~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
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{pretty}
Yesterday was the best kind of snow. Deep, fluffy, not followed by rain (so disappointing when that happens, as it so often has this winter).
At dusk Bridget, Roxie, and I had a ski out the door and up the hill.
The beauty of the snow, all 18 inches of it. It will be gone soon enough. We will enjoy it while we can!
{happy}
This gathering was at our friends' home on Sunday to celebrate the Presentation. Really enjoyable — fiddling and fooling around with families and kids who amazingly pick up tunes and love to play together. In a few years, the little ones playing with toys on the floor will be fiddling too, you'll see!
My friend David Clayton — and co-author! — was there, strumming his banjo. If you can convince a family member to play the banjo, do it! Best instrument — it's just so happy.
Where you have these particular folks, you'll finish with Vespers, chanted in harmony. I know. Daunting, right? The kids can do it when their dad encourages them (and is a choir director). This alto did her best.
{funny}
Funny as in, if you don't laugh, you will cry.
These are “befores” that I remembered to take as we got a lot of stuff out of there, so some of it is not even shown. Yikes.
Listen. When you move to a house, before you do anything — before you rehab the kitchen, before you update bathrooms — and those two things you should do right off the bat — but before you figure out bedrooms or arrange for trash pickup and certainly, absolutely before you unpack boxes —
Fix and paint the closets.
Wisdom.
Do not put things in those closets until they are spic and span and white and clean.
And then do not, repeat, do not! have a lot of kids in that “The Lord Will Provide” kind of off-hand way you have (while espousing a non-materialistic way of life — hah!)–
— and having erred in that fashion, despite all my warnings, do not move all their games and puzzles and toys and do not! get them more and more things to play with and allow friends and relatives to do the same!
Danger!
This is a mistake!
Do. You. See. All. This. STUFF??
Actually, it's no where near as bad as I thought it would be* — all these years that I've had it as a resolution in January to remedy this terrible oversight of not painting this enormous closet** before shoving storing the detritus of decades in it, allowing countless children to pull things out and be on their honor to “put things back where they belong.”
And every year not being able to face it.
It is a lot of stuff. I grant you that. (And obviously it's not all going back, although you'd be surprised how often it's all played with. Well, not all those board games and puzzles, no.)
But it's not terrible.
I may think this because I moved it all into the dining room and don't actually see it at the moment.
{real}
So this is where we're at.
And you know it's the worst and soon it will all be over. Breathe deeply!
____________
*And to be fair, as you can clearly see, a good deal of it is records. As in vinyl records from literally eons ago — the last millennium to be precise. Now they are all recorded on the computer (more or less — and it's a darned good collection!). What should I do with it all??
**A dear reader Tweeted at me a while ago to ask how to store all those toys with parts, like Legos, Playmobil, etc. I responded: Buy clear plastic bins! Rosie admonished me to remember that not everyone has a closet the size of some third world bedrooms to shove their toys into. So if you have to have the toys out in the open, you need to find some adorable handmade wooden bins. That stack. And are cheap. Or… what do you use?
[inlinkz_linkup id=369745]
Liz Lockhart says
I need to tackle our games cabinet and keep putting off. You have spurred me on. When we didn’t have a lot of space I kept Duplo – the big lego in roller boxes under the beds. Little lego, I made draw string bags out of old pillow cases and kept it in those. They could easily be stashed behind the sofa out of sight, and were easy for the small people to access.
Thank you!
Janet says
Truer words were never spoken about getting the closets in shape before moving in! You will never do it afterwards and it will be a constant source of irritation. I have a closet in the kitchen where I keep small appliances – and just about everything else since I don’t have any counter space. A few years ago I paid a friend to come over when we were on vacation to paint the inside and it is one of the bright spots in my life now. Sometimes I just open the door and appreciate how nice it looks. As far as the storage, I use those plastic bins as much as possible but I like baskets for smaller items. You can usually find some at the Salvation Army too.
