The Quicky

It's wet and rainy here. Very wet and rainy. When you head out to my barn, the ground is so thick with mud and muck that your boots just sink. The weekend is supposed to dry up a bit so that it can rain again mid week. I remind myself that all of this rain is why we will have lots of grass this spring and summer.

With that said, it has been a very busy week, but I am going to cover some of the highlights.

1. Devin and I went to a local comedy club on Sunday night. This club has been in Chattanooga for a very long time, but this was our first time to go. We had a blast.
We saw Joe Machi, who was on Last Comic Standing. Great show and a clean one at that! We had such a good time that I bought us tickets for a show in April!

2.  I sent my dark sheep fleeces off to a small mill for processing. House Lamb, Flicka, had some multi colored fleece when we sheared her last fall. I was excited to see what the mill could do, so I had them make me worsted weight yarn.
WOW! Flicka produced a beautiful gray-tan color yarn that is soft and shiny. I have already crocheted a beanie. In fact, all of the yarns were fabulous so I am making everyone in the house a hat for next winter!

3. I bought 3 new books to read. I picked my steer up from the processor and now I have a freezer full of grass fed beef. This is a great thing, but I felt I needed some direction on cooking the beef. I also want to try and make some bone broth and wanted some direction there as well. Finally, I have a new  pressure cooker. Again, more direction and recipes were needed.
I love all of the books so far and my first batch of bone broth, that was made in the pressure cooker, turned out well. It wasn't gelled up, but it was thick.

4. My house is messy. It hasn't been this messy since I had a new baby! I blame the busy days and the winter snow and rain. I guess I could blame the livestock I have outside and the dogs that run through the house. At any rate, it needs a good cleaning.
I decided that we would spend 9 days spring cleaning. Of course we will have chores and some school to complete in the mornings, but the afternoons are going to be cleaning times! I made a list and posted it in the kitchen on a dry erase board.
Now everyone knows what is coming and I can get through my day knowing we will not always live in filth:-)

5.  I will have sponsored post this weekend. This is the first time for a sponsored post on this blog. I get offers weekly from various companies but I always turn them down. Usually it is for a product I don't care about or it's a company I don't care for too much. This sponsor and I went back and forth a bit the last couple of weeks though and I feel like they might have something useful to offer. They are also throwing in an amazon gift card to a reader. Hey, you could buy those awesome books I just bought! Anyway, be looking for the post. This is a rare thing and will not often happen. I think the $50 gift card would be awesome to win!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!!

How Does Your Clutter Grow?

Well, my clutter grows quietly and without my knowledge until the day I decide to move a couch or dresser. Maybe I decide to hunt for a cookbook in the back cabinet and then it hits me.
Literally and figuratively.

It is the product of having many kids and many animals.
It is what accumulates during the busy, crafting holidays and the warm spring days in the garden.

It is the grime and crumbs that stick between the cracks of the table leaf because there have been many meals eaten together.

It is the dried water and mud splashes clinging to the baseboards after a long, rainy winter with kids and dogs who love playing in mud puddles.

It's having a busy toddler whose brain never quits running. Okay, maybe he does sleep a little.

I have successfully cleared out and cleaned my entire upstairs, with the help from the kids.
This means all of the kids have clean rooms, closets and bathroom. Now I am downstairs cleaning. Today I was able to clean the living room and the next two days will be dedicated to my kitchen.
EVERYTHING is coming out of the cabinets. Everything.
It's all getting cleaned and will either go back or go out. If I haven't used it within a year, it's gone.

I browsed through Pinterest and some blogs looking for some ideas to help organize my kitchen while still keeping it functional. Function is very important.

I found a couple of good ideas. One is the shoe bag that now hangs inside the linen closets.

My old house didn't have linen closets, so when we built this house I insisted on them! I have three:-)

 

I can place cleaners up high and away from the baby. Ditto for the flashlights that are always without working batteries, courtesy of the 2 year old. Extra shampoo and such also goes well in the pockets. This has given me extra shelf space for other items.

 

I also found a great tip for battery storage. I usually have them all loosely placed in a plastic storage box. It works, but it makes it difficult to glance and see what we might be low of as I am making a store list.

 

 

Now I have them all in a small tackle box. It's so much nicer than just having them roll around in a bulkier box.

 

Now I start the kitchen. Is the kitchen ever large enough? Is there ever enough counter space? I ask these questions while looking through all of the wonderful ideas I see online.

 

As much as I searched, however, I never did find any ideas that really matched the functionality of my space, my kitchen.

I saw some lovely ideas for storing flour, beans and popcorn in beautiful glass canisters, but what if you buy these items in 50 pound bags?

There are many who suggest you place your most used items on the counter, while hiding the rest. None of these ladies had wheat grinders or automatic sprouters though.

Also, can you believe there was not one single suggestion regarding the 2 gallon scrap bucket that sits under the sink for the pigs.

 

I am partly being sarcastic because I have come to realize this week that my kitchen is all about function and little about decoration.

I plan to change that, at least a little.

 

 

 



Of course I need to clear my island of all the "extras" I removed from the living room.
It's gonna get messy. It's gonna get cleaned.
But most of all.......

it's gonna get lived in and that's exactly the kind of house I love.


Hope you are feeling the love this Valentine's Day!!!! See you on the other side of the clutter!