Organizing Spices

There's nothing quite like feeling there's a slow brewing rumble,possibly even a war developing in one's own kitchen! 

Yes, I said - a 'war'....(said she with a big wide grin).

True confessions; there are days when I have no clue what I have in my pantry. 

No kidding. 

I never used to have this problem. Not ever. 

But, it has existed for a few years now, and slowly but surely, it's time to end the often, (at the crunch of dinner time fixing and ingredients disappearing) confusion. 

They say you can tell a lot about a cook by opening up and peeking at the goodies within their spice cupboard. I believe that. 

There's one problem however. When "I" open my spice cupboard, I don't always know what's in there either, nor what half of those collected bottles of spice are as a matter of fact! 

You see, there are two cooks in our home, both myself, and my hubby will take the reigns for the family foodie prep. He (as I've shared with you before) has become the food networks prodigy chef extraordinaire. Yes he has. He has a stained apron to prove it. (grin) In fact, he's a fabulous cook! (I love you honey, grinning)

There's a danger, a type of development of a hissy-fitty domain problem though, when two cooks hang out, and cook at separate times in the kitchen. 

My little pantry and spice cupboard problems have festered since my husband decided a food dish is "all about the flavor", thus the increase in spice bottle counts, and even extra bags of spices for when those spice jars run low. Like all that cumin, and cumin seed in there, bags of the stuff to last us an entire lifetime.

There are so many types of spices for use with exotic international types of cooking in our spice cupboard, that I've attempted in the past to segregate the rare ones by placing them on the shelf above the main area from the usual everyday kind, like cinnamon for instance, or parsley. You know, that sort of thing. Well, that worked for a time. And then, "he" mixed all those bottles and bags all up again. Then they seemingly began to multiply, like (for instance) I just discovered we have 3 chili powder bottles. And another bulk refill bag with more chili powder at the back of that second shelf. 

I think there is a danger when one gathers a recipe from the food network online computer site, and then in the excitement (or haste) of wanting to experiment right now, not taking a moment to find out if we have a certain type of spice, or not, well, so why not just buy another? Oh, and the empty bottles, well, there are multiples of those around too, like they're all having babies in there or something. So, I had to perform a kitchen spice addict intervention!  :) (I love you honey...grinning)

What to do? 

Why not re-do! 

So, I re-did every spice container, purchasing all new ones, and filling them up so all would be the same height, and stack-able possibilities came to me in a dream one night. :) 

Our local dollar store was a fantastic supplier for all the spice bottles I would require. That is, they were similar to those in Ikea, but for sale for a fraction of the cost (3/1.00). 

I only bought 21 of them. I figured that had to be plenty, looked like loads when viewing them all laying in a row within my shopping basket in hand.

I was wrong! I had to buy more, like 18 more. 

So, this beckons a loaded question of from me to you; How many spice bottles do YOU have in your cupboards right now? Do you know? 

Go and count, just for fun. You might be surprised!

Today, I finally purchased those 18 additional bottles, and tonight there will be additional spice organizing to complete my spice cupboard intervention task! 

My cherished label machine will be near me, a fresh roll of white tape will continue to produce all the labels I will be requiring to perform this task. 

Oh, I "do" like these spice jars! 

And, I do love all the easy to read labels affixed to them. Oh, and they stack, one on top of another, rows and rows to behold for me when the deed is done. 

There will be a cease fire in my kitchen now, patience and prudence in all matters of organization will allow many cooks to freely express their creative culinary skills, at (often) impulsive tempted timing. 

I'll be heading out next week, spice shopping list in hand, to check out our local "Bulk Barn" for wee bags of necessities to fill all these jars filled to their very brims. 

In the future, if no one remembers to mention a discovered empty spice bottle, maybe that's okay too because at a glance, I'll be able to see through their glass exteriors, and be able to make a notation on my weekly shopping list. 

