Restoring order to this room

Perhaps this blog post could be titled, Week in Review, #6 as it is just one more pressing item on the summertime to-do list checked off. The timing to complete this goal was not my own, rather the rain completely dictated when an indoor day would be at hand. Among other activities or goals on the checklist, this was one I dreaded the most.

All of our children used to share bedrooms together, often there were up to three or more in each bedroom as they all grew. One by one the older ones grew up, moved away and married. And then, one fateful day, my hubby was awarded the doom of a work transfer so that we would move across our country away from half of our family members.

Now that we live in the east, our four remaining children have all been afforded their own private bedrooms. With great months of terrible withdrawal, they are now used to having their own space and find it quite inviting to refresh and find solace when necessary in a hubbub of life amidst a busy home.

At first I was dreading this task and then as the time wore on, I soon realized with ease this child was much more organized and less of a packrat than his younger sister, a surprise to me.

Moving the furniture around was the easy part

The worst part of course was the continuous discovery of the laundered and folded clothing dropped on the closet floor because his drawers weren't organized right and there was frustration mounting for him not being able to set his clothing inside of them with ease. Since this would be considered a "hot spot", we cooled it off first thing.

Another area of concern was this new-to-him desk, a hand me down from being damaged during our move and now replaced for my hubby's home office. We thought this would be a nice area for him to store and play his new hobbies, and so it was set up with that intention in mind for his playtimes.

Everyone needs a drawer where they can throw the little things in without worry of how to sort it out in the end or what it will look like. Since these were all similar in nature, they were tossed here. When the drawer is shut, it's lovely how it all just disappears!

A little shot for our Vancouver Canuck fans out there. This was a gift to our son from older siblings, a treasured possession and something he counts on for rising in the morning.

Another check mark rests on the goals' to-do list, another task now complete that won't need to be accomplished next month. Who would have guessed how much success we have already seen this summer around here. Another green garbage bag now rests ready to offer to the garbage man this week and another large bag awaits the rest of the goodwill offerings to get to the local thrift store's next run.

How sweet it is!

Random Summertime Photography Challenge: 3

Lest you feel our family is all work and no play, wow - you are so wrong! (snicker) In fact, we may work hard around here, but when the time is right, we play hard too!

The key is "balance" in all things. Who wants to work all the time and never play anyway? That just makes for very grumpy and out of sorts people.

Are you a balanced person? Work and Play?

This is our Captain.
Just look at how relaxed he is!

At the boating playground.
Who will jump in first?

The older ones in our family's boating crew

...more to come on this boating rental excursion above...

Week in review, #5

Summertime

When it was raining...and oh how it rained, that's when we opted to work indoors instead.

• - Once the work was complete on and below the larger deck, all of the patio furniture and the gas BBQ were to be moved and settled onto its surface. Problem? They were in the back corner of the garage....so the entire double garage was another task on the list.
  

Our garage, on a good day last March

Garage; every single item was tossed out of the large wooden opened garage doors and myself and two others rolled up our sleeves, donned our ipods (because it was such an unpleasant detail and we were all grumpy), and began to melt and sweat to bits in the 87 degree humidity stricken, monsoon rainy day, which alternated with more heat when the sun actually shone throughout the summer storms of the day.

Once all was removed, we could begin anew, something we haven't been able to progress with since our move into the house in the dead of winter with three feet of snow on the ground, thus is the reason why the detailed task took so long in the first place. Freezing in the depths of the garage never felt too great initially anyway.

Success at last!
We can now park both vehicles in here! Yes!

This too was our third attempt at creating order in the garage, but still a final (!) grand detailing began by first sorting, organizing, and then purging much! Oh sure, the easy part was moving the deck items to the back deck, but the fallout with an entire day necessary to finish the job was unexpected.

• We used straw twine to wrap up the garbage cardboard flattened stacks.
• We gathered all of the items for charity and packed them into my vehicle immediately for removal later in the day. And they did go that day!
• We sorted much and sent a large box westbound with items for the grandchildren; hockey helmets, ice skates and life-jackets now too small for our brood still living at home.
• We began to feel "lighter" around the general working area.

We are still celebrating a week later at the fact that although our moving company failed to arrive as promised to recycle and reuse all of our many moving boxes, during a break this day and shortly after posting all on FREECYCLE, one very sweet couple came to rescue us (and bless themselves) by happily removing all of moving gear which was taking up almost 25% of our garage space in total after being condensed in size THAT EVENING! Can you say happy? Enough space was created for the first time, both my hubby and I have been able to park our vehicles in our own garage. YES! Sweet and simple accomplishments render much pleasure. So much more order, and space was created when all was in its true place and the load of moving items were GONE.

