Fabulous Friday Fun #57…

Oh internet frustrations indeed, slow, slow and just totally not getting connected… but we are here!!! And here are my favorites links of the week!!!

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  1. From the mother who gives her kids a roll of masking tape and a ball of string for Christmas. From the mother who plonks a pile of, dare I say, sticks on the grass and says… “Happy Summer.” From the mother who dumps a pile of dirt in the driveway and says make a map, thats geography for the week… From THAT mother: Here is the Best Blog Post I Have Read in weeks… Geek Dad’s Five Best Toys of All Time. Of course I would have a list of se7en things and I would have to add… water (I know lethally dangerous, but it is play time) and stones… because they provide meaning to life… and the se7en + 1th thing something to climb: a rock, a tree, anything!!!
  2. It is the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend in North America and my birdman is loving all the bird stuff on the web…
  3. All About Birds is a great site for young birders to explore…
  4. The Crafty Crow was full of ideas for feeding birds and crafting birds.
  5. Pop over to Playing by the Book to see my favorite, favorite bird that I fully intend to see in my lifetime!!! Miracles do happen!!!
  6. And moving on from birds would you look at those gorgeous animal cushions on Bloesem… I just love them!!! And I have a little pirate boy who would just love that kitty!!!
  7. Look at the kind of yummy videos I am watching on Alisa Burkes SketchBook course… Though I have discovered that drawing sea-shells is distinctly higher grade… and I am moving on to better things and I am drawing endless marbles!!! Did you know that upon close examination I discover that none of our marbles are the same… not just a circle with a squiggle through the center, believe it or not!!!
  8. And the Se7en + 1th Thing… Org Junkies 52 Weeks.jpg

     

  9. This week on The Organizing Junkies 52 Weeks: #7 Purge Until it Fits!!! I am all for purging till it fits, every now and then our house seems to shudder under the burden of the stuff of ten people and I have to donate a heap of stuff just to survive… one thing I can say is that my kids will all be able to leave home by driving off in a regular car, if not on a scooter, without needing to hire a pick-up truck… hopefully they will thank me for the ruthless: “Do you love it or not…” they have been through this week!!!

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    It occurred to me last week, that I could be decluttering for ever… and ever… and that really isn’t how I want to be spending my life – no, really!!! I understand maintenance and I understand baby steps and just start and all that… but what about just finishing!!! Seriously if I made a list of what I would like to do given a day to do it in: Decluttering would not be on my list!!! So why am I doing this so very earnestly!!! I think that after six weeks of “a project a week” I should have had a couple of places around the house that are in order and actually appealing!!! So I set myself the challenge, this week, to find se7en spots around our house that I could photograph and say… done and dusted, I like them… So that was my goal, no half done projects to come back to later, no little steps… se7en spots I would be satisfied with at the end of the week… And then I lost the plot and broke all the rules!!! The golden rule of decluttering… just do a little bit at a time… seriously I unpacked half the world: Here is a pile of all my kids clothes and a heap of over things… plonked on the only flat surface I could find…

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    • On Monday I did nothing – always a good way to start a project!!!
    • On Tuesday I moved the tumble drier – we have managed a year without it and it is time for it to move on. The electricity required to get two loads of laundry dry costs the same as a weeks electricity for the rest of the household – just too ridiculously expensive!!! Well I moved the tumble drier and then I moved a chest of drawers into the space, then I moved a book case, and thought if I could move the huge closet out of the dressing room then I could pop hood #3’s bed into it’s place to make her own cosy corner… Another bookcase moved and then the dresser had to be moved… and I thought I would just clear out the closets so I emptied them out and finally I thought I would re-arrange the books on the bookshelves… that wasn’t finally enough I shuffled furniture around the front hall as well… and my youngest child spent the day with his mouth hanging open in surprise the whole day!!! The only thing unscathed by this madness was the father person’s couch… some things are sacred after all!!!
    • On Wednesday we went to the beach for the whole day just to recover!!!
    • On Thursday I started packing stuff away and was very grateful for my habit of plonking empty boxes in the gaps, when I purge things (it stops clutter from landing straight back in the gap!!!), because all I had to do was flatten the boxes and the stuff fitted back. All the while I was ruthless… out went anything that wasn’t loved…
    • On Friday I decided to finish what I had started rather than sort out and pack away last years school stuff as well… because no matter how well we start our school year it always descends into chaos, especially after 36 weeks!!!

    But I never lost site of the goal of the week, here you are se7en spots around our house that I am loving so far…

The book nook under hood #3’s bed…

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The games under Hood #1’s bed…
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A new clear spot for science experiments…

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A refreshed dresser… with a shelf for hood #8’s clothes!!! Finally he has his own spot!!!

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The blanket cupboard… I just love stacks of blankets… love them!!!
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Who knew the memory boxes that have been out on a shelf for years actually fit perfectly into the closet!!!

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And a freshly cleared shelf with one purpose and that is to store the weekly stack of library books…

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That’s us… I will be decluttering school and school books next week – I am actually looking forward to it!!! I like all the shelves that are clearing and all the open spaces in our home…

Hope you have a Fabulous Weekend!!!

21 Replies to “Fabulous Friday Fun #57…”

  1. Lovely list.

    We have Puffins on the coast of Oregon (they like to nest on Haystack Rock), but I still haven’t seen one yet. We take our annual coast trip during the wrong time of year to see them. They are so beautiful aren’t they? I like them because they remind me of my favorite bird: the penguin.

