Purging and Organizing!

It rained again today. We have only seen sunlight for one day this week - yesterday. Arg! So today, I cleaned. I intended just to do typical housecleaning - dusting, vacuuming, etc. Instead, I cleaned out the pantry and our desk. Well, to be honest, I actually started on the desk last week, worked on it some more last night, and finished it today. It was a bear.

Here's what it looked like last night. I don't think there was a single surface that wasn't covered with mess!

And you know you have too many Apple products when you find this many of their USB cords in your drawer...and I can think of two more that are hanging out in other parts of the house!

This is how it looks now that it's finished. Let's pretend there aren't things still stacked all over the top. I'm just not sure where else to put them yet.

I didn't take a "before" picture of my pantry. This is what it looks like now. Whoever put a pantry this tiny in a four bedroom house is crazy. The only reason it works for us at all is because our last house had no pantry! 

And may I say that I adore baskets? I use them everywhere else in the house - the laundry room, under the bathroom sink, in the linen closet - why is it only now occurring to me to use them in the pantry? I love it. Now all the muffin mix and chili seasoning and half-used bags of granola and nuts have a home. I'm wishing I had about ten more to really straighten the thing out.

 A few days ago, we moved Aidan's trains to his bedroom. He has a big under-the-bed box for all the tracks and trains, and we got an inexpensive bookcase to hold all the bridges and buildings in his closet. It's working out so much better. Our playroom/office is at the bottom of the stairs, and you have to walk through it to get anywhere in the house. I was constantly hurting my feet or messing up the track when it lived downstairs. Can you imagine maneuvering around this with a full basket of laundry in your arms? Dangerous.

Here, Aidan has set up a truly magnificent track in his bedroom. This is the view from the door.

And this is the view from the opposite corner. It takes up his whole room! You know you have too many Geotrax when... Of course, he's been building this collection for a few years, so I guess it's to be expected.

This is the mess Neely made while I was organizing other parts of the house. She's not quite so tidy a player as her big brother. The dress-up box threw up in her room. At least she was having fun. And actually, this mess is pretty easy to clean up.

And that, my friends, is how we made it through this rainy day. I may have to organize my underwear by color if things don't start looking up. ;)