Hi. Happy New Year! (kinda... 20+ days late) I know seems like we've been slacking. My friend here, and I may be many things, but slackers are definitely not one of them. We may take the blog in a new direction. What that direction may be we don't really know. We did have a blog meeting but really got nothing much accomplished. Ok well we did get long overdue mani pedis and a lovely lunch. But that was about it. So we are here, a few days a week. Maybe more if there's something pressing that must be blogged about. We will see where we go...new year...clean slate and all that.

January is what it always is. Time to come up for air from garland,wrapping paper and the fa la la la la.

Mine started out slower than usual, since on New Year's Eve I was dancing like a rock star (not) with some of my favorite kids and sprained the hell outta my ankle. So I was forced to sit (literally) for the first good 5 days of the new year. Probably good for me, but for anyone who even knows me a little, knows that it was not easy for me to sit. Sit and watch my tree droop, and dust collect on already dusty decorations....yeah.

Anyway fast forward a week or two and it's back to the usual business of January. So this month, as usual for me it's about order. Time to get the house and my life which has been over run with holiday fun, back on track.

So today, lets talk linen closet. I have been Pinterest pinning linen closets for months. I have gotten sick to my stomach looking what Martha thinks a linen closet should look like.
                                                                     
For real. Rattan baskets with white (only white!) towels, folded to perfection, tied with ribbon? Never mind the ribbon you can imagine what I think of that!! Lets just address all white towels. I love big fluffy white towels. But the people I live with and fluffy white towels don't go together. I would have to bleach them all first then let them use them. (the people not the towels) The end.

So in the interest of order and getting my laundry back on track (with helpful house guests who had the need to do my laundry while staying here to drive me insane to help me out...I literally can't find my underwear) I decided I would attack the linen closet.

So here, after the holidays, house guests, overnight guests, college students home on break and the new found cleanliness of 5th graders was my linen closet. I can't believe I am putting pictures of this on the Internet! Ack!

                                                 

Now if I had my way...it would have two doors that opened out not sliding doors so I could actually see what the heck is going on in there...and I would never have put that ugly AC duct in there taking up room. But it is what it is. And it's not getting changed any time soon...that's waaaaay down on the to do list. So I do what I can with what I have to work with. As you can see no one who goes in this closet with the exception of myself and Hubby (who never goes in there and would use the same bath towel forever if I didn't change it) even think to gingerly pull out a folded towel so that all the other towels don't come vomiting off the shelves. And honestly when I have 47,000 dozen cookies to make and equally enough presents to wrap anything that I can close a door on and make go away I do during those weeks. This closet obviously being one of them.

But I decided to go about this "project" not wanting to hold on to those Spider Man sheets that Mr. "Axe" smelling 5th grader would not be caught dead on never mind should a friend sleep over and see them. One family really doesn't need 12 sets of twin sized sheets when only one family member sleeps on a twin sized bed. And those pillow cases we made with my troop at Girl Scout camp have had their day. (my Girl Scout is about to be 20 years old...)



And this...



                 
                                         
I bought new inexpensive baskets, repurposed some other baskets I had around the house. And yes ribbon. I went there. But there are no towels tied with satin ribbon. There are cheap tags with "on sale"  and "I had a coupon" ribbon tied to the baskets so if certain people do decide to go in there they will have some direction. Such as "No, those are hand towels that people use after washing their hands and they are hung in public." "The ones you have bleached by using on your benzyol-peroxided face are now your face towels and marked accordingly" Thank you. See? Direction.

I can't guarantee no vomiting towels. And I do plan to make room in my bathroom for some nice mom and dad only towels. (read: HANDS OFF) Maybe I can inspire you to do that project you have been wanting to do. You don't need to spend lots of money (I spent total on this $6 I did have some gift cards but still...) or go all Martha on your home. 

And maybe someday I will have all white fluffy towels tied with pink and white polka-dot grosgrain ribbon (a girl can dream...). But that will mean that only people who actually get all the dirt off their body first before using the  white towel live here. And I'm in no hurry.

Jenn's two cents: Great minds think alike!  Or at least Cara & I do.   I spent Martin Luther King day redoing my linen closet. Although not brave enough to post pictures - I can tell you it was bad.  I too ditched the old sheets and mismatched pillowcases.  I added baskets - but not new ones, ones I just found in the attic - leftovers from Easter.  I put the wash cloths in one basket and the summer sunscreens in another.  I made a basket filled with toothpaste & toothbrushes and one for the first aid stuff too. Long ago I figured out that the "good" towels (that is my towels) stay in my room or the kids use them.  They each have two bath sheets with their names on them in different colors and I do laundry everyday so there should always be clean towels available.  It felt good to see that closet the way it should be - organized.  All the sheets are folded and put in the matching pillowcases.  I have a pile of extra pillowcases and the blankets have all been sucked into those space bags and stored under the guest room beds leaving lots of extra space.  My office is next on the list - I will tell you all about it on Friday.  Have a great week!