If foreign spice bottles reappear, it will be time for a kitchen meeting of the cooks, for a further resolve. :) 

Next up? Pantry intervention, but of course. (grinning all the way here...)

Ten Things I'm Thankful For

It's time once again for another installment of my "Ten Things" to be thankful for, always varied, always random bits in positively NO particular order. Most of these are overdue for posting, but here again, better late than never. :) Please allow me to babble onward then...

December is here! Whoosh, and the end of the year is almost at hand. Another 365 days for gratitude seeking, thanksgiving blessings, and monumental memory making abilities. Another year, and so much to be thankful for. Advent is upon us, and here we are in the midst of Jesse trees, empty manger nativities, and all things winter at the same time. A season to reflect, contemplate, and just be grateful for every itty bitty thing!

And I am grateful for these things the past few weeks;

• - Our oldest expectant daughter's health improvements from having to battle both gestational diabetes and hypoglycemia at the same time. It's been a fine balance and the threat of insulin shots still hovers greatly, however the doctor keeps choosing to delay from improvement the past few weeks. Plus, little missy has at last chosen to turn from breech position to head down. Yep, so thankful! Only a few more weeks lovely daughter, and all these challenges will become a thing of the past.

• - A telephone call to announce an "advanced" class for guitar lessons and one son who has proved a natural talent for picking up the instrument. All the middle aged ladies told me they hoped he would come again as he motivated them to practice and keep up with him. Loved that. So fun.

• - Another vehicle in the family! And this mama is driving less the past few days since our son picked up his new truck, and some "time" freedoms are at hand for both of us. How wonderful to see him with his own wheels at last, and how wonderful to find out the new insurance policy I switched to last year offered him our umbrella of same pricing until he turns 25 years old. Affordable insurance is such a great thing for these young adults in this province, and this guy hit the jackpot when we were determined to seek out the best options for him. I'm a happy mama! See my smile?

• - My decluterring continues and I seem to be stuck in some sort of nesting mode as I toss and file, and stack and dump the mounds of junk in our home. How did we accumulate so much crap? LOL Actually, I am deeply satisfied to perform such actions in our home office, the one where my hubby will work much during the winter cold season and snowy depths of dangerous roadways. Nothing was left untouched, the desktop emptied and a work station formed. I framed all of my husband's certificates, and they are currently decorating the space to create something very inviting for achieving much on a work day.

• - I've been smitten with the way our children are picking up a second language with their french lesson classes each week. Today we venture off for yet another session, this time the days of the week will be reviewed, and together our conversational chatting will fill the vehicle on our way home. Bonjour!

• - It's been so heartwarming to get daily telephone calls from the least expected little one. Our (almost three year old) granddaughter has discovered the telephone! She's quite a chatter box, calling to talk to her "Nana" (me), and even knows how to leave a message if no one is here. I've saved a few of those to listen to over again, so precious! One of them was of her sweet little voice saying; "I love you Nana, I called to say goodnight". How can anyone not melt over that? Ever cute! Makes my day!
  

Without further ado, let me present my "Ten Thankful Things", just sparks of thankfulness appearing in my days this past week.

Please know for certain that my own personal thoughts on true thankfulness can obviously never be offered, nor delivered in true completeness within one simple post. And in case you just might find it interesting and want even more today, you can always skip along to view other "thankful" posts by clicking onto the archives located - right HERE.




1 - I'm thankful for "sugar dustings" when winter comes to play.

Actually I'd be even more thankful if this current rain went away and the land was fully blanketed and sprinkled with deeper dustings. It sure feels like winter is late this year! Bring it on!


- 2 - I'm thankful for love letters from our grandchildren. The note above was written by our grandson, a complete surprise one day in the mail.

It fast becomes heart rendering to see the love action of these wee ones when we are the recipients of their artistry and thoughtfulness. But then again, we aren't the only ones so that makes it double-fun when their young aunt and uncles get their own mail too.


