Those of you who know me very well can attest to the fact that I am what might be referred to in politically-correct terms, “highly organizationally challenged”. Don’t get me wrong: I like organization alot. I just never really learned to do it well, and once done, I’ve never worked hard enough at maintaining what was begun. This makes life difficult in some respects, but especially more so as we acquire greater numbers of children, and with them, a plethora of toys, clothing, and books, etc of many sizes and shapes.
Perhaps I have come down with some sort of spring cleaning bug, but for whatever reason, the general clutter of things has gotten to me more of late. So, over the past week I have made some serious efforts at organizing certain areas of the house which are highly used and could benefit from some attention to detail. And I must say, the sense of accomplishment from this work has been monumental.
On Friday after I took apart and redid the pantry I proudly showed the results of my work to Jay (he, by the way, is in general a very well-organized person, thank you Lord,for this grace in my life!). He was immensely pleased, to say the least. And so was I. Subsequently, I redid my system for all of our tupperware and tackled a huge project: the kids’ craft cabinet. Sadly, this storage space had become so bad that things would often come flying out at you when you opened it to get the crayons, for instance. This area took the most time and thought but tonight I am happy to report that games, crayons, stickers, playdough, etc, are neatly stowed in lovely plastic containers of various sizes and shapes. And I feel like a new person!!
There are a few basics I have come away with as I worked on these little projects. For those of you who are highly organized, this will be elementary. For others like me perhaps they will shed new light on the whole concept of becoming organized. I will note that I didn’t take these points from a book or anything; they were the fruit of thinking and working through the process, so take them with a grain of salt, if you are even interested.
Continue reading “The Bliss of Organization”
Earlier this evening while Jay and I attended to Abigail and Jonathan post-bath, we left Nicolas on his blanket in the play area downstairs. Given Nicolas is such a happy baby, he very much enjoys playtime with his toys and is quite able to amuse himself. Shortly after we left him we were surprised to hear little giggles coming from the playroom. Our faithful dog, Sid, a golden retriever mix of sorts, had evidently taken it upon himself to guard the baby in our absence. He was laying as close to Nicolas as a dog could without sitting on top of him. Sid was alternately licking the baby’s face (which was what made Nicolas so happy) and having his ears, whiskers and nose pulled on by tiny baby fingers. It looked painful to me, but Sid didn’t seem to mind. He even smiled along with Nicolas for a few pictures!!
I would like to take a few lines here to unabashedly applaud my wonderfully creative and gifted husband on his latest achievement: the Train Table!! Jay is not what you would call an experienced woodworker, nor does he have access to a fully equipped workshop. But when we talked about getting the kids trains this year for their Christmas gift, he mentioned how much he’d like to build a table for their collection.