Projects

I was thinking today about how much time is left till Sam comes and was kind of shocked to realize that it's only three months! (Give or take...I'm not quite to my third trimester yet) And then I was even more shocked to realize that at that point we'll only have about three more months until we move again! Sheesh!

I have a few more unpacking projects to do, plus a few fun projects that don't actually need to get done...but would be nice. And let's be honest people, there won't be any time once I have an infant and a 1-year-old on my hands! Okay, "nesting instinct", it's time for you to kick in! :o)

This is our downstairs hall closet. Blech. I think you're *supposed* to be able to hang some coats in there...and store a few things behind them if you so desire. Obviously, we thought this was the perfect place to hide all the boxes we didn't really want to deal with yet. They're mostly things from our basement back home. Storage...stuff we don't really know if we need but hate to get rid of. My goal is to sort it out and get rid of most of it.

Enter the "frugal pack-rat vs. minimalist" dilemma. I HATE keeping stuff around that we don't need, use, or is at least sentimental. (Now, I'm not very sentimental anyways, but I'm trying to be more careful not to toss things that my kids might actually want to see someday!) I mostly just don't like clutter...so I try to either box it up and ignore it...or give it to the thrift store. BUT then I have the problem of learning a lot of great lessons from my pack-rat husband. There are times when it's useful to hang on to things you aren't currently using. Then you won't have to spend money later to replace them! And I'm all about not wasting our hard-earned mula. (Sigh) So this project is one I'm not looking forward to because I'll be going back and forth about so much of it! But it has to be done, and some of it has to go, because we're hoping our next assignment is Germany, and when you go oversees you can't take as much with you. MOTIVATION! :o)

This is the corner of our spare room. When Sam comes it will be Lily's room. Right now it's been invaded by our books. That's right...this WHOLE PILE consists of boxes of books! :o) Now, while I'm very proud of our library, as my mom pointed out the other day...I'm not *actually* a librarian. Nor do I need to own a book to enjoy it, since I do love libraries so much! Jesse and I have agreed that we should at least sort through and see if there are a few boxes worth that we don't need to keep. I'm sure there are...but we're going to have a hard time convincing ourselves! Also, this project is going to be hard because I'm going to get distracted by all the books I want to read...and possibly discouraged that I don't have enough time. Oh well...someday. Oh, but the actual project is to pick out our favorites to bring downstairs to the bookshelves we have in the living room. And kids books to LJ's room. The rest will stay here...possibly in boxes. We'll see!

This is Lily's dresser and bookshelf. Jesse made the shelves once upon a time...aren't they cool? And the dresser used to be in his room back in Mass...aww! Well, I would love to stain and paint them. We'll see. This project is a fun, wishful one. I don't mind if they stay this way for the next ten years, though! :o) It's not like I have so much time on my hands I don't know what to do with it all or anything! But I could probably crank it out in the evenings while Jesse studies.

And this is my pile of parenting magazines that I've accumulated over the past year and a half. I know. It's dumb to save them! But they're full of cool ideas! (I say) But you'll never find the idea you're looking for! (You say) True, true. SO, I heard of this cool idea where you cut out your favorite ideas (recipes, crafts, trips, organization, etc) and organize them into a notebook! Then you can find them later! And throw the rest of the magazine away! (Hooray! Less clutter!) But now I actually have to go through, cut out my favorite parts, and put them in an organized fashion in a notebook :o) But if I run out of time (i.e. we're moving to Germany and I still haven't gotten to it) I may just plop the whole pile in the trash! :o)

WELL that's all for now. Wish me luck! Tomorrow I *might* start working on those book boxes. We'll see. Only two more days till the weekend! (YAY for weekends with Jesse!)