Monday

It was a nice day.  I got a surprising amount of things done, had coffee with Pat, and worked on a puzzle with Elizabeth.

We went to a high school info night too.  It might not be our top choice, but it would be a good choice.  We brought Isaac too because he's old enough to have a say in the decision, but I think he ended up pretty confused.  That's ok.  It is a bit confusing and you need to see schedule things a few times before you can even start to make sense of it all.

Sunday: Yahtzee and pick-a-brick

We visited Great-Grandma today.  We played a game of Yahtzee and she lit up.  She did a nice job playing it, although there were a few funny moments.  Namely when she was trying to get a large straight.  I think she rolled about six times before she got it...we were all confused as to what was happening but let it happen.  What does she tell us at the end but, "Now I've shown you how to win!  Maybe you'll win next time."  Yeah, no kidding.  :)

After dinner we finished our pick-a-brick creations.  These cups were a bit more interesting because we had some very on-sale Lego sets that were also added into the mix.  We had some newer parts to play with, although we all lamented that there were several cool pieces that we weren't able to use.

Amanda: while I had a bunch of large plates, meant for more of a landscape, I ended up making a water dragon and a waterfall/river.  Not the butt fluffle on the back of the dragon.  I made that up but think it describes it perfectly.

Ben made a magical bonsai.  Different kids of weather cause it to grow different types of branches/flowers, which you can then sculpt.  It takes years for these plants to grow.

Isaac made healthy and dying landscape.  (It is dying due to on of Joshua's creations, not shown tonight, but that has a butt fluffle too.)

Joshua made a bunch of mini builds to go with a story that I don't really remember.

Saturday: recital

Joshua had his piano recital today.  They're pretty low key, which I really appreciate.  That being said, while Joshua had been practicing recently I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  He nailed it though.  T

Then we went to Zeeland to have a treat with family.  The restaurant we were planning on was really busy.  So we went to Zeeland Bakery, but they don't have enough chairs.  We found a nearby cafeteria it was nice and empty.  It was lovely to see them again.

Friday: storage room is finished!

One year ago* I started cleaning the storage room.  I had been hoping to do it last in the Operation: Clean the House list, but it had reached a critical point.  It got a lot better quickly, but Ben and I spent the last month finishing up the few last things.

*I took the before pictures on January 10, 2025, it is really only 364 days ago.

And so, with lots of elation, I present before and after for the storage room.

There's not a ton of change here.  The white fridge broke so we needed a new one.  I cleaned up some of the area behind the freezer, but am now storing full boxes of donations there.

The stuff on the left stayed mostly the same, but I dealt with the boxes in front of the water heater so the space has opened up.

Look at all the stuff that was moved!  A lot was just moved to a different area, but it is now a calming experience to enter the storage room instead of a harrowing dance among the boxes.

I just like the difference for this picture.

This is one of the better pictures that shows how cluttered it was...and how much it has changed.

Same location, slightly different angle.

It is hard to show just how terrible this back corner was.  The shelves weren't being used very effectively because they couldn't always be reached.  It had become a dumbing ground.  I also couldn't get a very good picture of how bad it was because there was too much stuff in the way.

Box storage moved and I put up a few high shelves...so that we can stack things underneath later.  (Hopefully much later, but based on the rest of the house it takes about two-three years to need another round of cleaning, but nothing has dissolved to its original state either.)

The picture doesn't show well how hard it was to walk to the other side of the storage room.  It was very possible, but kind of balance beam-esque.  

There is a dedicated place for tables and ladders now too.  They had just been moving around the house and so it was always hard to find them when needed.

So the three bookshelves went down to two shelves of books.  I feel like I should do more, but it just wasn't in me.  Next time.  Ben also cleaned up the cable area so we could move everything down the wall three feet.  The black shelves are now my "get rid of stuff".  EBay, donations, electronic recycling, books for the library, etc.

We removed several large boxes for electronics, and dated the ones that we did need to keep.  Box storage also moved into this area.  It's still rather full, but it is stacked better.  We also added the indoor bike for Joshua's winter exercise.

It isn't a good before and after picture, but Ben cleaned up the cords so we could move the bookshelves.

 

And a few extra pictures, because I could actually stand in good places for them.  The white shelves that disappeared earlier got moved over here into the shelf row.  After that are some black wire shelves with our extra Lego - it is a massive improvement to the bucket we had before that was so annoying to look through.  

Thursday: not finishing things

Today had two main goals: clean and organize some Lego stuff and prep some items for sale on eBay.

I worked on the Lego stuff in the morning.  I made a huge dent on the pile, but it isn't completely finished.

I ate lunch and took a short nap.

In the afternoon I worked on getting some eBay listings prepped.  I got several ready, but it felt like a small amount compared to the amount that we want to list.

But...progress was made.

Wednesday:

Yesterday Isaac got to wear the birthday hat at rock climbing.  He was not excited to wear it, but the others were insistent and I think he gave in without too much trouble.

He also got this red route, which involved some very specific foot work running up to it.

Ok, today.  Today was a normal get stuff done day with nothing special.  I was pretty successful though!  Our main area is mostly back to normal except for some extra chairs and a tower of boxes.  It feels amazing.  I love the Christmas decor, but I also love not having the Christmas decor in January.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

The animals found baby Jesus right away on Christmas day.  Phew.

However, by the time I woke up the Christmas Ruiners had come along to ruin Christmas.  Baby Jesus was put in a jail (although they didn't fit very well.)  

I said "no, no! Jesus is for everyone, even Christmas Ruiners." and moved everyone back to a better position.

In the afternoon we went to Larry and Cheryl's house.  We started with brunch.  It is one of my favorite meals of the year.  We opened presents.  We played games.  We ate a ton of delicious food, and it was a lovely time.