Our basement cold storage room now
required work with the junk shuffle

• As the day wore on, and fatigue began to reign high, I remembered one thing - the cold storage room in the basement was the area with MORE belonging in the garage. The garden tools were stored in there and now belonged in the garage for the seasons ahead. The snow shovels, toboggans and other assorted winter items from the garage needed to be hauled down there for storage until winter arrives.

The good ole staircase became the dumping ground

• And then there were other misc items not belonging in the garage at all, the ones I just got out of my way by tossing them all down the staircase from the garage to the basement for easy retrieval later on. The thought of next having to work my way into that storage room for sorting, organizing and purging possibilities was like a dark cloud hovering over my head, but somehow we pressed onward and by the next evening, all was checked off, done, complete and all were so happy, happy to have those chores behind us.
  

• - Our builder's service guy came to fill me with delight (NOT) when he began to plaster drywall putty around the house, areas he left like that for us to continue with. So the sanding and repainting began in earnest...all over the house! Somehow puttering about with only bits of painting details takes longer than painting an entire room, but it's now complete too.

Patching the walls went way beyond my level of comfort, not to mention all the colored re-painting necessary from happy go lucky wall mudders.

- Weathershield foam was in full use to fill up all of the gaps found in many areas of the outdoor pipes and throughout the home around plumbing, heating and sump pump areas. What we thought would take one or two cans to complete the task, it actually took three full cans to do the deed. We are now ready for winter and hopefully there will never be any more mice in the house from entering these zones again.

Necessary items for necessary tasks ahead

• - All of the tiled flooring areas inside of our home were never sealed, a dilemma one of our older son's noticed when he visited shortly after we moved in here. He found himself sealing the basement bathroom floor tiles, and then he also painted the walls in there (all of the basement drywall was only whitewashed, never painted so it's all to come).

Re-purposing yogurt containers came in handy

Sealing tiled flooring grout and tiles

• After a short tutorial, another son has been spending many hours using a scrub brush along grouting areas in between tiles, and sealing the flooring. It's great to have tiles in the house, a very organic and healthy flooring for allergy sufferers but in order to be installed correctly - they must be sealed. Each wee drop of water actually stains the tile, not a good thing when they are on the bathrooms and laundry room floors. Each day (when rain falls outdoors), one more floor continues to become sealed and eventually ever-complete.
  

• Our blinds are all installed and thankfully so as we were able to keep the house cool until the late afternoon when sun entered these back windows and the thermometer in our home fluctuated and heightened to highs of 80 degrees by the dinner hour. We now have a great reprieve from the sun's warmth without losing the view to the back forest with the special blinds we chose. Even though we love the warmth of the sun, somehow the air conditioning begins working overtime and canned air is just no fun all day long. It's a necessary thing though when the humidity climbs, something new to us here in the east, something we never had before and something we are so grateful for as a serious bonus to our time living here.

And this my friend is another update for our week in review. There will be more to come, I assure you of that. :-)

Week in review, #4

Summertime

Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer.

• Time off school.
• Time to chill and unwind.
• Time well spent seeking the water's edge.
• Time spent working on becoming good stewards, not wasting too many idle hours during the extra longer daylight hours of summertime.
• Time well spent taking stock of overdue household chores and crossing them off the list as time permits to complete them.
• A time to work and a time to play.
• Balance is the key!

Okay, so vacation time came for my hubby and the rains fell, hard. Our plan B came into effect .... and a workbee progressed as planned mostly on impulse according to the weather for the day.

Much has been completed around our home. The joys of owning a home are usually loaded with a to-do list at the best of times. The decision to purchase this newer home rather than the other favorite on our house hunting list was the fact it was "newer", and not once did we EVER dream we'd have so much to do!

I could type up at least three pages of deficiencies here and bore you to tears, and still you wouldn't believe what we've encountered. From the mice in the kitchen, to the leaky roof with water pouring into our garage, the faulty hot water heat, the faulty gas meter that required changing, the gas leak in the dryer vent, live electrical outlets without covers tucked away inside of cupboards, plumbing leaks and sprays all around the rooms they are situated in, and no doubt, without continuing on and on.... you likely understand the picture here.

Over this past two weeks, we have opted to take advantage of "rainy days" and create another list of sorts, a "done list" with checked marks proudly noted next to each item. However, it hasn't arrived without much frustration, especially not knowing whether we were working outdoors or indoors, depending of course on - the weather every day!

Here is a small fraction of "the list" of successes, sweet and wonderful successes! :-)

When it wasn't raining...

• - Both decks were installed well, and are now complete.

• The smaller original temporary deck was moved and newly installed over here. It is now even preserved and painted.