Leila says
Janet, I love the idea of opening the door just to appreciate the glory of the tidiness. I completely relate. I am so looking forward to that feeling with this closet!
Margo, Thrift at Home says
oh yes, there is horror in unpainted closets in my house! And that’s not even on my to-do list!! (more the horror)
My toy theory is that I need a cute display and a closet space. Then I rotate a small amount of toys in and out when I remember. We do keep games and toys on a closet shelf and when a new one comes, an old one has to go because I’m not spreading the chaos to another closet. This is an old house with minimal storage space (no closets).
Jennifer says
My mom likes to paint her closets with a bright high gloss white paint. I always thought that it was silly to give so much attention to a closet. But really, it makes the closet bright and white and reflect some light so you can see what you are looking for in there.
Leila says
Jennifer, exactly. But you are reminding me — gloss paint, besides being reflective (and I will say that most of my closets have a light! Isn’t that amazing!), is the most durable. Hmm….
Leane says
I enjoy your posts very much and am looking forward to your new book! Thank you!
Mamabearjd says
Clear shoeboxes from Container Store – sometimes will be at Costco, I believe the brand is Iris – you get a discount for a case. They stack. The lids are difficult for “terrible twos” to take off and dump out the contents of a closet while you are nursing. I like to keep a few empty to immediately store new gifts like Playmobil or action figures. You can repurpose them as drawer organizers, hold bottle parts in the kitchen, store craft supplies, math manipulatives……endlessly I repurpose them. I may have close to 20. They haven’t cracked in 10 years of use, they can go in the dishwasher. If you get cute wooden bins or whatever for your living space, you can rotate toys and keep the rest in a closet, under the bed, etc.
Large under bed boxes work great for Legos because they are wide and shallow, also cleanup goes fast.
A little tackle box works well for Playmobil too, my almost 4 year old enjoys the toting around almost as much as the play.
Lol. Maybe I’m a bit of a neatnik.
April L says
Difficult for terrible 2’s to open? Sign me up! My 2yo just figured out how to open the bi-fold door to our toy/game closet. And this is after we removed the doorknob. I can’t maintain my sanity and also allow her access to all the things with tiny parts, so I’ve got to find some sort of storage containers now that she (hopefully) can’t open. A trip to the Container Store is in order!
Anne says
You sound like you have a lot figured out! Love it!
Jessica says
My husband plays the banjo and the fiddle and has been having a great time playing for our babies. Music is so much fun!
I’m the one who tweeted…even though I don’t have a good place to hide them, I bought plastic containers – the big ones with the lids that are attached. The wooden trains fill one to the brim, which makes it HEAVY. But, it gets them off of the floor and can be pushed.
Leila says
Jessica, some of the ones I have are shallow and can be shoved under a bed, which I think is so handy.
Jessica says
We keep a spare mattress under my son’s bed right now, though I’ve wondered about keeping toys in his room? Currently they’re in the family room, but sometimes I wish he had some upstairs so that he could play up there while I’m working.
Deirdre says
Holy cannoli! It is amazing and somewhat terrifying to realize how much stuff was in there!!!
But you KNOW I’ll be devastated if you throw away any of those board games or puzzles, Mom!!!
Leila says
This comment proves: You are my problem, dear beloved daughter of mine….
Elisa says
Leila, give them to your children as soon as you have an occasion to do so! I bet they will love to be able to use those board games a bit more and then to be able to pass them to their own children one day if still in good condition… Everything is changing these days, even Monopoly doesn’t look as good as the old one…
Charlotte says
I don’t believe it’s possible to listen to a banjo and not smile! And if that closet was in my Texas house, it would totally be a storm shelter.
