Getting Back on Track

This has been a difficult week and we still have more coming, with the funeral and my sister coming home from the hospital and needing extra help in the upcoming weeks.

I realize that if my own house is not in order and running smoothly I will not be of much help to anyone.
I am a person who does better under stress. I am really good at buckling down and focusing in stressful situations and cleaning and organizing is one of my go-to stress-relief projects. So I am going to take advantage of this extra focus and energy to make big strides here at home.

We have 2 birthdays coming up this week to celebrate- Amelie will turn 6 on Friday and TJ will turn 2 on Saturday.  I want to make sure they don't get lost in everything. We need some happy here.

Because the funeral arrangements are still pending and my sister will be needing extra help this week, we opted to postpone Ami's party a couple of weeks.

That is giving me extra time to make it even more special for her! I'll be posting some of the plans here soon. It is a rainbow theme and just what we need right now to cheer us up.
TJ won't be having a real party, but we will go do something fun with the family to celebrate his birthday.

Today we woke up to something completely unexpected - a heavy slushy snow covers everything!

The schools are still on though. They are already well over their snow-day limit. So we headed out early to get my oldest (at home) to school on time.
On our trek home I got started early on my good-deed-doing :-)

Traffic was horribly slow and backed up.
As we made our way through the mess, we passed a stuck, brand-new Lexus, its tires spinning uselessly on the slushy ice-snow mix, blocking one lane of a major section of road snarling traffic for some distance. The windows of the were darkly tinted and I couldn't see the person inside. 
Stopping would have meant blocking another traffic lane with my 3 little ones in the car.

So instead I did the only thing I could think of, I called my husband, a police officer in the city where the intersection is located, and let him know. He was finishing up an accident on the highway and apparently headed over to check things out right after I called.

Inside the car he found a sobbing, scared 16 yr old girl who had been given the car just 2 days before, (ok, I won't even get into who gives a 16yr old a brand new Lexus...) and didn't know how to work with a rear-wheel drive car in the snow. She was so happy to see my husband there to help her that she jumped out and hugged him! He maneuvered her car into a nearby church parking lot and had her wait in the sanctuary for her parents to pick her up since she was too shaken to drive. He called to let me know what had happened.
It definitely brightened a stressful and probably very long day for him to have someone so grateful and happy for his help - so it turned out doubly good.

I am off to start work on Home Sanctuary Challenge 2 -Paper Clutter - Which means my computer desk will be getting lots of attention this week!
Plus, I have a new place to store and organize some of the papers and things.
Remember this space?

Thanks to more things from my in-laws (Pottery Barn Roll Top Desk?  - Um, Yes Please!) and some things from my own stash of stuff I have begun to improve the space

I have more things to add (another round platter is waiting for another 3-m hanger) and I'm not entirely sure it will stay here permanently.
I really want a bench with storage underneath here, but for now it is definitely an improvement!