Almost

I am almost there or at least I feel a lot closer to being done than I did last week.  Which is funny because there is less than one (working) hour between the two.  In the previous weeks I spent hours sifting through Lego, Playmobil and the like and I felt nothing but overwhelmed and under accomplished. This week I moved some furniture around and I finally feel like I am getting somewhere.

This is pretty much how this side of Sam's room has looked since last August.  When Sam started school I got it in my head that he needed a desk and chair to do his homework (he does it at the dining table).   We bought everything, got it home, put it together and just kind of stuck it on this wall, which had previously had looked like this.  The EXPEDIT moved over to the wall on the left and it all ended up looking kind of indifferent, or better said "Meh."

The circles are off of the wall and the EXPEDIT is back.  Now all you have to do is imagine a world map above the desk.  It was hanging yesterday, but it fell down overnight.  That is what I get for keeping it rolled up for the past year and a half.    I plan on getting a chair or bean bag to put on the now empty wall.  Sam loves it and is not missing any of the things I purged over the past weeks.    I plan on doing another quick purge in the next weeks and there a still some things I need to hang, but I am almost there.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris 

 

Please visit Jules at Pancakes and French Fries for a lot more William Morris inspiration.

Not Done

Not done, or maybe I should title this post "I've Started", "Working On It" or something along that line.  At the moment, the title is more appropriate to how I feel about the state of Sam's room.

 

This is pretty much how Sam's room has looked since Christmas.  Sam is the only grandchild on both my and my husband's side and the only child under 18 for the rest of the family, so you can imagine the problem.  To be fair, my husband and I have not been totally faultless. We have reformed our ways though and have found that less is definitely more when it comes to the amount of toys our son should have.  I am still working on how to get the rest of the family to co-operate.
 

One of the first things I tackled was the contents of the art drawers in this cabinet. It had been awhile since I had gone through all of Sam's drawings, so there was quite a bit to sort.  What to keep and what to toss? Generally, I try to be quick and keep those that show progression.

The things I decided to keep went back in the drawer along with the Sam's completed school workbooks (which had been dispersed through out his room).  My thought is for us to review them at the end of the year so Sam can see his progress and then (to secretly) toss them.



The rest went into the recycle bin.

Next up was a purge of the drawer holding all the pencils, markers, scissors etc .

I know that it won't stay like this, but maybe something close.  Besides, it was good to go through it all and throw out the broken rulers, dried markers, and the like.

This picture is all I have to show for the major purge I did of his toys, books, and games.  I had a wonderfully huge (and to me depressing) pile of stuff in the basement all ready to be carted off to our local charity shop.  That pile stood there for a few weeks waiting for me to take a picture of it.  I am pretty sure it yelled, "Cheese!" every time I walked by it, but I never managed to take that wow shot for this post.  Then last week, in a fit, I schlepped it all to the car and brought it to the shop.

 

I know that there is improvement, but I still suspect that there is probably too much stuff.  If I consider the bags that I carted off, the room should be devoid of toys.  There will probably be another toy purge in my near future, but I first want to see how it goes with what is left. 

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

Please visit Jules at Pancakes and French Fries for more William Morris inspiration.

Back in the Garden

This year I am going to expand my kitchen garden to include some more vegetables.  Since we moved into our house three years ago, we have had one or two tomato plants each summer.  Mostly we have lots of kitchen herbs (thyme, oregano, dill, sorrel, savory, etc.) and some fruit (raspberries, grapes and strawberries).

We purposefully left this little corner (to the right) of the garden empty because we plan on putting some kind of water feature there eventually.  In the meantime, it was a good place for Sam's kiddie pool or for him to dig around in.   This year we are going to use it to add some square footage for the additional tomatoes, peppers, etc.

I wasn't going to say anything but looking at the picture I really must.  Our property ends with the fence and the grey border stone.  Everything behind it is our neighbor's property, which they have elected to use as their junk depot.  It drives me crazy!  Last year I was having a conversation with her and she said, "I just love sitting on my patio and look into your garden."  I am thinking, "I wish I could say the same."  Hopefully this will be the year they finish up their yard.

I spent some time in the seed aisle last week and settled on three types of tomatoes, one hot pepper, and a mix of carrots.  I also still have some salad, radish and bean seeds from last year.  I tried my hand at salad last year and the snails really loved it.  This year I will plant it in pots and hope that the snails don't find it.

Sam and I planted the tomato and pepper seeds in seedling pots and by mid-May they should be safe to plant in the ground.  I just hope that these seedlings do better than the strawberries I tried growing last year.  We are going to plant the remaining seeds directly into the ground or in the case of the salad in pots. 

I have a total soft spot for violas and just couldn't walk by them at the garden center on Wednesday. 

Have a great weekend!