Spring Cleaning

We've had a weekend of spring cleaning.

Nels built some shelves for a craft closet (!) and cleaned out downed limbs in the woods. This turkey popped in to see what was up.


Hels washed windows, cleaned their bathroom, and scrubbed the appliances.


Lou made us dinner--stuffed shells and chocolate chip cookies--and ironed shirts.


I washed floors, woodwork, and everything in between. I used my favorite new "green" mopping system which is vinegar/water in a good spray bottle, a rag, and a dutch rubber broom.


Goodbye old mop. I no longer have a mop graveyard in the basement--all those busted mops are at the metal recycling. Now I just toss the rag in the wash and don't worry about stinky sponges that never seem to get clean. The floors now feel heavenly on bare feet.

I ran out of vinegar this winter and turned to some old cleaning supplies such as "Mr. Clean" and Windex for a few weeks. I was reminded that things seem much cleaner with vinegar. I now have a jug of vinegar and spray bottles under every sink.

Although it is still quite cool and the leaves aren't even out yet, it seemed safe enough to swap out the down jackets and snow pants for the rain jackets and crocs.

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Flotsam and Jetsam of Life

Do you have a junk drawer? Well, we have a junk basket which lives on our kitchen island. It has been getting just a little full, so I decided to try and empty it today.... let's see what we find.


Here's a little pile of stuff for Lou to put away-- flute, panda, journal, gnome, bouncy ball....


Duck whistle...


Fortune-telling equipment ...


Beeswax fingernail collection...


Then there is all the lost stuff-- the sunglasses....

The calculators....

The chapsticks....

The jacknives...

Can anyone really write with these?

Unfinished knitting projects--this is a bagpipe chanter case.

What is all this stuff?


Like any good junk drawer, this basket will never be empty. It still has the drill bits, tape measure, camera, sunglasses, and other bits of stuff. At least it isn't exploding all over the kitchen.

One little spring cleaning project is done!

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Before and After

2 hours later. 2 garbage bags later. 2 crates of books to the thrift shop later. 1 tub of outgrown clothes later.....

Before: The bookshelf by her bed....


After: (bed still unmade--not my job!)


Before: The Corner of Crap--empty binders "just in case I need one"


After: The corner for listening to books on tape


Before: The Closet--that is all fabric scraps and yarn in there....


After: The Closet

All the fabric in the house is now in one big stash cupboard.

Friends--all found and together again!


WOW does it feel good (to me at any rate). Now we're all inspired to sew after sorting through the fabric stash.

Can you guess which room??? I'll give you a hint: It's not mine.

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Green Housekeeping

Last year Animal, Vegetable, Miracle turned out to be quite influential in my life. This year Green Housekeeping takes the prize. I confess that for the past however many years I have been using whatever cleaning agents are on sale at my local store, not paying much attention to the fact that the residues they leave behind are almost as bad if not worse than the dirt they are meant to eradicate.

After reading this book, I've been working much harder at cleaning up my cleaning. The bathroom was the obvious place to start. I bought squirt bottles for each bathroom and filled them with vinegar and water. The vinegar worked great. Everything felt much cleaner. I also felt more comfortable letting my able assistant join in the fun (there's nothing like a squirt bottle).



We have very hard water which makes cleaning more difficult. This book suggested switching our soaps over to plant-based soap. Since starting to use Castille soap or artisan soaps, there is less film on the tub and my skin has been MUCH happier. I also like that I'm not washing my body in petroleum-derived products.




So, spring cleaning/green cleaning has begun in our house. It will continue throughout the month with a break next week while we go to visit N's parents in FLORIDA. Wow do we need that break.

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Happy Valentine's Day

We've had quite a beginning to our day with way too much ice to deal with. Despite the glowing photos of fire and ice, I'm sort of wishing I could be on a warm beach collecting more heart-shaped stones.


Last year, N made these heart-shaped candle holders for Valentine's Day. As I went to put some red candles in them and decorate the table, I paused. I have been reading Green Housekeeping and have been re-thinking a number of things about the way I clean and keep our home. In the chapter on "Indoor Pollution Control," the author talks about how most commercial candles contain large amounts of synthetic chemicals that are released into the air as the candle burns and how some wicks contain lead. Every day for the past week, N and I have watched the large amounts of smoke coming out of our nightly candles after they have been snuffed with increasing trepidation.

I decided not to put these red candles on the table today. We'll be turning to beeswax and using up all our Ikea candles out in their little snow caves or on the porch this summer until they are gone. I think we'll all breathe a little easier.

