If You Give a Homeschool Mom a Bookshelf

The holidays are over and Craig is back to work.  This week I'm supposed to be working on school plans for this semester, finding spots for the new Christmas toys by packing up and purging the toys that the boys have outgrown, catching up on laundry...you know, all the things that are needed to recover from December so that we can hit the ground running when we start back to school.

We have this desktop computer on our old kitchen island in the school room.  It rarely gets used and takes up a lot of space.  The shelves are used to hold laptops, but it's cumbersome.  Inside the drawer and cabinet are lots of computer things that are outdated.

Then there is the loveseat.  Craig & I bought this and the sofa on our honeymoon (side note:  if you're getting married, I'd recommend against going shopping for major furniture on your honeymoon--it might lead to bickering about whether or not sofas need arms or what kind of fabric is best or other minor details).  I decided awhile back that I'd like to get rid of the loveseat and replace it with an IKEA chair or two (the boys sit on the loveseat to read and end up kicking each other or wrestling).

I was on the treadmill the other day and realized that if I could get rid of the computer/island, I could put in 2-3 more bookshelves.  I ran the idea by Craig, and he said okay.

Then, it exploded.

To get the loveseat and island out of the schoolroom, two cabinets in the hallway had to be emptied and moved.  One holds movies; the other craft supplies.  The boys were able to unload them and they helped me move them.

I purged the old CD Roms and computer stuff in the island, and the boys helped me get the loveseat and island out of the schoolroom.  They helped me get the cabinets moved back, and they were able to load the movie cabinet back up.  I want to go through the craft items and purge instead of just loading it back into the cabinet, so it's all piled in the playroom--on top of the new Christmas toys & kits that I'm supposed to be finding homes for.

Did I mention that Craig decided to fix the severely slanted floor in the basement bathroom over Christmas break?  So there is a toilet and sink in the playroom while the floor cures.

Back to the school room.

The next step was moving my desk.  I should've measured, because it didn't fit how I wanted.  I still didn't get a tape measure; instead I moved the treadmill and then moved my desk.  That was even worse, so I put the treadmill back and moved my desk to a third and then a fourth spot before I decided it would do.

I sat down at my desk and surveyed the damage, and realized that the two fully loaded 5 shelf bookcases should be moved down the wall about 3 feet to make room for the two chairs.  I unloaded the shelves, piling the books where ever I could, and got the bookshelves moved.

  

Next came the assembly of the 3 new bookshelves, which was actually pretty painless.  I got them easily moved into place.

And then it was time to load the bookshelves up.  And of course, when you load them up, you need to reorganize the books.  And when you're reorganizing books, you should look for any you don't need anymore.  This part took forever.

Finally, I finished.

Did I mention I was supposed to spend this week getting Homeschool Tracker Plus updated and ready to go for the semester?  And that I was supposed to get the boys' binders ready for this semester?

Of course, I still need to deal with the Christmas toys and craft supplies in the playroom.

And while I was moving everything around, I realized how much the whole basement needs a fresh coat of paint.  I think that will be my summer project...