Yesterday my friend Shawn came over for several hours to help me sort clothes. HUGE help!!! I've termed my recent clothes-flinging passion "choosing sanity over frugality."
Sure, it makes sense on one level to collect clothes that my children will grow into, gained either free or cheaply. But the reality is, I'm not going to dig into that closet very often (the "big hideous closet"), behind the crib, with boxes stacked 4 high (there were 8 or 9 boxes, NOT including baby clothes.) It was organized, but inaccessible. So the sizes have mostly come and gone... and many are now too small.
Just in the time Shawn was here yesterday, she filled SIX boxes for consignment (so I can sell them and buy clothes when we actually NEED them) and 4 or 5 for Goodwill. And I'm not done yet! While she was here, Tami called, asking if she could take any books to the library for me. I did have some... the ones that SHE had picked up for me when she was there last week, knowing my girls were struggling with fractions. When she came by, she also dropped off a delicious penne pasta dish! Wouldn't you know, this was the day I hadn't gotten around to making the meatloaf I had planned for dinner, and I had an extra loaf of french bread without a purpose (that I quickly made into garlic bread to go with the pasta) because I'd accidentally read the week's menu wrong? (Spaghetti is next week.)
I worked a bit more on the pile that was left last night, but this morning launched in to a full-blown assault on the children's current clothes. (Three out of 4 cannot seem to get dressed in the morning without dumping the entire contents of their clothing bins on the floor. And baby is between sizes, so she has an abundance right now, too.) I ordered these clothing organizers, that should be here in the next few days. So today I pared down to the bare minimum in preparation... 6 outfits, plus church clothes and jammies. The organizers only hold 5, but they'll be wearing one, and I do 1 load of laundry every day, which keeps us caught up. It should be really easy to take their ONE complete outfit from the laundry pile, put it back in the proper day's pocket, and keep the holder full and the clothes organized and off the floor. I hope, I hope, I hope.
Okay, in truth I still have the girls' jammies, underwear and church clothes to tackle, and all of Kaylee's stuff, but I love seeing the piles set to LEAVE our house!
Knee-deep in clothing today, I took a break to go start dinner. I started a pot of rice, chopped carrots, onions and broccoli, and stir-fried them, added frozen chicken (my children were NOT excited)... and the phone rang. Tami was at my front door again (I evidently didn't hear her knocking, but she heard someone (probably Hallie) scream and knew we must be here) with a small paper sack.
"Shanghai," she said. The bag contained a bag of rice, a can of mandarin oranges and a canning jar of sauce. "Dump it over meat."
So I did. After trying to communicate how awesome she is (words fail me), I walked to the kitchen, dumped the sauce into our naked stir-fry, and opened the oranges to sprinkle on top. Oh, yum. All 4 children had seconds.
Carolynn offered to come help clean this evening, but I had to postpone (but hopefully we can reschedule soon!)- I accidentally double-booked (for not the first time this week!) I have a massage this evening and expect I will be WIPED OUT after. (Have I told you about my new massage therapist? She is the tereotypical masseuse - tall, blonde, strong, Swedish (I think) with a pretty strong accent. But she seems to have a spectacular knowledge of muscles. This will be my second visit to her, so I'm excited to see if she can help with the tension in my upper back, and the ongoing headaches.)
Back to work!
SO excited about your big clothes clean out! I get so happy about the garbage bags of outgrown kids' clothes and toys we don't need that leave our house for the Goodwill that I actually take pictures of them sometimes.
Posted by: rebecca m | 01/13/2011 at 08:07 PM
Thanks for the sweet words Hilary, and I am so glad you said yes! :) I know it is really hard to accept help. Tami is amazing!
Funny, I had a massage tonight too. Fortunately my sister gives the "friends-and-family" rate, as well as massages for Christmas gifts. Woohoo! She is not tall, blonde, Swedish nor accented. She spends her summers as a commercial fisherman - so she has the strong part very down. Good luck for tomorrow!
Posted by: Shawn @ Daffodil Lane | 01/13/2011 at 09:01 PM
Tami IS amazing! She always knows what I need when I need it and is ready at the drop of a hat to fix it! I am excited for our project day. Let me know when!
Posted by: Carolynn Slocum | 01/13/2011 at 10:59 PM
Ummmm...all I can say is, "WOW"!
Oh, and I've been thinking about pairing down to matching outfits fr days of the week because the bedroom floor always ends up being the closet too!!!
Great Work! :)
Posted by: Lora | 01/14/2011 at 07:31 AM