More Learning

The little girls and I did more vegetable seeds today.  Tomorrow, we are going to plant some flowers outside by our steps.

Next we are going to try our hands at container gardening.  I am going to try growing potatoes and carrots in containers by the door.

Learning Together

Given that I have never tried my hand at gardening before, this year is a learning experience for me and the kids.   Today, the girls and I planted some seeds to transfer to the greenhouse later.  I also planted the green onions I rooted.  I am going to try rooting garlic too.

I don't know how successful I will be, but it is a fun experiment.   The girls are having fun learning with me.

Surprising myself

I woke up tired today and had no intention of being productive at all, but as the day wore on and the sun shone down, I couldn't help but get out there and get more done.  I have to say, it was lovely to do some heavy lifting and hauling and get things done.  Looking around and seeing all the progress makes me feel good too.  The kids were happy that I pulled out all the summer toys and furniture.  They went outside after breakfast and didn't come back in until almost supper.  That is my favorite part of living in the country, letting the kids have some freedom.

Weekly Weigh-in

I lost one pound this week.  I am so happy with that! I ate well, I drank lots of water, and I was active.  After having lost 67.8 pounds, I don't expect to lose lots every week, but continual progress in the right direction makes me happy.

The girls and I were outside working again and it was fun.  They mostly play at this point, but it is fun to be out there with them.

Princess Magpie was singing a fun little song that made easy giggle

Fun

The warm sunny day today was perfect.  The girls and I were out in the yard dealing with all of the junk and wood that the previous tenant had left all over the yard.  I am not getting as much done every day as I would like but every day I make progress.  And it so much fun getting good outside and watching my girls take joy in the work.

Progress

It was a little chilly today and I had no intention of doing any yard work.  But the sun was so lovely the outside beckoned me.
So I went out to clear up some of the mess the previous tenant left behind.

This is one part of the yard before I got started.

I am not nearly done, but there was some progress made at least.

The little girls just had fun playing out in the sun.

They Love It

I put books in the little book corner I created for the kids. The little girls have been up there all evening pouring over the books and excitedly sharing their finds.  I love that they are enjoying it so much.

This is the corner before the books

And this is the girls pouring over books (there is a larger light they don't have on).

Playroom Part 1

I am still working on play zones in the playroom but for now we have been tidying and clearing.

This is what we have so far.

Spring Fever

I am feeling the need to de-junk the kids zones of the house.  It may be spring fever but my kids are SLOBS!  And I need their areas to look better.

Today, we tackled the kids lounge.  I rearranged and created two zones.  The first is the television area and the second is what will be a little reading area.  I still have to load the book shelves and I want to add a carpet and a bean bag chair to the reading corner.  It looks so much better and I can't wait to get at the playroom.

Here is the television area

This is what will be the reading corner.

Organizing

One of the projects I tackled today was my frozen foods.  I tend to buy things that are on sale and poke them where they fit.  Nothing was organized or easy to find.

At that point;

1. I emptied my freezers onto the table.  
2. Sorted everything into like items.
3. Decided which items went into my fridge freezer for easy access and put them there.
4. Organized the other items in the deep freeze.

This is all my frozen food:

Here is my fridge freezer now:

Here is my deep freeze:

I Blame Marilyn!

It is all Marilyn Denis' fault!  I was watching her show today and she was talking with Charles the Butler about organization in the kitchen.

They recommended that you completely empty your cupboards, sort everything, and then put it back in a way that makes more sense.

AND THIS CRAZY GIRL did just that!!!  I emptied out every cupboard and sorted and organized.  And when I was done . . . I DID MY PANTRY  TOO!!!

It was a LOT of work, I am completely exhausted and it is all Marilyn's fault!

On the upside my kitchen LOOKS GREAT!!  And the little girls got excited and dove in to help at the end.

Tackling

I had a long day of cleaning and organizing.  It felt good to get some big projects tackled.   Firstly, I moved the LARGE carpet out of the kitchen.  I didn't like it by our main entrance and by the table the kids eat at most of the time.  It was impossible to keep clean.  I opened it upstairs to a large landing where I also have some shelves.  It looks homey there and it will stay cleaner up there.

Among other jobs I did today, I also moved the kitty litter to the basement.  I am happy to have the mess they make out of the main area of the house.

Oops I Did It Again

I changed the way our living room and dining room are.  After Christmas I had changed it but today I was feeling restless and tired of winter generally blah.  So I decided to change things up.

A change is refreshing to me:

Before:

After:

Little Things

I spent a lot of the day puttering around and going through the few things that hadn't been unpacked yet.  I found my tea set and actually had the perfect place to display it.

I took the things that had been on that shelf and moved them.

I dug around in the basement and found the perfect cupboard to add to our pantry.  I LOVE it!  It adds so much space and let's me make it so much more organized.

So it was a day of puttering around but I feel like the little things made all the difference.