Tag: organized (page 1 of 3)

Monday Morning Vibes

January is passing us by all too quickly for my liking. My opportunities to visit here have been few. I’m hoping that changes with the onset of February.

We hit the ground running into this New Year. I’ve been busy organizing, cleaning and decluttering small areas here and there. I don’t mind the bareness of space. We’re savouring all the quiet moments that we can. I’m not wishing winter away yet. I like each season to have it’s time and place. I’m enjoying winter on the coast. I love watching the sea rolling in calmness, crashing in anger and changing colour with its mood. There is a power and an awe to her beauty.

Today has been misty, rainy and damp. Patsy Cline is crooning in the background, a cup of tea is steeping next to me, a loaf of bread is rising on the counter and my candles are lit. I’m attempting to ease into the week.

After working through the morning, I’m now patiently waiting for a glass delivery to arrive. I’m taking an evening stained glass class this winter. I had my idea narrowed down to three designs, then two and the design that made the final cut, simply came down to being able to find the glass colours that I wanted to use. It will be more of a contemporary design with the focus being on colour and a play on movement. I’m excited to see the glass in person as I was having to do my best in choosing my colours from online websites. So fingers crossed they will all work as I have envisioned them.

Here’s to the week! Let it be a good one!

A Refresh

I took down our Christmas decorations today. I don’t think I’m ever ready to do that. But, it was high time to do it! Now, the cottage feels sparse, but not in a bad way. I don’t mind the clean bleakness of it all. There is something refreshing about the inside of the cottage mimicking the winter environment beyond its walls.

A mini “spring cleaning” session took place this afternoon, with every surface being wiped and scrubbed down, dusted and mopped and vacuumed too. The candles are lit, there are still twinkle lights glowing from little spots here and there and dinner is simmering away on the stove. So, life is good!

Spring Cleaning

The weekend is here at last and I am so happy. The cottage has been topsy turvy with all the goings on of washing machine woes, burst pipes where our kitchen was briefly turned into a tropical paradise complete with a waterfall and a den that looks like a disaster zone because everything has been piled up in it from the kitchen.

But, we have a brand new washing machine, who has become my new best friend! The pipes have been fixed and the holes in the ceiling patched and painted. All of this has given us an opportunity to start our spring cleaning a bit early, which is a good thing. I moved our dresser yesterday and discovered that there wasn’t dust bunnies behind it, but dust elephants! Quite scary! I love deep cleaning and getting everything refreshed.

So, the house is coming back to itself and this weekend we will put everything right again. I picked up some milk yesterday evening on my way home and noticed that the grocery store had flats of pansies out front in all different glorious shades of yellow, orange and plum. So if the weather holds, I’m thinking that some sunshine yellow ones might just jump into my hands this weekend and we can cheer up a few spots in our little street garden.

Here’s to the weekend long may it last!

{Image via Good Housekeeping}

Life Lately

I’ve tried to write this post 1/2 a dozen times but life lately has put a stop to it. I’ve had things to share, but for now they’re not important.

The cottage is quiet today, I feel quiet today. The only sound is the hum of the oven, baking a fresh loaf of bread. I went for a run this morning in the freezing cold and darkness, but I was rewarded by getting to see the sun rise as I crossed over the train bridge. It’s the little things, right?

It’s very windy here today, but the sunlight keeps coming and going, drifting through the window and is slowly starting to crawl across the wall and towards the mantel. All of Christmas has been tucked away now and the house doesn’t feel so much bare as it does streamlined.

Sitting on the mantel are a pair of strawberry pink candles nestled in the antique milk glass candleholders my parents gave me for Christmas. A clear glass bowl of moss covered grape hyacinths with their shoots poking through the soft green mossy blanket, rests between them.

I love that I can see their creamy white roots running down into the dirt and moss that line the bowl. It’s like getting to watch a science experiment. In front of your eyes Nature grows, in all of Her glory.

The candles are lit and the kettle is on, as I think only copious amounts of tea can warm me up today.

Here’s to Friday, because I’m already ready for it!

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Back to School

The house got a quick “spit and a polish” yesterday. Things were put away and tidied up. Christmas is still up and will remain that way until the weekend. We always keep things up till after Epiphany. To be honest, I normally keep them up a bit longer. But not this year, I will have to be good and put everything away till next Christmas as we have some New Year’s work to be done in the cottage. That’s what happens when a pipe bursts! Luckily the damage appears minimal, but we’ll have to wait and see.

We didn’t sleep a wink last night with “Storm Eleanor”. We had wind gusts of over 70mph. We watched things fly by from our window. I saw a neighbours gutter get ripped off and fly down the street. Garbage cans were rolling down the road like they were in some kind of race and the wind was so hard, it sounded like someone was punching down the door. But our little cottage held her own.

