One of the first rooms I wanted to decorate was my linen closet. I wanted it to look like a pretty hat box, full of lovely things for my granddaughters. We had the perfect place between the hallway and playroom. The linen closet also became a private room to play dress up and all sorts of fun girl play. I filled it up with pretty little dresses, hats, shoes, gloves, little beaded purses, jewelry, and all sorts of pretty little things.
Yep, it became a favorite place of almost every little girl that entered our home. Always, hours of play which ended up with a delightful style show. One time my cousin was visiting. His two little girls loved to play in the linen closet. They actually convinced Hubby to let them put hats, gloves, and jewelry on him. They took a picture, but I don’t dare post it.
One summer our grandchildren were home for one month. Nana’s summer camp on the farm. I ventured upstairs to see what the granddaughters were doing. They seemed to be playing a long time without making any noise. I entered way of the toy room. I opened the small door and couldn’t believe my eyes.
“What in the world has happened to my linen closet? Where is everything? The linen closet is almost empty?” I asked bewildered.
“We are playing. This is my store, and the girls are buying everything.” My oldest granddaughter answered.
I still couldn’t believe how empty it was and asked. “Where is everything?”
“In their house.” She pointed to the hallway landing.
I looked in the hallway, and their pretend play house was all set up with blankets, lace, linens, dolls, and all sorts of their favorite things. Yes, all the lovely things little girls love. The girls looked at me with happy but guilty little faces, wondering what was going to happen next
“Okay, but when you are done, you need to return all your items back to the store. Neatly! And make sure you get your money back.”
“Okay, Nana.” They giggled.
Over the years, those little girls have grown and have entered the teens. At our last family gathering, a few months ago, we had a style show. They surprised us and came down in their mother’s formals all dolled up. Then the other little second-cousins also joined in on all the fun.
I have to confess that I am a little fussy. I hate disorganization. I just can’t function when surrounded by chaos. Almost every morning I go through my house and put everything in order. When the children were little I did it in the evening after they were in bed. Always have. If God allows with good health, I probably always will. If I see something disorganized, my first thought is, how can I organize it. If I can’t because of someone not allowing me to, I just don’t get involved. I leave. It’s very stressful for me, like Hubby’s shop. He will not let me organize it for him. “I have projects that I don’t want you disturbing.” He says. I shake my head and leave, or try not to enter. Good thing he has his tools in his shop and not in our attached garage. If I would have to see that every day, I would have to organize it and ask for forgiveness later.
So saying all that, I must have my linen closet organized. I have all my bins labeled. Twin sheets, double bed sheets, queen size sheets, pillow cases, table cloths by size, etc. It’s a great feeling, and it’s a lot less aggravation when trying to find the right size sheets when Nana’s summer camp starts.
