Out with the old - a losing battle

Here's a pic of the girls with their new animals. You know, there are all kinds of sacrifices you make as a mom. One of them is not just saying "No thanks!" whenever people offer to give your kids MORE toys - actually considering whether your kids would enjoy them enough to make it worthwhile. To often I just know that I don't feel like stepping over it, cleaning it up, whatever.
So, some folks in our church offered our girls these "Fur Real" animals (Dog and Panda) since their daughter had outgrown them (thankfully, through email so I at least had the option of turning them down :-D). And, even though images of the recent attic cleanup are still dancing in my head, I agreed to take them in.
The girls are loving their little pets - they make noises and the dog walks, but they don't shed, need to be fed or let out, and so for a few days the pleas for a "real" dog have subsided! And hey, maybe when the batteries die, we'll pass them off to someone else (insert maniacal laughter here)! Just Kidding! I think...;-)

Attic Excavation

OK so today I decided to clean out our attic, or at least organize it. School is starting for ALL of the Davenports next week and the house is not as it should be. I've realized that major organizing "operations" must generally wait till a school break to get accomplished. And, as I continue to maintain, school begins next week so I am running short on TIME.

When I told a few of my friends here what I was going to do they looked ludicrous - "You're supposed to do that in February!" I'd rather have done it in February, honestly. But last Feb. Seth was one month old, and next Feb. will be too late!

So it had to be today. I have not sweated so much since I ran cross country. I was DRIPPING. And the children pretty much did as they pleased all over the house, so by the time I was finished, the rest of the house was a disaster. But, I had a LARGE pile to go to Goodwill (having learned a garage sale lesson recently from a friend), and a Large pile to throw away. And when it's time to change the clothes come cold weather, or pull out the Christmas stuff, we'll actually be able to. Imagine that! All in all, a good days work.

It was hard for Kevin, especially, to see some of our extra goods head out the door. He's got a bright idea for how every extraneous belonging could be put to some use! Well, they'll be put to use all right, just not in our house 8-)!