"Everything In Its Right Place"

I am, by nature, a compulsive organizer. Regardless of how my bedroom may have looked when I was 15, I can't stand clutter. Having a child and several exuberant grandparents (and great-grandparents) who have gone the extra mile (or 20) to take care of Connor's every need, it's been difficult, to say the least, to maintain my sanity amidst the ever growing sprawl of toys, books and more toys.

The result? Plenty of clutter — or toys, whatever you want to call it. Even though we regularly attempt to pare down Connor's monstrous toy collection, we've currently got Matchbox cars, giant building blocks, Thomas trains, a doctor playset, activity balls, golf clubs (for kids), a lawnmower (again, just pretend), a miniature farm animal set, musical instruments, Mega Blocks, musical books, DVDs, VHS tapes, various Little Tikes playsets, a motorized four-wheeler, a Radio Flyer wagon, and many more items I'm too lazy to list (and you probably don't care too much about anyway) taking up precious real estate in our home.

If I hadn't come down with another case of cleanitoutbeforemyheadexplodes syndrome, we'd have much, much more. Besides, his favorite toys are my Swiss Army knife and my guitar picks, anyway. He won't miss his old toys a bit.

Our super secret hiding spot (our pantry) is currently off-limits to Connor until we can transport the purged toys to Stacey's parents' basement storage facility — which currently rivals any toy store in its selection of choice and is growing by the month...I smell a side business.

Feeling that special tingle that only us manic organizers can identify, I scrambled to Wal-Mart yesterday and picked up a cheap three-drawer organizer. Once Connor was down for his nap, I sprung into action. Except for a few "floor items," if it don't fit in the drawers, it ain't stayin'.

If you're interested to see the monster I was up against, I took before and after pictures...

Before

After

Too much?