Finding Joy in Dirty Laundry

Not everyone knows this, but my laundress left me in February. I know, I know, life is tough. But I'm getting over it. Really. 

  

Let me explain - After My Girl Caitlin finished her high school work, she took over laundry duties for our family. It freed me up to get other things done, like schooling her younger siblings, getting meals on the table, etc. 

And then she went off and got herself married! 

And so I took back laundry duties. To my surprise, I've actually enjoyed this mundane task. 

And here are 10 reasons why, in no particular order:  

1. Sorting laundry is an activity that keeps the hands busy while leaving the brain free to think. Have a problem to solve? sort laundry. Have an attitude to correct? sort laundry. Have a decorating dilemma? sort laundry. You get the idea.
2. Laundry Day is the perfect time to get set up for the Great Seasonal Switch-Over. Those heavy winter sweaters and fleece lined jackets are now clean and folded and ready for winter storage.
3. Along with the seasonal clothing changes comes the time to weed out clothing that no longer fits. When I find myself washing that t-shirt so-and-so refuses to give up even though there's a gap above the waistband of his bluejeans, I can stealthily slip it into the donate pile, and then don a look of vague recollection when asked "Mom where's that shirt go?!"
4. Laundry day also gives me the opportunity to purge a bit. How many pairs of pink short does you-know-who need, anyway! Time to donate a pair, or 2 or 3. I'm sure there is some other princess-fashionista ready and willing to don these lovely garments.
5. Speaking of the fashionista - I learn much about my family's fashion sense when I work my way through the mountains of laundry on WashDay. This one is definitely into pink and purple. This one seems to wear mostly soft knits in bold colors. That one wears jeans everyday, hardly ever puts on a pair of shorts, while the other wears shorts year round.  No more ruffles for that girl. Hmmm,  make note Mama.  No need spending money on clothing they refuse to wear.
6. I mentioned paring down duplicates and tossing outgrown clothing. Another important task to take care of is mending. Can that seam be re-sewn? Can I patch that knee?  Here's a button needing to be replaced. 
7. You'll learn much about your children and their interest on laundry days. Have you ever cleaned out an 8 year old's pockets? Marbles and nerf ammunition and candy wrappers with chewed up gum inside and rocks and sticks and lego men and coins and brown crayon bits and paper shavings and frogs and plastic army men. . .  There are stories to tell with each item. These are things important to them.
8. With the sound of running water and the children occupied elsewhere in the house (working on school assignments I hope) I often get lost as I reminisce days-gone-by. This mom of many often relives moments as she picks up a sweet dress our youngest wore while splashing through mud puddles, and is transported back to a day when our other girls may have worn the same dress. Or maybe I find myself shaking out dirt from rolled up cuffs after the boys have been out exploring, shaking my head and laughing as I recall a day long a go when our now grown up son collected dirt in the same way.
9. As I sort my family's laundry, wash it clean, dry it soft, fold it neat, I find it gives me opportunity to pray over each of my loved ones. Monday is Laundry Day here. I find it the perfect way to get a good start to our week.
10. Aaaahhhhhhh. There is satisfaction in a job well done.

I thank God for my family, for daily opportunities to serve them, for dirty laundry. 


this post linked up over at Top Ten Tuesday and Raising Homemakers and Proverbs 31 Thursdays.

Slow But Sure - Organization Update

I told you recently I was taking the 31 Day Organizational Challenge over at OrgJunkie.com.

Now is the time for me to report on my progress. S - L - O - W. That's how it's going. I took on a big huge humongous project, amidst other on-going projects. Maybe I'm crazy, but in the long run, all the chaos will be worth it. I'm bound and determined to get the storage room cleaned out, straightened up, and used to store only what it should be storing.

 At the beginning of the month I printed out Laura's Organizing PROCESS and jotted down a few notes and goals.  How does this space need to be used? What do I really want to keep and what can I let go? Setting categories of items needing to be stored will help me in the organizing step later. 

 OK! Are you ready? Do you have the courage? Sure you can handle this? I'm going to let you see behind that closed door!

 Once you've cleared the cobwebs away, venture forth! But remember:

 Past the furnace, down the long dark aisle, you'll find a treasure trove of stuff, collections, memories. . . and. . . plenty of junk.

view from the opposite end of that aisle, looking back at the door we just walked through

 Now, after you've recovered from the shock of the nightmare-behind-the-door, I'll give you the update on my planning and progress.

 

Here is the 'BEFORE' look at the first section of shelving you see when you walk in. It holds our collection of jigsaw puzzles and not-so-popular games, extra book storage (including a few of hubby's college/engineering/reference books) as well as past homeschool records/papers.

