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Summer Refresh

2010-09-03T01:52:00Z

In the 20 some years I've been banging around my house painting, hanging wallpaper, stripping wallpaper and applying various chemicals to various surfaces, I didn't know what I was doing is "refreshing". I knew it wasn't as grand as remodeling, that's for sure.

The latest has been our upstairs bath. It's the standard old house bath, a toilet, sink, claw foot tub and a window for ventilation. A sad excuse for ventilation when it's -20 outside, by the way. We use it pretty much as a powder room, our main bathroom is elsewhere. Elsewhere is the basement, it's another story.

When we first looked at our house I peeked into the bathroom and saw yellow & orange wallpaper, bright yellow trim and a sparrow. I backed out in a hurry and demanded my husband take a look. Sure enough, there was a live bird sitting on the shelf. We left the house emphatically not interested. Now that we've been here the aforementioned 20 some years, the bathroom has been refreshed twice and neither time has involved birds. Of any kind.

We lived with the yellow bathroom for a while. In 1990 I was motivated to wallpaper the bathroom in a lovely blue and tan faux marble pattern before I started a new job. In the last few years it's floated across my brain that that wallpaper might be a bit dated. Two years ago I picked new paint colors. Then this spring I read this blog http://www.myfavoriteandmybest.com/ and her opinion of faux marble wallpaper. You'll note Jenny is blunt in her opinions. She doesn't like faux marble. It became clear to me that a change was imperative. To make it interesting I have time because of my husband's recovery and no money. Well. I adjusted my color choices to be the same as leftover paint in the basement and commenced.

Here is before:

Here's the after:

This one shows the "Boston Tea Party" ceiling and the super cute blue vintage light fixture. The husband found it at a rummage sale a lifetime ago.

Does it look like all I did was change the towels? How disheartening.

Here's what we did:

Removed wallpaper and gobs of wallpaper paste from upper walls.
Painted upper and lower walls, and the ceiling.
Darkened the chair rail.
Repainted the mirror frame.
Edited, added and rearranged art. We have oil paintings in our bathroom for cryin' out loud! The art has become a mix of vintage and contemporary local art.
Got new towels.

The cost? Negligible. Seriously.

It has taken me quite a while to get used to the new look. It took me even longer to post because the new look I found kind of jarring barely registers on the photos. Clearly, I am not a photographer of note. I eventually fell in love with the bathroom, I'm happy when I see it. It feels quite a bit more fresh, and God knows you want a fresh bathroom.

Number of times I've straightened the hand towels since finishing the refresh - COUNTLESS! sigh.

Aaaand - She's Off!

2010-08-30T23:13:00Z

The other night I was standing around my yard looking at this:

Specifically, all those daylilies. They're ditch lilies. When we bought our house there was a pile of bricks against a precarious picket fence with daylilies growing out of it. That was written correctly, the daylilies were growing out of the brick pile. We used the bricks to edge all the flower beds and threw away a garbage can full of daylilies. There were more, and I planted some of them under this hideous tree. I'm sick of 'em.

The tree stays.

My thought was to go back to one of our local nurseries and snap up a bunch of shade perennials at 50% off. I'm going to cut back swathes of the daylies and spray them with Round Up. Digging them up would be a ton of fun (snort!) but I'm sure I'd never get them all so will opt for the spray. This time.

Then I happened to turn around and see this:

Oh yeah, I have three overly full shade perennial gardens. My little penny pinching brain finally kicked in, I've got LOTS of plant material I can use for no money. Yahoo!

The plan was to cut and spray the daylilies this afternoon. However, it was 90 degrees and super windy so I read a smarmy novel instead, with a promise to myself to do it this evening. This evening it happens to be raining. And I'm blogging.

Tomorrow I will cut and spray the daylilies. In a couple of weeks I'll start splitting and planting the hostas, iris, what have you in my newly uncovered ground. It'll be pretty ugly this year, but wait til next year...

Number of days since we've had a decent rain in Fargo: 15

An Evolution

2010-08-28T18:46:00Z

Or revolution, or something. I started this blog because it seemed interesting to share the foibles of living an organized life when it hurts a little to be organized. I've drifted off topic many times, or so I thought, when I blogged about other things that interest me, like food or gardening. And honestly? It's hard to blog about just one thing. So I'm not going to blog about just one thing, I'm going to blog about all the things that interest me.

