Simple Mom #2 Challenge

I thought I would share what I have been working on this past week or so. I got really inspired by Tsh over at Simple Mom and got my declutter on!! First of all I worked on the kitchen. (Her week #2 challenge was refrigerator and pantry, I took care of the frig and most of the pantry foodstuffs over the weekend and forgot to take pictures!) I focused on the "baking cabinet" which includes all of the spices and baking ingredients. I had been holding on to a bunch of glass tomato sauce Mason jars, thinking I could use them for crafts. But seeing their efficient size, I decided to use them in another way! I labeled each jar with the super cute and functional Martha Stewart Avery labels from Staples. One with chocolate chips, one with raisins, one with salt, one with almond flour, etc. The cabinet looks ten times better and is so much easier to use!! I figure if I am going to be making things from scratch around here, its going to look cute!!

Week #1 challenge was to declutter the kids' rooms and stuff. We were able to start the dreaded clothes switch out last week, during our quarantined spring break (we all had the stomach bug)! We are not completely finished but most of the winter clothes have been binned, properly labeled and moved to the attic. I have pulled out clothes to donate or give to friends and whittled my boys' spring clothes down to what they like (did you know 3 year old boys can be picky?) and what they need. It seemed we had over 20 pairs of shorts between the two of the boys - way too many in my book. That equals more loads of laundry to be done. As a consequence of the switch (in which the hubs is the great man of the hour - helping, folding, and lugging bins up and down the attic latter - thank you baby!) we have decluttered underneath our bed (as it is a storage area for lots of our things that don't fit in our teeny closet). The next spot is to go through the toys once again and the "homeless" toys. I am inspired by Rachel's recent post from Small Notebook.

The third challenge: closets, countertops and drawers & #4 the basement (choose your own adventure). Along with that I will be planting some of our early spring seeds and looking for some nice plants and flowers for the front and back yards. Hopefully we can have some of that nice warm spring weather we had last week.

spring is coming ...

the robins were out yesterday and now we have snow! but spring is coming. i know this fact, because the hubs and i successfully took two carloads (not completely full due to car seats and boosters) to the goodwill. i also attempted to take a car load of toys/kids items to once upon a child over the weekend, but got there right before it closed and was advised to come at opening of the next business day. ugggh so i just lugged all of that junk out to the car, drove the 20 minutes to the shop, drove back, then lugged it all back in to the garage. the junk heap is waiting for its day (i wonder how much money i can get for it?) it was one of those tasks that is not easily completed, a nagging, on-going task.

decluttering tasks yet to be completed:

1. garage
2. master bedroom
3. office
4. take more to goodwill
5. take load to kids' consignment shop for resale

projects to figure out:

1. office paper junk
2. children's school paper pile up
3. proper use of office for tasks, rather then pile ups being in other parts of the house
5. buy a paper shredder

the happiness project

yesterday i sat down to edit and organize my pile of recipes in to ONE binder! i decided a few months ago that this NEEDED to be done. (after reading about said project in small notebook) but i just put it on a list for another day's doing and low and behold TODAY arrived. i think my momentum is rolling along. you see, this whole simplify what you have, cull down to what you love and keep it, take care of it, use it -- its been building in me, all this year after we moved AGAIN! now we are settling in. we'll be here at least three years (in this one house!) and i can get to my project list. the momentum grew even more as i have been reading the happiness project. basically this project is a set of resolutions that i am making (daily) and collecting in a notebook, of which i ACTUALLY, in small bits and pieces, fulfill or work on. so as i have been working on the house, i got to a point today (never mind my laundry has gotten rather behind) where my office was nearly finished becoming the creative space i have been dreaming about. so i started working on those recipes. what freedom. what lovliness. ditch the extra and keep the wonderful!! i am making a list of (did i mention i love lists!) dinners to go to in a pinch. i want to have the makings for these dinners on hand at all times (if possible) and i also want to have (one of these days this project will be started!) a year's worth of food in case of emergencies. if you look at my book list on amazon you would see a stack on survival, self-sufficiency, handwork, gardening, living-off-the-land. SO the point of this blog post is that i am being creative!!!! the office is my creative space now!! i even made birthday invitations for my daughter's birthday party (which is in three weeks!) good things are happening around here. it also helps that i got a decent night's sleep (getting to bed by 9:30pm). its a must around here if mama is to be on her game in the morning.

now if i can just get to cleaning the floors, dusting, washing sheets, everyday laundry, exercise, eating better and drinking my water!! Oh Lord Jesus Have Mercy!!

** please go to the happiness project blog b/c i am not giving it a full explaination. i think there are parts to it that will really resonate with you heart and your soul. ultimately i know that my joy the FULL JOY is found in my relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit & i know that this liturgy i am longing to live out will fill my abundantly over and over. he gives me choices every day to pick those fruits of the Spirit and to eat of them: love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness self-control. this project is about making those fruit choices. its feeding my soul.