Oh, Spring Break, we hardly knew ye...
Yeah, like any other vacation, this one went way too quickly. Tomorrow we're back at it - early wake-ups, grading papers, packing lunches. Re-entry is tough. What's sad is that I'm already tired.
Today I finished tackling Project:Simplify's hotspot #3: kids bedroom and toys. I was really fooling myself when I didn't think there was much to do. But once we got into it, the messes kept coming, the yard sale pile kept growing, and the little task grew. Here's where we started out:
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| Overflowing stuffed animals |
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| Mid-sorting... |
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| Full dresser top |
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| socks and underwear and plastic bags? |
So that's where we started. It's still too early to bring out the summer clothes (if the shorts are in the drawer, they want to wear them no matter the weather), so mostly we were straightening drawers, rounding up mismatched socks, and re-ordering the hanging clothes. But it was the piles on the closet shelf, the basket of school papers on the dresser, and mountains of stuffed animals that overflowed the toy box. The boys were big helpers - and together their room looks much better than when we started.
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| Dresser, minus massive pile of paintings and other school work |
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| Even the shelf above is clean |
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| Pull-ups and slippers |
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| Organized closet |
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| Nicely folded clothes in the drawers |
Today was the playroom. We had done a major clean-out after Christmas, so there wasn't nearly as much to do there. The big clean-out came with the laundry-basket full of books that need to find new homes. In fact, the MUCH bigger issue in the playroom was my craft corner. The large baskets of fabric had exploded. The balls of yarn drug out by the cat needed rewinding. Basically, the whole thing needed to be pulled out, cleaned, and put back together. But it's done. And it feels worlds better than it did before.
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| Main toy shelf |
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| The Lego Station |
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| Bookshelves and reading corner |
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| Dress-up area |
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| Fabric bins |
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| Other side of Craft Closet |
While cleaning and organizing wasn't my ideal "vacation", I feel relieved to be heading back to work with the boys' room and the play/craft room ready to go. It is so much easier to do a quick pick-up in the evenings if everything has a place, and all the extra stuff is gone. The boys are happy to have rediscovered old books, and I found lots of fabric that is inspiring some projects to tackle.
Can't wait to hear about hotspot #4 tomorrow!
I was riveted by the first picture...that SAME zebra was in my cleanout of the boys' toybox last week...he now sits in a black bag in my closet and if no one notices his absence in the next few days, he and his many friends will move on to greener pastures.
ReplyDeleteI swear, stuffed animals have babies when you're not looking!