Elizabeth says
We still use clear plastic bins, even though we don’t have much in the way of closet or storage space. We (by which I really mean my husband) cleared out an area in our unfinished basement, put down some of that foam matting in bright colors that stick together like puzzle pieces, and set up some plastic shelving from Home Depot on one side. We divvied up the toys into somewhat-themed bins (trains, animals, cars/planes) that all fit on the shelves. Bigger things like trucks can also go on the shelves. Clearly a kid-themed play area, but it’s quick to clean up when everything has a place, and things look more organized in the bins even when they’re not hidden away. I’ve seen other families do something similar but make a sort of curtain out of some pretty fabric to go in front of the shelves. We also have a storage bench upstairs in the main living area where smaller toys go and where they can be pulled out easily but put away just as easily without having the whole house be overrun with toys. Those toys are in little shoebox sized bins inside the bench.
Jena says
Baskets are GREAT for toys. Now, I only have one and I know the toys will just multiply by the dozens in time, but baskets are pretty and make for quick and easy cleanup.
Melissa D says
-We use clear plastic bins for the wooden tracks and Little People (I have a bunch of the old Little People sets from the 70s and a box of furniture/people/cars).
-American girl outfits are in a shoe organizer that slides under the bed — it has lots of slots that might be good for legos as well. I think I saw a Pinterest pin that had kid-sized shoeboxes in the slots for easy takeout.
– I bought a bunch of folding box things for Hot Wheels on ebay (someone was selling several in one lot) — each one is a box that folds up like a suitcase, but when you crack it open, it’s a set with ramps for cars. Easy to stack and store or travel with. I made felt roads with yellow puffy paint that roll up super easily (they’re basically black felt strips).
– I just put all our junior games in a big opaque bin to get ready to consign…. and I’m buying a few other old games like Payday here and there for nostalgic fun. I can’t stand the new Monopoly/Life ones — where no one has to count money!
Mrs. B. says
I find that containers for toys are only good if the toys go back into them 😉 Somehow this step is OFTEN overlooked in this house 😉 My 2 cents: acquire whatever storage works for you, but if you can, make it have some sort of lid: less dust to fight!
Leila, I think you should divide puzzles and games and all among your kids – with growing families they will eventually need them all anyway! And what you really don’t want to keep… ebay or craigslist are my answers!
Working on a closet project like that is a good way to beat the February blues.
The blue picture of the house in the dark is very beautiful, by the way!
Mary says
Wow, that is a LOT of stuff! Ditch half of it and the happiness and peace of having it all organized and neat will make up for the once in a while wish that you had kept such and such game 🙂 And I agree with you on the closets! Great advice. I have a rule that if I can’t store it nicely in the home He’s given us, then we have too much stuff and I need to donate. It brings a lot of peace to be able to let it go. We use fabric bins for the smaller toys upstairs. Toys that are kept out are stowed in wooden boxes or baskets so they are accessible but don’t drive me crazy.
That party looks like so much fun!
Pippajo says
Crawling out from under my rock and blinking in the sunlight to say we bought a small, pleather, cube ottoman with a removable lid for the living room and devoted its innards to Lego storage. Granted, with only one boy (and, let’s face it, often his father) collecting and playing with them we didn’t have the amount that some do. And I’m not sure it would have worked for younger children (Calvin is 12 now). But it was the perfect solution for us.
Also, The Vicar and I are both musicians and The Vicar is the Music and Worship pastor at our church, and while Redheaded Snippet has developed a love for singing and a truly angelic voice, Calvin has chosen this way to rebel against his parents. He wants nothing to do with music, saying, in his charming pre-teen way, “JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE A MUSICIAN YOU CAN’T EXPECT ME TO BE ONE, TOO!” Sigh. Where did we go wrong?
Melissa D says
Don’t worry. I think it’s required of every college boy to bring an acoustic guitar and a few soulful songs. 🙂
Leila says
Pippajo — don’t mistake “attitude” for actual feelings. Stay on it, keep him in the loop, get him to play/sing with you no matter what if you can do it without a fight (“We need you for one half of the gig” “Can you just do the accompaniment…”). Praise him and rely on him, even if it’s just to balance the books or send out notices. Don’t argue or beg — just depend on him!
