Favorite Ideas and Progress

PLEASE, cue the angel choir!

After many years of possessing craft materials, construction paper in particular, finally, FINALLY a solution to storing the paper nicely! Yes, we'll see if it stays that tidy looking, but still! A way to separate colors that doesn't take up square footage anywhere or involve drawers. I'm very happy about this. Very.very.happy. The construction paper pockets are one of the few things I've bought so far in this purging endeavor...I think.

This is the tidy, just finished version of our book closet. I was shocked at how much we discarded, and yet still the space is pretty much full. I think it's because in the process of all this purging and organizing, we've consolidated almost all reading material, audio books and stories, as well as some school supplies and curriculum I need to keep. Whew!

This picture also makes me giddy. (Yes, it's the little things!) The Lord gave me some more ideas...solutions that work better than anything I've tried in the past...

And with no spending! See the little gray dividers? Had them for years. Came with a set of cabinets we purchased from Ikea. They are holding up these school supplies very nicely, so that things aren't falling and leaning. Hooray! Most of the items here are things that survived the school year in good enough condition to be used once more, or things we just acquired somehow, like the dozen or so composition books, which will undoubtedly get used up eventually.

But this was one of my favorite lightbulb moments: a better way to store sheet protectors, pocket/tab dividers, graph paper, and lined paper that's not longer in a package but still usable. Oh, sorry about the blurry photo. Too lazy to go take another! Anyway, we've saved almost all of the binders from school and from my cleaning out the girls' ancient schoolwork I'd been keeping. But the binders that were too beat up for reuse at school - they've become containers for all the aforementioned supplies! Usually, the kids' tab dividers hold up pretty well, so I saved the great-condition sets and placed them in these binders. Among other benefits, it'll keep me from buying things we already have, since now I know what's there and it's easily accessible.

Living in survival/reactive mode is really inefficient. Have you noticed that? While it feels wonderful to be pulling out of all that, I praise and thank God for taking care of us, for providing for us during all the craziness. I love the grace He's given that make it okay to have lived so haphazardly for so long. It was His choice for that season, and He sustained us generously and gently and compassionately - no condemnation for imperfect diets, finances, forgetfulness, or degrees of organization. Nor are extra points awarded for improvements in these areas, but of course it feels lovely for things to be much more thoughtfully managed!

Going back to the idea of survival mode inefficiency...Does anyone out there need to borrow a pair of scissors or maybe a ruler? 'Cause we have like 342 of each.

Actually, it's more like 13 rulers and about 16 pairs of scissors. That's just upstairs. No really, that is the majority of what's in the house, as I'm trying to centralize all these things. But seriously - 16 pairs of scissors?!? 

I am really pleased with the above cabinet. We reduced our games and crafts down significantly, ditching anything that had missing or broken parts or wasn't dearly loved/actively enjoyed.

Y'all just let me know if you need to measure something or cut up things. I got your back.

In family news, Baby H crawled yesterday for the first time. Right across the room to BB. He pulls up to stand like a champ, but was taking his time learning that there was a way to not be confined to the spot on the floor where we set him. I am not complaining that he was a late crawler.

Something else positive: I'm giving jogging a try. I've not exercised in many years. And I'm not a fitness junkie to say the least. But over the past few months, I started feeling the need to move. So it has been nice to take a stab at some very short little runs, early in the morning a few days a week (when H's random sleep/wake patterns cooperate with my plans).

Tomorrow, we welcome family from Back Home: BB's mom, sister and her children are coming to visit. Everyone is super excited! We have not had guests since Baby H was born, I don't think! It will be wonderful to catch up with them.

So until next time....

Have a wonderful weekend!