The kids helped me clear it ALL out - and now look at them!

 

Beautiful, Glorious Space!!!

Where did everything go? We hauled it all out to the floor in the middle of the  TV room and sorted through it. I was on a mission and so did not get photos of every pile and every item, but if it was broken or missing parts, out it went. If no one uses it, to the donate piles it went.

  

You can see in the pic above some of what is leaving this house --  (1) Passing on jigsaw puzzles to other family members to enjoy. (2) Trash! 2 large bags full and a box-turned-racecar filled. WootWoot! (3) games puzzles and dress up items heading to the thrift store.

This is just the beginning folks! We are continuing the Remove and Purge phase of this big project. We've been filling this space for a dozen years now. That adds up to a lot of stuff. And when you haven't taken time to maintain and set to order what you've been collecting and storing, well, it is important to take time and do the job right. I'll be posting at the end of the week with another update, sharing more about the hows and whats and whys of it all.

In the meantime, you can see how others are doing with this 31 Day Challenge at the 2nd Progress Link Up.

Changing Things Up Around Here

You all know our third child was married recently (yes, I need to say this often, just to get used to the idea). It was a joyful occasion, a bitter-sweet occasion. We are happy for her, happy our family is growing, but we miss her. She was my right-hand-woman for quite some time and now I feel a little 'off', a little handi-capped. Her siblings miss her. We have an odd number of people in this household now, weird!

And so, as a distraction, and to set things up for the younger ones to get more focused attention from their Mama, we are diving into the Great Bedroom Switch-er-oo!

The two youngest boys are moving from here . . .

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 . . . to here:

after we change these Pepto-Pink Pony walls  . . .

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 . . . to these Rough-and-Tough Old West Cowboy walls.

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The two youngest girls have moved from their Pretty and Pink room to their big sister's Old-but-Still-Cool-and-Hip room.

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But before we finish The Big Switcheroo, two things have to happen. One - Big Sis has to come get the rest of her stuff! And two - Mom has to clean out the storage room.

You know, that room, behind that closed door, way downstairs, in that dark back corner of the basement?

Yeah, that one. Where everything that has no home is shoved, where everything that belongs to those who've moved on is piled, where everything that everyone has outgrown is saved - for who/what/when no one really knows!!!

March is the month for the OrgJunkie's Annual Organizational Challenge and I'm committing my storage room (before it commits me!).  Every Friday this month you can stop in here, or over at OrgJunkie.com to peek at my progress and the progress of others taking the challenge. And then on March 31, we'll have The Big Reveal, so stay tuned!

this post is linked up the the 31 Day Organizational Challenge introduction

Organizing Revolution - The Home Stretch

January is nearly over and I'm ready to catch my breath! 

 

Thanks to the blogger ladies who hosted the New Year's Organizing Revolution, I've cleaned up my office area, organized some kitchen cabinets, did an overhaul on 2 closets and spruced up my living room (remember the sneak peak at my new stereo cabinet last week?).

What? You haven't seen the rest of the living room yet?  Well, then, please take a look!

BEFORE

You can see above, the state of this room before. Piles here and there, the sock basket left on the couch, parafernalia left behind after a visit from the grandkids, over-stuffed bookshelves --  Yikes! does anyone else's living room get into such a state?

I put every to work taking (almost) everything out of the room. Wish I had the magic of television to capture the scene - you know, those shows where people swapped houses for a weekend and emptied out and re-decorated a room in each others' houses? That's what it looked like in my living room this weekend. My assistants were all a-blurr moving everything out.

(mostly) EMPTY!

Once everything but the large furniture was removed, I swapped out the bookcases. There wasn't going to be much furniture rearranging, since sweet hubbie likes his favorite green chair just where it is, and he prefers the other chair and couch where they are. He has so few requests when it comes to the house, I'm happy to comply with his wishes. 

I was thinking it'll be nice to have things cleaned up and cleaned out, but everything will basically be the same. I was ok with that. What I didn't expect was how much difference moving 2 pieces would make. And how much I LOVE the emptiness. 

AFTER

So, what did I put back in the room? The most important items and our most favorite things. That's it. I am so pleased with the results!

My absolute favorite thing in this room now? My new family gallery wall:

with 3 new grandchildren this winter and a wedding next month, this wall already needs updating!

These final days of January, the hosts of this Organizing Revolution are giving Grand Prizes to the 3 finalists who get the most votes. (Voting begins January 28 and closes January 30 at 8pm central time) You can view all 12 finalists HERE and vote for your favorite. I am finalist #9 (Apron Strings & other things). 

