A Productive Storm Day!

Spring has NOT sprung here in Moncton! Yesterday saw our second snowstorm in less than a week for a total snowfall between the two storms that almost passed the amounts of snow we got ALL WINTER! Of course my 3 kids (Erin, Bethany and the big kid I married) LOVED having a snow day, as did Mum and John who are here for a visit. That gave them a whole extra day of fun and frolic with the kids. Nick went into work for several hours in the morning before the roads got so miserable that I called him to come home so that I could get the plastic organizers that I desperately needed to finish my Storm Day project.

What project? With an impending rummage sale at church and that warped urge known as Spring Cleaning rattling around in my life and too much play and excitement underfoot to do much serious work, I decided to tackle our family craft cupboard (I have my own extra supplies that they are NOT allowed to play with). For the past 6 months, the contents of this cupboard had grown and began to take on a life of their own. Contents had begun to leap out and attack anyone who so much as peeked inside the doors let alone actually needed to FIND something in there. The minute I opened the cupboard to begin, no less than 8 things fell out at once. In my enthusiasm to get started I forgot the number one rule of bragging about completed projects... I never took a BEFORE picture! You’ll have to trust me that when the contents of the cupboard were removed, I had very little kitchen floor left.

Now, the cupboard is all set up with craft supplies that the kids can grab easily. One of the ladies who solved the nightmare that was our Sunday School cupboard at church told me how easy it was if you just gave everything a home with a label on it. As you can see, I took her words to heart. Instead of 6 or 7 boxes of coloured pencils to choose from, there is one drawer to paw through. Same for crayons, markers, glue sticks & brushes, etc. The drawer marked “misc. craft supplies” now has little plastic bags full of leftover pompoms, foam stickies, glitter, beads etc. each sorted by kind. The fabric in the cupboard is the collection of tablecloths that always seemed to get stuffed back in instead of folded properly. What a sense of accomplishment!!! Here is my proud AFTER photo...



Nick left mid-afternoon on still snowy roads with his team for a tournament in Fredericton. He’s been playing on a 35+ basketball league this year and having fun, even though he comes home limping or bruised most of the time. Once, it was even a bite mark on his elbow... but I’m told the other fellow’s teeth felt wobbly afterwards. He called when they made it safely to Fredericton so that we could all relax and stop worrying.

Supper was a fun belated birthday celebration with a SMALL cake for both of them to share and some ice cream. Sigh! I had hoped to avoid the cake temptation... but at least it was only a small devouring. Now it is time to head to the gym for their swim lessons & sportfit programs. I’m going to walk some of the sugar off on the treadmill!