Two cups of coffee kind of day

Today has been a day of cleaning and cleaning and still not looking like much has been cleaned. It's not obsessive cleaning, but too-long postponed deep cleaning and purging and it will keep going. Taking a little break right now while a certain toddler plays in the baby pool-- it's lovely, with a bit of a breeze and spots of shade. I had to get up off the blanket we laid out because I was drifting to sleep. I'm just noticing the horizon today, the tree-covered mountains to the west and the clear blue line in the east. It's lovely here. We had ice cream cones after lunch and the baby pool was my method of cleaning off-- it's not entirely effective. 

Our tomatoes are growing (or at least alive kind of) in spite of me. 

Days until school: thirtyish? 

Focus today: making the house feel liveable and not a collection of clutter. Sick of clutter. I'm resisting the urge to just throw everything away. The hard work isn't getting rid of stuff, for me, it's taking the time to sort through it properly and follow up on trashing, restoring, giving away, and putting away. It'd be easier to just toss it all. But that's not any better than just letting it sit around, really. 

I just know that this house is starting to feel too small and 90% of that feeling is coming from STUFF, not people. 10% is probably having only one toilet, heh. 

Ideals and Reality

I didn't actually sort any books or work on the study yesterday. I really need to. I need to just start instead of distracting myself or waiting to feel like it. Usually, wanting to do something coincides with the baby waking up and then I'm kicking myself for using all the nap time for something pointless or wasteful. 

I've been thinking a lot though, before I start, about ideals and reality. I have an ideal, maybe just half formed, of what I envision a minimalist school to look like and then I have to match that to the reality of what we actually need. Sometimes we might need stuff that we have to work hard to keep from cluttering our space and that work is part of the process. Sometimes I cling to things because I think they match my ideal but they're actually just taking up space. I have to have a good idea of my motivations for keeping or discarding different items and this, hopefully, will also streamline our school spending-- we won't be buying duplicates of things we have or spend money on stuff we think we need just because it's a good idea. 

One thing I know will go is some of our art/painting supplies. We just don't use them and I have little desire to. I'll keep some though, even though I'm not a fan of messy projects, because I know the kids still need those experiences even if it's not my favorite activity. 

What things do you find yourself keeping because you feel like you HAVE to? Is it a good "have to" or a false expectations one? How do your ideals help you and how do they cripple you?

little words

Apparently, "Can I have a rest time with books?" is code for, "Can I strip down to underwear to lounge for a bit?"

Also, Sam asked today to watch the "penultimate episode" of Octonauts and he was using the word correctly.

Sorting Through the Mess

We're getting ready to start kindergarten this fall and as of right now, the house/school (homeschool, haha) are not at all where I want them to be. We have clutter everywhere and I'm going to work on paring down books and supplies so I can have easy access to the essentials. I'm going to work on an essentials list as I go and maybe alter it throughout the year. Right now, I'd like to depend a lot on our library (we have a great system here) and not try to store so many children's books.

I'm going to track my progress, partly as a way of planning out how I work and partly as a way of preventing me from impulsively buying stuff we "might" need. I like having clear spaces, clear desks, and the best way to do that is to not try to store or own so much. I also have a theory that kids need far less than what we think they do to learn effectively and the more stuff we have the more cluttered learning is, as well.

Right now, my goal is to clean up books in our study (which is also my husband's office) and clean out my art/school supply rubbermaid cabinet. I want it to be easy to get to important papers and supplies instead of a balancing act with lost or duplicate items and things prone to falling.

My ideal is good quality multi-use items, but I don't want to just buy "good" stuff when I have things here that might work, and I don't know what I have because I can't see it all.

Countdown to school: 36 days!