Progress? You Call This Progress?!?!?

I'm trying.

Really I am.

Okay. Not right this minute. Because I'm Blogging. But otherwise....

It seems like every time I think I've made a dent in the mess I call my new home, I've actually made a bigger one.

Ya know. That whole 2 steps forward, 1 step back thing.

As I unpack boxes that have been in storage for 3 years....

Wait! Have I told you I had a bunch of boxes in storage for 3 years? I haven't? I've said it enough times, but in case you missed it; I have a bunch of boxes that have been in storage for 3 years.

Anyway, most of the boxes have things the girls have outgrown. Like stuffed animals. And games. Or they're full of kitschy little things I used to have all over the house. Like a ton of bottles I dug up in my back yard when I was a kid.

My problem now is that I don't really want to clutter everything up. When you're a family of 5 and have lived the past 3 years in a 2 bedroom 1000 SF apartment, you tend to want to spread your arms.

I know. Mine don't need much room to spread. But we have to think of the children. R needs as much room as we can give her for her arms!!

This time around, I want to keep the decorating simple. Simple & uncluttered. Which is not always easy when you have a lot of stuff you really do like. I've gone through each box with 2 things in mind; does it mean something to me or a member of my family? Can I live with out it? {Chances are if I lived without it for the past 3 years, I could live without it for the rest of my life.} And if it's something sentimental, what do I do with it or where do I put it?

This thought, however, does not cover things like the 49 lizards Mom gave me & all their friends who made the move with us or are now hopping out of boxes. Many have no particular sentimental value, except they were a gift from a family member. And I could probably live without them all! But I don't want to. They've become a part of who I am. I think everyone who knows me associates me with lizards. {Which, now that I've typed that, sounds weird.} So now the conundrum is, where do I put 49 lizards and all their lizard friends?

I'm still working on that one.

In the mean time, I'll show you how far I've gotten on making our house a home...

I started organizing the bookshelf in the corner of the living room, had it all looking good, then along came a box full of outgrown stuffed animals. And the other 4 boxes? BOOKS!! We do not lack of books in this house.

The other corner. Not too shabby....

Almost barren.

Next project; take the 4 CPUs, 7 hard drives and various other computer parts & build the girls a faster computer.

Yes, I can build a computer, but I am NOT a computer geek!!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a very important public service announcement

We now will resume our programing, already in progress....

No. A tornado did not hit our dining room. It just looks that way. But, hey! We have a table & chairs now. Too bad they're covered with junk and we haven't used them yet in the 4 days they've been there.

There is a silver lining in all this chaos ~ the cats, especially Piper, are loving all the boxes and paper!!

Shannon came to visit recently & didn't realize we have a fireplace.

Yes. We have one hidden. On the left, behind more stuff that need homes, is the fireplace.

It will probably never get used. We had one in a house we lived in when the girls were toddlers & we used it like twice. To roast marshmallows!

We did get my desk in. {And this time when I say "we", I mean Sean & I} It was easier than we thought. Sean remeasured, and the door was wide enough, so we didn't have to take anything off!

So this is my "office". I have plans for the walls. They will not remain blank. When I get it done, I'll have to post some pics.

But first I have some more boxes to empty....