{pretty, happy, funny, real} on March 8

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ 

Brought to you by Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty} & {happy}

Soft winter morning, fluffy falling snow . . .  perfect for snowman making with Daddy!

Have you ever seen this book? It's one of our favourite winter read-alouds.

Flannel Kisses by Linda Crotta Brennan

Now that it is March, I am getting anxious for spring. But I can't help enjoy a pretty winter day when it comes our way.

{really} not {funny}

I am sharing these "before" pictures in the hope that I will get the "after" pictures up as soon as possible! This is the office. Out of sight, out of mind . . . out of control!

Yikes! Stay tuned.



~lg

music room shuffle

The "music room" in our house has gone through a number of versions in the two years since we moved in. It has been a storage room, a throw-all-the-stuff-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with room, an extra guest room, all the while housing our musical instruments and most of my books.

I decided it was high time to get it together in a way that I liked so we could open the doors from our regular living room and make it part of our liveable space. One day when Granny was over we decided to just do it!

I don't really have any before pictures, but the piano used to be on the outside wall with the octagonal window - not the best place for it, especially since this room gets rather cold in winter. My main goal was to get the piano to a more comfortable location, and we worked everything else around that.

After the big shuffle (and it was a big job to move all those books!) I am quite satisfied with the results! I took everything out of the room that I didn't want to be there. Now it feels lovely and peaceful and liveable.

The view from the main living room into the music room - now I'm happy to leave the french doors wide open! The shelf you can see from here houses music books and my other "nice" books, including my LM Montgomery collection.

There's one of our pump organs that we got for free! This one actually works, though I rarely play it.
The chair is a recent kijiji find, and the rug is from a family member. I have yet to put up curtains,
but I have a lace pair somewhere that I think might work in here. 

The piano used to be on this outside wall. I moved 2 out of the 3 shelves over to this corner. These are all my theology books. It bugs me to no end that that octagonal window is not centred on that wall!!
(That is one of our old couches. We moved the big couch from the set to the basement.)

The piano's new home on the inside wall, with other musical instruments. I love having this big picture over the piano!  Now I just need to get the piano tuned...

The view from the music room into the living room. 

I still need to pick a paint colour for both living rooms. That flat white primer in the music room is just not doing it for me. I kind of like the colour in the living room, but there's only one coat of it, so it could use another to make it richer. Any suggestions for something that would look good in both rooms? Though the rooms are south and west facing, the windows are so small that I'm afraid to do a darker colour, especially with the current living room furniture.

Overall, though, I'm quite happy with the rearrangement, and now it feels like we have a much bigger living space! The music room also feels more like "me" now, which is also important.

So there you have it!

~lg

{pretty, happy, funny, real} on September 21

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Brought to you by Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

Amidst a lot of grey days of late, this was a pretty-ish sort of afternoon spent on the front porch.

Bouncing baby boy - now 5 months old!

Too cute.

This is a new activity I've set up for Arden - pretty simple, only a little sweeping required!
Now she can drive her trucks and tractors like the ones that are working on our bridge. 

Cooking and tractors are two of her favourite things!

{happy}

I recently did some kitchen and pantry reorganization, and I must say I am quite satisfied with the results! We moved the microwave to the kitchen, and created a dedicated bread counter in the pantry. All this was brought about because I wanted to try a beverage station in the pantry, out of the way of whoever is working in the kitchen, with a place for all of Micah's coffee paraphernalia and beans. I also relocated Arden's kitchen where it wasn't spilling out so much into the kitchen traffic. So far it's working out great!

~ Lots of detailed description of photos... especially for you, Mom!

As part of the process, I took Auntie Leila's advice and cleared off all the surfaces I was trying to clean and organize. This was all the stuff that had collected on the pantry counters and the top of the dryer!

Yikes! A summer's worth of odds and ends. I did end up getting it all put away. :)

The new view from the dining room, through the pantry, and into the kitchen.
The microwave used to sit on the corner of that counter to the left.
It wasn't until I moved it that I realized how much more spacious
this view really is without it there!

This is the microwave's new home, in the kitchen. Makes more sense here.
Our bread and cutting board used to sit on this table. (Far away from the bread machine!)

The new kitchen set up. We turned the fridge to face this way, so we had room for the table and for a chair for kitchen company. The fridge was also overburdened with clutter on both the sides and top. I pared down what is stuck on the sides, cleaned off the top and put cleaned items back on. The fridge top is still a little cluttered for my liking, but I haven't got to organizing all my extra and speciality dishes yet. Plus, the pen jar now stays up there, to keep ink away from Arden! My taller cookbooks and cooking magazines are on the shelf under the microwave. (They used to be on a counter in the pantry, which gave it quite a cluttered look. Now most of the cookbooks are in a cupboard in the kitchen.)

The view from the kitchen into the pantry.
Bread counter on the right, beverage counter on the left. 

The bread counter! Bread machine, bread and board, and toaster all together.
The peanut butter and honey and such are in the pantry cupboards above.
This counter used to have the microwave, toaster, coffee grinding stuff and green coffee beans.