We have a deck!
We can exit our home to the back of our property now! Yes!

• - Caulking was required along the wooden edges against the stone on the house exterior, LOTS of caulking!

• - Six square yards of road mulch pave gravel arrived requiring a good old fashioned wheelbarrow and shovel manual laborious detailing.

• Rock was hauled and moved to fill up the dips in the driveway and near to the garage and door areas situated near them.

• - Landscape paper was rolled out underneath both decks to prepare the earth below for the rock to come. Several family members began the task when monsoon rains drenched the earth and everyone ended up with a thick and slimy coating of mud on clothing, shoes, face, hands and even in hair. No one was allowed in the house until they had hosed off outside first, at least to rid their clothing and body of the muck found on them before hitting the laundry room.

• - Rock was hauled to the back deck area, the large one on the day described above, and all workers began using individual buckets to scoop up and empty where delegated.

• - Wooden borders were installed around the underpart of the deck where the rock was delivered by hand laborers drenched in mud.

• - The grassed area underneath of both staircases to the larger deck were removed and the areas were replaced with rock.

• - Our dogs run required attention especially after an entire winter of ruining the grass under their feet. The pile of wood chips left by the tree fallers came in handy when our older son used the wheelbarrow and hauled load after load up to create an comfortable base around the dogs' house and gate area where mud gathered from the ground being uneven.

• - The pots with plants from the cartage of moving here were moved from their original spots and all the grass underneath required TLC for a major improvement, especially since the bird nest located in one of the trees in one of those pots were now gone. Gardens will be carved out soon, shrubs/florals will either be transplanted or taken from existing pots and planted, with a layer of landscape paper and rockery atop for a finishing easy care detailing. (When i have nothing better to do, right? LOL)

• - The smaller deck moved to the other side of the house was in dire need of painting protection and the task of doing that is now complete. The larger deck will have to "cure" and won't be painted until next year.

The smaller deck was in dire need of painting. Done!

Last but not least, among many other things still to complete....

• - Our generator (a real blessing that came with this home) was serviced, and once each week revs up to ensure all is working just fine. We are now absolutely prepared for winter in the coming months with this baby! See my grin?
  

Oh, and respiratory physiotherapy is still in session, six hours each week so it has been very helpful for bodily movement functions to acquire ongoing "conserving energy" techniques to assist with the day to day activities our family participates in. God is good!

When calm and chaos collide...

A calming space is unimaginatively interrupted!

Ahhhhhhhh, a wee space providing plenty of "calm" to any weary soul, a spot to retreat from the craziness of the world and just sit, and be. This is the small deck off our master bedroom, we finally have a deck and we love it!

Calm and Chaos often collide when small-itty-bitty insects, mosquitoes in particular continue to pose a pesky annoyance for us, and the "calm" we often attempt to seek is occasionally interrupted by whole families of these guys flying way too up close and personal to allow them a giant feeding frenzy.

And as each one becomes slapped, smacked, or the fly swatter squashes them to create polka dot red stains on the walls, we can only assume there will always be more over time. And there always is....many more in fact.

There are those moments when I raise the blind up early in the morning to allow the sun to greet us on a brand new day, and there below, spoiling my ritual moment will be another dead mosquito. ugh, ugh, ugh

CHAOS, or nature study? LOL

Some of the MANY bottles varieties located here.

And when relief isn't enough, and one continues to wake in the wee hours of the morning to wings buzzing around ears, it's time to bring on the BIG GUYS!

The STINGER is an ultra insect killer and we just can't hardly WAIT until we get this device plugged in and hung out back. It must be 25 feet from the home, and an automatic sensor detects nightfall to illuminate a light inside to attract up to ONE ACRE of pesky pests! Oh yeah! Bring on the big guns! Oh yeah, let's here the sapping and zipping and be free at long last from these blood sucking insects!

I'll be sure to let you know if this is a great investment.....or not.

Oh yeah - we brought out the big guns...and it has arrived just in time to hang up before the bulldozer arrives on Monday! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Imagine the multitude that will become airborne once that machine parades throughout the back forest to flatten and prepare the land for grass seed. I'm clapping my hands already, and I know, I know, you have to be here to simply come to appreciate such a simple pleasurable device such as this one promises to be.

Random Summertime Photography Challenge: 2

Working in a forest garden provides ample opportunity for discoveries and the appreciation of "simple pleasures".

Take for instance the little slimy guy below resting underneath a very large mushroom pulled from our property's forest floor. Guess (dare you?) what my next "Fun with Nature" topic is going to be?

Well?

Are have you given it any thought yet about joining in the summertime photo challenge?