Through Every Season

Tag: Moving (Page 2 of 5)

Finding the Moving Puzzle Pieces

I love the feeling of being organized.  
When house is cluttered, 
my head.. and even my heart feels cluttered.
A couple of months ago I started getting frustrated, 
because although I am completely unpacked,
 I keep needing things I don’t know where to find in my new house.
Mike was really sweet and said, “Don’t feel bad we’ve only lived here 9 months.”
I know where they were in my house in Montgomery.  
I know where they would be in our house in Florida.
But you wouldn’t believe how much time I’ve spent searching for things here.
My puzzle pieces are still a mess.
During the move to Montgomery, I got rid of a ton of stuff.
10 van loads to Good Will, and 10 to the dump, then boxes and boxes of books.
Our house in Montgomery was smaller than our houses in Florida and San Antonio.
Stuff had to go, and the kids were getting older and have out grown a lot of stuff.
So when we were in Montgomery, I’d have to try to remember if or not the thing 
I wanted was something I had given away or kept, but the stuff I had kept was pretty easy to find.
I still have a little trouble with remembering if or not kept the thing, 
but most of the time I know it’s here somewhere.
I am thinking if I had less stuff that it wouldn’t take so long to find the one thing.
I am planing to go through my book collection again at the end of this year.
By then, I should have only one left in homeschool.  đź™‚
One of my most cluttered spots is in my computer files.  
Years and years of homeschooling on a budget.. lots of free stuff on the internet.
I’ve been working for a couple of weeks now on cleaning them up.
Hitting that trash button is painful, 
but I know my cluttered brain will be grateful one day.
It’s not quite as satisfying as decluttering the house,
because there’s no one to admire all my work.

Closet Organization Projects

I rarely wear any of my jewelry.. 
Mostly because I am too lazy to pull it out from my drawer.  
I saw some jewelry boards when we were in TN last 
and I thought ‘what a wonderful idea’..  
I had a mini bulletin board that I wasn’t using..
Looked in my fabric/linnen closet.. 
I am so happy to have it all out where I can see it and not in boxes anymore.
Found this stained dresser cloth..
Put them together… and added some push pins and jewelry
Doesn’t she seem to be saying, .. “Don’t forget your jewelry.”
It’s so accessible now.

I found some extra space behind my closet door while I was there.
When I found the idea of hanging a packed toiletry bag in my closet
 on “Organize Your Stuff Now”, I was very excited.
I used keep this bag under my sink.. 
It was very messy and unorganized under there and I had
to sit on the floor to dig it out.
Taking it out and packing it.. made room for me to organize 
the rest of the stuff under my sink.. 
Leeanne suggests buying travel sized bottles of the stuff you use 
then refilling them with your large bottles when they get low.  
I do that but I also collect trail sized bottles from our hotel rooms.
With a family of 6 you can use a bunch in a few days.
The toothpaste and floss samples we save from dentist visits.
I take new toothbrushes with us.. just incase someone forgets theirs.
All I have to do when we go on a trip is grab my makeup etc. from my drawer.
Yay!
I bought this over the door hanger at the same time I bought 
the popup hanger thing for the laundry room.
  
I didn’t need it in our new laundry room so I am using it to hang 
my extra purses and a straw garden hat from Thailand.
Thanks for taking my closet tour..
Love,
J

