Organizing an Unseen Mess

Today I decided to tackle a mess that I don't really see.  My kids have one of those cube set ups in their room.  Before we moved they had 2 and the bins were all cute in a checker board pattern.  Once we got to the new place, we appropriated one for our hallway and the boys were left with one cube shelving unit and all the bins.  Here's how it looked.  Not terrible,  but I knew what it looked like inside.

(Please try to ignore all the cords off to the side.  hehe)

The movers had chosen to just stuff a lot of the small stuff the kids had into these bins and then stuff the over filled bins into a large moving box.  Ugh.  Anyhow, I dealt with a bit of it, but not all of it.  Emptied it out and here's how it looked.

Not very pretty.

We went through and wound up with a full trash bag of stuff that needed to be tossed and a small bag of toys that will be donated.  I also found they had quite the candy stash.

In the end, after about 40 minutes of emptying and sorting, here's what we were left with.

Much better  :)  Yay for getting things done!

Color Me Rad

I posted this blog about my experience with the Color Me Rad Run with my kiddo on another site not so long ago and I've decided to share it here as well. 


I didn't have the opportunity to post about our Color Me Rad experience on the 11th since my folks were still here.

We had a fantastic time!

Deac was very worried, we'd trained together for almost 7 weeks and about halfway through he peaked. Then his brain kicked into overtime and he started worrying every time we ran. He fretted about disappointing me, his dad, his grandparents. What if I can't finish, what if we have to walk part of it? I felt bad for him, this was intended to be something fun for he and I to do together. Two days before the run, he was doing better, but still not able to run a full 5k. I think it was taking us 40 minutes to run/walk 2.6 miles.

We talked about his fears and I told him to give it his best and not to worry about the rest. If we had to stop or walk, it was fine. I let him set the pace all through our training and told him I intended to do the same at Color Me Rad. He was still worried and Dave sat down with him too. He gave him a pep talk and gave him this advice.. don't stop running, slow your run if you need to, but don't stop, it's so much harder to start again. I worried.

Race day...clean white shirts, excited at the start line. 6:15 am. He was really happy and excited!! So was I. Lots of music, folks in costumes. By 6:50 Deac was near tears. He was afraid. Dad, Nate, Nana and Granddad would all be at the finish line and he was terrified he'd be disappointing them. I told him that the change of scenery, the energy of the crowd and his excitement would carry him.

At go, we started running, his fear faded. At 5 minutes in, grown adults around him were slowing down, walking and stopping. He kept going. I asked him over and over if he was okay, he was great. He. Never. Stopped. No slowing down, nothing. We crossed the finish line 30 minutes after we started. My 10 year old, who had been in fear for the last 2-3 weeks, set our pace and finished us at 30 minutes. He was a rock star and my hero! I was brimming with pride, but more importantly, so was he. He gained so much in those 30 minutes. I can't wait to do it again with him!








We rode the trolley home looking like this!

Thrifted Styles for Kids?

As I've mentioned, I have two boys.  They're 9 and 10 and don't care a lick about fashion.  Still, buying clothes for them can be a challenge and it gets pricy.  They grow fast, they're tough on clothes and they may not care too much about fashion, but I still want them to look decent.

Generally speaking, I get them jeans from Old Navy when they do their $10 kids denim sale that happens in August.  They begin their life as new school clothes and what happens from there... who knows.  This year, my oldest got all 12's in August.  He tried them on, they fit, well.  We were happy.  By November they were snug, but still wearable.   December?  Not so much.  We were seeing sock on a daily basis.  With no sales on jeans that I could find and not being thrilled with the lower priced choices, I wondered if kids clothes in the higher sizes made it to the thrift stores.

I'm guessing that those of you more familiar with thrifting already know the answer.  It's yes!  I had some good luck finding 2 pair of jeans in a size 14, that were stylish and in great condition.  Seams in tact, zippers working, no wear at the knees or scuffs at the leg openings.  Sold!  Washed up and ready to wear, no more high waters for my kiddo.  Each pair was 3.59.

See that little lump under the covers?  That's my pooch, deciding her comfort was more important than my picture.  She's a princess.

Anyhow, the color in the pic is a bit odd, but the bottom pair is nice and light with fading and a boot cut.  The top pair is more charcoal than that washed out black that the pic shows.  They're a straight leg and a slimmer fit.

I wasn't looking for shirts, we have plenty, but I took a peek, just in case.  The store I was shopping had almost nothing in larger kids sizes (strictly speaking of shirts now).  Tons of toddler sizes though.  I will, of course, check again the next time I'm there.