organizing the shelves

Usually I wait until I've got everything that I've ordered for the new school year

before I attempt to organize the shelves.

This year, they were such a wreck, I couldn't really wait another 6 weeks.

('cause you know the chance of me actually having my act together

 and ordering school stuff sooner than that, is slim to none)

More importantly, 

Tyler asked me a few months ago when we could have one of his friends from work over.

I said I'd have to clean the shelves first.

Saturday, while Tyler and Brandon were away on their trip,

I started feeling badly  that I hadn't done the shelves yet; 

Tyler so rarely asks anything of me, I should have cleaned them immediately!

I got started a little after 4:00 and figured I'd be done by bedtime.

Wrong!

I didn't finish until 1:00 pm, the next day! After the guys got home.

And my night had been  v e r y  short.....

Organizing stuff takes me so long!!

I did order new art supplies for the summer ~ I'm only 6 wks late on that.... the coke canister hides our tempera cakes

I threw away three full Walmart bags of trash

(how does this happen, that we keep trash on our shelves??)

and have a decent sized stack of books to get rid of.

As easy as it is for me to let go of stuff ~ books are tricky;

how do I know we won't ever want to look at it again?

The kids know I like interesting shaped / textured rocks,
they just don't always know what makes them appealing to me.
often the girls will present me with a gift of a rock
(that is neither interestingly shaped or textured)
"because you like rocks almost as much as flowers, Momma!"

Something interesting:

All the kids commented on how nice the shelves look all organized, 

but Lexi loves that the shelves look nice.

She thanked me for 'making them beautiful'!

The reason, besides the beach, that she didn't want to come home from Florida,

is that, "it's not beautiful here" (meaning inside our house).

Apparently, her eyes need 'peace' as much as her momma's do.

In case you wonder... L to R on top of the bookcases: Tote bag holds catalogs, grey enamel pitcher from Granny holds buttons,
permanent markers reside in the green tin flower holder thing, the metal box from Sears and Roebuck hides the woodburning tool,
  and the cash-box, that hails from my early PartyLite days, holds school monies, some fake some real.

Next, I need to work on the corner of the dining room where things-that-have-no-home

get stashed.

Just as soon as I recover from organizing the shelves.....