I’ve seen it work! In a year he’ll be indispensable and know it. 🙂
Also, I don’t know what musical genre you do, but consider learning some Scottish tunes or Cape Breton music if you don’t have that under your belt. (Has he heard Bruce MacGregor or Natalie MacMaster?) There’s something NOT emotional about it that is very appealing to someone who feels awkward about contemporary music.
Also ancient chamber music — again, it’s very detached, but also very beautiful!
Anitra says
I’m going to second this. I was just talking to a friend from a large, very musical family – he’s the oldest and, while a very good drummer/guitarist, said that he regrets fighting so hard against learning violin as a kid. Now his 4 younger teenage & adult siblings form a wonderful string quartet, and he is left out, unless they want a simple piano accompaniment.
Your son is probably not against ALL music-making. Help him find some sort of music style and instrument he can love (or at least endure). Drumming might work, in all seriousness.
Anne says
I would like to add, for people who have a lack of closets that two years ago I gave up my coat closet under the stairs so that we could store toys there, and I have NEVER regretted the decision. I painted it bright yellow with a quart of “oops” paint from the local hardware store and it is so cheerful and cute and got all the clutter out of the bedrooms/dining room/living room.
Now we have hooks and cubby cubes by the kitchen door for coats/boots/shoes/hats/gloves/etc. It tends to get a bit full there in the winter but still, the trade is worth it.
I cannot imagine what our toy closet would look like if I did not clean it out ever couple of months! Ahh!
Martha says
My husband is the head liturgist and musician at our parish, so we have a good deal of music around our house…ukeleles, guitars, pianos, banjos and the like, in addition to the organ and choral music she hears at Mass. I’m always singing wee tunes as the babe and I do housework, etc. What do you think she did today as we were sitting on the floor, but grab an odd bit of plumbing I’ve been messing with (it’s a new pipe part), put it to her mouth like a trumpet, and mimic the exact little tune I was doing. EXACTLY – rhythm and notes!
I was so proud you would think she’d climbed a mountain. Her father and I both were clapping and generally making fools of ourselves.
I think if she grows up and fiddles, I’ll just keel over from happiness.
Kathy@9peas says
The kind of visit you share here is just the sort of fellowship we crave and enjoy so much. I always love your PHFR, but this one especially!
Tamara says
Agreed! This makes me want to move in next door!!
Nadine says
We have eight active kids, and I gave up on plastic storage boxes years ago – they were just getting broken. Then I was in a local restaurant supply store (groceries for 10 and all…) and I saw some plastic bus tubs. On sale. I bought several and have never looked back. They’ve lasted for years and even been borrowed by our local Knights of Columbus for a dinner once. They’re still in great condition. I did not buy the lids.
When I put toys in the boxes originally, I cut up the packaging from the toy and taped part of it to the bus tub so that the kids could easily see what went were. The Lego bin has “Lego” taped to it, in the symbol that the kids recognize, as does the Playmobil bin.
They don’t have the lids to stack, but we stack them in the closet anyway. It works.
And, I wish I would have been given that advice on painting the closet years ago. It would indeed have helped!
Rose says
Small world — I’d recognize that guitar-playing chant-singing philosophy prof anywhere, even from the back of his head! I used to chant and sing with him, and miss it a lot. I know you must have had a really fun evening with them!
Jen F says
I can’t stop looking at the photo of the mantel with the icons and candles. So beautiful! And it makes me long for the release of your book even more! You are blessed to be able to gather with others like this.
Julie says
Looks like you need to have some game nights to go along with singing…both are so much fun!
I can get a little crazy when it comes to organizing (though you wouldn’t know it by walking into The Closet at present)! I try to avoid things with one use only (random plastic junk) and things with lots of pieces (I grant exceptions for LEGOS (and DUPLOS), wooden blocks, hot wheels and wooden train track). Each has it’s own basket and designated room (not hard and fast rules but it does create nice play zones). Peach baskets fit in one bookcase very nicely; an old metal vegetable bin holds Magformers (the.greatest.toy.) and hot wheels; pretty baskets hold trains and track respectively; plastic is reserved for closet or out-of-sight areas. Puzzles go in a hard-to-open cabinet and not-toddler-friendly-items are stored either out of reach or in hard-to-open spots.
