Getting Organized--Week 4

Sigh.

So. This past week, I went through and I did a quick inventory of the kitchen as outlined in the book, and I tossed things I know we didn't use anymore. My big accomplishment for the weekend was to clean out the pantry. And boy did I clean. I took everything out, scrubbed the shelves, purged my heart out, then put it all back in--in an organized fashion, of course. I even took before and after pictures to post here.

But, in what has to be a classicly ironic twist of fate, we have lost the battery charger for the camera. Sometime between Christmas and now, it has disappeared. Don't know how. Don't know when, but have my suspicions that it happened sometime during the time when Lizzy and all of her various lights took up residence in our living room. So, because of our disorganization, I can not show you pictures of my developing organizing skills. As I said before, sigh. Heavy heavy sigh.

This is the first time that being disorganized has really and truly impacted my life in a way that deeply mattered to me. Sure, the hectic mornings and the frantic search for socks that match, the getting to school and realizing I left my lesson plan book on the computer desk, and the never ever ever having a clean house bug me. A lot. But this bugs me more. Because not only can I not post my pictures, but I also can not take pictures tomorrow. Tomorrow we are taking Josh to look at Toccoa Falls College. We're meeting with an admissions counselor, taking a campus tour, meeting with financial aid, and Josh gets to sit in on a class and chapel. And it will all be undocumented. And while Josh is probably secretly jumping for joy that I will not be taking his picture on a college campus in front of all the college students ( I would have DIED), it is making me very sad.

But anyways. Back to the organizing. I did realize three very important truths during the three hours it took to clean out the pantry.

1. We love peanut butter in this house, as evidenced by the 5 different jars I found, and we think that we will indeed use the very last little bit of peanutty goodness at the bottom that you can never get without getting your fingers dirty. Five is the number of jars that I kept, people. There were five I got rid of. I do believe that might qualify as a sickness.

2. We obviously live under the delusion that we use a lot of powdered sugar. We have five almost full bags of it. And for the life of me, I can't remember anything that we have ever used it for. NOTHING.

3. Throwing things away feels good. Once I got started, I didn't want to stop. The kids came by and pleaded, "You're not throwing this away, are you? Mom!" Daryl came by and warned me, "Be careful with what you throw away. You'll want it as soon as you do!" But I held firm and didn't let them deter me from my purpose. I was a woman on a mission and I had three bulging trash bags to prove it.

This week (or should I say, this coming weekend) I tackle the kitchen. The entire kitchen. I am a little intimidated. We have a lot of junk. I am a little scared. Those cabinets are really deep, and they haven't been cleaned out since we moved in. Eight years ago. I wonder if I will really be able to set apart the time to get it done. The big girls, who had sworn that they would take care of the little girls so I could get this done, thought that this included bringing Charlotte in and saying, "Look at Mommy. That's what you want, don't you? Look at her reaching for you Mom! Isn't that sweet? Oh Charlotte, don't cry!" and also uber-important homework assignments that they just remembered.

So we shall see. I will report back here next Monday. I may have pictures to impress and inspire you. Who knows? I may have impressed and inspired myself. I do know that I will give it the ol' college try. Do my best. Stay true to the path and all that jazz.

I still think it would be more fun with a trip to the Container Store...