Closet Cleanup in California

I got to take a trip home by myself for the first time in a very long time.  It was to clean and organize, but I didn't mind, I was just grateful for a little time away.  Along with the cleaning and organizing I was able to have some peaceful, delicious dinners with my mom and brother, breakfast with my friend Jill, visiting time with my friend Laura, and even Alison drove down to spend the night and go on a walk and to lunch the next day.  Getting that time makes me so much more pleasant and appreciative of my cute girls and husband.  So thank you to everyone that made my little trip possible.  Matt was super dad and took them everywhere they needed to be, and picked them up each night.  I was gone from Wednesday night, Oct 13, to Monday the 18th.  The girls stayed one day at Cora's, one day at Ashly's, and one day at Lacey's, thank goodness for fantastic friends!  The results for Matisyn were an increased desire and expectation to be entertained every moment like she was at my friends' houses and for Emilyn it has meant an increase in clingy and needy behavior and a strong desire for mama and snuggles!  They missed me, but were very well taken care of when I got home.

I was able to get my room and closet mostly cleaned out at home.  It was still a shrine to my high school days, and I found some real treasures during the process.  Luckily my mom didn't make me take everything down, or even get rid of everything, I'm a little too sentimental.  I left two lettermen's jackets (one from each high school I attended), a graduation gown, and a stack of boxes full of notes and letters all the way from junior high through college.  I'm not sure the fate of those things yet.  Some of the other amazing finds were journals from elementary school, all my yearbooks, the "bow" flower bouquets from both my wedding showers, my gym clothes complete with socks and bag from junior high, old swim suits, home-made girl's camp t-shirts, sunglasses from the 90's, eye glasses from first grade (turns out I never needed them, but I sure frustrated my teacher when I refused to wear them, not sure why I'm still keeping those, they're Smurfette!), posters of Titanic and 90210, plaques, ribbons, and medals from high school swimming and waterpolo, and various other trinkets and gifts.  It was kind of sad how much I had saved, because we really did go through my room before I left for college and I apparently deemed all these things important at the time.  It was still kind of emotional to get rid of so much.  I took some pictures as therapy before I threw some things away!  I brought some home with me, and still have a couple of boxes to bring back during our next trip.  There were some great toys, jewelry, etc. for Matisyn, and some keepsakes, journals, pictures, etc. that I want to save, 6 bags of garbage, and 4 bags of donations in total.  Now we have a walk in closet that you can actually walk into, and my mom can store all the girls' toys she has for them. 

 Go LaLoma Lancers!  8th grade P.E. clothes

What a find, I know these are coming back someday!

 Under the Sea girl's camp t-shirt

 This was the big thing at swim meets to have colored sunscreen, zink oxide was really huge I promise!  I didn't save this, I guess I don't have as much faith that the trend with return.

 Our attempt at being like the book series "The Babysitter's Club", I don't think we got too much business from it though!  I had a whole stack of the fliers still saved.

 Wading through my mess

 Embarrassing posters we made, although I'm proud of our TFB list.  Some were real and some were stars, made up, etc.  We were so funny!

 This was a poster my friend Melissa made to cheer for me at a swim meet.  I only had half because the other side was for my friend Laura.

 I remember my Dad buying this sweatshirt for me, and that it got a lot of use, so even though it was from elementary school, it was a tough one to get rid of, so I eased the pain and took a picture.

Finished closet, organized, and almost Kristin memory free. . . Almost!

Matisyn Quotes:

"Can we live with Grandma Karen, she has the best toys?"
"I want to live with Kayla because she gets to have beautiful make-up."
"When we move from this house someday can we live with Ellie?  She has a neat little house in her backyard."
She is very fickle with her devotion to our house and family right now!  Nice toys, make-up, or a playhouse can sway her!