Arden's kitchen fits neatly into this space. (It used to have the ironing board and a random chair.)

I reorganized the drawers below too! This used to have tea (as far away from the teapot as it could probably be), cake and cookie stuff, and medicine. I moved the medicine up to a high cupboard for safety purposes, and moved the tea to a new spot, as you will soon see. Now it has cake and cookie stuff and napkins. 

Ah yes, the junk drawer! This used to have napkins in it too, which just got all mixed up with the plastic bags. Now it's plastic bags, food wrap, and organized odds and ends. Much better. :)

And now, the reason I started all this shuffling - the beverage counter! Bags of green beans, roasted beans, coffee scale, coffee grinder, coffee pot, kettle, tea pot, sweetening accessories. All together in one place instead of spread out in the pantry and kitchen - hooray! 

The only thing we have to go and get now is water to fill the kettle. Better to walk to the kitchen to get cold water than to have to walk back from the kitchen with boiling water. We also have to walk to the kitchen to clean out the Bodum. Now Micah wants to put a little bar sink in the pantry! The top right cupboard now holds tea and our most used mugs for easy access. 

Inside the cupboard. Tea and chocolate on the bottom shelf, mugs and extra coffee stuff above. 

I had another stroke of genius here. I remembered I had this sugar dispenser in the back of a cupboard, so now I can still keep my canister of sugar for baking in the kitchen where I need it, with beverage sugar here! And a small jar of honey. AND, spoons! (I have an overabundance of these teaspoons, somehow.) I tell ya, I'm all set. 

{funny}

These two had quite the set-up on the living room floor the other day. As soon as I put Jack on the floor these days, Arden wants to join him! Every blanket she can find is put into use. And then, of course, the dollies have to have their own bed as well.

Doesn't this look cozy?

Playing peekaboo.

They really do entertain each other!

{real}

We had to say goodbye to our darling cat Scratchy yesterday. It was a sad day, but her time had come. (Scratchy's memoirs can be found here!)

Cat love!

Scratchy

Giving Scratchy a hug goodnight.

Scratchy has tolerated quite a lot in the name of affection! 

More cat love.

We had a family funeral under the old apple tree.
(But isn't Arden's outfit rather hilarious?)

Good-bye Scratchy! 

~lg

Order: Household Management

With my homemaking goals in mind, I am working out the details of daily household management. This is the order that will allow us to put relationships first. This is the rhythm that I hope will allow for those grace notes of wonder.

DAILY STRUCTURE

It is still a work in progress, but this is the structure I’m working with these days. It’s hard to have a set schedule with a nursing two month old, so I need to be realistic and flexible. I try to keep in mind some priorities that aren’t tied to particular times of the day.

Priorities

For me:

Scripture and Prayer

A walk outside

For the children:

Cuddle time

Bible and prayer time

Outside time

Book time

Music time

For the house:

Healthy meals (planned in advance)

Dishes & kitchen clean up

Laundry

Other cleaning task

Schedule

By 9:30                 

Me – Bible, breakfast, shower, dressed, bedroom tidied

Morning                

Tidy up dining room & kitchen with Arden

Get Arden dressed, face washed, teeth brushed

Make beds & start laundry (with Arden)

Snack

Bible and prayer, cuddle time

Arden’s nap

Cleaning/down time

                 

Lunch & cleanup

Afternoon               

Go outside after lunch

Book time/quiet time

Snack

Cleaning/other activities

Supper prep

Supper & Bedtime           

Supper & cleanup

Playtime or outside time, clean up toys

PJs & ready for bed

Storytime

Bedtime

Evening                 

Finish cleaning kitchen

                               

WEEKLY STRUCTURE

Monday:  Kitchen clean-up, clean out fridge, budget, meal plan, shopping list for the week

Tuesday:  Grocery shopping

Wednesday:  General tidy, hallways

Thursday:  Bathrooms

Friday:  Bedrooms

Saturday:   Vacuum & mop floors, outside chores

~lg

What to keep?

I'm taking stock of what I have in the house and trying to decide what to keep and what to toss. I think I'm the kind of person that likes to save stuff "just in case." I have a hard time getting rid of things that are useful, even if I haven't used them in months...or ever!

This house, while quite large, doesn't have a lot of storage space on the main liveable levels. Three out of the four bedrooms have small closets, and the biggest one is not completely useable because the plaster is coming off the walls in it and needs renovation. I don't have a linen cupboard. The main floor has one coat closet, and another closet under the stairs, aka, the "Harry Potter cupboard."

The basement is a mix of finished and unfinished. The main finished area is just a big storage area at the moment. We don't have any utility shelves, so things are just piled and stacked everywhere. I'd really like to be a little more organized down there, but I think part of the problem is there is just too much stuff.

What should I do with stuff like this?

