Crud, Sweat and Tears – Worth It?

So a week and a half after Ms. Passion helped me start on room number one…  The Family Room/Library/Music Room… well I’m proud to report that it is 99% done.  Remember the beginning of our room?

It involved a lot of Crud removal, Some good old-fashioned elbow grease, and I’m proud to say I bawled like a baby nearly every day.

Saying good-bye to bad habits is painful, but worth it.  Remember this wasn’t my worst room but a very packed room.  

Out of this room went three bookcases full of books, a piano, 6 bags of trash, and probably another 10 boxes of thrift items.

And after that it looked a whole lot like this…

And this… with the couches taking up the majority of the center of the room.

Do ya like all the electronic cables hanging around?

Ms. Passion is a genius – I might add.  Before she became a professional organizer she was a home stager.  You know, someone who goes into homes and stages it for a quick sale.  She knows her stuff.  So not only was she helping me organize but she also is staging my home so that it is not only functional but beautiful.  We spent around $55 on paint, electrical parts so my husband could rewire the entertainment center, and a art piece and lamp from the thrift store.

Ready for the reveal…

Introducing our ‘Family Room’!

We moved the entertainment center to a different wall.  Then Ms Passion found a way to make some of my more treasured stuff and arrange it in a way to make my husband say, ‘Wow.’ at least 5 times when he finally saw the room put together.  Wow is right.

The best part was she involved the whole family.  Everyone had homework.   From sanding…

 

To painting the trim white (which I’ve always wanted to do).

To rewiring…

Washing…

And a ton of dusting and cleaning and re-dusting, and re-cleaning.  The whole process was messy.  

 

But so rewarding… 

I cheated early on, and tried to do some of the kids homework for them.  Cause I could just envision the trim paint slapped all over the walls, etc.  However Ms. Passion chewed me out good about that one and she was right.  The kids need to invest part of themselves into making this room functional and beautiful.   They are more likely to take care of items they worked so hard to make that way.

Ms. Passion even found some fabric in my stash that complimented the couches.  So we turned that swatch into some curtains.

The only homework we have left?  Well, we are going to repurpose some left-over small matching cubbies into a desk for this corner.  And that’s going to allow us to pull the computer out of the dining room and put it here where the whole family can use it.

So that’s it – One room Done!  Guess which room everyone wants to spend time in now?  We all love it and can’t wait to see the magic Ms. Passion works on the rest of our home.  And the rest of the house, – well it’s desperate for the same treatment.

So for those who want to follow along I thought I’d post the steps I’m going through to overcome this Hoarding Addiction as well as Ms. Passions lessons that she’s giving me. 

*  Step 1:  First you have to ACKNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.  Yes, I know I’m a hoarder and I’m SO ready to be in the recovery phase of that illness.  Then  HAVE A DESIRE TO MAKE A CHANGE and have the courage to realize that you need to ask others for help.  Without the Acknowledgement or the Desire you are basically stuck on step one. 

*  Step 2:   ENLIST THOSE WILLING TO HELP ~ family, friends, counselors, organizers, blog buddies, etc.  Make sure they are committed, and will hold you accountable if you flub-up.

*  Step 3: EVERY ROOM HAS A PURPOSE!  If some item is in the room that doesn’t fit the room’s purpose it needs to leave.  You wouldn’t cook your food in a bathroom, or do your laundry in the front room.  Bring the Purpose back to your rooms.  What is the Vision for your home?  Both in looks, and how it makes you feel.

Clutter never feels good.

Ms. Passion helped us clear everything out of our family room except items that fit a basic vision for it’s purpose.  A room where our family could view movies, play board games, study scriptures, and have fun. 

All the extra stuff is temporarily being housed in my last room – the front room.

We are going to hit every room this way.  One room at a time.  Eliminate everything that doesn’t fit the room’s purpose.  I suspect that the hardest part will be seeing all the left over stuff I’ve accumulated in a embarrassingly large mountain of a pile.  That and after the last room is completed; knowing I will most likely have to part with that pile will be excruciatingly painful – but I suspect the beauty of having  a home where everything has a place and is in it’s place.   Well, I’m convinced that-soon-to-be place of peace and beauty will give me the courage to make those hard choices.  I’m ready to keep going.

Quick Reminder…

From this…

To This. 

And This…

To This.

It feels more Peaceful already.

Hold On

Wow, the last few weeks have flown by and it’s all I could do to hold on for the ride.

 

Hold on and kiss summer good-bye with all the sweetness we could find.

We ended up taking our girls to the State Fair.  Boy’s weren’t too interested in going.  The boys were smart.  Other than introducing our girls to Cotton Candy and…

Finding a new Merry-Go-Round Friend…

 

Well, let’s just say it rained buckets while we were there and the cost of everything was unbelievable high.  Took the magic out of the whole experience.  The rain I can handle, the price gouging – no thank you. 

On a more fun end of summer note was an overnight camping trip and ride on the ferry.  Lea couldn’t resist feeding the gulls.

Always inspired by NieNie and her Back to School Feasts, we decided to have one of our own.

Wait, why is there a pole in the middle of the table?

 

It’s our theme for the year.

‘ Hold On.’

  Because as our whole family knows – Life can sometimes be a whirlwind of everything.  ‘Fun, Terror, Love, Frustration, Temptation, Friendship, Distraction, Family, etc.’  And while the whirlwind is swirling around you, sometimes as a breeze, and sometimes with the ferocity to rip out your soul; well, it’s important to ‘hold on’ to what’s really important.  Love, Family, Goals, Dreams, and God.

