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THE PURGE

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I’ve been absent for Joyful Mom!  I’ve been Joyful in other places :-)

We have been purging the house.  It didn’t actually start out as a plan.  It wasn’t on the calendar.  It just has sort of “happened.”   Last week my daughter said “I can’t put my clothes away!!!” and I was thinking “no kidding–you never fold anything, you keep everything on the floor and then cram it into any drawer when you hear me coming up the stairs (in a non-joyful way). . . ”  When finished stomping up the stairs, I looked at the amount of clothes she had  I was amazed–I didn’t buy her all of these clothes . . .

Then I realized, when her older sister grows out of something . . . it goes to her drawer . . . so now she has double of everything!  I dropped everything– thinking that it would be an easy chore . . . just a little sorting . . . (If you give a mom a simple chore . . . )

  1. Girls clothes, sorted first by one fits, secondly, by season, and then out of season clothes staying in their room just up on the shelf.
  2. In order to use the shelf space I needed to open boxes that were just stuck up there since we moved . . . the girls needed to make hard decisions about their treasure and the amount of American Girl doll stuff.
  3. They LOVE the American Girl Dolls but it isn’t fun to play when everything is all over the place so we needed a plan for where.
  4. Ken (the carpenter) finished “American Girl Dollville) the place under the stairs–a hang out for the girls (pictures soon) so they worked on that area.
  5. Girls getting American Girl Dollville organized is taking longer than they thought–they have more than what they first thought about–now we need hangers . . .
  6. Created a makeshift office for my husband in the guest room.  That required:  moving 1 dresser into the boys room, moving the other dresser over to the other wall, clearing off a table from the basement (I have a huge basement project ongoing, I write about it here and a lot more through this series of honesty), clearing out under the bed.
  7. The clearing out under the bed I found my Christmas pillows that I “lost” and all the flannel sheets . . .
  8. When I found the flannel sheets I had to put them in the linen closet–which I needed to organize first.
  9. After I cleared out the linen closet I had to create another box for goodwill, a pile of things to take pictures of for Joyful Mom, and lots of toiletries to go to our local homeless shelter.
  10. Then tackled the boys room:  the dresser from the guest room replaced a rickety old dresser (that will now be used in American Girl Dollville), went through all the clothes, made piles for Goodwill, and cleared out Legos and Bionicle.
  11. Now I have several piles in the garage going out . . . I’m happy about that.
  12. In the midst of all of this I bought a desk for my daughter at a resale place that supports a pet rescue–
  13. When we bought the desk we needed to clear out the homeschool room,
  14. I had two extra desks which I found homes for . . .
  15. I wanted to clean and organize while we were at it . . .
IMG_2165

the new desk is on the right, the table is a place for kids computer and a work space for a middle schooler and the turtles are in the tank. The fish are now on the desk–a work in progress!

a cleared out kitchen cupboard, which I did fill with a few cookbooks from the basement.

a cleared out kitchen cupboard, which I did fill with a few cookbooks from the basement.

Our ongoing projects are to:

  1. Organize our master bedroom closet.
  2. Go through all of the kitchen cupboards–PURGE!
  3. Decide if we want the current homeschool room to be moved into the basement or to have the basement be a “hang out place” and a craft area for the girl and me?
  4. The basement project will take the longest–I’m having Ken put in some shelves, we need to ruthlessly go through everything . . . but I’m ready–the time is right.  Emotionally I’m in a good spot to tackle this project.

How about you . . . do you live a life of resembling “If you give a mouse a cookie.”  Do your start one thing and have it snowball into a huge project?  or Do you start with one intention and then realize part way through that what you are doing doesn’t serve your purpose?  I would love to hear your stories.  Please tell me I’m not alone!

Linking up I should be mopping the floor, Craftastic Party, motivation monday, create with joy, Busy Mondays, mindful mothering, and with Ann, The Better Mom, Rediscovering Domesticity, Titus 2 Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, Titus (2)sdays, Gradituesdays, Heart and Home, Whatever Works Wednesday, Wisdom Wednesday, Show and Share Wednesday, Saturday Show and Share.

31/31 days of honest: the end (and beginning)

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I have watched this video by Ann Voskamp–several times.

This 22 minute video of a new DVD series sums up where I am right now–with my 31 days, with my blog, and with my life.

I want to take my faith to the next level, I want to open my hands fully to the heavens and catch grace, love, peace and feel joy–in every moment of my life.

I won’t lie about my weight.

I will embrace my heartache.

I want memories not perfection.

I will find my sisterhood.

I will try to understand my limits.

I will try not to yell at my kids to get in the car (or at other times).

I want to clear out all the extra stuff that does not add value to my life and that does not assist me in living an intentional life.

I have learned so much about myself in the past 31 days of honesty–I have referred to it as my basement therapy–my intention was to clear out the physical clutter in my basement–what happened is that I let go of old; pain, dreams, heartache, and a huge box of what ifs, could have’s and might’s.

Be Blessed today.

I’m linking up with Good Morning Girls, Walk With Him Wednesday, Whatever Works , Women Living Well, Work in Progress Fellowship Fridays

30/31 days of Honest: the day my dad died

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As I work through the basement more and more, the same question keeps coming up

Why, so much stuff–duplicates, enough pans to bake 30 cakes at once (no lie!), enough fabric to make dozens and dozens of quilts, enough yarn to wrap around the world (ok, I didn’t do the math on that but . . . ), enough to scrapbook every memory since the beginning to time–Why?

I have asked God to show me what I need in my life and I keep hearing–you have everything you need.  I have given you everything.  I am always with you.  be happy, be blessed, feel my love, be still, keep listening . . . I made you amazing and your friends–why can’t you all see that?

Ok, I get it.

One day when I was 7 I came home with my brother and found my dad dead on the kitchen floor.

That changes a kid.

That makes for an adult with things that need to be worked through.

My time is now.

I think one of the many reasons that I keep projects and plan projects is so that as I give things away–I’ll be remembered.  I don’t want to be forgotten.  

(yeah, I’m crying right now)

My dad was replaced by another man within 2 years–I don’t have anything from him–except the cabin that he built.  I go to that place and I look at the walls and think about his hands building the walls that give me shelter, the roof that protects me from the rain–I fish for Pike and panfish–just like he did.  When I am at the cabin I am with my dad.  I tell my kids about Grandpa Joe.

The death of my dad was not handled very well.  I struggled.  I still do.

The death of my dad was the first step up a treachourous uphill battle of disappointment, abuse, more death, and a life spinning out of control.  I can honestly say through it all I didn’t feel God’s presence.   But I wasn’t scared either. (and I should have been afraid–very afraid)

Now that I look back on the crazy and unsafe life I lead–I know God must have been with me–otherwise I wouldn’t be here.  Thank you God, for keeping me alive.  Thank you for planning this life for me–in the darkest moments you were there shining–so that I could see my way out.

I still don’t want to be forgotten–but now I know how I want to be remembered!

The little girl who walked through hell with God, and came out giving thanks for each moment.  That is how I want to be remembered!

linking up today  here, here, here, here and here