Today was back to school day. I don’t think I was ready. I never am. So here’s to a short work week and here’s to the weekend, may it arrive quicker than I can blink!

{Image FOUND}

The Grand Total

Since my last post about reorganising the closets, we’ve given away a whole lot more! The grand total now stands at 10 garbage bags and one large shopping bag worth of clothing, fabric, towels and home accessories. Decluttering is an amazing thing, it frees the space and it frees you. I haven’t missed anything that we have donated. I’m truly enjoying the bits and pieces we decided to keep. I took great pleasure in making a loaf of bread yesterday, on countertops that were practically devoid of clutter. It’s very cathartic and something this little dollhouse and us were desperately in need of.

Six Bags

Six bags. Six garbage bags: each one filled to the brim with clothes that are now too big for us, since we started running. Six garbage bags filled with clothes, shoes and winter coats that were swallowing us whole. Six garbage bags that we’ve donated to charity.

The house feels empty; in an odd way. No one but us ever sees what’s behind the closet doors or inside the dresser. Now, they are incredibly streamlined. Everything has been organised so it is easily visible when you open the drawer. It feels empty, but it feels so good. And we have a list of a few items that need to be replaced, in smaller sizes.  It was a mentally and physically exhausting process that took us two days to complete.

Nevertheless, I feel exhilarated!

It’s Thursday, Alright!


Well,  it’s a Thursday alright! We’re doing a major overhaul in the cottage. Cleaning, gutting and downsizing. I made two trips to one charity store this morning to bring them two side tables we were getting rid of. Mr. Michie helped me make the other trip before work, to a different charity shop, that will take electrical items. I’ve dusted high up places and low down underneath places that haven’t been dusted in awhile and in doing this my vacuum broke. It hasn’t been very happy for a bit, so I guess it thought today was a good day to go.

Well, I just had to laugh, because this would only happen to me. So, even though it is just the first of December and not the first day of Christmas, I started singing, as I often sing and talk to myself: “On the first day of Christmas my true love bought for meeeee, a new-eww vaa-ac-uuummm!”

I’ve been a very good girl this year, so there is one winging it’s way to me now as I type. So, I thought I shall take a five minute break, catch my breath, re-work my plan of attack for the day and share something with all of you. I saw this gem on Monday and it is just pure Wes Anderson happiness. So, here’s to the first of the month and here’s to Thursdays, let them be short, so we can move on to Fridays and then on to the merry weekend! And, wherever that train is going, I want to ride within it’s mint green walls and rattle down the tracks.

Spring

Victoria Magazine Spring Quote

Yesterday, we heralded in the “First Day of Spring”. Yet, it doesn’t feel very “Spring” like outside. The sky is a lavender grey and there’s a chill in the air. It was so dark by four o’clock today, I had to turn the lamps on! But, there are already little touches here and there if you know where to look. The bulbs are starting to shoot up from the earth and the fields are turning greener and greener.

After my Friday break, I went back to spring cleaning today and attacked the bathroom. Getting rid of anything out of date or finished with. Now, it too has joined the list of organised spaces in our cottage. Decluttering is a wonderful feeling!

School breaks up this week and we have a few Easter plans. We’ve pretty much nailed down a menu for Easter Sunday and we’ve put a few things on our “To-Do” list for when we are off. Going to the garden nursery is one of them, I’m ready for a lot more colour outside of our door, so re-planting the garden pots it is! I’m also hoping for my first spring walk through Regent’s Park, one of my favourite places to spend a lazy strolling day.

{Quote from Victoria Magazine}

Taking A Break

Vintage Housewife

It’s crisp today with a silvery grey sky. I don’t mind, I’m staying cozy inside. My candles are lit, I’m listening to music and working on a weekend menu. Tonight we’re having a big Greek salad and home made tiropitas. One of my favourites! My mom has always made them and I learned how to do it through her. They remind me of Spring and being little. The taste of warm salty feta oozing into your mouth as you bite through the buttery crisp pastry, makes my mouth water.

I’m taking a break from decluttering and downsizing and working on a personal project. We now have two more large bags of items to donate to the charity store and I know that there will be more to come, once I tackle the bedroom closets. It is a refreshing change to be able to easily walk into the pantry and grab a cookbook or mixing bowl without having to complete a yoga balancing move to get what you are after. I have yet to miss anything that we have donated or recycled.

I have secretly worried that I was one step away from being on the TV show Hoarders, but considering that I am an excellent de-clutterer, organiser and cleaner and can make these decisions myself without someone putting all of my possessions in my front yard to go through, I think I’m doing alright.

We’re each planning for a quiet weekend, doing things around the house, completing a few work tasks, eating good food, going for walks, listening to music and just being. Here’s to the weekend, long may it last.