Creating Sacred Space

The icky stomach flu bug thing has hit our house. Patrick was up all day and night vomitting. Larry didn't feel well today either. We were supposed to travel to Princeton, Massachusetts to NEADS (http://www.neads.org/) to celebrate Larry and his hearing dog Stewie's graduation. The weather forecast predicted a bad storm but mostly we got a dusting today. We didn't end up going though between Larry not feeling well and the storm and Patrick spent all day in bed anyway.

I did manage to get so much done today though. I'm loving all the organizing and it's making me feel really good to have some control over my household. Larry slept in this morning and while he did I enjoyed my coffee and made my list of things I needed to get done today.

This is the dry erase board in my office/classroom. Notice that there are only two things not crossed off. I have to make a payment for a Prairie Class that Morgan and Tae will be taking next month. It sounds really cool and I'm very excited about it. The other thing I still have to do is finalize curriculum for next year. We are buying all of our books used from Amazon this year to help save money and the money that I save will be used for classes and field trips for the kids. We missed out on a lot last year because we didn't budget well so I'm really excited to be able to finally let them join in on more classes outside the home.

So what did we do today? I baked two loaves of bread, a pan of brownies, finally cleaned out my bedroom closet (4 hours worth), cleaned and emptied two huge boxes that were in my bedroom, finished painting the bedroom (ok-Larry did that yesterday along with hanging my new Roman shades, curtain rods and curtains), updated our Monthly calendars for March, made a Roast Turkey dinner, made more laundry detergent, found some recipes for homemade bagels

( I refuse to pay $3.99 for 6 bagels anymore), and found some recipes for some homemade cleaners because I refuse to buy the chemical stuff anymore).

Yeah-I know- what's happened to me? I make my own laundry detergent, cleaners, bake bread, raise chickens for fresh eggs, and have turned into the frugal housewife. The weird thing is that I'm loving all of it. Everything we do to sustain ourselves is less impact on the environment and brings our family closer together. None of it is hard to do but it does take planning to accomplish. Today, I'm dog tired from doing so much.

This is our sacred space-fresh and newly painted. The wall color in this picture looks peasoup green but it's a nice mustardy color.





I still have some pictures and artwork to hang but am loving my space. The kids are not allowed in here. It's mom and dad's space. No toys, no playing and no hanging out.





And yes, I finally tackled my closet today. We actually have a floor in there- I was beginning to wonder. It's all organized and neat. I threw out 4 bags of garbage, packed things away, straightened, washed and ironed tons of lines and donated a ton of clothes to charity. Whew! I'm very glad to have this whole area done.



Tomorrow I tackle the main bathroom linen closet. We have a very full week with Pediatrician appointments, Dentist appointments, art and sign language class, our coop, soccer practice and I have a meeting at church. I also go back to work this coming Friday night and am not looking forward to it. Patrick will be on a field trip to a Synagogue as part of his Neighboring Faiths curriculum at church. Catch me if you can.

And here is my funny little man. He helped me to make brownies today.

Chocolate everywhere!

Who Made This Mess?

Did you ever have one closet that was utterly a mess? I spent the day cleaning the closet in my office. How does this happen? I'm pretty sure the fairies come at night and mess it up.

Let's see....canvas bags that I use for shopping that are supposed to be in my car, scrapbooking stuff, storage containers that are all labeled from my last cleaning frenzy that now do not contain the right items, science kits, curriculum that needs to be filed away, an old pocketbook, last years day planner. Do I need all this stuff?

Holy cow-here it is spread out on my desk. But let me just say that I used the Dust remover on our keyboards today and there was enough cat hair in them to weave a coat. Of course, then it was all over the desk and I had to clean the desk. Does anyone need a box of 500 rubber bands? I also found the manual to my camera-maybe now I can figure out how to help my very blurry pictures.

But, look at the after cleaning moment. Everything in its proper containers, labeled and put away. I can now reach everything and can find it. Tomorrow I move on to my bedroom closet. If I'm not back blogging soon, come looking for me please.

I think my foggy lyme brain is improving. I spent the weekend reading a book. In months past, I was having difficulty getting past the first paragraph. Yesterday I spent the day reading, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I fell in love with this book. Granted it was easy reading but I also loved Tuesdays with Morrie too. I was just pleased to read again, I've missed it so much. I've had a stack of books on my nightstand just waiting for me to dig in.

I'm also dying to get out in my yard and start our spring cleanup. We've had tons of branches from our Willow Tree fall this year and the yard is just a mess. My garden is calling me and I spent some time going thru seed catalogs and plotting out new beds in my garden. More gourds this year as well as some loofah for fun. I'll plant my sunflowers elsewhere this year to save room in the garden. Last fall, we planted two apple trees, a cherry tree and four blueberry bushes so I'm anxious to see what we get this year. We have the fertilizer from the chicken poop too to use in the garden. Last year the soil was not that great but like all good things, takes time to develop.