Recovering, Take Two

Okay, this time I think, I think, that all family members are on the road to recovery. 

Scott actually sat at the dinner table with us tonight, though he only ate about a fourth of what he normally eats.  But we will take it!!!  And he is finally headed back to work tomorrow.

And Ada has had absolutely no trouble since we arrived home from the hospital.  Woo-hoo.

I am exhausted beyond belief, but that is okay, I can easily recover from a little exhaustion.

As for John, I think, I think, that he may be weaned.  (Again).  Never mind his midnight and 5 am feeding last night and this morning.  I am not counting those;)

And that is our family. 

Plus, thanks to my mother, my house is in order despite the chaos that surrounds us.  Normally, in a situation like this one, my house would resemble that of a hoarder's.  Instead, lots of wonderful systems for laundry and clutter are in place, and the house is practically running itself.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, mom!!!! 

Let me show you what all we did while Scott was sick in bed.

I wish there was some way to make you understand the state of the dining room when my mom arrived.  Basically it was serving as a dining room and play room.  The floor was covered in clutter; the table was covered in clutter; and there was no room to walk.  It was chaos.  Look at it now.  Some local friends saw it when it was so bad, so they will appreciate the difference.

This used to be the guest room.  It is now the play room and office. The beauty of this is that if toys are covering the floor, all I have to do is shut the door.  We moved Ada's twin bed into this room so that a guest could still sleep in here if needed.  (When Ann's family comes we really need two guest rooms, and they are our most frequent guests).

Next we have the new guest room, in process.  At this point in the visit I was working on organizing old clothes.  Deciding what to keep and what to give away.  The baby bed is Ann's, and we just inherited the rest of the furniture from Scott's parents.  Let me clarify that we spent time organizing my house, not decorating it in the exact way that would reflect my personal style;)  My pride is saying, don't judge my taste based on how my things are currently arranged.  We have a ways to go.  This "go round" I only spent money on organizational tools.  The decor will come later.

Clothes to be stored.

A small portion of things to be given away.  We made at least two trips to good will, and what you see above is the stuff I am taking to the consignment shop.

Ada's bed room with the bed that used to be in the room downstairs that is now the play room.  In my house some where I have a bedskirt for that bed.  I will post more pictures when the bed is more "put together."  This was the bed that was in my room growing up.

And the laundry project.  My mother's main goal was to come up with a workable system for my laundry, which usually just covers my hallway and master bedroom floor.  In other words, the current system wasn't working.  The new system involves four laundry baskets--mine, Scott's, Ada and John's shared, and sheets and towels. 

The baskets are just for clean clothes.

These hampers are for the dirty clothes--darks, whites, Ada/John, and towels/sheets

So far the system is working amazingly well.  It has transformed my life (you think I'm kidding, I'm not).  THANK YOU, MOM!!!!

And one last shot of the transformed dining room.  Which by the way, I actually plan to paint that table and chairs and the walls. 

My house project list is long, long.  But, it's now an organized house, and my stress level has dropped so very low compared to what it was before the transformation occurred.

Tips for painting furniture, anyone?