It's a clean out!!!!

I have cleaned out the playroom. I have 2 crates of bits and pieces that are most likely going to lifeline but just need to be sorted and have the broken stuff thrown out and the few things that we are keeping that I just didnt feel like dealing with then and there dealt with. I also have a bag of toys to go back to grandma's house and some toys to pass on to Little Bear. I have also remembered where I have one more toybox hidden away but it has very little left in it after the kids discovered it a while back so I am going to continue to forget about it for a while...


So what brought on this burst of tidyness... not nesting, for those who have been asking. Our new shelves. Well, not so much the shelves as the baskets to go in them and hold everything. Long story made short....


Since we decided we wanted that to be the playroom (as it certainly isnt big enough to be a dining room like the house plan reckons) we were looking for shelves. we found exactly what we (I) wanted at Ikea, then found out Ikea wont ship wtuff out anymore and with our nearest Ikea 139.5km away (it is, I looked it up on whereis, 15hrs and 8 mins aprox) that was no longer an option we could entertain. So looking looking looking we found these low bench type things at target and put them on lay-by. Started looking for the baskets to go in them... not so easy, got the shelves off layby, still no baskets, turns out they are a really weird size shelf. FINALLY found baskets at Howards and bought out their entire stock! So today I bit the bullet and sorted toys. Pulled all the confiscated toys back out, tried to get the boys to help with sorting as a way of earning their toys back (they havent managed any other time I have tried to encourage them to earn them back). "All the Mr Potato Head stuff in here, all the train tracks in here, all the... no, a machine gun isn't a train track... all the puppets in here, all... yes, I know your wombat likes to build but wouldnt he prefer to be with all the other animals instead of with the building tools? Okay, how about you take those two machine guns into the lounge and play..." (I never thought I would say that, I am not a fan of gun play, not to do with the whole "pretend violence now leads to real violence later in life" idea but more that the real violence usually starts when they realise that the guns arent doing much and start hitting each other with them... but I have drifted away as I so often do....

All the toys are sorted, we have far too many cars and trains and lions and reptiles. At one stage I had to get as many stuffed animals on one shelf as possible and I had to make the hard decision that if it's not a reptile or in the big cat family it cant go on that shelf, there isnt enough room. "I'll probably only have to take off half a dozen things" I thought to myself, I had to remove a doll, a reindeer and a dancing bear, that's it. I did find other stuffed animals elsewhere but not many.


These are my profound thoughts I had as I was sorting...


Does a Borg Cube belong in with the cars? or perhaps the trains?


It just doesnt seem right putting a Sonic Screwdriver in with the building tools.



Tigger is a Tigger, not a tiger, does he belong to the big cat family?????


I wonder if I got all the boys hot wheels and matchbox cars together how many they would have? Last time I cleaned the car I removed 30 so it's more than that... we are still buying 2 each big grocery trip so that is...okay, best not to think about it... (that's their reward... it works if I do it right)

Can I cancel birthdays and Christmas so we dont get any more toys? Would anyone listen if I did anyway???

So here is the finished product...

500,000 Big Cats and Reptiles and the big blue crate is the Duplo. The majority of these baskets hold trains, cars and building tools.

This one is lower because it will eventually get a cushion along it to make it a comfy seat for them. You can also see that Howards was 3 short on what we needed for these baskets but it makes great truck parking. And there are also the non-namesake stuffed toys here.

Lion often does something weird then asks me "does this make you happy?" well, THIS MAKES ME HAPPY!!! This is a rare sight folks, the floor of the playroom!!!!

A good day's work I would say. As a reward for being so wonderful we are going to go and see some baby chickens this afternoon! There is a new wholesale fruit and veg place here and I want some more fruit it gets eaten so fast around here, I have to find some cheap stuff. It just happens to be at the place that sells chickens and ducks and animal feed and stuff. I also want to price some hay-type mulch for growing potatoes in. So I can combine the things I need to do today with the boys reward and we are all happy!!!

And yes I realise that long story didnt really get made short...

UPDATE: yes I know I only just posted it but I finished the playroom while the boys were having their nap and Lion just woke up and I took him in to look at it and he was delighted! he wandered around looking at where all the boxes of his favourites were located then he looked at me and said "thank you mum" H just made me really happy!!!! I grabbed him for a great big hug and told him that was the most wonderful thing I had heard today!!!