Organizing and Purging

It has needed to be done for quite some time now and I usually sort of enjoy doing it, once I get into it and before I get too tired of it. So today I did it. I stepped away from sewing (ok I did work a bit on our "Ravinia tablecloth" - but not a whole lot) and from trying to work on promoting my Etsy shop on the computer and focused on cleaning out and organizing. I started with the kitchen which isn't terribly unorganized, it was just messy. I used my new wood cleaner on the wood floor in our entryway (first time I've actually used a product on it that was meant for wood). Then I tackled the kids' rooms. Miles was the toughest because he has so many clothes he has outgrown very recently. I tried to quickly make decisions on things to get rid of besides clothes and think I did a pretty good job. I think I have at least 4 tall kitchen size bags of stuff in the garage ready for pick-up next Monday. I haven't done my clothes yet, but I go through them so regularly I bet there's not much to toss. Then the basement storage area... let's not go there (which I haven't yet). But in my defense I have done a lot of cleaning and organizing in there in the past and I'm sure I will get to it soon.

I think I got most of my organizing skill from Oprah or something, but a great book that I'd like to recommend is "Simplify your life, Get Organized and Stay That Way!" by Marcia Ramsland. It has many great tips and each chapter ends with personal reflection and a simple prayer.

In other news I have completed two totes but have not photographed them nor listed them on Etsy yet. Between my organizing adventure and our paddle boat floating to the other side of the pond because of all the rain raising the water level past where it was docked, I just didn't get to the photography. Plus it was pretty dreary most of the day. I started another tote for Ella for her to carry her dance things in. It is about halfway finished. It will be big for her. But I hope it will bring in inquiries about where I got it!

I have been trying to get Miles to sleep in his "Big Boy Bed", but no success so far. I look at it as progress made though. I talk about it during the day and he says he wants to sleep in it. Tonight he got up into it and lay there a while for me to read and sing to him, he even stayed there without crying when I left and turned the light off, but as I was reading "Horton Hears a Who" to Ella, he started crying. I got up and moved him to his crib. I had actually taken the rail off of the crib and put on the toddler bed rail, so that was a bit different to him too and took a while (several rounds of "You are My Sunshine" and lots of warm smiles) to get him to be "ok" there. He has been such a good sleeper for his whole life I just want to ease him into this transition. But it would be nice if he transitioned BEFORE vacation so we don't have to take up a fourth of the back of the CRV with the Pack-n-Play...