The note above was a letter by the same grandson to his thirteen year old uncle, a little penmanship practice along with his soccer update. So cute!


- 3 - I'm thankful for this marvelous invention, and though not a current one, we are reaping many rewards already from having them in our home for only a short time! And when there was quite an alarming "Amber alert" (that ended happily with two little boys ages 5 & 10, lost overnight and found three miles away in a corn field) in our general area two weeks ago, I'm especially pleased with this purchase.


One remains in our home, and one each for the younger two when out visiting or riding bikes with neighborhood children. Shhhh, don't tell them, but they think these are much cooler than cell phones with instant access to their parents for their requests when out and about. They even work at the barn, so perfect and no worries about cell phone lags on texts and telephone calling as the norm is here.

When the trees are filled with leaves, it's difficult to see where they are even if only on our street riding their bikes. Now we have this great communication device, good for ten miles (though we won't be needing that range just yet) and a bit of comfort when needing to summon them home.

Rather than having to resort to using my hefty-ranged hockey-mama (great) whistling skills to get their attention, all it takes is one click of a button to ring them up. And they are also able to ring one another up while out and about, meeting up with their friends for longer bike rides together as one big bunch. Motorola, where have you been all my life! Costco apparently...


- 4 - I'm thankful for a little smirky sweet revenge after my hubby had reminded me (over and over again in this past spring) that there were three boxes downstairs yet unpacked. As they were stacked one on top of the other, I had assumed they were school curricula all along, deciding it was stuff I didn't use anyway, leaving the content in the boxes without anywhere to place them.

One day before summer I braved the monsters and began to slice open the packing tape on those unmarked boxes (don't you just love those unmarked boxes!) and much to my first dreaded but fast turned delighted surprise -nothing was mine! I laughed to myself in utter excitement when I felt that horrible task-dread roll right over my shoulders, also knowing this lousy detail was no longer my problem. It was all my hubby's work books from his former office HE never unpacked! Ha, loved this surprising discovery to bits!

At long last this past week, these boxes were finally taken to task (my oh my he procrastinates doesn't he? LOL) and had to be dealt with because they had been moved last summer, ending up in our little office closet, taking up way too much space. Finally, to my thrilling semi-revengeful silly pleasure, I sat near with a big wide grin on my face, slowing kicking one box at a time in front of my hubby as he sat perched and ready to tackle his own dreaded task. It was like Christmas watching him go through it all. Great discoveries abounded, many treasures were packed up again to take to his office here, and others set about our own office. Finally, combined with other file cabinet paper pile decluttering, not only were these three moving boxes filled with books and papers reviewed, two full boxes of accumulated stacks went to the curbside for recycling!

It felt marvelous not only to beat my best weekly goal of filling up the recycling bins (blue and gray), we filled them both and added a stacked set of jam packed moving boxes filled with paper goods for recycling disposal. I can't even begin to tell you what a feat it felt like to see those boxes at the roadside! And best part? It wasn't even my own junk....snicker.


- 5 - I'm thankful for shuffling picture frames again, this time the white 8x10 inch ones in our younger daughter's bedroom.

As per my yearly usual, the bedrooms were completely ransacked and organized again, and these five empty white dollar store (GREAT DEAL) frames were filled with (what else?) horse photo pages from her favorite horse magazines. Now she has a few favorite photos lined up and hung over her dressers. And one big smile appears when she gazes and dreams about owning her own horse someday.


- 6 - I'm thankful for map making cheating once in a while. I've always encouraged our children to draw maps, familiarizing themselves with the study of lands, including; continents, countries, assorted worldwide destinations, rivers, oceans and globe particulars.

Thick in our study of Canada, this time geography, they are allowed one cheat map to get the overall picture of a country, the first practice if you will, and then it's free hand all the way from then on. One province at a time, one territory at a time, this is our country, the land that we love. Oh Canada!