Sunday Go To Church Hats

My Mamalene’s hats hung in Judi’s room until she out grew her “girly” room
and got a fancy new red comforter for her bed for her birthday a couple of years ago.  
We never unpacked them our last move, but since this time I am bound
and determined to unpack and use everything I own or throw them out
I decided to spruce them up and find a new place to hang them.
A few of them had some water damage (not sure how),
so I googled “how to clean vintage hats.”
No one would suggest anything to try except to take them to a professional.
My dry cleaner wouldn’t touch them,
so I brought them home and cleaned them
in the sink with some water and spray and wash.. 
They came out OK.. better than they were.. I discovered that the hats have
an inner liner that I think is starched.. when it gets wet it gets sticky
and the hat looses all it’s shape.. but when you blow dry it it stiffens back up again.
I used one of my tupperware canisters as a reshaping block.
I only washed the off white ones.. then I used a permanent marker
to touch up a couple of the colored ones.. 
The veiling on most of them was very brittle and in bad shape
and I couldn’t find any new veiling locally so I found a great millinery supply
store on line called Judith M. Millinery Supplies.  I thought that was a great name.
They had all the colors I needed and more for only a little over 2 dollars a yard..
and they shipped them to me supper fast;
I ordered them on a Monday and received them by the following Wednesday.
Before.. this is one of the ones I touched up with a permanent marker.
After with new veiling.
I had most of them finished and ready to hang Friday and asked Mike if I should hang them over our video cabinet or in the foyer… his answer was neither.. “Hang them somewhere I won’t see them.”  
Thankfully I had a back up plan.. other wise I may have reverted 
to acting like a two year old by throwing a tantrum.  
Yes, I occasionally still do that.. but not as often as I want to.
Here are all the hats together.
I learned a trick of stuffing them with tissue paper to help them hold their shape.
I wanted to hang them above our video cabinet.  I thought it would be fun 
to have them near my vintage pictures of my grandparents.
This was my back up plan.. 
luckily it was in the one place Mike wouldn’t have to see them, my closet.
It’ll be fun to see them first thing in the morning when I get dressed each day..
I thought it would be fun to have some ladies over for tea and to pull them 
off the wall to wear sometime.. of course then I was thinking my prayer room wall.
I did a couple of other projects in my closet today too for my mourning therapy..
I love how I feel when I get something organized.
.. to be continued.

Introducing the Laundry Room

My laundry room is usually the last room unpacked and the one I am most excited 
to have done; there’s something about weeks and weeks of 
trying to get the wash done admits chaos.. then wa-la.. order!
The lack of storage and the fact that the mirror/coatrack (a garage sale find) 
that’s hung near our backdoor for the last seven years broke in the move 
inspired me to buy some paint and shelf paper and go a little over the top coordinating.    
Our laundry room is right off the kitchen.. here is a view from there.
The door straight back leads to the garage.
Here’s a close up of the back wall.  I made the clock for our kitchen in FL.
All my left over decor ended up in here so it’s mix matched.
See the tall plastic thing with the polka dots?
I bought it at the Container Store for our last house.  It opens up.. (see below) 
A family of six can never have too much space for hanging clothes.
Here’s a view from the garage.  The door on the left is a pantry.  
I use it to store our vacuum, light bulbs.. etc.
If I re-mat the “Train up your child” verse over the
 window in blue, it might go a little better.
This is what the shelves looked like before I recovered them 
with the new polka dot shelf paper I found at Target.  
The shelves held Josh’s rock collection and dinosaurs among other things for years.  
For the last two houses, Josh hasn’t unpacked the stuff 
that goes on the shelves, so I repurposed them.
My friend, Suzanne, gave me this cute breadbox 
that she found at a garage sale in Germany (I think).
My dusting supplies are in it now.  I hung the selves so it’d just fit.
The little covered can next to it is a little trash can for my dryer lent.
I found the canisters years ago at Goodwill.  
They are too fussy for my new kitchen, 
so I am using them to hide my dry cleaning supplies etc.
I labeled them so I can remember what’s in which.
I found the plastic carafes at Target and made labels for them on the computer;
 there’s one for bleach, softener, vinegar.. and several for detergent.  
 Two or three times a year I buy this huge bottle of Ecos laundry detergent 
at Costco that washes a whopping 150 loads.  
My new front loading washer (love my new washer & dryer) uses half as much 
detergent and washes almost twice as many clothes in a load than my 
old washer and dryer (that broke in our last move).
There are so many small detergent bottles because I divide up 
the large, heavy bottle of Ecos into smaller bottles to make it easier to manage.
I moved my gift rapping supplies from my closet into this basket in the laundry room.. 
I am not real happy with the way the two baskets look together.. 
I moved two Raggedy Ann ornaments from my bathroom vanity 
to the window sill to make a collection.  I like them all together.  
I made the message board from a frame I found in the trash.
It’s hung over my kitchen sink in our last two houses.
I need to find coordinating fabric to re-cover it and dress the window.
I use the trash cans between the washer and dryer for sorting whites etc.
I got the wash rags in a white sale at Kolhs.  They cover the washer drain hose nicely.
The rags I’ve had for 20 years all but bit the dust.
I bought the mail box years ago as a place to put videos in 
that need to be returned to the store.
We have Net Flicks now and I am not sure what to do with it.
I bought the laundry baskets years ago to sort the kids’ laundry into.  
I color coded them with ribbons.  The idea was that they were to take their basket
and put their things away once a week, but instead they just use them like drawers.
They hardly even use their dressers for clothes anymore.
The posters are from DoorPost.. I don’t use them any more.. 
I need someone to give me a rule about what to keep and not keep for grandkids.
I am keeping plastic shopping bags in the container with the blue lid.. 
found it in the neighbor’s trash a couple weeks ago.
I made the shelf from left over parts from a porta-crib I slept in as a child.  
I used most of it when I made Joel and Josh’s beds a couple of years ago.
Here is my inspiring mirror.  I had a new piece of glass cut for it.  
It was a darkly stained, oak mirror with brass hooks before I painted it to match.
I used dots from the shelf paper to dress it up.  
The raincoats are handy for we have to walk Sally in the rain.
The door on the left houses our AC and the one on the right is to our half bath.
Judi’s claimed it as her bathroom and keeps it locked so no boys can use it.
If it were up to her, it’d have a shower, too.
One last piece of the porta-crib is currently holding family photos.. 
One day when my photos are more organized I’d like to change them up.
Last photo.. I love this broom/mop holder.. 
so nice to have the stuff up off the floor where it won’t fall over.
I miss it when it’s packed away.
That’s a lot of photos for one of the smallest rooms in my house.  
Don’t know if you’ll ever really be able to get a sense 
of the lay out without coming to visit in person.
We are sure looking forward to Mom and Dad coming next week.
Miss you all,
J