They are almost exclusively domestic things. Ok, they are exclusively domestic things. No fashion, no politics. Maybe some fashion some times, but it will be pretty lame. I promise.

Here are my categories:

Food - I have the patience of a two year old on a sugar bender. I want food that is made from scratch and I want it NOW. I will share my ways.

Gardening - The gardening season here in the North is short. Bear with me. I like flowers.

Housekeeping - My house is small and easy for me to clean myself, so I do. I like it because I am inordinately fond of my house. It's kind of weird.

Refreshing - Refreshing of spaces, that's what you do when you paint, re-arrange furniture, swap out old things for new. Remodeling? Way too much work.

Organizing - The grease that keeps the rest of my likes humming along. I can do none of the things I like without being organized. Unless I want to be really, really crabby because it will not go well. No one wants that.

Follow along if you like, share my blog with your friends. I'll be getting back to one of my other favorite things, writing.

Number of recipes I will blog about in the near future: 4

What? It's a start...

Last entry added 37 days ago...

2010-08-06T15:34:00Z

That's what my blogging home page said when I started this entry. That was five days ago. Hmm. Well.

Anyhow. Last night I read an article written by Sheryl Seyfert for the Spring 2008 issue of Creative LIving entitled "Mess Appeal Embrace Dosprder - There's Creativity In It." I gotta say, I found it really interesting. The article was based on the author's interviews with Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman regarding their book 'A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder". In their book, which I haven't read, the authors promote messiness. They say the American obsession with being organized is flawed, that a little mess is a good thing.

It just so happens I agree, sort of. My stand on the whole issue is it's none of my business how organized or disorganized any single American is. My concerns are with myself, and the hardy soul who hires me to help them. My clients hire me to get them to a level of organization they are comfortable with and can maintain. They hire me because they need help, and I can be that help. It's very, very personal.

The gist of Abrahamson and Freedman's thinking seems to be people are usually organized to a level that is comfortable, but often feel pressure from family, friends, even society at large, to become "organized", a vague ideal that very few of us reach.

If that sounds familiar, it is. We get the same sort of message regarding our physical appearance, parenting, and lawns. Just to mention a few.

To heck with all that. If you're happy with your organizational systems I wish you the fortitude to tell your critics to take a hike. I don't care what your systems look like. If you're happy, I'm happy. This is, after all, the good old USA, we get to pick how we live. If you're not happy, we should talk.

Life with freedom of choice is bliss.

Gratitude Wednesday 6/30/10

2010-06-30T17:45:00Z

Wednesday is a great day to reflect on what's good in our lives, isn't it?

Today I'm grateful for:

The "free" printer that came with our last computer purchase.
Love, and the people who share it.
Vitamin C drops.
Caller ID.
Herberger's sale prices on bath towels.
LIttle white dogs that aren't mine but will cuddle with me anyway.
A decent nights sleep.
My husband.
Surprises.

What are you grateful for today?

Projects The Hard Way

2010-06-28T16:42:00Z

These last weeks have been quiet around our house, sort of. Quiet because my husband is still recovering at home, which means I'm at home a lot too. Not that I wouldn't rather be organizing for the masses!

Anyway.

Apparently I don't have the chops to relax with a book for days on end. I get distracted by all the projects that slowly come to me as I'm sitting in my chair mulling over the rightness of things in our house. Or wrongness, most of the time.

Every project begins the same way, I start price shopping and budgeting. Unfortunately, due to a lack of income due to a lack of work, the budget is pretty much non-existent. The good news is I've been able to move forward on all my projects because, get this, I"ve already got the stuff! How cool is that!

My imagination is telling me you're asking "how does an organizer have a bunch of stuff laying around?" Aha! Good question! The trick is doing the same thing I've done before, only different.

In other words, the paint I used in our living room is going up in our bathroom. I love the color combo in our living room, parchment color walls with a light blue ceiling. In our bathroom the leftover blue paint is going on the walls and the parchment on the ceiling. My husband forces me to take good care of my paint brushes and rollers, so no equipment outlay. Isn't he the clever one?

This has been the theme for every project taken on. Having no budget forces me to think more creatively and use up what's sitting around. I have to say, I might not be good at relaxing for days, but I'm awesome at little projects that cost next to nothing.