- 7 - I'm thankful for last week in general! My husband had a vacation week from work, and together we accomplished many assorted tasks and goals with a twist. We decided on purpose to take the bulk of our days to enjoy "quality time" together any way possible, at our leisure, and in our own timing. Dinner came when we cooked it, coffee shop visits occurred if the mood struck, we attended the local art studio tour, sat by the fire for as long as we desired, rolled with the flow of driving kids around, and just plain ole lapped up every minute of "quality" everything!

You see most times when my hubby has time off, he rolls into recovery mode from respiratory health induced fatigue, or he battles a lung infection yet again and needs the time off to do so. Last year at this time he had already battled two of them by now, so we are thrilled there have been none yet to date this fall/winter.

Although there were times of catching up on sleep with a midday nap, it was like having a vacation at home, when we were offline for the bulk of it just because. Actually I shouldn't say that. I spent oodles of time editing slurped up blog posts to publish more blog books for our family library. That task is so time consuming to me, my own fault with the growing number of posts I publish here. To date I'm just under 1500 in total, so I have to get rolling to catch up on publishing them all into more books.

I need to publish two books per year to assemble and contain all I've written, but most of all to accent or blow up my favorite photos as well. The last one was a monster with 386 pages (single sided so divide in two) and 786 photos! I use BLURB to slurp up my blog into print, time consuming for my personal taste but half the price compared to Blog2print. Just a personal choice for me tis all.

With internet issues at home (SLOW!) I had to head up to Starbucks for high speed usage for uploading my book to the website for safe keeping, but sadly only to find the coffee shop's server down. I ended up at a little library ten minutes away with my hubby and children in tow. Turned out to be a lovely calming time for all to relax, read and enjoy all available to them by way of newspapers, magazines and books. We even took home a few "quality movies" to watch. I love libraries! Don't you?


- 8 - I'm thankful for this delectable yummy indulgence not available in Canada, or at least very much NOT the same if there is one.

Yes, the folks in the USA have this little luxurious coconutty treat readily available for all those passing by confectionery stands, the occasional item I grab and savor for a very long time with a coffee or two. Okay, okay, so it's like being able to buy any type of bubble gum without added poisonous (!) aspartame included in the ingredients list, with the only exception of "hubba bubba" or something from the health food store. Only in the USA will I be able to stock up on my favorite chewies. Okay, so I'm weird like that....laughing.


- 9 - I'm thankful for times when the dinosaur computer age meets the modern age, like in the photo above!

The younger ones wanted the Compaq 3.1 all in one (circa 1991) computer in the kitchen for some math review games (Mathblaster, Algeblaster and others) for their free time. Complete with our "Holy Heroes" mouse pad, and perched next to the laptop where this daughter is completing a research assignment, I had to chuckle at the thought of this beloved and ancient technical piece of equipment in our home because ALL have forbidden me to get rid of it. Come on guys, I'm on a permanent quest to get rid of all our JUNK around here. Can't I even begin to appease you on this? Apparently not.

Even with its antiquated graphics, they tell me there's nothing quite like a great game of "A-train", "Sim City", "NHL 1992", "Dangerous Dave" and other age old games. What's a mother to do? Nothing. It stays because the family vote says hands off. So there it is, a novelty to all those with computer skills for none of them know quite what to do with it, how it works (we use the program "Kiddesk" as entry), unusual technology way before their time. Hilarious so far to see the faces on kids who enter our home and wonder "what that thing is" sitting on the desk in the kitchen! :)


- 10 - I'm thankful for healthy snacks provided by the younger children, the spontaneous ones when they know a snack must consist of something healthy around here. Current love for munching on is apples and peanut butter! Oh yum!


Bonus photo of the day;

The Canadians were HERE at the CLE Browns versus NE Patriots NFL football game. Freezing cold temperatures and threatening snow forecasts almost ruined the day for attending this "outdoor" stadium game, but all was just a fabulous experience for this mama who needed a "football for dummies" tutoring from son before attending with my sister.