We’ve been through a lot over the past year with our whole unbloggable and still ongoing saga.   But I’ve so much more hope for the future because I’ve tried to ‘Hold On’. 

And with our theme a favorite verse from one of my favorite books, 

‘ And they said unto me:  What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?  And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.              

1 Nephi 15: 23-24.

And with the hope of a brighter tomorrow comes sweeter joy.  In our family feast it was the sweet joy of Ice cream sundaes.  They couldn’t wait for a picture.

I cut each of my children a tiny iron rod and soldered a jump ring onto the end.  Some keep it on a necklace, other’s a backpack pull.  Just a wee reminder to ‘Hold On.’

And with that I sadly sent my kids back to school.  I’ll miss them.  Wish we were in the position to Home school again.

And with that, I now torture you with the ubiquitous Back to School Pictures.

Princess couldn’t wait.  Could you tell she’s ready to bolt off to the bus.

Evo-man & T-rev totally thrilled to be hanging with friends instead of Mom.

And Lea’s off to Middle School.  No way is she that old.

Here she is, sporting all the freaking supplies that the teachers requested.  Back to school registration and classroom supplies nearly broke the bank.  Our compromise was no new school outfits.  Oh well. 

 

And they were off, except for Hope.  I still get to hang onto my baby for one more year.  She’s desperately lonely and I’m afraid Pumpkin might have to endure some more dress-up time in the very near future. 

I’ve so much to do this fall, better get started.

When Grown-Up’s Play Dress-Up

Had my best day this summer.  Want to know what I did?

Played Dress Up.  How’s that for staying young at heart.    But first I had to do a little work.

I needed something to dress-up in.   So, I took a Spaghetti Strap dress I found at the local thrift store and I repurposed it.

Yes, the white embroidered flowers on black satin were gorgeous but it’s the back of the dress I fell in love with.   However when playing dress-up with thousands of other grown-ups it needed some tweaking.

Don’t hate me but I made it Medieval.  I really wanted to go in costume to this Renaissance Faire.  I only had a few hours to transform it, so I won’t give you any close-ups.  But I think the dress fit into the atmosphere of the faire perfectly.  The  embroider on the front of the dress I re-used as a headpiece.

I also repurposed some scarf's, dresses, tablecloths and odds and ends found in my sewing stash, to make my girls three fairy dresses.

Lea’s was my favorite.

 

The girls abandoned their wings after the  first hour at the fair.  That’s okay, cause good sport Dad was there to hold the extras.

And the cast of Characters we met were all delightful.  Even if their outer appearance was a bit grim.  This fellow offered to watch our children for us. 

 

And when I asked, ‘Are you afraid?’, he was the one that replied.

‘ Why yes I am?’  he said.  I told him he had good reason.

We even ran into my favorite Wizard Gandalf.

And pirates, faeries, hags and soldiers.  They were all there, and all graciously stood in the heat to entertain a photo with my wee ones.

The shows were all entertaining.  Hope’s favorite show was the one where I got called out of Robin Hood and Maid Marion’s audience to play the fearsome dragon in the play, ‘St. George and the Dragon’.  Don’t I look scary?

And the Joust…  Ouch!

My favorite was the Gypsy Horse Acrobats.

Pretty incredible stuff.

And while entertaining, even for Hope...  There was yet one more thing she wanted to do before our Faire Day was over.

 

I think the part of the day they looked forward to the most was becoming a ‘Lady of the Court’ to her Royal Majesty.

So if you’ve never played Dress-Up as an adult.  I think you should give it a try.    This little video might entice you. 

Surrounded

So last night I was awakened to brutal reality when I saw police officers, guns drawn, yelling and running around my backyard neighbor’s home.  To be honest it’s not a neighbor I know well.  Well they were able to apprehend their guy after a lot of yelling and a little scuffle.  I was a little shocked as I stood 40 feet away from the activity in full view of what was going on.  Power tool in hand, mouth probably hanging open in shock, but still as a statue.  Don’t know if the statue would have moved any if guns had been blazing, but thankfully they remained silent.

UGH!  I have problems letting my kids play outside.  They are not allowed in the front yard without an adult or teenager present and now I’m thinking of imposing the same rules on the back yard. 

What’s shocking is I live in the most peaceful, quiet, friendly town around.  Makes me long for the country.  But I’m sure they see this stuff there as well.

It broke my peaceful summer.  So in order to reclaim it I’m posting pictures about the joyful things we’ve seen this last week.

Took my kids to the Beautiful Snoqualmie Falls.  We intended to hike to the bottom and play in the river like in years past, but the trail was closed for upgrades.  They figure it will take them three years to complete.  Three years is way to long.  Maybe they should assign the task to some wanna-be eagle scouts.

Maybe we’ll find an alternate path down, because I don’t think we can wait three years.

I also spied Mommy Deer and her Fawn.  These deer visit daily a small residence in my town that is on a main road.  Love seeing them. I saw the baby when it was less than a week old and I’ve been kicking myself for not having my camera with me ever since.

And to get us in the mood for our continuing Second Star Adventure, we just had to watch my favorite live-action Peter Pan Movie.

I nearly giggled with pleasure through the whole movie.  Can’t tell you how long Peter Pan has been my friend.  Just ask my mom.

And tonight, more magic happens.  We are going to watch the Perseid meteor shower.  So I’m off to find the sleeping bags so we can lay out, under the stars, on the lawn.

And while we are waiting for the sun to set I’ll just have to decide which book to read to the girls.  I think I’ll follow this Lady’s advice.

Whew, finally finding a little peace again.