Wednesday, December 22, 2010

What Do I Do With This?

I am not a saver.  Perhaps I once was.  My mom and sister would have to remind me on this one, but my current self does not hang on to unnecessary items, as a general rule.  I don't keep birthday cards.  I don't keep clothes I never wear, I get rid of baby things as soon as they are no longer being used.  I never re-use Ziplocs and don't fix holes in my worn-out socks.  I have moved enough times now, in and out of all sizes of homes, that keeping boxes and boxes of things I don't need and have no real use for is only more work and takes up room I don't currently have.  

The only time I struggle with keeping unnecessary things is when my adorable children make/bring me something from school, church, or here at home.  I do keep the best of their work in their journals, but there is something from each boy almost every day - from well-done homework to thanksgiving turkeys made from cut-out hands and feet to small houses made of sugar cubes.  They bring memory verses with corresponding pictures they've drawn and paintings and framed photos.  Mitchell even brings a little booklet home every week in which he has practiced writing his name on every page!  It is one of the highlights of my week!  


My kitchen and their bedroom is fair game for hanging these masterpieces.  I don't allow them to hang things anywhere else in the house, but these two rooms are a constant art show, for those who appreciate the fine art of pre-school and kindergarten art!  It honestly makes my unsentimental heart sad to have to throw something away to make room for the next onslaught of art coming in.  It is so unlike me to hesitate over throwing away a painting consisting of black and orange swirls of finger paint, swirled together in a "storm," which is what Mitchell labels all his... unrecognizable paintings, but I truly do feel sad to throw them away after they have had their share of wall space for a time!


Some of the stuff they come home with though is puzzling at best, and it just can't be hung.  What do i do with these things?  I can't just throw them away right in front of them!  What, for example, do I do with this gem?

And I have more dragon paintings and drawings than I can possibly use.  I could decorate an entire wing of a museum with them!  

Fortunately, the boys make so many things, it is rare for them to get too terribly attached to any of them.  I rarely just dump things when they are watching, but neither one notices when they wake up in the morning and the walls are much neater and tidier, if a bit less colorful and entertaining.  They don't stay that way for long!




1 comment:

  1. just take pics of them all for memories and one day a journal or album and don't feel badly abut discarding the myriads of pictures and art.

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