Thank you to everyone who has followed along, cheered me on, left sweet comments and took time to view my progress. I appreciate each and every one of you!

also linking up to TeachMeTuesdays at GrowingHomeBlog.com

Organzing Revolution - The Living Room

Wow-ee! Wow-ee! Wow-ee! Yessiree, I'm wowed! 3rd place for me last week in the New Years Organizing Revolution. Incredible! I thank each and every one of you that stopped by to view my spaces and clean-out projects, each of you that took time to vote, the ladies hosting the challenge, the sponsors providing the prizes. Thank you everyone!

And so we come to a new week, a new room, a new project. On to the living room! 

Today, (and tomorrow, and maybe even the next day) we are doing a little purging, a little rearranging, a little decorating and updating in our main living area. 

Starting with the spot where we keep the stereo and cd's. The place where all good dust bunnies go to hide, or die, or multiply, or whatever it is they do. 

Stereo/Entertainment Area - BEFORE

Crazy, isn't it? How is it that all that dust and cobweb-by yuckiness collects around the electronics? And if there is a tiny space under the stand or cabinet or behind the unit it becomes a magnet for, well, you know!  

(Imagine here a photo of those cute dusty little critters. Alas, the battery on my camera went dead and so you are spared the ugly sight.)

  I came up with a solution for the taming of the dustbunnies AND keeping our stereo and supplies organized and lovely to look at. I presented the idea to my amazingly talented husband and he has custom-built for me this perfect little cubbie-cabinet. 

Stereo/Entertainment Area - AFTER

The stereo unit is now up at a more user-friendly level. I have my eye on baskets just the right size for containing the cd's and other stereo accoutrement (think IKEA-style). They'll fit nicely into those cubbie-holes, but I'll wait patiently and be content with this big improvement we've made already. Perfect! Love it! I'm so happy!

Stay tuned for the next installment of our living room make-over. It'll be an ongoing project this weekend and I'll keep you posted!

I will not be adding my link to this week's challenge since I'm still in the midst of the big re-do of our living room, but I'll still be checking out what others have done. I'll be voting and I hope you will too. Hop on over to OrgJunkie.com and see what bit of inspiration you can find for your living spaces. You may want to visit the sites of the other host-bloggers, too. They are an amazing and talented group of ladies.

Organizing Revolution - Closets

It's Week 3 of the New Year's Organzing Revolution - YaHoo!! It is feeling so good to get so many spaces cleaned out this month. Would you like to see what I've accomplished this week? Our assignment was to take on a closet. I'm sure some have glamorous and gorgeous closets and amazing storage systems. Me? I'm happy to have some closets and thrilled to get them cleaned out and in order. You may not see much of beauty here today, but you will see two labors of love. 

If you like what you see, if I've encouraged or inspired you at all, please click HERE sometime this upcoming weekend and vote for my closet spaces. My entry will be labeled 'hsmominmo'.

You can see my previous posts in this series by clicking HERE.

First Up: The Coat Closet

 

Just look at this cluttered, inefficient, totally embarrassing excuse for a coat closet in the front entryway to my home. Shameful! 

Well, now take a look at what my handy-dandy-six-year-old-helper and I did yesterday. (wish I had picture of her working hard, but she was on the other side of the camera this time around)

First, following the PROCESS, we completely emptied the space. 

We purged and sorted and returned items to where they belong and found new homes for some things and added more to our Donation Station.

What did we put back into the space? Only things we use and wear.

 On the upper shelf we stored the lightbox Dad and Caitlin sometimes use. and various binoculars/spotting scopes for bird watching, nature walks, hunting. On the lower shelf we put a bin for outdoor kidfun equipment (like bubbles and chalk and such). The drawstring bag and bin under the shelf hold wooden blocks for kiddos. This may not make sense in other families, but this is where we go to look for them, so when the grandkids come to visit, that's where they'll go to find them. So they stay. We slimmed down our collection of coats and now have room for guests to hang theirs - Nice!

Now, the dilemma - where do I put all the wrapping/shipping materials?  Not back in this closet. I'm on the lookout for just the right spot, so I'm scouring the house with my newly shined organizer glasses. We'll find a solution, just praying it's the right one so I don't have to keep moving and readjusting.

Next Up: The Broom Closet

You see before you very eyes another shameful mess. This closet is right next to the kitchen area and is the hold-all, catch-all for housekeeping and home maintenance. From time to time we clean it out and put things back in an orderly fashion, but it doesn't take long to look like the photo above. 

