From dusk till dawn...

I finally tackled the garage. We hadn't unpacked the boxes in there since the move. I've avoided that area because it was too overwhelming to think about. I've lived without everything in there for 9 months, so what could I actually need? However, the time has come. There was much purging to be done. I have huge piles of giveaway boxes waiting on the driveway. That feels so so good. I sent the girls to the playroom with bags instructing them to fill them with donations. I didn't know how well that would fly so I gave them a pep talk about how Mary and Laura Ingalls had only a couple of very special toys and look how happy they were. Look how creative they are in the outdoors, etc. This always works (probably not for too many more years!) and an hour later, they had filled their bags. I had to get the bags out of sight fast so there was no going back. Some other fun things about cleaning the garage were finding some old journals from when I was 9 and 12. Sela loved reading them. Nina was so relieved to find all her dress-ups and that the red glitter shoes now fit her. I can't say it was a super fantastic day, but it was productive and that's a good thing.





When you clean your garage all day, your kids find their own snacks, like this hotdog bun I just noticed when I uploaded the photo!
I'm very good at the taking stuff out part!