More to come...

Meanwhile, what are your own "grateful things" this past while? Jot them down, keep rereading them for that is when you will definitely know - You are indeed so very blessed!

Have a great day!
Renee

Restoring order to this room

Perhaps this blog post could be titled, Week in Review, #6 as it is just one more pressing item on the summertime to-do list checked off. The timing to complete this goal was not my own, rather the rain completely dictated when an indoor day would be at hand. Among other activities or goals on the checklist, this was one I dreaded the most.

All of our children used to share bedrooms together, often there were up to three or more in each bedroom as they all grew. One by one the older ones grew up, moved away and married. And then, one fateful day, my hubby was awarded the doom of a work transfer so that we would move across our country away from half of our family members.

Now that we live in the east, our four remaining children have all been afforded their own private bedrooms. With great months of terrible withdrawal, they are now used to having their own space and find it quite inviting to refresh and find solace when necessary in a hubbub of life amidst a busy home.

At first I was dreading this task and then as the time wore on, I soon realized with ease this child was much more organized and less of a packrat than his younger sister, a surprise to me.

Moving the furniture around was the easy part

The worst part of course was the continuous discovery of the laundered and folded clothing dropped on the closet floor because his drawers weren't organized right and there was frustration mounting for him not being able to set his clothing inside of them with ease. Since this would be considered a "hot spot", we cooled it off first thing.

Another area of concern was this new-to-him desk, a hand me down from being damaged during our move and now replaced for my hubby's home office. We thought this would be a nice area for him to store and play his new hobbies, and so it was set up with that intention in mind for his playtimes.

Everyone needs a drawer where they can throw the little things in without worry of how to sort it out in the end or what it will look like. Since these were all similar in nature, they were tossed here. When the drawer is shut, it's lovely how it all just disappears!

A little shot for our Vancouver Canuck fans out there. This was a gift to our son from older siblings, a treasured possession and something he counts on for rising in the morning.

Another check mark rests on the goals' to-do list, another task now complete that won't need to be accomplished next month. Who would have guessed how much success we have already seen this summer around here. Another green garbage bag now rests ready to offer to the garbage man this week and another large bag awaits the rest of the goodwill offerings to get to the local thrift store's next run.

How sweet it is!

Week in review, #5

Summertime

When it was raining...and oh how it rained, that's when we opted to work indoors instead.

• - Once the work was complete on and below the larger deck, all of the patio furniture and the gas BBQ were to be moved and settled onto its surface. Problem? They were in the back corner of the garage....so the entire double garage was another task on the list.
  

Our garage, on a good day last March

Garage; every single item was tossed out of the large wooden opened garage doors and myself and two others rolled up our sleeves, donned our ipods (because it was such an unpleasant detail and we were all grumpy), and began to melt and sweat to bits in the 87 degree humidity stricken, monsoon rainy day, which alternated with more heat when the sun actually shone throughout the summer storms of the day.

Once all was removed, we could begin anew, something we haven't been able to progress with since our move into the house in the dead of winter with three feet of snow on the ground, thus is the reason why the detailed task took so long in the first place. Freezing in the depths of the garage never felt too great initially anyway.

Success at last!
We can now park both vehicles in here! Yes!

This too was our third attempt at creating order in the garage, but still a final (!) grand detailing began by first sorting, organizing, and then purging much! Oh sure, the easy part was moving the deck items to the back deck, but the fallout with an entire day necessary to finish the job was unexpected.

• We used straw twine to wrap up the garbage cardboard flattened stacks.
• We gathered all of the items for charity and packed them into my vehicle immediately for removal later in the day. And they did go that day!
• We sorted much and sent a large box westbound with items for the grandchildren; hockey helmets, ice skates and life-jackets now too small for our brood still living at home.
• We began to feel "lighter" around the general working area.

