Organization Quest

Oy Vey! We continue on our seemingly never ending quest to organize and make this space livable and enjoyable.

Our biggest problem is that when we moved into the trailer I was completely incapacitated and had to rely on others to do all the packing and moving. What happened is that so much unnecessary stuff got put into the trailer and so much necessary stuff got put into storage. I won't complain because I was blessed to have my family and a couple of wonderful friends who were willing to work very hard to pack everything and move it. It was a true nightmare and they were such a blessing and definitely did their very best. But there was no way for any of us to know what did and didn't need to be brought along and what could be put into storage.

The other problem is that when we started on this adventure we only planned on doing this for two or three months while I recovered from our accident and we had to be close to my physical therapy. We moved into the trailer in July of 2010 and when winter hit that year we realized that all we had was summer clothes! It seems that monthly we realize how ill prepared we were for this adventure. Now, nineteen months later, and many trips to and from storage, we have just got a crazy hodge podge of stuff everywhere. Things are crazily chaotic, especially since right in the middle of trying to organize, everyone decided to get sick. sigh.

I, however, was determined that nothing would sideline my on my quest for organization! My mission took me to Wal Mart where I bought a bunch of plastic bins to organize our storage areas. We got home and began organizing and putting things into bins, only to find that I have a serious problem estimating size! The bins were way too big for the space! So, back to Wal Mart we went to buy new bins, I proudly came home with my new bins, only to find out I had bought the EXACT same size bins!! So, tonight back to Wal Mart I traveled to return all the too big bins and replace them with the bins I thought would be too small that first trip. As we approached the bins I thought I saw the perfect size, yes, you guessed it, I was looking at the SAME bins for the third time! Thankfully I had memorized the size of the wrong bins so I was saved the embarassment of buying the wrong size for the third time! I am now the proud owner of several smaller bins.

I also picked up a wooden picture frame to turn into a wall art project, only to find when I got home that the frame appears to be too big for the space I wanted to put it in. My brilliant son has decided that my inability to grasp the reality of size is to be blamed on the movies and tv shows I watched as a child. Case in point, Mary Poppins with her bag that held mesmerizing items impossible to fit into such a small satchel. I would love to blame my whole, inability to come to terms with the size of our space, on the trailer, but truth be told, I have suffered this problem for years. Many times as we were shopping my kids would kindly remind me, "Mom, you remember we have a small car right?" What would prompt such a statement you ask? Well, confession time, more than once I have had to call a friend with a truck to please come to my rescue after purchasing something that couldn't possibly fit into our compact car! Like the time I bought a huge above ground pool, only to get out to the car and remember we had said small compact car. Thankfully a friend was able to come to our rescue.

Here are our two youngest with two of their friends enjoying the pool, so it all turned out well. But when we were standing in the parking lot of Sam's Club trying to figure out how to get it home the whole family surely thought I'd lost my marbles.

There were the bikes I bought, the combination, pool/air hockey/ ping pong table, the mounds of groceries my kids have had to ride home with piled on their laps. And the infamous trip to the garden center where our two youngest kids and our oldest grandson rode home looking like they'd been lost in a jungle. I will try to find the picture of that trip to post. If you can just imagine three little kids with assorted plants piled on top of them. You could hardly even see them back there. 

Here are the pictures of the kids buried under my new garden treasures. In full disclosure I should point out that the trunk was also full and we came home with stuff on the roof as well.

And we'll never forget the time I got a free artificial ficus tree that I had been longing for, and the kids and I had to wait at the shopping center while my husband drove the ficus tree home because we couldn't fit the tree in the car with all of us in it.

And then there is my problem with the refrigerator. Yes, I have the same problem with facing the reality of the size of our fridge and freezer. My kids joke every time we come home from the store about whose turn it is to play Tetris. (The video game where you try to fit falling blocks with assorted shapes into one another so there are no gaps) While we are at the store they remind me often of the fact that we have a very small space to put all the food I am busily gathering into our cart, and I, without fail, kindly respond that yes I remember thank you very much. And then we get home and I am once again faced with the reality that I am impaired in this area! Before you suggest that I try measuring, let me assure you that I do measure. And I have all my measurements neatly logged into my little notebook that I seem to forget every time I head to the store. Perhaps I will have to put the measurements online somewhere so when I get to the store and realize once again that I have forgotten my notebook, I can just look them up. In the meantime, my quest continues.
Hopefully I will soon have pictures of our beautifully organized space to post. But for now, all I have is a huge daunting task ahead of me. Wish me luck!

Be Blessed!