Day 285 - Books

I dug into the bookshelves in the office just to get started.  I dusted first and started sorting things into groups like homeschool, Biblical commentaries, parenting, kid fiction, adult fiction, classic literature, etc.

I pulled a few things out to get rid of but mostly shuffled and sorted.  I found a few inches of sheet music that could go in my filing cabinet and some old 8.5 x 11 frames that haven't been displayed since I was 17.  I was able to put lots of homeschool books onto the shelves.  I was pleased to get them off the homeschool bookshelf in the kitchen because the 2 year old keeps pulling them off.

The best "find" was a check for $25 from February 2010.  It must have been a birthday gift for DH.  OOPS! 

Interestingly enough, my mom called today to apologize for her part in that rough weekend.  I had already forgiven her, but it was still nice to hear that she recognized things weren't OK. 

Here I am moving kids' reading books.  DD#1 happened to have the camera out.

Here's the newly tidied bookcases.  Note the addition of the white plastic drawers on the right.  DH brought those up from the basement and they were so dusty from the construction I had to clean them inside and out!  I'm planning to use those for extra office supplies and craft items for personal and homeschool use.

And here are my 26 items for today.

1 & 2.  Picture frames
3. Wolves - youth non-fiction
4. Skyfire
5. Roger Rabbit
6. Scribbled all over flap book
7. What to Expect When You're Expecting journal
8. Ramona the Brave (duplicate)
9. Ramona and her Father (duplicate)
10. Pilgrim's Progress (duplicate)
11. The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner
12. Kentucky Weddings - Christan Fiction
13. The Wishing Star - Christian Historical Fiction surrounding the forming of the LDS church
14. Florabama Ladies Auxillary Sewing Cirlce - great read
15. The Lovely Bones - thriller, disurbing
16. Heather - Christian Fiction
17. Lorna - Christian Fiction
18. Good in Bed - laugh out loud funny
19. Western Gardening Book - (duplicate)
20. Christian youth worker book
21 & 22. children's books I'm adding to the gift pile
23. The Bunny Who Found Easter
24. Foam book that a kid managed to destroy
25 & 26. play money that I constantly pick up and much of this was actually sitting on a high bookshelf out of the kids' reach.  I actually sorted out three different sets and decided to keep my favorite.  It all fits nicely into our kids' cash register.

Katie

Wednesday Narrative - Office Horror

Truly I don't want to make this post.  When ProjectTwentySix began I posted "Before" photos of almost all of the house.  I never did get around to posting the office photos and now I wonder if it was a subconscious defense mechanism.

I worked hard in the office starting in late spring and running through summer.  You may recall lots of "paper" posts if you've been around that long.  In July my brother came and worked on the next phase of our basement remodel and I had to bring a lot of things upstairs.  Many of those things ended up in the office and I kept hammering away at it, bit by bit.

Then my mom and aunt came for a visit in September and pretty much tore me apart for the disarray my house was in and how I'd neglected the housework.  I've spent weeks reflecting on their thoughts and coming to a number of conclusions I won't go into here because it would be long and boring for you to read.  Here's a summarized version: Mom and Aunt can't possibly understand what my day to day life is like.  However they both have more life experience than I and wisdom to offer so I have considered their views.  I forgive them for the deep hurt they caused though neither have asked.

While the visit was most memorable for its painful conversations, I should also note they were a blizzard of cleaning activity which I greatly appreciated and likely would have appreciated more if they hadn't complained about it continually.  One of their solutions to hide my clutter was to put everything they thought was clutter into boxes that were then added to already not insignificant pile in the office.  They considerately put things they thought would need immediate attention (like bills and my checkbook) in a smaller box and pointed it out for me.

All of this to say that their words and the additions to the office mess have brought me to the point of having to deal with it.  Following are pictures of how it looked before I started pulling boxes out earlier this week.

This is the view from the doorway.  If this doesn't look to horrible wait for the next photo.

This is the floor in front of the bookcases.  That box right in front is one of the Mom & Aunt additions.

Behind the door.

My workspace.

DH's workspace.

