Sunday, October 5, 2008

New shelves will do the trick

So the kids have toys everywhere. We have way too many toys. And no matter how many we put away, they seem to keep coming back. We have a lot toys that we haven't even unpacked from when we moved here 20 months ago. But the kids sometimes sneak them out of the boxes. And they keep having birthdays and Christmas keeps coming around and grandma keeps coming to visit and though I like all of those things it seems to increase the number of toys. Now really I have nothing against toys (except for the extreme excess I see in my own house), I do have a problem with how they toys are generally arranged in the house. Here is a picture to give you a good idea of the typical arrangement (and yes that is Luke in a ladybug costume - who says that a lady bug has to be a lady?):


Since finishing the basement family room it has been used pretty much exclusively for a toy palace. Toys are everywhere. Well Molly kept saying that she was going to get them all organized when I got the shelves put into the closets that I built down there. So I finally got most of the shelves put in (after a minor setback of getting 5'7" confused with 57" and cutting all the boards 10" too short - don't fret, I fixed them). Then one morning me and the kids went down to the basement and didn't come out until the room was clean. Here is what it looked like when we were done:

Well it looked so good and the kids knew where everything was and they all swore on their mother's life that when they got through playing with something they would put it back. And we had a nice discussion on the importance of keeping it cleaned up and looking nice. I was sure that this time things really sunk in. Well that was a week ago. Here is what the room looked like this morning:
Should I be worried about Molly's life?

2 comments:

Us Lochers said...

Sweet! It's good to know that I'm not the only one out there struggling with multiplying toys. I secretly throw the crap toys away (shhh! don't tell Brian).

Edna said...

Shane, I came to your blog from Facebook and I was just going to slip in and then slip out but I have to tell you that I love how you write. I loved seeing your photo at the sewing machine for the Trunk or Treat and the before and after of the shelves.