You can't make me.

I don't wanna! 

So there. 

This is what awaits me in the basement:

Not counting the vacuums, all of this stuff (plus the pile in the front room and the numerous piles in my office and a bunch of stuff in the garage and a loveseat and an area rug and a hammock chair and some other stuff I can't remember just now) is for our garage sale. There's actually a lot of really good stuff in there...a surprising amount of it new or very gently used. 

Now. I just have to sort it and somehow make it into a garage sale. Bleh.

(Okay, okay. I know I *will* do it. Honest. But not right this minute. Because I'm fried from the purging, itself, and intimidated by the sheer amount of stuff. ;) I've already spent more than a day going through my office and sorting and pricing three stacks of idea books/magazines, about a foot of new scrapbook paper and four grocery bags full of new embellishments and used tools.

And, for the record, though I totally get the two day garage sale thing and appreciate the feedback, we're sticking with just Saturday. Because Nathan can't take the day off work (and I don't particularly want to do it myself) and because our previous one day sales have been really rather successful...starting at 8 and being mostly gone by noon. Apparently, we have good stuff to sell, lol.)

Pictures as promised

So. In case you're wondering what's going on here this summer...here are the three rooms we're working on:

This one is the "blue room" that all three currently share. It'll become Asher's by summer's end. But, because it has the least work that needs to be done (and the most furniture, lol), it'll be finished last. That third picture from the left is the view through the pocket door that connects the "blue room" with the "yellow room." See all those books in the closet (last pic)? Yeah. Only one small shelf of books will remain in Asher's room after we're done. (You can't see them all, but currently there are eight shelves plus the rain gutters on the wall...all full of books.)

This next one is the "yellow room" that is currently the Lego room:

This one will become Micah's and will no longer be yellow. Again, that third picture is the view through the pocket door. (This is much of the reason that Noah will be in the remaining room...the one that doesn't share a door with anyone, lol.) Yes. We need to go through all. those. legos. Oy. The boys are working on sorting through this all to divide stuff up into what each boy wants to have in his room. It'll take a bit. ;)

And, the room that will be worked on first:

This is currently the storage room (after a decent portion of its contents had already been relocated). It'll be Noah's after we manage to find a new home for all the stuff in there (and paint and redo window treatments and change out the light fixture and all that, lol). 

And speaking of someplace to put all that stuff...This is the basement closet back before we set our sights on rearranging everything. ;)

And, this is how it looks right now:

Yup, Nathan moved that light to the ceiling, added shelves, and cleared it all out (including the miscellany that was under the stairs there in the back (last pic)). We decided to leave that metal shelf unit in the doorway for more storage space and figuring we'll just access the rest from the other door. 

So. You'd be correct in figuring that all that stuff from the storage room (and the rest of the stuff purged from the yellow and blue rooms) will, um, not fit in this closet. Hence, the garage sale. ;)

And, that, my friends, is what I'll be doing this week...continuing to purge (from the entire house because I like to be thorough like that, lol) and then organizing all that for a big ol' garage sale this Saturday. Whew.

Wardrobe math.

Could someone please explain to me why my 11 year old has a grand total of 6 short sleeve shirts, about 4 long sleeve shirts and 2 pairs of pants that fit while my 6 year old just sorted through 57 short sleeve shirts, about 30 long sleeve shirts and a dozen pairs of pants that fit? ;)

Yeah. Just finished sorting through the boys' clothes to swap out stuff for summer. Those numbers aren't exaggerated and don't include the big ol' pile of shorts that Micah also went through. The younger two boys have too many clothes to fit in their drawers.

I get that we're just passing things down and that the younger boys will end up with more...but, I'm just not clear on how that math works, lol. How did Noah's six shirts turn into 57? 

Hmmm. Guess we're gonna need to go shopping next, as Noah's embarrassingly low on anything for his bottom half, lol. (Course, he's insisting that he just needs another pair of jeans or two and he'll be set. Trying to convince him that at least a few pairs of shorts are in order, lol.)

Five on Friday.

1. Help! In my purging, what do I do with the gazillion scrapbooking books and magazines I've accumulated over the years? In particular, do I save all the ones with my own published work? And, if so, where? I know I've heard people talk about scoring out only the pages with their work, but...1) having had a monthly column for a couple years and hundreds of layouts published, that would be a big task...and 2) I find that I prefer to keep the magazines intact so that I can see things in context and know what other trends and styles and such were happening at the same time, kwim? Thoughts? 

2. Along the same lines, I need someone to tell me that it's okay to toss all the used math and reading workbooks that I currently have in an overflowing two drawer file thing. I know someone told me that she just keeps a few representative pages, but even that seems unnecessary. Help?

(For the record, I *do* keep binders for each school year for each boy with work he did that year, certificates from extracurricular activities, artwork, etc along with a list of what we actually did that year. I'm just asking about the workbooks, themselves. I figure the only reason for keeping them would be to prove that we'd done them should we ever get audited by the state or whatever. But. I also figure they could just ask the boy to do long division and see that he knows how.)

3. Thank you, streaming Netflix, for making my boys happy. They've recently discovered that they can now watch old episodes of Mythbusters whenever they want...and are working on watching every. single. one. ...in order. ;) (Yes, they've seen every single one at least once already.)

4. Also, should I be concerned that Micah was thoroughly delighted to discover he can also watch documentaries on Netflix? A couple nights ago, we all ended up watching one called "How Beer Saved the World." Micah loved it and declared that he's going to make his own kids watch it one day. Weirdo.

5. Because I need to feel like I've accomplished something (anything, lol), I'll have you know that the boys and I weeded out three boxes of books from their bedroom this week. It was a little sad for me (saying goodbye to books that the boys used to love) but it feels great to have yet more clutter out of our lives (or will be once we have our garage sale later this month). Whew.

Okay, off I go to continue purging that darn storage room. I'll await your thoughts on numbers 1 & 2, okay? Thanks!

I blame Target.

Wondering what we've been up to? Well, we were finishing up our May homeschooling so that we can take a week or two right now to tackle some home projects and adjust to the new summer schedule (with swim lessons instead of swim team) before going back to homeschooling for June. (We continue with our roughly three weeks on, one week off homeschooling schedule year-round, but will take August completely off this year since I realize that I'll be useless during the Olympics, lol.)

Back to blaming Target, though. 

So. Our main home project this summer is going to be redoing boys' bedrooms. Right now all three share a room and, by summer's end, the plan is for them to each have their own. To that end, the boys have been making plans and window shopping aplenty, and we've been purging and sorting like crazy to empty out what are currently the storage and Lego rooms. Aside from my office, that's pretty much all the clutter in the house, lol. 

Well, I decided last night that it's all Target's fault. If not for Target, I wouldn't have shelves and shelves of stuff in my storage room, right? Right?! It couldn't possibly be my seeming inability to buy only one of anything...or my obsessive "planning" for potential future gift needs. That's not why I have boxes (and boxes) of pretty containers to possibly put gifts into, right? Or why I have materials to make at least three of anything? (usually more than three, because you never know when you might want to make any gift extras, of course, lol) Or why I have unfinished holiday decor projects aplenty? (because they were just such a good deal on clearance after the holiday, obviously)

Yeah. That's what I thought. ;) Darn you, Target. 

(Incidentally, don't let me buy any more wrapping paper for at least a couple years, okay? Thanks. Now back to trying to sort stuff in that storage room before boys' dentist appointments, swim team practice and karate classes. Will try to post pics this weekend-ish...)