Excellent exhale

I have been overtaken by another big push in the decluttery reorg...

I've culled the linens and have a bag of soft old cotton cloth to donate to a local animal shelter.  Those colorful plastic trays were purchased for homeschooling organization a few years ago.  They never quite hit the mark in that regard, but I was reluctant to pass them up because they were not cheap.  Thanks to the label maker, they have been relocated to the linen closet where they hold things of different category in a compact space.

I used to shop at Target a lot, but now only go about once a season.  I was stoked to find this lid organizer on my recent Target trip.  These lids have been the rattling bane of my kitchen existence for months since I shoved the glass lids in the cabinet with the metal ones (which also housed most of our pots and pans).

While we were at Ikea earlier in the week, I came across curtain wires and was intrigued.  Cap liked them, so we picked them up.  The curtain area of Ikea was overwhelming and complicated and we left the store with curtain wires and no curtains.

I found these curtains at Target and brought them home not really knowing what was what...other than that we could make these work with the curtain wires.  Cap and I have never bought and put up curtains in our twenty-plus years together.  Never.  He likes blue and I liked the springy-summery look of these.  They are 100% cotton.  They are machine washable.  They require no sewing.  Project Curtain Hanging will happen in the next few days.  Pics to follow.

I went off-list quite a bit at Target, but these "over-the-door" brushed metal hooks were on my list.  We've had one in the bathroom for years, but while making the final push in the kids' room, I realized we could throw a couple of these up in there to hold odds and ends like their bathrobes, the bow that Sag bought at the craft sale last week, and their backpacks.  I quickly extrapolated that I could also use one in this corner behind the door of the big bed room.

One of the challenges of living in not only a small space, but one that is unconventional in shape, is that we don't have a foyer or coat closet.  We use the closet in the big bed room as a coat closet, but it's in the room, not right by the apartment door.  So, early on, I asked Cap to put up this set of hooks closer to the apartment door to facilitate the kids independently and easily hanging their jackets.

But, then there were the bags.  We have a lot of bags.  I am kind of a bag freak.  I like bags.  So for years, these coat hooks were stressed with not only our fleeces and hoodies, but with bags upon bags.  Not pretty.  Or user-friendly.

I have no idea why it took me so long to figure out this space-expanding measure.  But, I don't care, I am going to spend my energy just loving it.  The corner now breathes.  It exudes peace.  Yay.

The Target shopping and linen closet work triangulated to reorganizing the medicine cabinet.  I wish I had taken a "before" shot, but, well, most of you can probably imagine what an overflowing medicine cabinet of expired/no longer used junk would look like.  While I was at it, I decluttered the cabinet under the sink, as well.  Ahhhhh.

When we put the new dresser in the kids' room, it freed up my very old childhood dresser which had been acting as overflow catcher of kids' clothes.  We have had this dresser...probably since my parents' moved out of the old homestead at the turn of the millenium.  It's kind of clunky and unattractive, but I have hung onto it kind of irrationally.  Today it found yet another new life, this time, as my bedside/crafting dresser.  Yay.

The little red dresser that could.  (Can you see it's missing an eye?)  In repose on my side of the bed.  Sigh.

My sweet little space is coming together.  Those are my cookbooks on the bottom shelf.  Eventually, I would like to dedicate the top shelf to spiritual/personal work books and "stuff".  Right now I have the materials for photography projects stuffed in there.

I'm glad I got to keep my dresser.  There had been some talk of Sag taking it and my getting the new dresser.  Originally I had hoped to pare down my clothes enough to buy a smaller dresser.  But, I wasn't up for the task of going total ascetic...and luckily, Ikea had affordable options in the bigger size.

This is the pile of stuff that still needs tending to...

...not bad considering what the pile looked like for a couple of weeks there.

There is a Japanese turn of phrase that comes to mind: kotsu kotsu to (little by little)...

Peace and love.

Photofall

Another photo "fall" (like waterfall)...random order computer generated.

We have had tiny pockets of warmer temps here and there, but the trees are still quite bare.  I am happier for the longer days, but do love a shot of stark branches against sky.

Cap records and then watches Japanese programming late at night after the rest of us have gone to bed.  So when one of the rest of us turns the tv on the next day, we sometimes catch a glimpse of Japan.  This program brought my paternal grandfather rushing back into my consciousness.  Not only was he a lover of classical music, but in the years preceding his passing, he would often while away the time watching classical concerts on NHK on his widescreen.

Last week, Cap and I met my sister and her one and only for dinner in the city.  The hellish two hour trip in was well worth the precious time communing over one of the few cuisines we can't enjoy in our restaurant haven of a town.  (Our trip home?  Under thirty minutes.)

Snow in March.  Again.  For Cap and me it's a lovely reminder of the day in 2001, another snowy March one, that we discovered we were pregnant with Sag (which felt as wondrous as the "spring" flurries).

Windows.  At the library.  Shot during a leisurely Sunday lunch with my sweetie.

There is something eternally yummy about seeing a kid read while walking.

We had lunch and hung out with my dad and then he stayed with the kids while we went into the city to have dinner with my sister and Mike.  The kids were happy to have time with their granddad.

Endorphin face.  Did the elliptical with Danielle this week.

Leo and me.  He turned four in January and is less and less a "little" boy every time I see him.

The mystique of the red velvet cupcake.  I get it...and I don't.  This one was delicious.

Snow again.  This was shot at night out a front window.

I have a thing for window seats.  Since I was a little girl and wanted one so bad.  I have created them ever since, in every space I could.

This morning we celebrated Gem's name day.  It was delicious.

This afternoon, while Sag and Cap were at gymnastics, Gem and I hit the library.  He needed books about potatoes for his latest research project.  He found others, as well.

My breakfast plate this morning was a veritable United Nations: Ethiopian coffee, Irish butter, and Finnish cardamom bread.  Yum.

When my favorite eatery moved from its cozy and seemingly perfect original location to the café space in the library a couple of years ago, I thought it was a death knell of sorts.  I have been so pleasantly surprised by how they have transformed this institutional space into a warm and welcoming haven.  Not only have I continued my patronage, but I do believe I drop by even more.

Striving to get more veggies back into the rotation post-GI bug recovery.  A duo of bacon: Brussels sprouts with kimchi and roasted broccoli with garlic.

Another shot from the library.  This place is the source of such varied inspiration.  I love it.  I call this one: Twenty Face.

Peace and love.

Friendly inspiration/room to breathe

Kelly recently inspired me two ways:

She walked into our apartment the other day and exclaimed, "it looks so good in here!"  Very enthusiastic and heartfelt.  My immediate internal reaction was to feel a sham.  How could I receive such positive sentiment when I so often have negative niggling at me when it comes to cleaning and decluttering?  It was a good reminder to, first of all, accept joy whenever possible.

She mentioned that she is finding peace by keeping small spaces tidy and working from there.  This morning I have been sluggish of body and jammed of mind.  I started small with no regard for what would happen next.  And, yes, despite a laundry list of cleaning/decluttering tasks yet to be done in this room, the room we spend the most time in, the room we socialize in, the "big room", if you will...to have small spaces within the room "straightened" does bring with it some peace.

Thanks, friend.

Peace.