Tackle it Tuesday

This is a first for me - I've never done a Tackle it Tuesday before. That doesn't mean I didn't need to! I finally have time to make some sense of my house again - working every morning and taking care of the grands in the afternoon has left me not only short of time, but very short of energy. I am constantly looking at what needs to be done, and feeling frustrated that I couldn't get to it.

So - now I'm retired. I have spent the last two weeks getting my little room in order. This room used to be Kev's bedroom, and when he flew from the nest for the last time (yes, Erma Bombeck was right - the revolving door is a fact of life), I made it my own.


But - when the grandkids came along, and I began caring for them, it also became their play room. Needless to say, it's a bit of a problem keeping it looking as I want it to.


Now for the before pictures! Kristen says she's never seen any part of my house look this bad. It's true. I just kept throwing stuff in here for the last month or two of working. The stuff I brought from my office landed here, too.

It was simply overwhelming. It literally took me two weeks to get it all done. But tonight I am sitting here in my orderly room and feeling mighty good.

The first step was to go through every piece of paper that had been piling up. I had so much recycled paper by the end of that process that I could not believe it. Neither could the trash man, probably!

The kids' books and toys aren't used often enough to warrant their being the centerpiece of the room. Of course, Care Bear noticed it right away when she came over. I told her they were now in boxes in the closet, for them to use any time they wish.

All of the special things that were in my work office have found a new place on the bookshelf. (You can see them in their previous setting here).

I got another bookcase to organize the phone, bills, library books, magazines that I hope to read someday soon, Bible, devotional books, diapers, wipes, etc. etc. etc.

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I got a new chair for the desk, which takes up much less room - and organized the desk, so that I don't always have to have the roll top pulled down

I scrubbed the ridiculously dirty play table (which doesn't really fit well with my decor, but oh, well!), and put their coloring books and art paper in a basket behind the table.

Here's another angle - the new t.v. my sweet DC got me - for no reason except that he loves me, and wanted to try out the new HD thing on a smaller set. I love it!

The final piece - I needed someplace besides the floor in front of my chair for my laptop to live - I went to Hobby Lobby for their 30% off all their furniture sale - I picked up this little side table - probably not what it was designed for, but it works for me! You can see the computer on it in a previous picture. I also picked up that basket in the background for all my newly organized folders - -

This is merely the first of many problem areas in my house that need eventual attention. I'm not sure I have the courage to show you all of them! Fortunately, the rest are not so obvious - the kind that when you open a door, things start rearranging themselves. OH, my!