Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun #76…

1. Gotta have some Fourth of July fun: Here’s the sweet from my friend Katherine Marie… and you know I love s’mores.
2. And here is the savory from Delia creates, a brilliant flag pizza!!!
3. This is a post that can trap me all day!!! Who doesn’t like shopping and here you go a A Shoppers Guide from Apartment Therapy to knock your socks off!!!
4. And some LEGO storage that I actually love!!! Love!!! Love!!!

5. And talking of LEGO… Did you know that Cape Town has a Lego shop, called Kiddiwinks, in fact I bet you all knew and you just weren’t telling me!!! But for those of you who don’t knw… It took a bit of arm twisting of my eager children to get there… I kept making them save just a little more, just a little more… well it was so well worth the visit we will definitely be headed there again and again… especially since I think we should be saving for one or three things!!! It helps that there is a Vida right next door!!! Vida is my friend!!!
6. And I know a little boy who would so love something like this to carry his cars around in… love love love… Maybe I will have to make a momentary visit into the world of stitchery!!!
7. And would someone like to suggest why oh why International mud day is not on our calendar… take a look at ALL of this muddy fun!!! I have a feeling that everyday is mud day around here… so why celebrate the ordinary… but seriously gotta add this to our calendar!!!

And the se7en+1th Thing:



8. This week on Week 26: How Much is Enough?

This was/is my year to get everything sorted and working… Not just decluttering, I am manic about decluttering and getting things sorted but I wanted more… no hidden boxes, no closets that daren’t be opened, no lingering projects, in facts if a project lingers too long them the project can go!!! Half way through the year and 26 weeks of playing along with the Org Junkie. You would think our house would be spick and span a smoothly oiled organized machine!!! Well it’s not, our house looks pretty much the same as it looked on 1 January!!! But I have learnt a whole lot, heaps in fact!!! Here you go se7en + 1 things I have learnt on this project:



1. Slow and Steady Wins the Race: This is my first long term project, I have always tried to do a huge sort in a week or two, or even a month. I never finish and the same old hateful spots get left time and time again. Things like ancient boxes of photographs… just a couple, but I just never got to them. This time round I am actually getting there. Because I have a year to do this I can’t put those last lingering projects off – I am literally running out of nooks and crannies.
2. Bit by bit: A little bit every day really works!!! No seriously it does… it adds up. To look at a chest of twelve drawers can leave you procrastinating for weeks… just one drawer a day gets you done on less than two weeks.

3. Maintenance: Sorting a closet or a shelf or anything is one thing, like keeping a surface clear… Lovely while it lasts. And there is the thing being organized requires a whole lot of maintenance and I knew that!!! What I learnt is that if I don’t schedule maintenance projects they just don’t get done. So a project done quickly becomes a wreck if you don’t keep maintaining it. It is all about maintaining, maintaining, maintaining… and it is so much easier to keep a craft shelf tidy once it is sorted than letting it atrophy and then doing a total rehaul…
4. Consistency is key: You really have to put things away… where they belong… every time you use them… to keep things straight and orderly. This is my week point, I start something and I don’t finish, but I start the next thing… which leads straight onto the next lesson.
5. Finish what you start: Just finishing the dishes before doing the laundry… and we have a lot of both, means that the every flat surface isn’t covered in chaos. I know the laundry has to be hung first thing in the morning else it will never ever dry… so lingering over breakfast and doing the dishes and then getting around to the laundry means a galactic fail of a “laundry day.”

6. Just start: So many times a project seemed unconquerable, but once we got started you really can roll with it… twenty minutes later you can have achieved a lot and with two hours you can simply be invincible!!!
7. Don’t assume perfection: Our house doesn’t look too different on the surface, mostly the same old stuff. but beneath the surface there has been a radical improvement – quite the opposite from previous sorts, where the surfaces were clear but don’t ever look beneath the surface!!! Indeed, going beneath the surface is a rare treat… with a spot for everything and everything in its spot – really, amazing!!! A shelf for old photographs means that every time I find a small collection of them, I just move them to the photograph shelf. Who would have thought that it was that easy. Who knew that I only needed one junk drawer and not a junk drawer in every room!!!

And the se7en +1th thing…



8. Have a donation system in place: Decluttering gets easier and easier… what was impossible to get rid of becomes very easy, when you start to think of finding a place to store stuff. Often saying “I will get rid of five books” on a given shelf, very quickly became a box of books. And so on. Seriously have a plan or you won’t be able to move for piles of things to get rid of. I set up a weekly trip past the local clinic to drop things off… So fill up a bag behind the front door, drop it in the car when it is full and deliver it weekly. It just couldn’t build up and some folk couldn’t notice just how much stuff was getting going.

Turns out I have enjoyed getting spots sorted that I never thought would, turns out I love things in order and I am prepared to work for that. Turns out I am looking forward to another 26 weeks… even though it is the harder nitty gritty not been there for ten years kind of stuff… and dare I say photographs!!!

That’s us!!! Have a great week!!!