It has to get worse before it gets better

I know you are all just waiting with your breath held to hear progress about our basement/storage room project.

Ok, maybe not - but it encourages me to report progress. We have worked every day this week and have really sorted a bunch of toys. We have gotten rid of 2 boxes of toys and have gotten 100s of pieces/parts where they belong. Many boxes are now very organized. Unfortunately, I looked at a stack of boxes today and thought, "I don't have 4 Halloween boxes....what could be in the non-Halloween boxes?" Well unsorted toys of course. These are actually boxes that weren't sorted during the last great toy-sort, because I ran out of time.....so who knows what we will find in there. The kids have enjoyed this "treasure hunt" of sorts, because they have found toys that have been packed away for ages.

As I look at a toy - to determine its final resting place - I decide, "am I glad to see this?", or do I think "not that again, that toy is always in a million pieces scattered around the house". If it is one of those things that just seems to scatter and doesn't bring joy - it is gone! yeah! I wish I could get rid of more, but we have so many great things that I just can't deprive Anna the fun of growing into some of them. I decided that organization is the next best thing to purging. I also decided that we are not getting any more toys - EVER....ok, not really but we are really going to be choosy about birthday and Christmas gifts!

Funny story - We have two totes with puzzles. (one has mostly little kid puzzles and one has bigger kid puzzles).....we really like puzzles. Anyway, I took puzzle box #2 off the shelf today and realized that we had a Giant USA Floor Puzzle in the it. Since I knew the kids had recently put together the exact same puzzle, I was shocked to know we own 2 of the same thing. Now, I think I must have realized this in the past because both Ohios were in one box and that could only happen if they were out around the same time....actually perhaps I just found Ohio and stuck it in the puzzle box that I thought it belonged in, not realizing we had 2. I know I bought one puzzle at THE consignment sale and believe the other one was a gift from Ken's folks. I only hope the gift came 2nd, because I would really want to kick myself if I bought the same puzzle we already owned. I happily report that both puzzles are now whole and one is in the St. Vincent de Paul box!

Ok - can you tell I have been focusing on this storage room project a bit - perseveration I think they call it! It really is a good thing, since it is the only way this thing will get done. I just made Ken go into the storage room so I could have some oohing and ahhhing over the progress!