{Linked up to Trash to Treasure Tuesdays at Reinvented.}

I painted a shutter from a garage sale in my pre-blogging days. Hence, no true before photo.

It was just wood.

Next, it was glorious, in it’s sage and black shabbiness. It was ideal for the top of my kitchen cabs as a backdrop for other decor. (when my kitchen was sage green)

Now it has a breath of fresh life as a beach-weather inspired towel rack for the kids in the bathroom.

Remember the color teal? Teal ruled about 15 plus years ago. I am bringing it back.

I promise to get a nice photo of all the bathroom updates when everything is installed.

Have a beachy kind of day!

Summer in Minnesota is a frenzy of outdoor relaxation, family activities and work projects.

Walks in Grammy's garden

S'mores and then some more S'mores!

Handy-work in the garage! New shelves Neat Pete designed and built to help get ready for the twins! They could also be bunks ;)

]]> http://justablink.com/2009/06/signs-of-summer/feed/ http://justablink.com/2009/06/the-twins-are-girls/ http://justablink.com/2009/06/the-twins-are-girls/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:33:40 +0000 Jessica http://justablink.com/?p=2476 19 week Ultrasound

It’s offical, I will have two more daughters come this fall!

Ryan, 4, is ready to be the only brother and he has already been planning to buy more kitchen toys and baby dolls to accommodate the “girl land”, as he puts it, that will ensue.

Phase one: Treasure the present. Feel the room with your eyes and heart. Take pictures.

Phase two: Talk about setting what “is” into the what “was” category. Nuts and bolts of the moving plan can be discussed.

Phase three: Firm up memories. Remember when you did this or that, here and there…

Phase four: Make doing things in the room special by doing them, one final time.

Goodbye blue ceiling with Mama's painted clouds.

Molly waves goodbye! Notice their faces are bittersweet.

Goodbye Molly's crib. Soon you'll be reborn as the twins' crib.

Goodbye dresser/changing table. We did have fun jumping off of you!

When clearing way in your home for breathing room, or twins on the way, purging stuff will have to happen. It is liberating to shed the waiting and neglected items lurking in the closets.

When is keeping our junk okay?

There such a thing as purge protection!

Consider your item:

You like it - PURGE - (donate it or sell it)

You think so-and-so will use it - PURGE - (or ask them to store it themselves)

You know you’ll want it someday -PURGE - (really? Did your future self tell you that?)

Your life will be enhanced and you may just keel over dead if you don’t have it? KEEP it! - (Use it right away or store it in your attic)

Here is an example of my current purge protected KEEP it item:

A blurry, dusty photo my rescued farm window. Now, you can see why it needed purge protetion. But, in my eyes, it’ll prevent me from keeling over dead.

Hope this easy list of how to cut clutter helps a ton! So, what are your KEEP its?

photo credit

My Birthday

I’d love to have some powerful words to express about the last 30 years or the next 30 years.

But really, right now I’m trying to get my almost 2 year old out of her Dad’s night stand (which stores all sorts of man treasures like M-80s, candy, watches, shoe laces, cologne, earplugs and video games)

&

trying to ignore the “Mom, I think there is a huge problem down here [in the living room], um…nevermind!”

So until my brilliant, thought provoking insights about life come tumbling out…I’ll be eating cupcakes!!!

Have a great weekend! I’ll be back next week, much older and wiser!

Love,

Messy Jessy

I have been sorting, tossing, labeling and basically trying to do a complete overhaul of my family’s belongings.

Today I started to tackle the kids’ toys, with the ever-helpful assistance from a friend with special home-making skills, of course. Yikes!

Yikes! That is the only word I can think of to express how I feel about the enormity of the task and the amount of possessions.

I am feeling the urge for the simple life…or at least the well labeled life! I feel peace coming soon…..

And to think, there was a time I verbally said, “I don’t think Ryan has enough toys!” - Okay so he was only 3 months old when I said that. Still, 4 1/2 years later….Yikes! (this photo only shows what had been in storage in the garage - I still have the room, closets and the playroom!)

My family has gone through a loss this week. My Uncle Wayne passed away from cancer. In the midst of grief and funeral planning  a few bits of joy came across my kitchen table to take my mind off of the heavy topic of death of a few moments.

Neighborhood pal Mason and my son Ryan share a treat.

Time does fly!

In an effort to ‘clean sweep’ the garage this week I unearthed some lovely things that have been hidden far too long.

My childhood minature tea set, a plastic lamb I played with while in my Grandma’s tub, and my Mom’s hand sewn Barbie clothes from the 60’s.

I have to eat every two hours and need to sleep often.  I able to do fun things again after months of blah-t-blah morning-noon-night sickness. Whatever, I am still gaggy but I am so much better than my first trimester.

I took the kids to a local historical farm celebration. Ryan entered into a pie eating contest, rode a pony and collected “play” chicken eggs. Molly pumped water from a well, obsessed over the baby bunnies and hung unto my shirt tightly on the wagon hay-ride.

Over Memorial weekend Peter and I took the kids geo-caching for the first time. We went to Hudson, WI and discovered 3 “treasure  boxes” to trade trinkets and sign our names. We liked it so much, I think we’ll start a new hobby!

Or maybe I am complex.

I can whittle away time, minutes which turn into years, dreaming of this and designing that.

Planing for a simple life takes energy, focus and endurance.

Some things I’ve done to get shifting from dreaming to doing:

• I bought a wall plaque that says LIVE SIMPLY for one dollar at a garage sale.
• I thinned out my list of blogs that I read. I unsubscribed to 3 blogs related to “Simple Living”. (ironic I know)
• I cleared off all the clutter on top of my refrigerator .
• I reached out and asked for help! Simple living doesn’t have to be done alone. (more to come on this topic)

So while I will never give up dreaming (my favorite hobby) I do intend to involve a lot more doing into my life!

PS

iPhone capture from Mother’s Day. Of course, Daddy is getting all the love!