Another Life Lately

Life Lately ... again

We've been working at moving around rooms in the house. Is that normal? Or do we have too much space and time on our hands? I could just be restless like that. I seem to torture my husband continuously with moving things around. Anyways, our "front room/dogs room" is now becoming space for books crafts and my computer. I have to say it looks and feels great. You know how when you walk into a room and the atmosphere is just, hell yeah! This room has got it going on! The kids have been really enjoying it, playing the board games and using crafts. I think it is just more welcoming to them.

One set back... We have to set up an appointment to get a new connection in the room for our internet. Dish stole the line for our tv? Switched it outside at the box as opposed to setting up their own... I'm not very amused.  

My office is becoming a play room. We're going to try out not having toys in kids rooms and see how it works out for them.

In continuing to work on donations/minimizing/liberating from our bursting at the seams house we tackled our closet, my clothes and my husband's. Apparently I "squirrel away" things in the closet. I found an unopened box of contact lenses, which means the eye appointment I've needed all month is getting pushed back. I also found long lost leggings, too many belts, and multiple children's teeth. I'm not going to know who's teeth are whose... does that stuff even matter? Do people keep kids teeth? My son has informed me that he thought that I just threw them away. Maybe that's a sign?

With cleaning up, cleaning out, and moving around the house I have other plans in mind as well. The girls room is getting a full make over. I'm excited to get to it and I think they will love it. My son's room will be getting a lift as well but his will come next.

After 9 months of embracing a vegetarian diet and a few long conversations we've decided to include meat in our diets again. I don't have excuses for such a decision. It really just seemed like the best option for our needs, dietary and otherwise. I still fully support vegetarian and vegan diets/lifestyles, no ifs ands or buts about it! I've always played a fairly neutral role with these sorts of decisions because it is so personal. We spent the last week enjoying the meals and meats that we had missed. Rachel - the very worst aspiring vegan. 

I have been reading about the Whole30 and I believe I will be setting a start date in the near future. It kind of eliminates all those extra terrible things(sugar, grains and legumes) that have taken over my diet lately or made me feel awful.

That's life lately for us.
How are you? What have you been doing? Do you have any projects this year?Are you on a new diet in this new year?

A Long Post On Organizing and Minimizing

With every new year comes change and change is inevitable. I decided to take this change a step further and really tackle some things around the house.

I first started with organizing craft supplies. Let me tell you they were everywhere!

This mess of stuff became this ...

 The containers are now very full as I took the time to gather sources of creativity from all through the house.

In the drawers to the left there are general craft supplies in the top two drawers. Miscellaneous things like poms, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, stickers, oil pastels, hot glue guns, cutting mat, and any other things that don't have a category. The bottom drawer holds paper of all kinds and paint chip cards.

In the drawers on the right there are soap making supplies in the top drawer. I have some candle making supplies in the attic to add but the drawer is too full already, oops. In the middle drawer are some old shirts, fabric, plastic canvas and needles, cross stitching supplies(which reminds me I have pattern books in the attic) and a few odds and ends. I am calling these "tinker tools". The bottom drawer is all fabrics.

The goal here is so that our supplies are more accessible to little children. I want them to feel comfortable and able to open up a drawer and start a project.
Between the drawers is a bin for Playdoh and a metal box that is currently empty but I think I will put magazines in it since we seem to have a growing collection.

This was phase one of organizing. 

Minimizing Clothing! 

In phase two I have combined organizing with minimizing. 

You see my children have WAY too many clothes. Make that had, because I did some serious sorting yesterday and the piles of clothes were insane. These are the clothes that belong to my 5 year old, Arayla.