Life with a pretty bathroom is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: When shopping for party supplies, be careful of buying holiday themed cute things. Only buy long lasting holiday themed items if you will ABSOLUTELY use them year after year. And you have room to store them.

Gratitude Wednesday 6/23/10

2010-06-24T02:04:00Z

It's been a while friends, I apologize.

Today I'm grateful for:

Ibuprofen - this gardening business is starting to hurt.
Mosquito spray - thank God.
The competent phone repair guy from 702.
Peanut butter toast.
Clearance prices on garden plants.
Vitamin C drops.
WOW.
Jennifer Cruisie.
Felco and their pruner, it made today's work much easier.

What are you grateful for today?

Spinning My Wheels...

2010-06-14T19:30:00Z

Here I am, at my computer, waiting for my car to be repaired. When it's done we'll be hitting the road for Minneapolis and one more visit to the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic. If you're wondering how my husband is doing, well, he seems better. Still recovering, but better. The true measure is in the labs they take at the clinic, so we'll see if things are going as well as we think.

So. Anyway.

I would imagine you're visiting in hope of getting some good organizing info. It would be awesome if I had some ready, instead of just swirling half complete in my brain. The only excuse I will offer is it's summer and I am spending a delicious amount of time gardening. Organizing will commence on Wednesday. In the meantime I will give you this:

Life in the garden is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Take time to smell the roses, but be careful of the thorns. Especially if your rose is a William Baffin.

PS. I took those cute rag baskets from this post: A Little Bit Country back to the store. To make up for losing out on the cuteness I picked up a wonderful new skirt. Come my Wednesday appointment I will be decked out in said skirt. Not a bad trade.

Gratitude Wednesday 6/9/10

2010-06-09T19:16:00Z

It's Gratitude Wednesday! I know! It's even Wednesday!

Today I'm grateful for:

My WOW friends and their great input.
A decent nights sleep.
Volunteers who are actually volunteering.
Benadryl Itch Stick.
Peanut butter toast.
The low price of strawberries.
My husband's cheerful help on the windowbox project.

Yay!

Tales of the Pantry

2010-06-06T00:19:00Z

For just a minute, I'm gonna wax nostalgic. One of my favorite childhood places was Grandma and Grandpa's farm house. It was a big old place, very likely the reason I'm an old house fanatic. It was the only place I knew, as a child, that had a pantry. It was a small room, with a window, and lots of cabinets. It had a galvanized garbage can that held flour, Grandma made bread you see. It had all manner of wonderful things in the drawers, like fancy crocheted pot holders that were too good to use. It smelled wonderful, and it was the place to look for baked goodies.

As a grown up struggling to get a decent meal on the table in the evening, the part of Grandma's pantry that stuck with me is the flour bin. She needed a lot of flour, but not right in the kitchen work area. I longed for my own pantry so I could store a lot of flour. Eventually I set up shelving for a pantry in our basement, right next to the chest freezer, and it was good! I got better and better at using the pantry. That's to say, I got better at having often used staples on hand in the pantry so we wouldn't run out between shopping trips. The better I got at the pantry, the smaller the pantry got. Here's proof:

The official organizer verdict? TOO MUCH STUFF! Some just had to go, like the cardboard four bottle wine carrier. When I took this home I forgot I didn't have a life that involved toting around four bottles of wine. Recycled it.

The good news: I was able to repurpose another set of the wooden shelves for additional pantry space. My plan was unanimously approved! Here's the result:

Seriously way better. Sometimes you need more to make it work. And just so you know? The plastic dishwasher soap buckets on the top left hand shelf hold flour and sugar. My version of the galvanized garbage can.

Life with an organized pantry is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Use serving trays to corral smaller pantry staples, like mixes sold in bags.

Gratitude Wednesday (a day late) 6/2/10

2010-06-03T13:26:00Z

Wow! I'm having a great time! Today I'm grateful for:

Power tools - they increase MY power.
A husband who will offer me help and ideas when I'm stuck on a project.
Mistakes - they turn into such good opportunities.
Generous friends.
Not getting the stomach flu.
Watermelon.
Alleve Sinus pain reliever.
Happy accidents.

What are you grateful for today?

I'm a Little Bit Country...

2010-05-31T01:40:00Z

Long holiday weekends at our house usually mean a home project or two.
This year we took it easy and did something simple that has been on our To Do list for a very long time. Here's the problem. This tv is in our bedroom. Please note how close this dresser is to the edge of the wall. This dresser is WAY too big for this spot. Has been for years.