Van Moved In

I’ve been working really hard towards having all my boxes unpacked; 
everything either in use or thrown out.
Exceptions are in the garage.
I don’t like putting stuff in the attic.. it gets too hot up there.
This is what Mike’s side of the garage has looked like for months.
Scraping ice of your car every morning before work isn’t much fun,
so we made getting his car in the garage a priority.
The shelves hold tools, camping supplies and holiday decorations.
The totes that didn’t make it on the shelves are what’s left of the kids’ toy collection:
legos, Lincoln logs, cars, and stuffed animals.
We donated two more big bags full just a couple of weeks ago.
Ta-da!! My side of the garage today.  
We had to catabolize two of our bikes to end up with two bikes in good condition.  
Montgomery + no garage = rusty bikes.
The desk armoire won’t fit into the house until a couple of kids move out.
It has school books in it that the kids have out grown.  Grand kids??
The paper boxes are full of packing peanuts.  
One day Josh is going to sell some stuff on e-bay…
if not, I don’ think they will last long.
The chair on the armoire is broken.  I have the pieces.. but not the talent to fix it.
I really need new chairs… but it’s more fun taking weekend trips.
I hung the large list on the walls for the movers.  
Hoping they’d organize my boxes for me as they unloaded them off the truck.  
They kinda did.  One day soon I’ll climb up and take the lists down.
🙂 J

Playing With Rocks and Things

I decided this dresser needed a little something. 
Wana come play with my rock sculpture?
I shopped around the house and garage 
to find some more rocks and things to add to my fireplace.
The kids got the drift wood as a gift from one of their friends years ago.  
I don’t think they want it anymore.

These candle holders were half off at Hobby Lobby this week.
I used them to display my sand and shell collection from FL.  

I love the way my Texas photos look in the bathroom.
It’s the one room that I can’t look out the window to the lake.
They are like little windows into TX.  

Another window ledge for rocks and shells.

This is the window we used to sneak into the house when it was being built.

I think Mike gets to look at this one more than I do.
I have one last window scape to share with a new scripture photo 
and photos from our trip to DC in mason jars over my kitchen sink.
Love,
J

More living room pictures..

To the right of my piano is this wall.  The dresser is full of photos.  
I re-did Mike’s family pictures a few weeks ago.
My book shelves are on the other side of the entry way (same wall).  
I ran out of wall space so I put a few photos up there, too.

This is our living room fire place.. 
the fire place with the trees is in the “hearth room” connected to the kitchen.
I still like my painting from WalMart but I think this fireplace looks a little boring.
I’ve never gotten around to buying candles for my pillars.
If I ever get to paint, I’d like to paint the wall the fire place is on an accent color.
It’s a little corner wall.  See the ceiling lines?

