Can we all hold hands, bow our heads and have a moment of silence together....because I feel the need to commemorate this day. All the laundry in the mommycoddle household is DONE. And folded. And put away. It took much labor, much discovery of things that had been missing since, oh, summer, and the deed is done. One step closer to organization, my friends

And now that all the clothes are clean, I've come to realize that my two oldest children have serious dresser issues. Their "hand-me-down, get by for now" dressers have four small drawers and a cupboard with doors down below. The stuff down below is a massive wad of turtlenecks, bathing suits, wool sweaters and tank tops. Seriously, when I clean their room, I take my foot, shove all the stuff back in the bottom cupboard, slam the door and walk away. So today, we took a trip to IKEA and bought some nice, cheap cloth baskets and got those little dressers all neat and organized. Then Emma had the genius idea to make little pictures on the outside of each drawer/door so they would know what to put inside. The taped-on method is a little wonky, but otherwise I love it. I did Mary's sketches, Emma did her own.

Emily, I was going to call you on the way to IKEA but I knew you'd just finished entertaining/holiday, so I wanted you to relax and not feel the need to rush out and meet us. But we're on for next week.

I met with my new book group last night. (They really wanted to "make" the blog today. Hi girls.) We spent about five minutes talking about the book and rest of the time telling funny stories and laughing so hard, I left with sore abs and achy face muscles.

I just wrote a new post on baby center about getting a chore system in place for the girls. One woman can't be expected to do it all. And I think the magnetic refrigerator grid pad that Joan, from BusyBody Book sent me is going to be just the thing for this. Thank you, Joan.

The guineas have had their own little Independence Day. They are now free to move about the cabin...or yard. And word to the wise, don't forget you left the guineas out after dark. We left them out in the dark for maybe thirty minutes. Bye-bye one poor little guinea. Emma reminds me, "Mom. Life on the farm can be tough." And Mary keeps telling me, "When the guinea's ready, he'll come back." She goes out to the back yard every day and calls to him.

Meanwhile, our six hens have become five hens plus one rooster.

Mary and Elizabeth have runny noses. Could cold season already be here? What do you do to protect your children from the flu during this season?

The girls have been wanting pancakes for breakfast for the last few days. And because I'm not at my culinary peak come morning, I decided to make the pancakes this afternoon. We made a few with cinnamon and chocolate chips "for special", and some plains for Dan, bagged them and tossed them in the fridge for tomorrow morning. Hello? Why haven't I been doing this before??

Thanks for banging through the random thoughts with me.
Happy Thursday, friends.