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Carnival of Nightstands II

The other day, Tracy, put up a post called Carnival of Nightstands. It included a photo of nightstands in her house and then a link back to the original post by Lissa. When I surfed over to Lissa's post, I discovered a book written by my mother on her nightstand. So, inspired, I took photos of our nightstands.



I have always thought I had a pretty tidy house....but it's amazing to look at a corner of your home through the lens of a camera!

Here's H's nightstand, complete with unmade beds (she has a friend staying with us right now). They have been spending hours listening to a Tamora Pierce book on CD and drawing thus all the papers and stuff on the floor. It's a wonder I don't break a leg when I come in to give her Four Corners.




E's nightstand is a little more interesting. It includes her Easter bunny from last year, a box she painted, an elf clog, a "dinosaur egg", and a marble inside a little china box!















N's nightstand is a bit more tidy. He's currently reading a lot of Tich Nhat Han. There's the residue of thread and stuff from some mending I did recently on the lower shelf.








My nightstand is piled high with books that I've read awhile ago or intend to read someday. The current books I'm reading are in a pile on the floor.

It's time for some January organizing. The only positive thing I can say about these nightstands is that they are DUST FREE!

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Her World

I just cleaned off H's camera so she could take it on a field trip. It's pretty cheap, so the images aren't the greatest....but I thought it would be fun to see our home through her eyes.







Her Sister


Her Dog


Her Mother


Her Homework


Her Room (ACK what a mess!)

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Porridge Sundaes

I'm getting things ready for school which starts tomorrow. In addition to laundry, sorting violin music and backpacks, finding rainpants and indoor shoes, I'm trying to organize some food--our school doesn't have a cafeteria, so we pack lunches every day and I try to give the girls something hot in the mornings.

The one breakfast food both my children always agree upon is porridge. I keep in stock Irish Oatmeal, Vermont Morning, and Bob's Red Mill. By alternating the types of porridge, it doesn't get quite so boring.

We usually eat it with brown sugar, milk or maple syrup. This year I've decided to try something a little different--porridge sundaes. I've stocked a tray with chopped walnuts, pecans, dried cranberries, raisins, and brown sugar in the hopes that they will add some other ingredients to their porridge. I'll also have chopped apples and other fresh fruit available when I have time. I like the idea that my children are having something warm that will stick to their ribs.

Over the years, I've discovered that porridge accessories such as little pitchers and dishes add to the joy of eating breakfast. I first began using these when they wanted to pour by themselves but couldn't manage large containers. Now I use the little pitchers in an effort at portion control. Otherwise we'd go through GALLONS of maple syrup. I'm always on the watch for little pitchers at yard sales. I think using them adds a touch of specialness to an otherwise rushed meal.

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"Four corners to your bed...

...four angels 'round your head.
One to watch, two to pray,
one to keep all fears away.

Blessings on your sleep."










I have said this blessing just about every night for 10 years now. Both girls often lock eyes with me while I say it, then smile and give me a big hug afterwards. I'll be sad when they've outgrown it. Perhaps I'll just have to say it to N once we're empty-nesters.

For a long time, we had one other ritual to "Four Corners" as it is called. One evening H was quite nervous about something scary in her room. I stood back, waved my hands over her bed and constructed a gigantic "bubble" over her bed. I then "unzipped it" reached in, and gave her a kiss being careful to zip it up afterwards. I said "here's a bubble full of love and safety for you to sleep in." For many years, after "Four Corners," they had to then get "the bubble."

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Being Gathered

We lit candles at the dinner table last night--something we haven't been doing with the long sun-lit evenings of June and July. Our meal began the way we have begun every dinner this summer, with joined hands and a moment of silence. When we are without guests, our silence can last for quite awhile--enough time for us all to breathe and let the chattering, excited voices of summer die down to a stillness. We squeeze hands, look at each other, and smile. We have gathered our loose, breezy summer selves together again and are truly present for a meal and conversation before we drift off to more luscious outdoor time.

The candles on the porch last night pointed to a changing season, and, in thinking about it, I realized that the way we begin our meal in the winter is quite different. Every evening during the long dark evenings of winter we gather at the table around candles. It's a little chilly, the food is steamy, and we are again silent, but in the dark. We join hands, and someone (we're never sure who it will be) will sing a verse. The voice rises in the soft light, offering a prayer of thanks for this food, and drifts off into the dark. We squeeze our hands, look at each other, and smile. We are gathered once more with a feeling of profound gratefulness for our family (except for those times when the dog hiccups under the table--mood broken).

For sun and rain,
for grass and grain,
for all who toil on sea and soil,
that we may eat our daily bread,
we give our loving thanks dear God.

I see this blessing coming back into our lives very soon as the evenings shorten and the harvest comes in.

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