It is truly so much fun to observe.

And for me - I found this top. It is perfectly simple and beautifully feminine.  

 I am now pretty sure I will be able to get close to 40 bags. Seems counter-productive, bringing in the new while trying to get rid of the old. But when I consider that 7 bags of things we can no longer use went out and only 1 bag of things we can use came back in, it seems a good trade off. Every time I walk into the girls room, even though it appears no different until you start to open doors and drawers, it feels so good. And when you break your house up into 40 small sections it is not so overwhelming.  

 I made my list - now if I can stick with it for 40 days, my house will be one of order.

It could certainly use some of that right about now! 

The good, the bad, and the ugly

This post will probably be of no interest to anyone but myself. It is not about some pretty accessory or some exciting project. But I could not be more satisfied. 

First of all - We got blinds!! For 4 years, since moving into this house, we have used a blanket tied onto the rod during the summer and nothing in the winter. Not pretty, but it worked. 

I still have to raise the rod (it is now in the way of the blinds) and buy or sew some new curtains (after raising the rod the old ones that came with the house are too short - figures!). But for now we have privacy and darkness!

Secondly - Our closet. Prepare yourselves, these pictures are shocking. I am not a hoarder and before you judge me, please remember that our closet is the only place we have to store things such as Christmas decorations ect. since we turned half of our garage into a school room and the other half into a surfboard making shop. We do not have a basement in which to store things either. So this is our basement/garage/attic/place-to-pile-stuff. As much as I don't like it, that is the way it is.

This needed to be done in the worst way. It was one of those jobs that makes things much worse before it gets any better. And having 5 kids around while you are attempting this kind of clean-out (who are sentimentally attached to everything) doesn't help. 

Yesterday was the day! The older kids went to play at the Bragg's house (thank you, Katie!!!), the baby went for a nap (she is 2, but she is still my baby - get over it. I will be calling her that until she is 75). Tate played really quietly all by himself (rare), and I got to work. Have you heard of 40 bags in 40 days?

I think I did them all in 1 day, but it is done!

{before}

I started by pulling everything out of the closet. 

I then ignored the impulse to panic about the amazingly humungous mess that I just created in my newly cleaned bedroom.

{after}

It is still not a pretty closet. It probably never will be, but as Noelle says, "You can now walk into your walk-in closet!"

I was able to get a monstrous job done in 1 afternoon, and give everything to my father-in-law who organizes garage sales 

in order to raise money and donate the proceeds (100%) to Sunflower Orphanage organization, and I feel 1000 pounds lighter.

Purging

I have almost finished cleaning out our bedroom. It was seriously out of control. Not disgusting or messy. The piles where neatly stacked, but none-the-less they were there, all with the kinds of things that you would normally put in a basement. Since I don't have that option, my bedroom closet became the only other place. It makes me look like some kind of hoarder or something. I really am the biggest purger ever. I now have a couple of bags on their way to the garbage, bags and bags to give away, and only a few things left for the attic. I also went through my clothes and filled 2 big garbage bags with things I keep because someday I just might wear it again. That day will probably never come and I have to simplify my life - starting with my room. 

Stuffed Animals & Martha Stewart

We have a lot of stuffed animals. I am forever trying to get the kids to part with a few. Every one is special in some way, or is their very favorite (along with the other 15 they own and rarely ever play with). I remember when I was a kid how special mine were to me. They weren't just toys, but friends. And so we keep them all. As the collection grows we need a place to store them and when I saw this hamper on the Martha website I thought it would be perfectly cute for toys instead of laundry. 

So we made one out of a sheet someone gave us and a 14 inch quilting hoop I bought from Michael's. You must use a quilting hoop, not an embroidery hoop. The embroidery hoop is too thin and will break. The quilting hoop is much thicker. It is 10 times the price unfortunately, but if you use a 50% off coupon it's not that bad. It turned out pretty cute. It looks great on the back of the door, and the stuffies are all neatly put away, with easy access when they are wanted!

School Room part 2

I found a use for one of my garage sale finds - I hung it above the chalk board to hold the chalk. I put the chalk in cute little glass jars I found at Walmart.

Nya has made this stool her personal desk.

I also used the very last little bit of lower wall space I had to hang the magnetic board I bought at Ikea last year. 

It fit perfectly.

I store the magnets in the smaller of the 2 bins - recycling goes in the other.

My new pillows from my mom!

The bars hanging on the walls above the sofa are curtain rods. 

We use them to display the children's art work there. It looks cute and they feel super special.

I am almost finished painting the top part of the walls. 

We still need to paint the armoire, satin the table 

and finish building the doors and shelves for the built-ins. 

Once they are finished I can paint them and then we will be all done!