Progress!

On Saturday I couldn't take the pantry/laundry room anymore. I HAD to get it tidied up & more organized! I recruited the girls to help. I did get hands on a couple of things but for the most part I was able to direct while they did the heavy work & bending.

Boo sweeping the floor.

I will never understand how so many small odds & ends flock to this little room.

I love the cabinets above the washer & dryer but they are rather difficult to reach. Being pregnant they are nearly impossible! =) I asked Sweet Pea to put a wrapped blanket on the top shelf for me. For some reason she had me in stitches watching her try different antics to get that blanket to stay!


She tried the stool, she tried to use the mop to catch it, and finally she climbed up on the dryer. Success! LOL!

I should have taken a before picture. There was a giant pile of laundry going up the wall and spilling all over the floor. There was also the trash I mentioned & odds and ends mixed in on the floor. The garbage can was overflowing and other things were all out of order. The washer & dryer were piled up with various things as well. Can you see the improvement?

I am thrilled with all the walking space now. The mountain of laundry is no more, (it was sorted into 2 upright baskets & being whittled down), my empty laundry baskets have a place, the water bottles & soda are all together and the plastic bags all have a bin. With the exception of the pillow & blanket awaiting their turn in the washer you can see the tops of the appliances!

Here are my new shelves! They are rapidly filling up. I need to organize them with a little more detail but that's another day. For now it's enough to have the stuff within reach and off of the floor & counter tops.

Remember the closets I mentioned? Or did I? Anyway, here they are in their finished glory! Again I should have taken before pictures. Just try to imagine a full, overflowing closet stuffed with boxes, coats scattered all over the floor and junk on top of that. Now open your eyes! Ta-dah!

I love how deep this closet is! Storage, baby!

Closet #2

This is my linen closet & many of the items I used to keep in my buffet & porch/side closet. We are also using it for every day street shoes until the place in the garage is finished. Again, imagine the same closet with things stuffed on every shelf. You can't even tell what is ON the shelf b/c things are so crammed. Their are no cubbies below and the entire floor to the back of the closet is full of shoes, games and other junk that has spilled everywhere. You can' see the floor. Now, open your eyes!

I have some extra blankets on top; some fragile items next shelf; table cloths, curtains & pillow cases third shelf down and then some bins with candles, fun napkins & special cards. Below the regular shelves Sweet Pea crammed in two sets of cubbies (you should have seen the work that went into that!) which I am using for Christmas napkins & tablecloths, dresser scarves & shoes for now. I like to make the most of my storage space.

Another view

Who does this look like?

New Shelves!

My new pantry shelves! These are going to hold twice as much as the stand up pantry did. Hooray! I definitely need the extra storage with our basement pantry & school closet being gone. Thank you, Dave!

The right side pantry wall.


The left side pantry wall.

There was already one shelf there and Dave added a second. Next he is going to add a clothing rod so I can hang laundry up right out of the dryer. How great is that?

Wednesday Already?

We're all sick here & trying to rest and recover while at the same time getting ready for Christmas and continuing to unpack. Quite a tall order! Last night everyone went to bed early. I tried but as luck would have it still couldn't get to sleep until after midnight. At least I have my naps, right?

Two things I hope to accomplish today are cooking dinner & unpacking some boxes of books. Sweet Pea finally found the two cookbooks that I had brought with us in the van. The point of keeping them out was that I could have them as soon as we moved in but somehow that didn't work out. I'm thankful she found them. I've been lost without them! Now I just need to find my Betty Crocker cookbook & Betty Crocker cookie book and I'll be all set. Dave put up shelves in the family room Sunday night. Now that there is a place for them I have been unpacking books. It takes longer than I thought it would because I am organizing them & trying to decide which go together, whether I want them in the office or upstairs and which need to be kept out of reach of little hands.

All the kittens and cats are snuggled up on my bed for a nap. Boy, I'm tempted to join them! But seeing as it's only a little after 10a.m. I guess I'd better hit the shower instead. It's days like this that I miss caffeine! Lol.

They're Everywhere!

Boxes! Boxes! Everywhere! Even though we have been working hard there is still a lot to unpack.

This is what the Baby's room presently looks like.


The Family Room. As you can see the girls are working on it a bit.

Dave searches.

A photo of the newly made & painted shelves.

Another view of the shelves. Recently I put lots of books on them & some toys. Looks good!