Organization 101

My sister came to Dubuque last Sunday to spend some time with us! We have been talking about her coming for months and I've been looking forward to it so much. Along with just spending some quality time together we also got so much done! Sunday when she got here we spent the afternoon hanging out and getting caught up. Then around 10:30pm (when Chris and I went to bed) it all began....

I woke up at 12:45am to go help Ivy and I saw all of the kitchen lights still on! For a second I thought she forgot and then I heard someone. The next morning I walked out and my laundry room was stacked high in garbage! She went through all of our cupboards and drawers and got rid of anything that didn't need to be there. So far after 4 days I've only missed one thing that she threw out and that probably needed to be thrown out anyway!

Other things we accomplished throughout the week were cleaning out all of our closets and drawers. Between Chris and I, we took 7 garbage bags to goodwill! The kids' stuff filled 3 big bags as well. We also got rid of our gigantic pile of shirts that needed to be ironed. (before you think she's superwoman....she convinced Chris to get them all dry cleaned so we could start over without a pile so it wasn't so overwhelming!)Her motto is "a clean house, a clean mind" Not that my house was necessarily dirty, it just had a lot of "stuff" in it that we didn't need. She has helped me to remember that everything has a place...I just need to put it in the place! (For example....I asked her one night where Ivy's medicine was and her reply was "where medicine goes!")

Along with those reorganization/decluttering projects, I also managed to have a doctor's appointment, a dentist apointment, get CPR and First Aid certified, get a hair cut and volunteer at school despite Ivy being sick! Tara also got to see Max play basketball (although she almost jumped out of her chair more than one time because she was so frustrated at kids not passing the ball to Max!!) and Mya at swimming lessons. Phew!! Are you worn out yet from reading this? I am exhausted from typing it all out! So very thankful that we got to spend these few days together and hopefully we can get a few more of these visits in before she moves to Japan in August. (for three years:(!!) In case you needed proof of the projects...see below:)