I need to take some wide angle views for you guys.
J

December, January, February, March Attire

It’s taken me a while to adjust to the weather here.
After five years in SA and four and a half in FL, my blood is pretty well thinned out.
I actually enjoy 90 plus degree weather especially when it’s humid.  
I won’t complain about the snow.  I love sitting next to the fire.
When we told the kids on Saturday that they were predicting 
more snow this week they replied, “Again?!?”  
I think we are getting all the snow this winter 
that we’ve missed over the last nine years.
We’ve lost count.
The ice and I had a run in our first day in the new house.. 
I came away with a scraped knee,
and quickly learned to avoid the sidewalks.
I’d just hide inside all day, but we have a dog.
This is the first house that we’ve had no fence at all 
and I’ve had to take take a “walking Sally” shift.  
Part of the reason I agreed to adopt a dog was to force myself to take daily walks.
Now, nine years latter, I am finally having to do more than open the back door.
I am being super nice, too, by taking the 7AM shift so the kiddies can sleep in a little.
Meaning that I usually get the coldest shift, too.  
It’s taken me a while to discover what I need to keep warm on my shift.
Until a week ago, when I finally started wearing two pairs of gloves,
 my hands were still freezing. 
I started out wearing a coat and gloves over my regular clothes.  
Some days I wasn’t sure I’d make it all the way around the block.  
It was so cold!
Then I started wearing a hoodie, and Wendy’s leather coat.  
That was better, but the wind was whistling through my pants and around my ears.
I decided to buy some of those valour pants.  
Once I doubled those up and knitted myself a scarf 
to wear with my hat over my hoodie I was finally on my way to being warm.
The weather warmed up from 14 degrees to 24 and I saw for the first
time a neighbor while out on my walk.  
You’ll never guess what THEY were wearing:
 workout pants and t-shirt.
I tried to console myself a couple weeks later when 
I saw a pair ladies out walking dressed more like me.  
They are probably not much more than 20 years older than me.  
I not sure how much further they walk than I do.  
I plan to start walking 45 minutes a day instead of 25 – 
once the weather warms up a bit.
On days like today, when it’s 36 and snowing, 
it doesn’t seem like I am as over dressed as it does 
when it’s 24 and sunny.  How is that?
Here is the kicker – to make sure I keep up my walking routine through
the snow, rain and sleet – we are adopting a puppy this summer.
I have a friend that’s offered to give me one of her mini beagle puppies.
I had to make a deal with Mike to get him to agree.  
He gets a kitten.
So much more fun than a treadmill.
J

Our Game Room/Den

Here are more picts of our house.
You can see the foyer and Prayer room through these doors.
Just outside and to the right is our front door.
This is our game room/den.
It’s basically the kids’ TV room.  They enjoy watching shows like
“Everybody Loves Raymond” while doing their math homework in here.
The French doors keep their TV noise separate from the rest of the house,
 while allowing us to check in on what they are watching.
Each flower pict has part of the Love Chapter printed on it.
Did you know that love is so many things?  I love the garden effect.
I am still trying to get the hang of gardening, so I enjoy my love picture garden year round.

The blank wall is reserved for my family quilt.  I need to get to work on finishing it.

I got the lamp in Gatlinburg last year.  I love the colors.
The cord wasn’t long enough to reach the ceiling and back,
so I created the arm from a piece of molding and a dowel from HD.
Here is my collage of C&W’s families.  Do you like it?
Minus the frame it only cost $6 to print at Costco.
I was very happy with how it turned out.
I’d like to update it from time to time so I can remember how big the kids are getting.

Like my scripture/photo art?  I cut the mat to fit and printed the words on sticker paper.

Moving around the room to the game amore.

I have a small collage of Mike’s nephews and nieces on the TV shelf.
I am hoping one day to find the perfect fabric for curtains and the pillows.
I hate the brown pillows that came with the couch.
It’s my bright, red, white, blue, orange and green room.
J

Perfect Mix Match

We’ve been collecting furniture for quite a while now.
My bedroom furniture is a rainbow of colors.
My sweet mother-in-love gave me this hope chest that belonged to her mother.
We bought the set of chest of drawers when Judi was a baby.

We found the bookshelves for a deal at Pier 1 Imports.
The sewing machine cabinet belonged to my Mamalene.
We replaced our waterbed with this cast iron bed when we moved to Texas.
Each piece bears battle scars from the many moves.

I never owned a nightstand until today.
I am very excited because not only does it blend in perfectly with my rainbow
of battle scared furniture but it has a twin!

Don’t they match perfectly with my bed spread?  I love the birds.
We went to several furniture stores.
Have you seen how much furniture cost new?
I was just about ready to buy some Wall Mart build-it-yourself furniture
when I decided to check Craig’s List and found this set of nightstands
at an antique store down the road.
They’re made of REAL wood.
They came assembled and a little distressed to match the rest of my room.
And they were less than half the price of new.
(Big smile.)  Yay! And Thank You Jesus.
J
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