And the New Year’s cleaning starts…

Okay, I’ve earned some major relaxation time with my laptop tonight.  I’ve been in the toy room ALL  AFTERNOON doing a major clean-out.  I don’t have a “before” picture, but imagine a scene from that Hoarders show and you might have some idea of the original condition.  It started out me and Joe tackling the room together, but he had to leave a few hours in to go to work (poor thing) leaving me to finish up.

My motivation for finally getting this done after months of procrastination was wanting to get all the new toys from Christmas out of the living and family room, especially the huge Barbie house that had taken us residence on our living room coffee table. 

Ahhhh…it’s like a breath of fresh air.  We can actually walk into the room with out risking a broken ankle or worse! 

Here’s her adorable little kitchen from last Christmas that she NEVER plays with unless maybe there is a friend over to play.  I thought about selling it, but think I’ll keep it another year and if she still doesn’t touch it I’ll sell it before Christmas next year.  Joe just hung the orange net thing from IKEA today and Lauren put a baby doll in each level…cute.  It took me forever just to go through her books.  This case was packed and I had a big overflow basket.  I’m so proud that I cleaned it out to just these books and we have a big box for the next garage sale. 

I like how the flower and ladybug lights glow cast a neat glow when the room is dark…they are great nightlights. 

Here’s the aftermath minus the big box of books Joe already put in the garage.  We pulled out two bags of junk for the garbage pile and four bags of toys to put aside for the next garage sale.  Plus, I emptied those two big baskets…one had random junk (game and puzzle pieces, etc. ) and one was filled with books. 

I feels VERY rewarding to finally get this done, but I’m totally exhausted and Lauren has asked me to play with her about 4 times just while typing this post!  Paper dolls, here I come…