What you need and what you want

 I've been going through a time in my life that I haven't had in a while.

After a semester of so much craziness: going back to work at a new school with new courses, kids at school and daycare, a lot of chaos and emotion through personal events... all of this made for an overwhelming few months! Now, I'm working part time, teaching two of the same course, which I taught last semester (same course twice? woohoo!) and the kids are still taken care of for most of the day. I have the increased ability to be involved with my son's kindergarten class, have more time for my course development, and time for house things as well.

One of the goals that I have for this time is to organize our home to help it function better. I've been waiting for a time like this, where I could have a number of hours with no one around (especially the kids) to focus on what this looks like. Some key concepts: only have the things we need and the things we really want, and establish long term homes for things so that we know where to find things and where to return them. These concepts and the help of a friend's services have empowered me to pick areas, flush them out, get rid of a LOT of stuff (feels so good!) and then effectively house the things that we're keeping.

I'm already feeling the good effects of the places we've changed. We have a credenza next to our dining room table that was full to the brim, all surfaces occupied with stuff. Now, all of the superfluous items have been sorted and mostly donated or disposed of, and the new organization is totally working well for kids crafts and things are easily cleaned away. We have a recessed shelving area at the top of our stairs that just became a massive dumping ground for all sorts of things. I took a couple of hours while the kids were playing, emptied it out, sorted things, put some things away where they belonged and then re-purposed the space. Now, instead of being a home for clutter, we have a home for our calendar, little notes and keys, as well as a receiving area for mail and a place to hang backpacks. I'm sure I'm not the only one who get ridiculously excited about this kind of change.

Next up on my list: my desk (full of office supplies from 10 years ago), our mass accumulation of tech related items (wires, adapters, etc), and hopefully more of the garage.

Finally, considering my last post was in 2015 and I was just starting the boys lap blankets, I thought I'd post a picture of the finished project. Given to them Christmas of that year, and still enjoyed by them today, especially in the car on cold mornings.