A few years ago I found an old Uncle Wiggly board game at a yard sale and it inspired a game wall our basement/play space. You can buy fancy frames, but I used cheap bulldog clips from Wally World. The kids can easily unclip them when they want to play a game, and it brightens and cheers the space with what we already own (the remaining pieces are in The Closet).
briana says
I used to put all of that stuff in baskets. The wicker laundry ones.
That closet you have? Is my back upstairs landing (I have an old Victorian, so there’s the front parlor stairs, and the back kitchen stairs) and I have old shelves at the top of the back stairs. Well that’s what they look like.
I just got the last Christmas tree upstairs a few minutes ago, the shelves are going to wait. 😀
Anitra says
We actually mostly use IKEA toy storage. Bought extra bins and some lids a few months ago, which has been totally worth it – with the lids, they stack quite well (in our “toy closet” – really the bottom half of the kids’ room closet). The rest go in the IKEA wooden storage thingy. I’ve put labels on most of the boxes (words and hand-drawn pictures) so we know what’s in them.
We have a few collections too large for that: trains & tracks are in an under-bed box, which -just barely- squeezes under the toddler-size bed. A kid basically has to be about 2 1/2 to have the strength and coordination to get the box out, which acts as a built-in child-proofing. The Lego collection will eventually outgrow its box, and we’ll figure out a solution for that.
In any case, with only 2 “real” bedrooms and 3 closets, we’ve come to terms with keeping most of our toys & games out in the open – either in the kids’ room or in the living room. It helps keep the number of toys in check. In fact, once our third child is born and later moves to the kids’ room, we’re going to have to move most of the toy storage out of there to fit a crib… so we’ll probably purge even further. At least until we can figure out a third-bedroom solution.
Amy says
We use large ziplock bags and show boxes to store lego sets. We keep the miscellaneous pieces in a child sized suitcase with wheels so that they can wheel it around…or take them out of the house to an older siblings’ event or whatnot to entertain themselves.
I love the closet advice. We move around a lot, and I will definitely keep that in mind.
I love love love your blog.
Amy says
That should have said shoe boxes, not show boxes.
Kimberlee says
Oh, la! What a wonderful Candlemas gathering!
We’ve inherited a banjo but no one is quite proficient on it yet. We do have two accordions and they go a long way towards Happy as well. Our great lament is we lack a fiddler. (our harps are just a wee bit less portable, ha!) Family, friends, faith and music all together is just the best.
Ginger says
Amen to that! I am actually moving to a new home and we have painted everything excepting one closet
which I was about to just say “heck with it” and then I read your post….I am off with paint brush in hand….
Thanks for the encouragement.
Ginger
We finally got some rain here in CA…..YEAH!
Kate says
We only have three closets – one in each bedroom; so I would indiscriminately love any closet whatever its state. Since the closets are for clothing, I found other ways to store toys and games. A chiffarobe is my favorite piece of furniture for storage. I love the combination of drawers and big empty spaces for stacking containers. I have one for games and another for my sons’ playmobils and other small toys. The Legos were completely frustrating, all dumped into a big plastic tub. The boys (of course, girls would never be so inconsiderate) were always dumping the whole dang thing over to get the elusive piece they wanted. So I repurposed a small shelf I had, bought small plastic colored bins to fit on it and sorted those devilish legos BY COLOR (and not by myself) into labeled bins. They know behave nicely on the shelf in an orderly fashion for the most part. One thing I’ve been sort of grateful for is that my kids are not puzzle fans, so I don’t have to keep track of more little pieces. I have a theory, that their lack of interest in puzzles relates to the family weakness in math (which requires spatial imagination), but that’s another subject.
