Let The Games Begin

Operation move into the rental house has begun.

We get the keys on Monday, and I plan to take a load over everyday starting Monday.  I won't lie; I am pretty overwhelmed.  How do I know?  My skin issue is worse than ever, and I'm not sleeping great at night.  I don't feel worried, though, just overwhelmed.

Scott is working a lot.  Well, I guess he's working the same amount, but when he's not working at the furniture store, he is working on finding his next official job, so I don't see him nearly as much these days.

There are things that I normally depend on Scott for, but today I decided that I am just going to have to jump in and do the various projects that need doing--kids and all, because Scott has to work, and I am so thankful that he is working, so a lot of this is up to me.

All of that to say, I tackled two big projects today.  Let me show you.

What you see here is a solution to our toy problem.

In the rental house, the play room will be in full view of the rest of the house.  And there really won't be room for toys in the bedroom, so I am reducing the number of toys we have and figuring out a good storage solution.    I want something that enables the kids to pick up the toys easily.  So, we had the above shelf in our garage.  We have had that shelf since our first year of marriage--someone gave it to us, so zero dollars, and we have been meaning to paint it for forever.  Today I decided, to heck with it, I was going to paint it because we need it at the rental house.  Luckily, Scott primed the shelf months (years?) ago, so the only step left was actual paint.  I decided to go the spray paint route.  Why not?  And I wanted robin's egg blue.  So, I went to wal-mart, bought a can of spray paint for 3.74, and after getting John down for a nap (notice the monitor), Ada and I headed outside.  She was thrilled because we rarely go outside, unless we are at the pool, because the heat is unbearable.  I decided to brave the heat today.  You should have seen me and my five foot self trying to get that shelf moved out of the garage onto the drive way, but I got it done (and was pretty proud of myself).  Then, while I let the first coat of paint dry (I need to go back to Wal-Mart for about two more cans of spray paint), I tackled the next project.

Cleaning out the car.

Our car was disgusting, filthy, and I couldn't stand the thought of loading up our stuff each night on top of the mess.  So, I cleaned and vacuumed and clorox wiped, and now our car is much more usable.  I am so relieved to have that done!!

As for the toys, as you can see above, I have bins to go in each open shelf.  I have categories for each bin, but I am realistic and know that things probably won't stay categorized.  I just want the kids to be able to clean up after themselves.  I also plan to buy two big red tubs (they are actually drink tubs at Bed, Bath, and Beyond) for the bigger toys.  I bought a cute apple green fabric bin at Target for the larger toys, but I think red will go better with the blue, so I am going to return the green bin (and the red tubs are about half the price--the cheapest toy storage I have found, actually) Our walls are very neutral, of course, so I want to bring in color in the furnishings.  Especially in the play room/ school room.

And that is today's progress.  I am sure I will be back as things move farther along.  (this time next week we will be celebrating Ada's fourth birthday, so there is much going on these days!!)