The big sort

I've always been one for a good sort. This is why I have been away from the blog for a bit. It's that time of year--sorting time. I love seeing things peeking out the tops of their appropriate bins, little labeled boxes all in a row. When I was a child I loved going to R & K Bookstore which had an office supply section and digging my eager fingers into buckets full of identical paper clips, gazing at small tins displaying tightly packed groups of matching pencils and pens of all colors, delving my hands into containers of a million small elephant erasers, and squeezing each multi-colored squishy pencil grip between my finders before returning it to its pile of cohorts. As an adult building train set-ups with little Jacob Mika we always sorted out all the track into piles of long straight, short straight, wide and sharp curves, switching pieces, etc. (Jacob also loved a good sort, lucky for me!) You'd think all this organizational love would spill over into my household but alas, sometimes three active boys take precedence and more often than not I suppress a cringe and continue cooking dinner rather than halt my activities to make sure the plastic animals are not getting put away with the mega blocks. Our baskets all have pretty good labels and the boys do well at matching toys to the appropriate bin but after a while things just get jumbled up and it is time . . . time for THE BIG TOY SORT!

We dump all the toys into a pile, surround it with baskets, and begin the sorting. Thankfully one big pile is all we have and the sorting progresses fairly quickly (albeit I have to keep on the little ones and do most of it myself--but it makes my happy!).

The other task I took on last week is not nearly as fun as the toy sort, doesn't progress nearly as quickly, and has to be done solely by me. That lovely biannual activity for those of us who live in seasonal climes--the fall clothes sort. Buckets are hauled out from closets and under beds, drawers and shelves are emptied, and the boys must stand in front of me fully fed up with the whole ordeal while I try one item after another on their bodies to discover what fits and what gets a little rest in a bin until the next child grows into it. After many nights folding, checking tags, and making piles I have finished. New buckets were bought and filled and now every item is in its place. I have been sneaking little peaks at my work during the day--it just makes me feel happy to see all the buckets in a row with their happy little labels peeking through the plastic: 3-6 months summer, 2T winter, 0-3 months all seasons, etc. Ahhh, the peace of organized clothes, it's as good as a trip to the spa.