Julie says
I dream of LEGOS sorted by colors (with 4 boys we have quite a few!). Periodically I start sorting by color or use, but my husband (and voice of reason) calls it an exercise in futility. I must admit, he’s right.
Dixie says
Baskets are so pretty. But if a toddler sits on them they can break, and I worry about bit of the wicker coming out and baby eating it. So plastic bins work well for us for this particular season of life. Or, I should say, plastic bin(no s) whenever possible in a single room. Limiting the number of storage spaces seems to help limit the number of toys.
Amy Z says
I really like organizing other people’s houses. I think it’s that I don’t have to watch it get dirty and unorganized afterward. When I was ten, I (willingly) organized my friend’s TWO bedrooms (because all her stuff couldn’t fit into one). So, I’m thinking, a deal could be arranged here. I’ll organize your closets if I and my Little Man can play in the snow in your yard and have one Auntie Leila cooked meal (and maybe pester you with questions about life, love, and faith) 😀
Donna L. says
So inspiring!
My husband loves to find old games at second-hand stores—the sheer weight of them all caused the old paperish shelving to collapse!
Do share the old games if you wish or give them to a family who will appreciate the better versions—please!–as someone wrote above: the newer games are cheaply made and the parts are often cardboard or gaudy colored plastic–awful!
Before we first moved in, I would come by myself to our house for a couple of blessedly quiet hours and paint everything–I knew there wouldn’t be time later…now I just want it to warm up to 50 degrees or so, so I can break out the painting tools and refresh some of the closets!
We didn’t have the resources nor the funds to have our children take music lessons…I am so sad! We have an old piano, and an older organ–but no-one to teach us how? Is it too late?
Marcy says
Oh so fun! I stumbled across your blog because I was reading another that was linked up. To my great surprise saw pictures of our dear NH friends on your blog!!! It’s a great group of people you have there! Treasure them.
Margaret Mumford says
Laughed out loud when I saw all the games, we have a closet like that. Rather than
go down and tackle it as you did, I declared it game night!! (Your lovely Bridget teaches
my Maureen violin & Elizabeth teaches her art). We will meet someday.
Becky says
My house was built in the 60s when people were apparently under the mistaken impression that there was still a room tax. The master bedroom had no closet…
I have become a big fan of the billy bookcases from IKEA. If you go with the darker colors, they don’t scream laminate quite so loudly and there is something to be said for embracing your season of IKEA. The fit those fabric bins nicely and you can periodically find wooden baskets with roughly the same dimensions and put those on the upper shelves. They hold a shocking amount of toddler miscelany and allow for a great deal of flexibility in height/width so you can put the board games and such low enough for the elementary set to reach while being out of reach of your tinies.
I have also made a point of sneaking storage in. End tables are all populated with baskets and, yes, they will break if someone sits on them so you might want to use the fabric bins instead. My husband built a train table with rolling bins underneath. They aren’t very expensive if you build your own and it greatly simplifies storage as well as containing the play a bit.
Duplos stay in their original bins and get stored under the coffee table. Smaller legos are in the big boy room in plastic bins. The electric train set is stored under the big boy’s bed in his room. Both children’s rooms have billy bookcases (the knock offs from Target) and the fabric bins hold all the detritus.
Doll house furniture and people are stored in the doll house and in galvanized bins on shelves under the television stand. Bins bought from the dollar spot.
I only buy storage ottomans which are currently filled with dress up items.
Playdough, paints, and glitter are all put in galvanized bins that live on top of the refrigerator.
Also helpful is if you adopt a beagle who considers most things tasty. Your children quickly learn to put things away or they will be eaten. 🙂
Karen M says
My mom saved the day with toy storage for me! She had kept the clear plastic bags from all of her linen purchases. A big one from a comforter set holds the duplicate Legos while smaller sheet set bags hold animals, dinos, people, and other categorized small toys. They all get tossed into a bigger (cardboard) box on the floor in one of the boys’ closets and they know only one bag is allowed out at a time.