Adopting Ahren (& PBJ, too!): Trying some new things

We have been on a super-organizing kick around here lately. I don't know if it is because we were finally fed up with all the chaos and mess or if we just needed to have control over something while we wait (not-so-patiently) for Ahren's tests and final diagnosis. Whatever the reason, we have grabbed the bull by the horns and tackled some big areas in our home.

First on the agenda was doing something with the entry area around the back door. We built in a little area that we call the mudroom, knowing that this would be our main entrance in and out of the house, to the garage, the barn and eventually the pool. We had a wire storage system in there, but it just didn't really do what we needed it to do. So we took it out and Chris designed and built this storage unit. It has a bench to sit on and take shoes/boots on and off, coat hooks for coats and hats, room underneath for the large plastic muddy shoe tub and the recycling tub, and shelves to hold various dog other stuff. I then bought a big storage container for the dog food (on the right side) and added a trash can. I can't believe the difference.

The other big (really, really big) project we tackled is what we are calling the 'community closet'. We cleaned out the bonus room off of our bedroom and moved the big wire rack storage system from the mudroom into there. Then I added 2 $30 rolling garment racks. Slowly I went through every boy's closet and dresser and packed away summer clothes, gave away small clothes and threw away trashed clothes. Then I got out all the winter clothes, washed them and organized them by size. The summer clothes went into plastic tubs and onto the top of the shelves. I moved a dresser in under the wire rack and filled it with winter pajamas.

I brought in small plastic tubs from the barn and used them to organize socks and underwear by size. Dressy clothes went on the rod up high so little persons could not pull them down and walk all over them. (This was a main reason to re-organize. The little guys were constantly pulling everything down or out of drawers and throwing them all over. I never knew what was clean or dirty and even the clean stuff was a mess) Every-day clothes and school clothes went onto the smaller racks organized by sizes. Next I need a show rack to fit into the spot next to the dresser. I also need to go through all of their toys and get rid of a ton, then put them into their clean closets. That gets a lot of clutter out of their rooms and gives them more space to play, and maybe less mess in the rest of the house.

Here is what the mountain of laundry looked like after I picked up all the clothes off their floors and collected all the winter clothes to wash. I almost turned around and ran away, but I didn't. The last load is now done and put away.

This next picture is for Kaytee. She bought this tiny pair of True religion jeans two years ago at a fraction of the normal price and has been waiting for the day Levi could wear them. Here you go, Kaytee, that is your stylin' Lil Bro heading off to school in his True religions.

You know, when you have so many already, what is one more? Meet Opal. She is a Euro Great Dane and will probably top out at over 150 pounds when full grown. At 8 weeks old she is already almost 30 pounds. She is the sweetest most affectionate little thing and very very smart. Because of her coloring the breeder could not sell her. The other pups in the litter went for $2000.00 each (no, that's not a typo) Opal was free. She is also not ours. She is our nanny's but comes to our house every day. She is too little to leave home by herself for the entire day, plus she needs socialization with kids and other dogs. Our Nanny is a very responsible pet owner and knows socialization is key. So for the time being we have a part-time puppy to go along with our 2 other puppies already in residence.