So, here we go again!

First we empty the space. Then we purge, sort, and containerize. 

 

 Take a look at the result. Amazing! Love it! So nice!A place for everything and everything in it's place. The brightly colored bins are from the nearby dollar store - the perfect thing to keep bottles and and such corralled. The green bin for small paper bags and a magazine holder turned on it's side is perfect for keeping old newspapers contained. If the bins start overflowing, it's time to get rid of some. On the floor a cardboard box to keep grocery totes and paper sacks from sprawling all over the place.

Now let's look at solutions we found for two problem areas. 
1. brooms, mops, dusters, etc  were either shoved in, falling over, or on random nails here and there.  This little rack took care of all these problems. Luke installed one on each side wall in a manner of minutes. Love it! 
2. measuring sticks - we use them often. Previously they were tucked, sort of, in the corner right inside the door. Amidst all the other junk falling all over the place, this was a disaster. Solution - mount a paper towel tube on the wall and slip the sticks in. LOVE it!

I believe this week's projects have been the most enjoyable and satisfying. I was dreading it, but really, it took very little time and is making a huge impact on daily life. I'm so happy! Big sigh of relief and contentment. 

Don't forget to come back and vote, starting Friday morning and ending Sunday afternoon. See you next week with more organizing!

Newlywed Cooking Story

An article posted recently by my friend Amy at Raising Arrows inspired this  little story from my past for today's post. You can hop on over to read her version of Newlywed Cooking when you are finished reading here.)

With our two oldest children already living a life of wedded bliss, and number three jumping into Holy Matrimony in just a few weeks, memories from our early newlywed days come to mind regularly. The kids always often sometimes enjoy tolerate these stories from The Old Days. At least, they smile and nod and share encouraging comments like "uh-huh" "really?" and "oh".

 

Thrilling little stories, with lessons to learn. 
Stories such as . . .

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a young and happy bride. Eager to please her strong and handsome husband she vowed to fix a delicious, home-cooked, country breakfast every weekend. A breakfast that would be sure to win the heart of this farm-boy. Bacon and eggs and toast and juice and, well, you get the picture.
Several weekends in a row she cheerfully fried those eggs and toasted that bread. But then, one Sunday morning, as the love-birds were donning their coats to head for church services, this fine young man turned to his sweet wife and said . . .

"Ummm, it's ok with me if you don't cook breakfast like that anymore."

The bride was crushed. So many thoughts went through her head. "What?! He doesn't like my cooking? He'd rather have his mother's cooking? I've been to their house many weekends. His mother ALWAYS makes breakfast like this. A good old-fashioned, hearty breakfast is what EVERY country boy wants! I must be a terrible cook. He hates my cooking!"

Fast forward 15 years. The still young and happy bride relays the account to newly married couple in hearing range of her still strong and handsome groom. Funny thing is, he recalls the incident very differently. 

"That is what you thought?" says he. "I only meant that I've NEVER liked a big, heavy breakfast. Fried, greasy foods have never set well on my stomach. I think you are a wonderful cook!"

Moral of the story --  do not take off-hand comments personally, be ready to quickly extend grace and love, and you are never too old or married too long to learn something new about each other.

And on another note - Have you voted yet? You have until noon on Sunday, Jan 6 to click on over to see the entries in the Office edition of the New Years Organization Revolution. You can find my Office Space at #125 - hsmominmo. 

Organizing Revolution - The Office

 

I spent this first week of the New Year cleaning out, sprucing up and organizing our office space, thanks to Laura at OrgJunkie.com (and 6 other terrific organizing bloggers).

Are you ready?  Heeeeeeeeere's The Office!

This is what it looks like today.

This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

Keep reading to appreciate all the changes that took place this week.
You can learn more about how I went about getting started in the BEFORE post with an introduction and pictures. 

And then you can see how things came together DURING the whole process in the next post.

And now, let's take a look at some close-up-and-personal photos showing the Befores and Afters.

Cabinet under the Aquarium

On the top shelves, I weeded out the fish supplies, moved the printer paper to the file drawer and replaced it with a file box where I store business cards and misc. contact info.
Bottom shelves hold stationery and greeting cards on the left (purged and re-ordered) and phone books and directories (purged and contained in a magazine holder)

Cords! Cables! Connections!

I coiled the cables and used twisty-ties to keep them that way and then stored them in a magazine holder (turned on its side) - they have not totally disappeared, but oh, so much better!