• Original boxes for china, glassware and other breakables
• A bunch of different sized cardboard boxes that could come in handy for storage or mailing parcels
• Boxes of bubble wrap and packing paper 
• Good quality plastic bags (shopping bags from nice stores)
• Lots of washed, reused ziploc bags 
• Glass jars from food products (honey, pasta sauce, applesauce) that aren't canning quality  
• More mugs than we can use
• Corelle cooking/serving dishes still in the box (but I really like the look of them!) 
• Old issues of Kraft and other cooking magazines (there might be a recipe or two in them that I've used), decorating magazines
• Hair products that I haven't used in a couple years but might need again - hairspray, mousse, special conditioners 
• Extra bedding and curtains given to me that are not really my style (but might come in handy for lots of extra visitors)
• Knick-knacks with some sentimental value or that have been passed on by someone I know, but that don't really get put out because they are not my style or there are just too many of them

Is it worth keeping these things because it might cost me down the road to replace them? Or is it better to free up space (physical and mental) and toss/recycle/donate? 

~lg

A Reasonably Clean Welcome

This post is brought to you by the ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter! I'm joining the linky party to show before and after pictures of my main entranceway. The idea is to take a look at one's house from the vantage point of a visitor . . . starting with the first impression of the front door, or in my case, the back door.

We purchased our 93 year old house last year, and it's been in a state of constant renovation/remodelling ever since. It's a challenge to keep things looking neat and pretty when we've got projects on the go!

Before:

Here you can see the back entrance to our house, which is also the main entrance.  The porch has actually been pulled away from the house to make room for some grading which needs to be done on this side of the house. The old glass windows leaning against the house are to help keep water out of the basement window wells.

I didn't take a close up, but there were bits of garbage that had been hidden under the porch, rusting ant traps, a hose lying on the ground, plant pots not in use, and a chair that rubs green paint on people when sat upon!

And it's not very welcoming, actually, when you walk onto the deck and then promptly walk off it down onto this old door bridge over the muds and weeds! Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do about it presently.

Now prepare yourself for some unedited entranceway mess . . .

What a timely post, Auntie Leila! Just the inspiration I needed to tackle this :) Even the cat looks displeased.

Oh, just the average mess of beach stuff, shoes, purses, gloves and things that get dropped on the way in. Made worse by the fact that this is such a long, dark, narrow hallway.

And farther down, a pile of clothes I was sorting to be given away, some baby toys, a new box of diapers, and best of all, the dirty cloth diaper bag hanging, slightly smelly, on the cupboard door!

There's also a shelf right when you come in, which is a handy place for stashing odds and ends, which end up looking cluttered very quickly.

The other thing people see, other than this hallway view, is the (very narrow) entrance to the kitchen on the left, right when you come in.

So any mess in the kitchen is visible right away! And many people don't make the long trek down the hallway, they simply see me (usually in the kitchen) and come in that way. Where they are greeted by garbage and compost and cardboard and a broom and dirty dishes. And that little counter right there is where I stack the dirty dishes.

Not very welcoming, on the whole, at least on this particular day! This entranceway frustrates me because it is so long and narrow and dark, and I don't much care for the colour on the walls, or the wallpaper border, but this area just hasn't been a priority. It's an awkward way to enter the house, and poorly designed, I think. This back way is part of a later addition to the house. I have a lovely large front hall with a grand staircase, but there's no way to get to that part of the house from the road or driveway!

Well, I can't change the paint or the layout today, but I can make it reasonably clean and welcoming!


After:

(The before pictures were taken a couple days ago, and the after ones I took today, a grey rainy day, so the light's not very good.)

I cleaned up the garbage and put things away, took away the flaky chair and swept the deck and the "bridge." It's not perfect, but it's better.

 I also washed the screen door and the green door and all the door windows and the curtain as well!

And I don't know what looks better - weeds or bare mud. What do you think? :) It was pouring buckets by the time I thought about weeding, but now that I look at this picture I think I could at least trim back the weeds by the make-shift step.

Even after clearing things out, this space still looks a little cluttered to me, but at least it's neat! And fresh smelling! I also swept the cobwebs from the ceiling :)

Here's that little shelf again. Still needed for sunglasses and keys and wallets for now, but at least there is a little bird on the top shelf smiling down.

Having a reasonably clean kitchen is much nicer! I don't really have another spot for that garbage can, unfortunately. The broom is so handy there... I thought I could leave it there... but maybe I can find a better spot for it. Knowing the kitchen is so visible to all is certainly good incentive for keeping on top of it!

Down the hall, there is a small guest bathroom to the left, which I also cleaned and made fresh for company. Beyond that is the dining room, another work in progress - the wallpaper is coming down, hooray!

And on the right is the living room, also the only babyproof room we have right now, hence the gate.

The hallway really goes right through the centre of the house, with all the rooms opening up off of it. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to make it look bigger and/or brighter? What colour would you choose for the walls?

Well, that was fun! I'm trying to be content with what I have, while dreaming of what we can do differently when we have the means to do it. And in the meantime, keeping it reasonably clean certainly makes a difference!


~lg