Thinking Outside the Boxes

Yesterday, I was tired of winter.  Only temporarily.  I actually really LIKE winter.  The truth is, I had no plan for our Brownie meeting, so I thought we could ALL use a break from winter and have a Beach Party, and that would give us something to do.  So we did.  The girls wore Hawaiian leis and sunglasses and sat on beach towels and ate popsicles and made pet rocks.  Then they put balloons between their heads and walked around.

Oh, those wacky Brownies.

We got home just in time to help Kev take Doug out to the sidewalk.  Daphne cried and cried.  It was heart-breaking to watch.  She gets SO attached to EVERYTHING.  I think the pet rock she made is probably the very best kind of pet for her.

The living room looks very strange and kind of empty and sad, even though there is plenty of stuff in it.  It may take a while to get used to it.

To cheer us all up (and because I was too tired out from the beach party to cook dinner), we went out for Vietnamese food.

This morning, there was freezing rain and school was delayed for 2 hours.  That meant I had to miss my Friday morning Pilates class, but once Daphne went to school, I still mustered up the will and the energy to do some cleaning.  

Today's genius move:  See all those boxes on the right?

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They are all craft kit boxes that used to be stacked precariously on top of this cabinet (below), creating all kinds of chaos and feelings of distress, and threatening to topple over at any moment.  So, today I removed the contents of the boxes (so much excess packaging - what a waste!), and put it all in ziploc bags, neat and tidy in a cubby now known as the "I'm Bored Bin."  Next time Daphne is bored, she can grab a baggie and do something she probably totally forgot about since it was all piled in boxes on top of the cabinet.

The cabinet is still packed full of stuff on the INside, but it's a definite improvement.  The boxes are now in the recycle bin. Nothing on top!  Woohoo!

It looks REALLY good when the doors are closed:

So, it feels good to have that done.  There is still a lot to do, but I am buoyed by the progress, and inspired to keep going.  Maybe by the end of January, I will have the house back.  That will be good.  And in February, I can do FUN projects!