As you can see there is much work to be done.  I see the work, but I also see the progress.  I remind myself how bad it would have been if I hadn't cleaned out so much paper and junk over the summer.  I've been steeling myself to accept that there will be a huge pile of stuff in my living room for at least a few weeks.  The reality of my life is that I can only chip away at this mess.  On the weekends I might get a bit more time, or less depending on the weekend.

Here's what my living room, the room I can generally count on to be tidy and ready to receive company, looks like:

It seems overwhelming but I'll just do a little (or big!) something every day and watch it disappear.

Here's what the office looks like on the bookcase side.  I hope it stays this way as I purge, sort, organize and find homes for a wide variety of items.

I hope to posting about office progress in the days to come.  Stay Tuned!

Katie

Day 284 - Miscellanous and Larger Items

I have a variety of items today I've collected over the last month or two. These are the here and there items that go out on their own or are a little too big to keep in the corner of my bedroom until 26 accumulate.


1 to 7. A fun toy we've had for all 4 girls.  This one went to consignment.

8 to 12. Packaging for squishy Disney princesses.  Why was I keeping this? 

13. Many pieces in this, but I'm just calling it a big one.  These are the remainders of make-your-own-lipgloss from DD #1s birthday party.  I got it as a hand-me-down over 2 years ago so I'm really happy to see it go!

14. A broken lamp.  The knob to switch on and off fell off.  I don't love it.  I picked it up for our guest room at a yard sale years ago for $2.  DH took it the city recycle event which takes anything that plugs in.

15. A high chair that sat on a regular chair.  The cushion/seat cover got mildew on it out in our garage and I have never been successful in getting mildew out of fabric.  It's been just sitting in our garage for about 2 years because we weren't sure quite what to do with it.  DH took it to the city recycle event's "bulky garbage" station.

16. A dinosaur computer monitor.  The city recycle event had a store designated to receive monitors so DH took it over there.

Making a formatting switch.  Not sure what's going on but I'm so bad at technology let's just go with it!

17 to 21. Outgrown Tinkerbell slippers, shoes, potty training seat - all destined for consignment

22. Great Book!  I gave this a friend who loves Jane Austen even more than I do.

23 & 24.  Red shoes outgrown - gone to consignment

25 & 26. Pillows that got put away during the headlice quarantine this summer and have never been asked for.

Day 283 - Changing Seasons

1. A sundress of mine
2. Shirt of DH's
3. Shorts of mine - finally fit again, but too short for this old lady
4. Shirt of mine - just not flattering
5. Shirt - cute but again, not flattering
6. Shirt - too short
7 & 8.  Socks - one has a hole in the heel
9. gap jeans
10. black leggings
11. pink leggings
12. blue leggings
13. purple corduroy jumper
14. long-sleeved plaid dress (so hard to get rid of long-sleeved dress but I don't love it)
15. hooded sweatshirt
16 to 19. skirts - we must have a dozen skirts so these aren't getting stored for next summer.
20. purple tee - oil stains
21. striped sweater
22.  plaid shirt/pink vest
23. summer play shirt
24. yellow tee - small spot
25. red summer shirt
26. long-sleeved tee in DD#1's "to grow into" box.  A hand-me-down that it turns out is too short.

Katie

Day 282 - Kid Shoes & Acessories

1. Ariel swimsuit getting balled up on rear
2. Piggy bath puff coming unsewn
2. Some pipe clean art project
4. Lion mask
5. The other shoe.  The first shoe fell apart and I couldn't fix it/wasn't worth effort to fix.
6 to 13.  Shoes DD#4 has outgrown. 
14 & 15. Shoes DD#2 destroyed.  Check out the toes
16. Another fairy card
17. Chase Bank piggy bank keychain
18. Cinderella notebook - too tiny to be practical
19 & 20.  socks outgrown
21. Strawberry Shortcake paper doll animal
22 to 24.  kid gardening gloves.  Much cooler in concept than reality. Another yellow must be floating around somewhere.
25 & 26. Plastic container filled with tiny glitter hearts intended for use with nail polish.  So glad DD#1 agreed she didn't need the hearts to make her nail polish fancy.