The desktop - Before on the left, After on the right (just in case you couldn't see for yourself)

Just look at how nice and clear all this space is now. I threw out the trash and outdated papers, loaded the kids up with their toys and treasures and sent them off the find proper homes. I cleared out the bulletin board and gave it a new look, adding a little basket to hold notepaper for those inspirational thoughts that pop into my head at the oddest moments.
You can see my "new" Landing Pad on the wall in the bottom right photo. We had this clear acrylic file box sitting behind the printer, but now it's up and accessible and ready to receive incoming mail and hold the bills until payday.

My 3 Drawers (to the left of the computer), BEFORE

There was a mess of office supplies and a jumble of techy-type attachments in these drawers. The main problem was they were not contained, and we had made habit of tossing things in amongst everything else that was already there.

My 3 Drawers, AFTER

 So. Much. Better. Now everything has a place, and a container, and you can easily see and access whatever item you are wanting to use or needing to put away.

File Drawers (under printer)

Top file drawer houses copy paper and cardstock. There is also a tray at the back to hold my sunglasses, gloves, etc. and space for my purse.
Bottom file drawer is where we keep household files and important papers. Hubby will spend some time purging the banking folder this weekend, but I condensed the others. More work is needed here, but we are off to a good start.  The extra copy paper fits nicely at the back.

This task was undertaken with a budget of $0 and a little planning. Thanks to Laura's PROCESS, it was a breeze do-able.

One Last Look

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh! A job well done! I think I'll kick back with a Caramel Macchiato and watch a movie with the family and bask in the glow of all this relaxing, well-organized, ready to use space. And rest up for next week's challenge, The Kitchen!

If you've been encouraged or inspired, please click over to the Organizing Revolution Party and cast a vote (beginning tomorrow morning) - for me (#125 - hsmominmo) or anyone that has made an impact on you. There are tons of ideas and motivation there if you'll take a little time this weekend to browse around.

Office Update

A picture is worth a thousand words - so I'll share a couple of photos with you right off the bat so you can see my progress on Week 1 of the 2013 Organizing Revolution.

During the Make-Over process - making progress!

And Lord willing, I'll be posting After pictures tomorrow evening! 

(if you'd like to read about the beginning of this project and see the before pictures click HERE)

Now, Let me walk you through the PROCESS:

Plan of attack --  I needed to clear the clutter, especially on the flat surfaces, find homes for some odds and ends, organize some of the drawer spaces.  I need a "landing pad" for incoming and outgoing mail, I need to consolidate and revamp my household files, I need to corral all the cords and cables and get them out of sight. Budget=$0 on this project, so I'll have to be creative with some of my solutions.

Remove items -- On Tuesday I emptied out the spaces. As I cleared things out, I immediately threw away anything that obviously was destined for the trash.

After everything was cleared I chased out all the dust bunnies and pulled down all the cobwebs, Esther vaccumed out the drawers and cabinets. Whew! The almost-blank canvas is invigorating! 

Organize into piles --  As I cleared things out I quickly categorized things on the kitchen table as I moved them (papers in a pile, office supplies grouped together, techy gadgets and cable corralled in one spot, etc.) This was a preliminary sorting, didn't really thing about any of it, just placed like things with like as best I could as I set them down. 

Now that is done, I took my worksheet and tackled the area that has bothered me most longest - the computer cords/cables.  With everything out of the way I pulled out the twisty ties and paper clips and looped and draped and found a solution to get them mostly out of sight.  

I bent back a paper clip and hooked up cords then tucked the end into the baseboard to keep them up off the floor.

I'm continuing through my list one area at a time, sorting and purging items going back into the desk, so I end up with only things that are useful and necessary and important. 

Containerize --love this part!  You can see above that I took a magazine holder, laid it on its side and tucked coils of cable into it. WaHoo! I think this is my favorite most clever solution in this project! (I know, it doesn't take much to get me excited, maybe I should get out more?) You'll see more in my final post.

The cables are not totally out of sight, but oh-so-much-improved!

Evaluate --  Once I get things back together, and use the space daily, we will see what is working and not working with the set up.  I do not foresee much tweaking, since we have been using this space for a couple of years now and have a good idea what to expect.

Solve/Simplify any remaining issues --  I imagine I'll have more idea tomorrow where I've simplified and how I'll solve some storage issues.  I still need to solve the techy-cable-gadget problem in my drawer, and my filing system needs attention, as well as creating my landing pad.

Smile, relax, enjoy!  Yep, smiling already, having fun, and doing my best to relax throughout this little make-over.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow evening when I post and link up with my final organized office space.  And remember, voting begins on Friday, so you'll want to have a look over at OrgJunkie.com to see all the other amazing transformations going on.