A Brilliant Idea From A Brilliant Man!

Once again, Leland is my hero.  If I had a dollar for every time this man solved my problems I would be a rich woman.  (Lets just say I'm still waiting for those back-payments to kick in.)  Well, once again he came to my rescue.


Here was my problem.  A broken-down box full of hats, gloves, mittens and scarves.  This is as bad as it ever looks.  This actually looks good.  Half of the time the items are not even in the box.  Not only is it messy, but it is very frustrating clawing through the pile to find your one good pair of gloves on Sunday morning before walking out the door.

Also, my kids like to play with them Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  They find it a favorite past-time to play dress-up with them.  So I like to keep them out all year, which basically means I have a mess all year.

So what does a girl do?  She goes to her husband and says, "What am I to do?!!!" *sob* *sob* *sob*  No.  Actually, I don't think there was any crying involved.  This time.  The time before that?  Probably.  Here was his brilliant solution.  I'm kissing his feet over this.

An over-the-door shoe holder.  PERFECT!!  Why didn't I think of this?  Not only is it neat AND organized so you can actually find that wayward glove, but it is also a great space-saver.

So I went from this:

To This:

Men's work gloves?  No problem.  Long scarves?  No problem-just double them over a couple times.  I put the kids' things on the lower rows so they can get their own and put them back in the right places when they're done with them.

I'm in nirvana.

Bye, Bye Clifford!

Nothing tears apart your heart as much as hearing your child tearfully and sorrowfully say, "Bye, bye Clifford." Yes, its that time of year when a mother out of shear desperation goes through her children's rooms and gets rid of their precious belongings so that other members of the family can walk through their room without getting maimed. I really do hate throwing away their things, but children have an uncanny ability to collect the most worthless and pointless items-like half pieces of Easter eggs, sea shells (I won't mention who gave them those), tons of scrapes of paper that they have drawn on that of course can not be thrown away!....And then there are the toys that they don't play with anymore or have half the pieces missing. After a while I just can't take it and I take to "ruthless purging," as I heard one Mother call it. This is much more easily done if the kids are nowhere in sight. Otherwise they're going through the bags crying over the things you've put in there. I was a softy and pulled one doll back out after Autumn dissolved into tears upon seeing it.

But, Aaahhhh, the wonderful feeling when its done and their rooms are clean and neat and organized (at least for one whole day)-its worth all the pain. So, here I go...back to the cleaning.