Simplify Sunday (#6)

Amanda and Julie arrive today! Amanda is my cousin (Julie my aunt) that I mentioned in my last Simplify Sunday.

While our house pretty much always remains a mess (those of you with kids understand the overrun-with-toys feeling that we live with on a daily basis), at least Amanda will have a clean, toy-free bedroom to which to duck away when the craziness overwhelms her. And now, thanks to a big trash bag and my first thorough pantry cleaning since we moved in almost 6 years ago, she will also have a place to put her much-much-much-healthier-than-the-Herman-family-would-dream-of-eating food.

Friday night, I seriously threw out an entire trash bag of expired canned/boxed goods. In fact, at one point, I sent Dale (who was out of town working) a text message that said:

RIP, Slim Jims. Best by Feb. of 2007.

The beef jerky strips were from Dale's South Beach Diet days, and had been "hiding" in their box in a back corner of the pantry, out of daily view (or so I tell myself to justify the fact that it took me 3 years past their prime to throw them out). I don't have an excuse for the canned goods that were on the eye-level shelf for, in some cases, four years past their expiration.

But I'm proud to report that nothing remaining in the pantry expires before September of 2010! And, Amanda? Bring on the healthy food! Maybe we'll learn a few good habits from you while you're here this summer (though I doubt you'll talk me out of stocking Pop-Tarts)...

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Simplify Sunday (#5)

It's been quite a while since I've had a Simplify Sunday post. Not much simplifying going on around here lately...

But then this weekend rolled around. And, first thing Saturday morning, we dove into "Operation Amy's-Cousin-Amanda-Arrives-in-15-Days-and-Has-No-Place-To-Sleep". Dale and I double-teamed the guest room, which turned into also organizing/purging in both of the girls' rooms, our room, the bonus room/office, the dining room table, and the downstairs coat closet. Because we, of course, had to find someplace to put the stuff from the guest room that HAD TO GO!

It literally took us all day, but we were super-productive! Dale made two trips to the dumpster and another trip to the Goodwill drop-off. I'm not sure how, but we found behind-the-scenes homes for everything that you see on the floor of the guest room in the "before" picture below. A lot of stuff!

Amanda, we're so excited for you to come stay with us. We're ready for you now!!!

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Simplify Sunday (#4)

Remember my "Dining Room Table North", otherwise known as our guest bed? It's cleaned off!

I'd like to say that I did it solely because I was working on "simplifying". In reality, I didn't have a choice. If I wanted my parents to have a place to sleep when they came to visit this weekend, that is!

Speaking of my parents. I joked with my mom, but all I really would have had to do for Simplify Sunday was post a picture of her. Because she's "SuperNina". She irons, cooks (thanks for helping me with the yummy apple ebelskivers and BBQ Meatloaf!), folds laundry, sweeps, and sews. Not to mention that she can't get enough playtime with the girls.

Off to check the weather forecast to see if there's any more snow coming our way... I'm afraid we might need a little more for my parents to get "stuck" here beyond their scheduled departure tomorrow!

Simplify Sunday (#3)

Two weeks combined into one this time around, since last week Sunday was our trip home from Disney, and all we did was add more junk to the house in the form of Disney souvenir toys.

But we made up for it by some major purging in the girls' toy buckets, as well as new shelving in our living room.

First, the toy buckets. They each have their own, if you remember, and they've become the resting spot for all the miscellaneous small items that don't have a home elsewhere. Essentially all the toys you get in kids' meals at fast-food restaurants. I think Chick-fil-A's got a great thing going, whereby they allow you to swap the toy for ice cream. I wish others would jump on board with that idea - it would make my resolution to not let the toys take over my house a lot easier to manage.

So Dale and I took some time to go through the bins and throw out the toys that are cool for, say, 5 minutes in the car as you drive home from the restaurant. We even were able to entirely clear out the decorative bowl that sits on our island and collects the junk from day-to-day living (including the toys that hadn't yet found their way into a bucket). And look at the result! You can actually fit the lids on the buckets without sitting on them, and you can actually tell that the bowl is one intended for decoration, not just a way to hold more junk. Ahhhhhhhh.


I've also previously referenced our living room toy corner. "A Mess" is the understatement of the century. So Dale and I have been actively looking for some sort of organizational shelving to use for the toys that would still look decent in the living room. We finally found it! What do you think? The girls love that they can actually see their toys now, instead of them all falling to the bottom of the basket, which is now designated only for balls and stuffed animals. Double Ahhhhhhhh.

Simplify Sunday (#2)

I wish I could say that I spent some time this week de-cluttering... But the honest truth is that, well, I didn't. Therefore, the only feature this week is going to be our dining room table, which I actually worked on and finished LAST Sunday, just hours after I'd published the first "Simplify Sunday" post. So while it certainly qualifies for this week's edition, I can't say I had an amazing week of working toward my goal. But that's what happens when every spare minute at home is spent trying to stay afloat with the work craziness that has a Monday, January 11th, deadline.

Nonetheless, I'm quite proud of the turnaround the dining room table has made. Check out the before and after! Now if I could just get "Dining Room Table North" cleaned off, too...

Simplify Sunday (#1)

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. (Hans Hofmann, German painter/art instructor)

I have chosen "Simplify" as my motto for the year 2010. The more I look around my house and engage in introspection on my life, my work, and my relationships with God and others, I realize more and more that I have a lot of de-cluttering to do. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

"Simplify Sundays" will be a way for me to reflect on what I've accomplished toward this goal during the previous week. I hope it will be an almost-weekly feature and that, by the end of 2010, the "necessary" in my life will have the ability to speak more clearly.

I'm starting with the physical clutter in our house. I think that my mind will be better able to refocus internally when my eyes aren't constantly seeing things entirely unorganized around me. And also because maybe, just maybe, the external clutter is "easier" to deal with than the internal...

So, today, while the girls "slept in" until 8:15a, I started with our bathroom. I had a vase that had been sitting on the corner of the tub, empty, for 5 years. Its only purpose, these days, is to give Macie something to attempt to pull over and break into millions of little ceramic pieces while she's in the bath. Same purpose as the splash-proof CD player that I bought, pre-kids, to play music in the shower. It stopped working long ago; for some reason, I held onto it. Both are now gone.

I also purged several items from under my sink. You know, where you stash toiletries that you think you might someday use. But you never do. Seriously, how many ponytail holders and little bottles of hotel lotion do I really need?!?

Bathroom done (except for under Dale's sink - he'll have to do that himself!). The changes were so minimal that they aren't worthy of before/after shots. But the peace of mind that will come tomorrow night when there will be absolutely NO CHANCE of Macie pulling the vase into the tub is enough for me...

On to the "junk" cabinet in the kitchen. Most people have a junk drawer. We have one of those, too. But we also have a junk cabinet for those things that don't fit in the drawer! And also for cookbooks and some cooking contraptions that we don't use very often (think once-a-year when we make magic bars for Dale's customers). Not to mention the girls' teeth brushing supplies and Ivie's conglomeration of hair bows/ties/bands/clips.

Purged are several of the coffee cups, since we don't drink coffee nor have regular guests that do. Also gone are all koozies in excess of the 4 that I could fit in the flour sifter. The cookbooks are organized (though this probably won't result in me using them any more often, particularly since I'm trying out "e-mealz" for the next 3 months). The hair stuff is confined to containers instead of sprawling across the entire cabinet.

Ahhhhh, much better. I'm especially proud of the two bottom shelves, which are the ones we use most often. Now let's see if we can keep it this way...