Labor Day Labors

Labor Day was, by all accounts, a wash out thanks to Gustav. But that didn't stop us from being productive around here. Thankfully, we were spared any of the bad stuff! So we made the best of it, and got to work. At the top of the priority list was Banana's closet. Only a chosen few of you (actually, maybe only one of you) have ever seen said closet. It was a sight to behold. Banana doesn't believe in wasting any of her precious, abundant energy on housekeeping. The floor is a perfectly acceptable place on which to store one's belongings. There is no need to fully open a drawer to put an item inside. Slightly opening it and stuffing whatever it is inside works just as well...and it doesn't matter if the drawer is the correct drawer for that particular belonging. And beds are for sleeping in. Why bother making it if you are just going to get back in it later? So...you get the picture. Banana's closet was dangerous territory. It was the kind of place that gave me the shakes. It had become a nightly ritual for me to go into her room at bedtime and launch into a high pitched litany of despair.


Many years ago, when the girls were little, we installed a lower clothing rack and shelf in their closets so that they could reach things. In Banana's closet (I suppose because it is slightly longer) we also installed shelves up one side. At the time, I intended for the shelves to be for toys. The last few years, they have been used for shoes. But in reality, they have never worked well. They just encouraged clutter. Shoes, piled on shoes, falling off shelves, mixed up and hopelessly messy. To find a pair of shoes, Banana would dig through all three shelves, then crawl around on the floor looking for the shoe she wanted, then go through the same routine looking for it's mate. Not to mention all of the Barbie stuff and purses and hats and belts that were mixed in. Oh it was just awful...
This picture doesn't really do it justice. I didn't think to go get the camera until she had started.


Yesterday, Banana got to work. She pulled out all of the shoes, purses, hats and other clutter. The shoes got placed side by side, in pairs, so that she could sort them. All those that were too small got moved out. (I, by the way, inherited three really cute pairs of shoes this way.) Here is a picture of the shoes...just call her Imelda...

She worked really hard. She rearranged things, and moved some things, and (shock!) got rid of some things! After Kearsdad did the "dad" job of taking the shelves down, Banana did the rest. I supervised, but she really did all the work. I was quite proud of her. Here is the result.

I wonder how long it will last.