MONTHS AGO, we decided to bring home a much smaller piece from my husband's stash of furniture at his antiques store to replace it. Well. We finally got it done! The hardest part was finding baskets. Take a looksee:

These are baskets I found at WalMart. I know! WalMart is bad! I had a very hard time finding anything that would work because the shelves are two different sizes, and taller baskets are better than most of what I found, which are short baskets. This I also found and really like:

.

When my husband got a load of these he started humming the theme song from "Deliverance". His very subtle way of telling me I'm going a little too Granny on him. But I really love the colors!

So anyway. The pretty baskets are still sitting in my bedroom, receipt and tags intact. I'm trying very hard to find a place for them, but you know the rule, if I can't find a use for them, they go. I give myself a week.

Life with a baske big enough to hide my jammies in is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Listen to your husband when he starts with the "Deliverance" theme music.

Gratitude Wednesday (a day late) 5/27/10

2010-05-27T13:29:00Z

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Today I'm grateful for:

Coffee.
Ben Gay.
Grass.
Air conditioning.
Facebook.
Papa Murphy's large Papa's Perfect on a Delite crust.
Two old galvanized watering cans.
Watermelon.
Dedicated doctors and nurses.
Friends and family.
Books.
Friends who love books.

What are you grateful for today?

Only Glorious Possibilities

2010-05-23T19:18:00Z

Here's a question for you, what do you see every morning when you look into your closet? Do you see glorious possibilities?

If you see anything less than glorious possibilities, it's time to clean out your closet.

There are several rules I like for clothes closets:

Only clothes in the closet. Your clothes, and potentially your partners clothes. No Christmas decorations or other unrelated junk. Only clothes.
The only clothes that belong in your closet are the ones you wear and love. Anything else goes. Glorious possibilities are not made of clothes that don't fit or are out of style.
All your clothes should fit in the closet. All seasons.

Ok, I'll bend on Number 3. If you really enjoy the routine of switching your closet, and purging, at the changing of the seasons, go ahead and do it. Number 3 is meant for people like me who hate changing it out and do it halfway. Which is a big fat mess.

Please don't get hung up on how much money you've spent when you're purging your clothes. It doens't matter anymore, the money is gone. Put the value on how you feel every day when you're looking for something to wear instead of on something you regret. Regrets don't belong in your closet.

Go ahead, plan and dream of the closet full of gorious possibilities. It's so you!

Life with easy clothes pickin's in the morning is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: To remove permanent marker from copper plant tags, rub with nail polish remover. Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living, it works! See? This one used to say Sunspot. Poor Sunspot died.

Gratitude Wednesday 5/19/10

2010-05-19T21:17:00Z

It's Gratitude Wednesday! What are you grateful for, right now, this very second?

I'm grateful for:

A sunny 80 degree day.
Good lab results for my husband.
The year I spent as President of the Junior League.
The women who are excited to lead next year, and next year...
My crockpot.
Alliums.
WalMart.
Sleep.
Chocolate covered strawberries.
Time to garden.

Remember When...

2010-05-13T02:34:00Z

Do you remember when I last wrote in this blog and said I was back? Yes. Well. It turns out life intervened, but now I'm back! At least as long as my husband can keep himself healthy enough to be home instead of the hospital for a week.

Can we talk for a minute about home offices? I've been invited into lots of homes to work on organizing projects. Many times one of the problem areas is the home office. It's usually a pretty big problem if the client has a room dedicated to the home office. Frankly, it doesn't seem to work out very well. Instead of the quiet oasis imagined by the homeowner for paperwork and working from home, it turns into "the room" where all the crap gets thrown when company is walking in the door.

Why do you suppose that is?

I have a theory. My theory is people don't want to be isolated from the rest of their family so they don't use a separate home office. Bills get paid at the kitchen table. Work gets done in front of a sunny window close to the kids.

You know what? That's ok. Your work spaces should be where you want to work. Think of ways that the spaces you want to be in can work for you. How can you put away the laptop you use during the day so you can eat dinner at the same table at night with your family? How can you store paperwork without having a four drawer file in the family room?

Make room in the kitchen cabinets for the laptop. Find a pretty wicker file box for your papers. It's all so doable. But the first step is understanding why you're working where you are, and giving yourself permission to make it work really, really well.