We are still celebrating a week later at the fact that although our moving company failed to arrive as promised to recycle and reuse all of our many moving boxes, during a break this day and shortly after posting all on FREECYCLE, one very sweet couple came to rescue us (and bless themselves) by happily removing all of moving gear which was taking up almost 25% of our garage space in total after being condensed in size THAT EVENING! Can you say happy? Enough space was created for the first time, both my hubby and I have been able to park our vehicles in our own garage. YES! Sweet and simple accomplishments render much pleasure. So much more order, and space was created when all was in its true place and the load of moving items were GONE.

Our basement cold storage room now
required work with the junk shuffle

• As the day wore on, and fatigue began to reign high, I remembered one thing - the cold storage room in the basement was the area with MORE belonging in the garage. The garden tools were stored in there and now belonged in the garage for the seasons ahead. The snow shovels, toboggans and other assorted winter items from the garage needed to be hauled down there for storage until winter arrives.

The good ole staircase became the dumping ground

• And then there were other misc items not belonging in the garage at all, the ones I just got out of my way by tossing them all down the staircase from the garage to the basement for easy retrieval later on. The thought of next having to work my way into that storage room for sorting, organizing and purging possibilities was like a dark cloud hovering over my head, but somehow we pressed onward and by the next evening, all was checked off, done, complete and all were so happy, happy to have those chores behind us.
  

• - Our builder's service guy came to fill me with delight (NOT) when he began to plaster drywall putty around the house, areas he left like that for us to continue with. So the sanding and repainting began in earnest...all over the house! Somehow puttering about with only bits of painting details takes longer than painting an entire room, but it's now complete too.

Patching the walls went way beyond my level of comfort, not to mention all the colored re-painting necessary from happy go lucky wall mudders.

- Weathershield foam was in full use to fill up all of the gaps found in many areas of the outdoor pipes and throughout the home around plumbing, heating and sump pump areas. What we thought would take one or two cans to complete the task, it actually took three full cans to do the deed. We are now ready for winter and hopefully there will never be any more mice in the house from entering these zones again.

Necessary items for necessary tasks ahead

• - All of the tiled flooring areas inside of our home were never sealed, a dilemma one of our older son's noticed when he visited shortly after we moved in here. He found himself sealing the basement bathroom floor tiles, and then he also painted the walls in there (all of the basement drywall was only whitewashed, never painted so it's all to come).

Re-purposing yogurt containers came in handy

Sealing tiled flooring grout and tiles

• After a short tutorial, another son has been spending many hours using a scrub brush along grouting areas in between tiles, and sealing the flooring. It's great to have tiles in the house, a very organic and healthy flooring for allergy sufferers but in order to be installed correctly - they must be sealed. Each wee drop of water actually stains the tile, not a good thing when they are on the bathrooms and laundry room floors. Each day (when rain falls outdoors), one more floor continues to become sealed and eventually ever-complete.
  

• Our blinds are all installed and thankfully so as we were able to keep the house cool until the late afternoon when sun entered these back windows and the thermometer in our home fluctuated and heightened to highs of 80 degrees by the dinner hour. We now have a great reprieve from the sun's warmth without losing the view to the back forest with the special blinds we chose. Even though we love the warmth of the sun, somehow the air conditioning begins working overtime and canned air is just no fun all day long. It's a necessary thing though when the humidity climbs, something new to us here in the east, something we never had before and something we are so grateful for as a serious bonus to our time living here.

And this my friend is another update for our week in review. There will be more to come, I assure you of that. :-)

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.

Sweetness!

Sorting dolly shoes;
Can you see this scene in a shopaholic movie?

Horse love! Her horse display area


Mail call; She's kept them all!

Beatrix Potter, Anne of Green Gables, Flower Fairies,
tea party items, photos of her nieces;
these are just a few of her favorite things.

Which are yours, which are your older sisters'?

The end result? Happy girl, Happy mommy