"Go East", they said...: Week in review...Part 1

The past week proved to be most interesting, especially since the day I slammed my finger in the door of my vehicle. Wow, am I ever behind!

But more than that, all of our current outdoor goals for working on our property seemed to have mounting and continuous roadblocks plopped down before us for any abilities to press forward with satisfaction due to multiple rainforest downpours throughout the week.

Yes, the rain drenched everything and in its torrent feisty waves, nothing was left unscathed, not tree branches that broke off, nor leaves falling to the ground, garden flowers were toppled, and our outdoor workbees had to be halted midway.

Though it was misty warm weather despite the rain, it soon became humid later in the mornings, so even with torrents of rainfall outdoors, it seemed funny to declare a dependence on having the air conditioning running indoors, a necessary thing for some here.

It was a unanimous conclusion by midweek, the approximate time frame for my last blog post, that most of us were rendered quite frustrated with the weather patterns set before us during my hubby's vacation time. Sheesh!

The girls work at the horse barns were often interrupted with canceled riding or trail ride reserved times when the mud became a liability for safety for both the horses and their riders. Trails had to be inspected and cleared before each day's passage. That also meant corporate riding trail rides were often changed or canceled without much notice. Much work occurred without an end purpose resulting in having to untack the prepared horses after cancellations, those who'd been selected for the individual rides.

We saw our plentiful share of wet and muddy clothing reaped rewards from their time at the barn. The gooey caked on muck combined with bits of straw and hay were interesting to remove, sometimes just hung up outdoors for the next monsoon rains to hopefully wash it all away before throwing them into the washing machine where the real cleaning cycle began.

On the summer family goal sheets were other items, "plan B" items to check off, though for the most part they were just summer goals I'd thought to accomplish sometime before formal schooling began once more. How weird it was to find it necessary to shift the focus from our preferred goals during this vacation time to the mode of pulling out the summer goal sheet for now rather than later due to uncontrollable weather patterns. Nature rules, that is for sure!

It began to feel as though I were in the midst of a deja vu batch of organizing sessions from my Organization campaign platform found HERE , the very one launching my batch of "Midsummer Projects List" ; those found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE ... a few of the rooms absolutely necessary to reshuffle and reorganize from top to bottom for settling into our first home here in the east, a task taking from sun up to sun down...literally some days anyway.

Two years ago I was in the exact same mode of operation, working from early morning to way beyond sunset evening moments shortly before I plopped myself into bed from exhaustion. But boy oh boy, did it ever feel good to see the results! And ...here I am again. Such is live I suppose, so funny to feel thrust into this position again but it must be tended to so why not now?

On the goal sheet last week then - least expected but there, here is one of the tasks now completed;

Youngest daughter's Bedroom

- Finally being able to roll up my sleeves and dig in to one of the children's bedrooms, sorting, organizing and getting her all settled in her new digs. Yes, this was the 'tidy girl' and yet both she and I knew when those boxes were once unpacked, all she did was toss and fling items into some semblance of tidy when all was radically not in any good order at all.

And so it began; furniture moved,
clutter hauled out for sorting.
Shown here is a fraction of that
amazing bulk of gathered clutter.

To the naked eye, I had no idea just how L-O-N-G this detail would take, but in my wildest dreams never thought it would end up being almost six straight working hours overall. But she's settled.

One thing is for sure; it's not easy being the youngest girl in the family, especially when older sisters think they are blessing their little sister with new toys and their own stashes of childhood delights they no loner played with. No, this wasn't a good thing at all. In fact, we emptied her room of most of those things, sisterly joys that are now packed up in another room awaiting the older siblings to realize someday they might want them back for their own children if God wills they have girlies too. :-) And so, with the "extra goodies" carefully selected and purged (with great delicate balance for using my hand - having a sore finger still and all....sigh) from the room's space, the mammoth sorting detail began and lasted a much longer time than first anticipated. Now there is order in this young girl's bedroom and in her closet. Yes! But she kept her sister's dolls. Oh well. So sweet!

Uncluttered.....such a nice sight for tired eyes.

She's happy. I'm happy. And most of all, she is incredibly thankful for me choosing to work alongside of her for the duration of the time it took to get the task completed. Check... The only resulting fallout was her grand desire to gather all of her new "sorted" dolly items and begin to play with her favorites. In an apologetic voice she said; "Mommy you know me, I can't stop once I get started." So off she went, dressing, playing and brushing their hair. How refreshingly wonderful to watch her enjoy this childhood play again. Who says girls can't play with their dollies even when they are older? Hmmmpffffffff.

Sorting, matching, organizing ...
a long unending mantra for the day

Rather than bore you with the typical photos of before and after, mess piles up to nowhereland, I've chosen to take the time to upload several favorite whimsical vignettes of girlie fun instead. Here are my choices to get you thinking of the sweetness our daughters bless us with each day, but remember, these are but a very few because I can make a very long list of many more with my own daughters in mind.