I’ve decided to purge 40 bags in 40 days this Lenten season.

It’s not part of my Lent fast, just good timing to get rid of a bunch of junk that is bogging our house down.

I joke about being a hoarder, but I’m not fully kidding.

I’m a real hoarder.

Closets, drawers, cubbies, and basically my entire basement are proof of this fact.

I’m tired of it.

Tired of the piles and the clutter.

I’m ready to see open spaces and clean corners!

Casually mentioning this 40 in 40 plan at my small group last week prompted a friend to jump on the idea.

Before I knew it, she was texting me pictures of bags she filled up to donate or throw away.

It was just the push I needed to really commit to the endeavor!

So far so good, I’ve filled 15 bags of stuff to pitch or donate and I’ve got a long way to go.

Thinking about moving in a couple of years has made me evaluate what I’m willing to transport across the country to a new home.

Much of the junk in this house does not qualify, so I’m getting rid of it.

One thing I’m just not sure about what to do with yet is my old dollhouse.

It was originally my mom’s when she was a child.  Many dollhouses from the 1960’s were made of metal, but sadly this one is made of some kind of cheap particle board that’s honestly no sturdier than glorified cardboard.

My dad and I spent a bunch of time giving the house a makeover when I was young, and that certainly added some reinforcement, but all these years later it’s still falling apart.

The cedar shingle roof is missing a few tiles, parts of the siding are cracked, some of the finishing trim is missing, the bricks are falling off near the bottom and the front door is missing.

In my late teens, I was motivated to spruce the place up a little, but I did a sloppy paint job and never came back around to clean it up.  Some of the flooring is water stained and the entire bottom is threatening to fall off.

But, with all its flaws, it’s still kind of magnificent.

In a shabby chic kind of way :)

It occurred to me that Grace might like to play with it for a while until I decide its final destiny.

On Saturday I hauled it out of the attic, dusted it off, and brought out all of the furniture and accessories.

Everything was really dusty and many pieces were broken or coming unglued from more than a decade of being boxed up.

Grace was immediately enamored with the tiny accessories and she set about arranging and rearranging them while I grabbed the super glue and started sticking things back together.

In about an hour’s time everything was repaired and the house was set up to Grace’s liking.

She is over the moon about this old, tattered dollhouse with all of its primitive furniture and hodge podge accessories.

She’s been spending hours upon hours playing with it.

I can hear her sweet little voice carrying out the stories in her colorful imagination.  It’s positively heartwarming.

It has also helped relieve the insane fighting that was characteristic of her playtime with Avery every day.

She still comes out of her room to play and run around the house with Avery, but she also takes time to retreat to her room to play alone with the beloved dollhouse.

I’ve had fun explaining the old-fashioned kitchen “appliances” and how things used to be a long long time ago when people like Laura Ingalls lived.

The little girl’s room is her favorite.  Gaudy pink walls and pretty white furniture are right up her alley.  The tiny dollhouse is one of her favorite things :)

My best friend and I used to play with our dollhouses for hours on end too.  We used Calico Critters (called Sylvanian Families way back then) for “people” and Grace has decided to follow suit.  I thought she might like to use her Disney princesses, but alas, she’s a purist.  She wants to use the old-fashioned animal critters just like her mama did :)

I never would have guessed she’d enjoy the dollhouse this much, but I’m so glad I brought it out of the attic for her to play with.

No matter what I decide to do with it in the next two years, the time she’s spending with it now is totally priceless.

It’s taking a great deal of will power not to buy everything on the Amazon Wish List I started last night.  I would love to re-vamp the bathroom, the flooring and the front door and I know Grace would love having tiny silverware and miniature versions of her favorite foods.  She might even like a nursery for the baby and a human family at some point.

But for now I’ll resist.

Sometimes the most fun is had when everything isn’t just right and imagination fills in the gaps :)

Do you have a favorite childhood toy?  Is it still around?  What do you think I should do about the dollhouse?