I narrowed this down to 3 pairs of pajamas, 4 pairs of jeans, 3 comfy pants, 2 pairs of leggings, and 7 shirts. This all fits into one drawer. She has 1 jean jacket, 1 sweater, and 3 casual dresses in the closet. Also there are 4 dresses for special occasions or for dressing up as girls often do.
Her reaction was "Mama! .... There is something messed up with my dresser." Since the bottom drawer is completely empty.
She went on today to tell me that she is upset it won't take very long to put her clothes away. And what if she wears them all. And what if I don't wash them. We'll have to be more open about clothing needs and also with putting them into the basket for washing. I'm excited, I think this is going to work well overall. Here is the after dresser picture.
She does have a full summer wardrobe too that consists of 3 dresses, 2 skirts, 5 shorts, 7 shirts and 3 pairs of pajamas. Again it will only fill ONE drawer.

Next kid is my 8 year old Cambria.
She doesn't really have attachments to things which is amazing and a wonderful quality to have. All of her clothes before sorting. 

 

 Clothes remaining after sorting. She has 3 pairs of jeans, but none fit properly, she has 2 pairs of 10s and 1 pair of 7s and she is right between sizes. So we will have to find some good sales and soon. she has 6 shirts, 1 pair of comfortable pants, and 3 pairs of pajamas.

I think it is much easier to go crazy with kids wardrobes because of a few different things. For one thing, kids are always growing and there seem to be a surplus of clothing being handed down. Another source are grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends. I know many parents who buy almost no clothing at all for their own children because relatives are always handing them down or buying for them. Which is absolutely a blessing! Although sometimes this is done in such excess the children simply cannot properly wear them all, let alone wear them out before they grow out of them. Which is great for the next kids who get them!

I'm making it a point to try to only keep what will be used and loved. This is going to spread outward in all areas of our life and our home.

I have one more kids clothes to go through but his won't be nearly so drastic. 

Productivity!

I am becoming more and more productive the past couple of days. It's feeling pretty good.

I made an improvised blueberry breakfast cake which is in the oven as I type and that's before 10:00 am. Which is very rare. Although maybe this just has something to do with the completely spotless kitchen I created yesterday. :)

The rest of the day will be including cleaning, laundry, some more organizing, school work with my 5 year old, flash cards with my 2 (and a half) year old, and then  my 7 year old will come home from school and tell me all about celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday (or was it The Cat in the Hat's birthday??). Then hopefully I will be talking all three of my kids into watching one of mommy's dorky movies. You know, the kind that makes them roll their eyes. Well, I'm sorry, I have a strong love for the Harry Potter movies what can I say?

I'm starting to feel like I am getting close to a point where all my creativity is going to come flying out in all directions. Like, I'm feeling closer to being able to just pick up some fabric and make something. It's pretty refreshing to feel it creeping into my life. I think it might be like the kitchen... clean it, organize it, make it a happy space, then I'll actually feel like I can use it.

So I think that's where I'll be focusing for a while.

--Side Note: I really need to start including photos in my posts.--

Projects EVERYWHERE!

So a few days ago I deactivated my Facebook account. It has been a major relief not to look at updates and posts throughout the day. I have been at ease and have discovered a couple of my issues that are holding me back emotionally. I know now how to deal with myself. I know that to move forward I must sometimes take two steps back. I accept this.

Onward: Projects 
I have been working on some things here at home. First being FILING! I filed all the papers and documents that I could think to file (aside from the ones that the adult male of the house has neglected to hand over). With filing comes organizing! And we're getting there. I have made up some templates for household stuff. Including cleaning lists to keep on top of it all, a chart including dates (or about dates) when bills are due and the average totals for each. I also made a check off list for the entire year for the bills. So once it is paid and the check mark is in the box we can rest assured. :) You get the idea.

My next step is to get all of my kids crafting and learning supplies in order and available for use. I am also working on a rewards system project for my kids. Every week they will earn points for completing chores, school work, and general good behavior. At the end of the week these points will be added up and they will get to select a reward from the basket. The rewards will vary according to the point system. The higher the number of points they earn, the nicer the reward. I will blog with photos on this more when I have it all completed and in effect.

The next order of business I have been working on is me! Yes, taking time to do things I enjoy like blogging. I bought myself a new journal because my old one lost its appeal along the way and just seems like a place I don't want to put my memories into anymore.

Now it is time for me to get back to the real world!