Katie

Day 281 - Homeschool, Toys, Etc

1. A Fairy Fashion paper doll book completely devoid of all dolls and clothing
2. Family Fun magazine I actually flipped through!
3 to 5.  Flashcards that are duplicate sets
6 & 7. Sight word flashcards - our homeschool curriculum came with its own set.
8. Sock puppet book.  I will not make these with my kids because it would be one more thing they expected me to keep.
9. Iridessa fairy card
10. Broken Hello Kitty hairbrush from the Sanrio store.  One of my kids spent her birthday money on this and it broken in the first few days.  Grrrr.  We picked out another pretty one for her from the dollar store.
11. Winnie the Pooh match flashcards
12. Cardboard box DD#1 saved her "coupons" in.  I told her if I found it anywhere but her room it was disappearing.  Guess what?
13 & 14.  Toothbrush covers
15. Marker
16. Broken Mr. Potato Head feet
17. Spritz dressing topper
18. LPS leaf
19. Tiny monkey toy from dentist
20. Ear that doesn't fit Mr. Potato Head
21. Strawberry Shortcake McDonald's toy
22. Broken sunglasses
23. Cassette tape - I can't wind the ribbon back in
24. Thomas UNO game missing lots of cards that will turn up, I'm sure.  They prefer the Barbie UNO anyway
25. Lice comb
26. Kid ring

Katie

Day 280 - Kid Clothes

The rain finally started so it's time to sort out the girls' summer things and refill the drawers with long sleeves. 

Most of these are from DD#4's drawers.  I pulled out tanks, sunsuits, shorts, skirts, and a few short-sleeved tops.  A few more items have stubborn stains that even my mom couldn't get out and she's a stain miracle worker.  One is a pair of DD#1 pants with a hole in the knee.

Most of these will be headed for consignment next spring, but half a dozen went to retex to be recycled.

Katie

Day 279 - Broker Statements

Here is another huge stack of papers from the office.  These are out of an old binder that was in the basement and absorbed water 3 years ago.  They're old statements from 401(k)s and other employee savings plans from previous employers. 

Katie

Day 278 - Videos

An assortment of movies has accumulated.

1. Once Upon a Forest
2. Switching Goals
3. Lady & the Tramp 2
4. Angels in the Outfield
5. Darby O'Gill and the Little People
6. Blues Clues - Musical
7. Elmo in Grouchland
8. Barney musical alphabet
9. Barney Camp Wannarunaround
10. Blues Clues - numbers
11. Abyss
12. Snatch
13. Maid in Manhattan
14. Something to Sing About
15. Field of Dreams
16. Emma
17. Pulp Fiction
18. Music & Lyrics
19. 321 Penguins
20. Alice in Wonderland
21. Scooby Doo
22. Guarding Tess
23. All Dogs Go to Heaven
24. Raising Arizona
25. Someone Like You
26.  Here on Earth

Katie

Day 277 - Doll Clothes Box

We had all the doll clothes packed up as part of the headlice eradication so I sorted through them before I put them back in the playroom.

1 to 17 doll items
18. Doll
19. Old diaper bag

And a few more to make 26:

20. Broken dress up shoe
21 & 22. Worn out shoes
23 to 26.  Old play-dough receptacles

On another note, today I threw out my Sunday paper without reading it.  It's a rule I instituted way back on Day 18.  If I can't get it read by the end of Monday I have to toss it.  No keeping it around making clutter.  Sad.  

Katie

Day 276 - Office Papers

I took this photo three weeks ago and I don't remember what this pile is particularly.  I think it was  fresh pile I found in a box that came up from the basement.  Papers I intended to file most likely but I don't need old mortgage statements or paid off student loan bills.  I also see an old Mary Kay catalog and an oil change envelope.  Definitely enough for one day of ProjectTwentySix.

Katie

Quick Update

I really want to finish this project.  I have 90 days to go but am having a hard time motivating myself when I can't keep my house clean, homeschool well, and do all the other things I have to do when I'm also trying to blitz this blog with lots of posts.  It feels overwhelming.  And I have to be a good wife and mom before a good blogger because my first desire is to please God.  I don't think He would prioritize blogging over my responsibilities to my family so I won't either.

So new tactic - again.  I'm just going to post when I can and trust I'll finish eventually.  Maybe it will be every day, maybe it will be twice a day, maybe it will be only once a week.  In any case, I haven't forgotten about you Project TwentySix.  I just have a real life to live, too.  

Katie