Operation Organization - Playroom Edition

There's an old saying: When the cat's away, the mice will play. 

Obviously, the mice never tried to cram a toy store's worth of goodies into a three bedroom house, because while our little kittens were with Grandma and Grandpa, there wasn't a lot of playing going on at home. 

The plan was to move a lot of their toys down to the basement, including two thirds of the heavy hitting trifecta (dollhouse, train table, kitchen), along with our dining room rug.  

And, oh, we had a little run in the morning, a 10K as part of our half marathon training. 

Easy peasy, right? 

So, run, move some toys, a leisurely dinner, maybe the midnight movie.  I had it all mapped out in my trusty planner.  What could go wrong? 

For starters, the 87% humidity during the run wiped us out, and I ended up laying down “for a few minutes” and not waking up for an hour. 

The dining room rug looked even more stained under the bright lights of the basement, so we hatched another plan, one involving moving the living room rug, a trip to IKEA, Elmer’s glue and copious amounts of glitter.  (Kidding about the glue and the glitter, but Abbey would have been thrilled to come home to a glittered house!) 

Sorting and tossing and categorizing and moving toys between the kids’ rooms and the basement meant countless trips up and down stairs, taking a few hours instead of “about an hour”. 

Late afternoon slid into evening, and we hurried through showers, driving past the movie theater in a rush, our chances of relaxing in the theater vanishing with each tick of the clock. 

We slid out of IKEA with ten minutes to spare, our leisurely dinner consisting of some casual fish tacos, sharing raised eyebrows and dissolving into laughter as our waiter bounced around the restaurant. 

After the drive home, we had neither the time nor energy to take advantage of our child-free night outside of the house. 

But by the time I brought the kids home the next day, their new little playroom was organized. 

Abbey did her silly little dance of joy. 

Dylan grinned and hugged us and wandered around happily. 

Maybe we’ll find time to play a little next time, but for now, I’m content to reclaim our living room from the multiplying-toy monster. 

What would you do with a child-free Saturday?

road map playmat from IKEA 

playing pom poms next to her dress-up stuff

hooks for dress up clothes from IKEA

toy box from IKEA

big rug from IKEA, via our living room

fabric bins from Target (courtesy of my mom!) 

he loves his trains

Operation Organization

Yesterday, I complained a little about our house.  The post had been floating around during runs and in my writing notebook for a while, along with today's post, which is about how to work with what I've got.

As Abbey and Dylan grow, our house shrinks.  Toys and crafts and books and shoes litter the floors and shelves and closets.  Unfortunately, not even Abbey's imagination can conjure up a Fairy Housemother to whip up a new house or even an addition to the one we have, so I'm going to have to work a little magic of my own.

Enter Operation Organization.

I'm not a physics genius, but it stands to reason that since I can't create more physical space in my house, I'm going to have to reorganize what's inside the space we do have, including eliminating some of the unnecessary clutter.

I've made resolutions.  I've scoured IKEA for ideas.  I've browsed Pinterest for even more ideas. 

I become overwhelmed by the possibilities and not knowing where to begin and get distracted by the shoes on Pinterest and wake up to find that my Fairy Housemother not only forgot to leave me a new house but didn't even wave her wand at the stuffed menagerie taking over Dylan's room.

I'm hoping that by putting my organizational plans out there for you to read, I'll feel compelled to keep up with my plan.  So hold me accountable, ok?

Basically, I hope to move a lot of the toys to the basement, organize Dylan's room, better organize Abbey's room, and carve out a little area I can use for writing. 

I'm going to start with Dylan's room and closet, because his mini-closet somehow ceased to be a clothes closet and became a hazardous catch-all for seasonal items, outgrown clothes, Halloween costumes, crib mobiles, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Dylan's room is on the first floor, meaning it's become a little bit of a playroom as well

this is what it normally looks like outside of his closet

because this is what it looks like inside his closet

I decided it was the best place to store our winter coats, snowsuits, and zebra costumes

See, it's not pretty in there.  If you don't hear from me for a few days, feel free to check our local IKEA store.  Or the neighborhood bar.

Hopefully I have a much neater and user-friendly closet to show you soon!