Good Grief

It's mid January, and I have little to show for this month. I blame my sinus cavities. Back in November, I caught a cold. It hung on for dear life no matter how hard I tried to shake it. It would get better for a day or two, and then--BAM--it would kick back into high gear. This continued through December. I was complaining to Inger that I had a cold I couldn't get rid of, and she matter of factly stated that it was probably a sinus infection. Sure enough, it was. I started on antibiotics, and immediately started feeling better.

But wait...there's more! Just as I was nearing the end of the meds, I either caught a new cold, or my sinuses kicked back in, and I was laid out again. I relaxed and laid low for about a week. Normally, this would have been awesome. But I was surrounded by stuff that needed to be addressed--Christmas decorations, my massive Christmas village, laundry, dishes--you get the picture. But I just relaxed, put the blinders on, and caught up on my sleep.

I'm finally starting to feel better. While B napped today, I finished packing up the village and hauling it out to the party shed. It was at this point I realized how much crap I picked up in my Display-Off victory. I may have the title, but I also have an extra crate full of crap now. Jokes on me, Ashley! I finally got it all packed in nicely.

Stage Right

Here's hoping this dude will scare off all potential squatters and/0r crazed gunmen skulking 'round my hood.

Stage left

I spy a Hooty!

I wish!! But this little chap isn't so bad, either.

Party Shed Overhaul

It all started innocently enough. My friend April had given me 4 garbage bags of clothes last Thursday to sort through for B. She had a ton of stuff in all different sizes, so I made a huge mess in the living room sorting it all by size.

I ran to Target, got a few bins, and then sorted and organized all of the clothes. I was so proud of my hard work and organizational skills. Yay me! But my luck was about to change.

I went out into the shed (where the clothing bins had to go) and saw this horrible mess

More mess

I totally qualified for an episode of Hoarders. Though, in my defense, I had gotten lazy this last year when I was fat and prego, and things had fallen into disarray. Add a new baby and a jam packed holiday schedule into the mix, and my craptastic shed is what you get. I was one ashamed party girl. Especially after I spent so much time working on the outside.

So I decided to pull **everything** out and start over from scratch. I quickly realized that one of my biggest problems was the extra roll of carpet against the wall. It prevented me from putting bins all the way against the shed wall, so I got a razor blade and went nuts.

I ripped all of the extra carpet out by myself at 10pm, in the freezing cold weather. I'm a dedicated party girl.

Then I brought out the ShopVac and cleaned up all of the carpet fibers and debris--looking much better already!

Slowly, but surely, I made progress. Hour after hour in the freezing cold. I logged about 20 hours on this project.

And--drumroll--the finished Party Shed!

My totally organized rack--it now houses my China, jars, glasses platters, plates, bowls, serving pieces, and glass beverage jars. Yes, I said jars. I have 2 of them. One is country, and one is classic. Don't judge me.

Here are all of my matching bins. They are all sorted, organized, and labeled. I have all of Blake's clothes sorted. So when she hits her next clothing milestone, I can just grab the bin of clothes and put the clothes right into her dresser after clearing out (and binning) the old clothes.


Okay, NOW I am proud of my party shed, and organizational skills. Stop by sometime and ask me where something is. I dare you.