Life with a home that works for you is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Instead of doing all your shredding yourself, search out a secure document destroying service in your area.

PS.

It's Gratitude Wednesday!

Today I'm grateful for all my friends, even if they don't come equipped with cupcakes.


                                                                        It's allium time in Fargo!

Gratitude Wednesday 1/28/10

2010-04-29T03:35:00Z

Wow, today was quite a day! Today I'm grateful for:

Kasey at U of M for her tenacity and unwillingness to let administrative brick walls stop her.
Quick action by our local doctor.
Serious antibiotics.
Living within a few blocks of a pretty good medical facility.
My husband's fever coming down to normal.
All the people who are following us and praying.

All's well that ends well. What are you grateful for?

Well, I Said I'd Blog On Saturday, So Here It Is

2010-04-25T02:04:00Z

While I've been away from home I've been searching blogland for more fun blogs to read. The ones I'm very fond of are written by women who are sharp, insightful and funny. For me to stay interested they really have to be funny. In my searching I've been surprised to fall in love with several design blogs. These women essentially find pictures of fabulous places that they love and post them with their own witty repartee. Kind of fun.

Another type of blog I look for are cooking blogs. Again, those written by women who are funny tend to be my favorites. A common denominator in food blogs is the fantastic photos of the food, they are generally amazingly gorgeous. Eye candy of the highest order.

To find good, funny gardening blogs or organizing blogs would be fantastic, I'm not really running into any. If any of you have a blog you'd like to point me to, I'd be delighted to take a look.

In the meantime I'm going to update the blogs that make me feel good. I'm never sure about protocol, am I supposed to contact them? I have, usually to get no response, so I suppose it doesn't matter.

Anyway. I clearly don't have much to say. Let's move on.

Life with a good read is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Odd saucers are great holders for candles, even a candle in a jar.

Gratitude Wednesday 4/21/10

2010-04-21T13:51:00Z

This morning, Aerosmith's classic "Back In The Saddle" keeps running through my head. It's good to be home! Today I've got a lot to be grateful for...

The women of the Junior League of Fargo Moorhead - ladies, you rock!
To Nicole for giving me a totally cute bag and stepping up when I was gone.
To Anita and Tracy for making me labels. And every other darn thing too!
Another beatiful, sunny day.
My husband, for keeping his promise.
A house I love a lot.
The time to do the garden projects I dreamt up while I was sitting in waiting rooms.
Coffee
To Kim for teaching me how to heat up hard boiled eggs in the microwave.

What are you grateful for today?

And We Are Back...

2010-04-18T02:39:00Z

Back home that is. After living in two locations for the last few months we are back home in Fargo. It's been quite a wonderful time. Well, wonderful in a terrifying way. My husband's bone marrow transplant has been a huge success, so far. It's the so far part that's kind of freaky, but we'll take what we've got today.

When we took our room at Hope Lodge, we swore we wouldn't bring in more than we could fit in the car for the return trip. We just barely made it. I've spent the last four days unpacking and putting away. Of course we brought back more than we took down on our initial trip, like the two shopping bags full of bmt drugs. The unpacking has brought out our organizing differences. In my world, unpacking is best done ASAP! I'm jittery around a bunch of half unpacked bags. My husband is comfortable with a slower pace, he likes to take his time. Since he's not well enough to do any unpacking, it went my way. Which meant discord in the house.

One of the best organizing bits of wisdom I ever heard was from professional organizer and author, Deniece Schofield. When asked how to deal with an unorganized spouse she said, "First, remember that you love him." It's good advice and I've passed it on countless times. Unfortunately I didn't remember that when my husband was fussing at me. I wish I would have. Then I could have taken a deep breath and asked for his input, perhaps we could have come up with something to please us both. That would have been good. Yeah, I really wish I would have done that.

Well. The good news is every day is an opportunity to try again, and we are trying. The unpacking continues, it's at the point now of little piles here and there that have to be dissembled and put away. Childs play.

It's good to be back home, I look forward to sharing more organizing, gardening, cooking and whatever else catches my fancy with you. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Oh, and Gratitude Wednesday will be back, because we all know I've got a ton to be grateful for!

Life with unpacked bags is bliss.

Tricky Duck Tip: Keep the medications you take daily in the kitchen near your water glasses.