    Anyway, here is a link to these puffins. Enjoy!

    http://www.wildbirdshop.com/Birding/t-puffin.html

  2. I am a decluttering fool – and I even love reading about other people’s decluttering, so this post was right up my neat alley 🙂

    Next week is my week to do the school books, too – although the last few years I’ve regretted getting rid of so much, so this year I might have to use restraint!

    BTW- Love the colors in your house!

  3. So glad you liked the puffins! And keeping my fingers crossed that you will one day get to see them. When you do, they will be sure to raise a big smile on your face!

  4. se7en!!!! you have a cupboard the very self same shade of turquoise I need, have to, simply must paint my front door!!!! did you do it?? do you have a name? a number? map? directions??
    :-))))
    rather desperate!!

  5. Hi April!!! We have penguins and you have puffins… we should house swap!!!! On our doorstep – really!!! And I have traveled the Southern Ocean and met Emperor penguins face to face – beautiful!!! I hope you are having a fun weekend!!!

  6. Hi Debbie… Glad to provide you with a post up your alley!!! And so glad you like our colorful home!!! When it comes to school stuff I am pretty streamlined… I did a major declutter about two years ago and got rid of all the things we never used!!! I no longer have math manipulatives crying guilty pleas from the shelves… The problem with our school is that it wanders around the house, school books are favorite books and get stuffed under pillows, in backpacks, in pockets, under mattrasses… so this week I will do the big search and replace!!! Otherwise a lot of scrap papers and rough drafts accumulate and I need to chuck those. Do we love it or toss it? That is the question!!! Hope you have a great week!!!

  7. Hi Zoe!!! Loved your puffins!!! They are right up there on my list of top things to see!!! Otherwise will you get your hands on the Green Ship and love even half as much as we do!!! Have a fabulous week!!!

  8. Mliss hmmm I just can’t remember the name of the color of the paint!!! It was an “off” color, not apple or lime or even spring… it might have been blue-green or green-blue!!!! Sorry I am no help at all!!! Forgive me, we have had it at least ten years… I went to the Builders Warehouse and cast my eye through the paint chips. I am notoriously quick at choosing paint color and tiles… twenty minutes later I was home and the closet had its first coat of paint on it!!! Hope you find the perfect color super quickly!!!

  9. Sigh. Penguins on your doorstep. I am officially jealous. Yes, a house swap should be in order huh? 😉 Of course we have about a foot of snow right now, but we do have a sledding hill out front. It would be a sledding hill/pool exchange.

    I have read your posts about your Southern Ocean exploration to my daughter. Amazing stuff! Sigh again. 🙂

    Have a great week!

  10. Hi April… again!!! You guys would love to visit here, plenty to see and do and lots of sunshine!!! And as for snow – would you believe that nine out of ten of us have never ever seen snow!!! Not one flake!!! Too weird!!! Anyway… I hope you all have a great week!!! Lots of love…

  11. Hi Martha… All caution was indeed thrown to the wind!!! And its amazing how much got done!!! I give myself crippling deadlines by inviting folk over for dinner – I have to have most everything done by the time they arrive because they at least need a place to sit and a table to eat at!!! Anyway this week is hope fully my last big push as I get the endless books in order… Hope you have a great week creating order out of chaos!!!

  12. That BEST TOYS post… oh so true! We really could NEVER BUY A TOY again. I do have to add to the list— vintage toys… hehehehe… because mama likes to play with them… :):) THANKs your Friday fun.

  13. Hay KM, I think that was a post about my kids best toys!!! My best toys are the ones we buy!!! I am indeed the marketers dream and right now I can’t get enough of wooden cooking toys!!! And as for Vintage… well those are Vintage for a reason!!! Would you look at your darling firemen!!! Awesome as usual!!! My kids would love a week of “Fun with Fire” !!! And I love the photo of the fireman with the green shoes… how do you live with such cuteness!!!

  14. I am in awe of your decluttering efforts – I would be scared to let you loose in my house 🙂

    But I’m rapidly approaching it with the kids? I was a crazy woman last night when I couldn’t find a space to put something so I’m throwing out MORE things.

  15. P.S. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that blue cupboard (turquoise) – I have an old wooden cabinet opposite my kitchen that I’m dying to get my hands on and paint – only I think DH would freak at that blue (a very bright colour for someone like him) 🙂

  16. Hay Organising Queen!!! Desperate measures and endless little projects drove me to it!!! One grand event!!! Boy is everything so much better… just wading through books with the kids right now: “Do you love it or not…” “Do you love it or not…” “Do you love it or not…” the end is in site and I will be back to my regular little projects… but we really needed this I just can’t stand flat surfaces that are not cleared and cupboards that are jammed… sigh I love it when there is space for things we love!!! Have a fun week with your cute little guys!!!

  17. Hay Organizing Queen Again!!! When we moved into our house, I mentioned we needed to do some painting – the father person left me to it!!! Well the painters would hide behind the doors when I got home because they couldn’t believe anyone wanted to live with such bright colors… I must have made an error… But no we like it bright!!! Glad you like our closet!!! Have a great day!!!

  18. About the corn….my grandpa taught me….gently peel back a bit of the silk at the top to see the kernels….pierce a kernel with your fingernail and if the juice is milky instead of clear then it’s done. and don’t refrigerate it after picking because it will lose some of its sweetness. I hope it works for you!

  19. Oh Rebecca – Thanks so much, seriously we are so excited about our corn and had no idea when the time would be right… I don’t think they are ready yet…. but expectations are HIGH!!! I am definitely going to plant a whole lot more next year – I can’t believe how well they did!!! Thanks so much for the tip!!!

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