Giveaway tally in pounds:De-clutter your house

Over the past few years I have worked to de-crapify the house and get rid of stuff we don't use any more.  If I don't stay on top of this and de-clutter the house bit by bit, it would get ahead of us in no time.

I have no clue how many bags of stuff that have gone to Goodwill or passed along to friends. Most of the boy's clothes has gone to a teacher friend that works in a lower income part of our county, and those outgrown items have gone to someone that needed it.  Once I took a bucket of things to a consignment store, but the payout was not worth the work, and they took only a fraction of what I took in.  I ended up bringing most of it home.   We have done a yard sale, and it was a little fun, a lot of work,  and again, a large amount of stuff that then had to be piled in the van to take to Goodwill at the end of the morning.

The point is, though, isn't where the stuff went, but that it went.  Away. Out of our space, and into someones hands that have a use for it.  Whether you give away, yard sale, consign or Freecycle, just DO IT!

De-cluttering on a regular basis, closet by closet or shelf by shelf keeps it under control.  You can de-clutter your house without taking on a major project.

I keep a bag close at hand, usually in my closet, and anything I put my hand on that needs to be passed along goes in the bag.  When the bag is full, it goes in the car and is given away.  

I wish I had kept a log or tally of what has gone OUT of the house in the past few years (I've been brutal).  So I thought I'd start today, and keep track in pounds.

Today's "declutter the house and decrapify" total is EIGHT POUNDS!

Now if I could just lose weight as easily, we'd be in business.

Middle school and deconconstruction

They don't have anything in common as there isn't anything being torn down at the middle school.

But as I spent the day yesterday deconstruction the loft bed in the boy's room, the two seemed to be more similar than I imagined.

Letting go. And being excited about it.

Seeing the boy head off to a new adventure and challenge with a smile made me feel excited for him.  Yes, I could mourn the days of him being little, or I could embrace the excitement of seeing him grow.

The few people that knew I was also taking down the loft bed  were surprised.  They wondered how I felt, if I was disappointed, sad or mad even that he didn't want it in his room after a year and a half.

Nope, not a bit.  When he was hinting that he was ready for a change, I jumped at it.  Out with the lumber and in with a bigger boy's room that suits him now.  And if he wants to paint over the batman wall, that's OK too.  I'm not attached to what was, but embracing what is to come....it's exciting!  Now we plan for a bigger bed, new shelving, and a new installation in his closet.

 Yes, those are patched holes on the walls, and a snake in the floor, but wow....how huge is that room?  For now we are just using the single bed from the guest room, but that will probably be upgraded to a larger size.  When I asked him about his "theme" for his room, he looked at me like I had three heads.  Theme?  Oh no, this will not be a themed room.  I was just trying to get a feel for direction....sports? Orioles? Superheroes?

I think yes, that will be the theme.  All of the above, and whatever else he likes.  Within moderation, I like to let him do what he wants to liven up his own space.  

And we won't talk about the spare room....oh no...and it's worse than it looks.  I just couldn't bear to open the door any further than this. 

New projects.....new rooms....new schools.  

No looking back.  It's all good.

5 things Friday

I'm not sure I can keep this to 5 things, but I'll try. Here goes:

1. Today is my 27th wedding anniversary.  Yes, we were children (not really, but I like to think so....it makes me feel younger!)
2. With school starting next week, we're busy with back to school shopping, back to school night, and enjoying our last few days of summer. 
3. My mind is going 1000 miles an hour realizing that I'm on my own again next week during the days.  I hope to increase my work hours/client load, but in the meantime, I have many many projects in the plan already. 
4. The boy decided he's ready for a "real room".  That means the loft bed is going to be moved and/or converted.  I've sensed it coming, and I'm fine with it.  The great thing about building things from boards is that when you're done, you are left with boards that can be resized or reused.  You aren't left with a piece of furniture that needs to be moved or sold or given away.  
5. On my "needs to get done short list": clothes shopping for my mom, master closet reorg, loft deconstruct, bedroom redo, more decrapifying, clean eating planning, decide if using a few coupons is worth the time and more.   

So is that technically five? I'm not sure, but it's all in there in neat numbers!

 And no, I'm not one of those moms that goes dancing around the aisles of the store singing and happy to be rid of her kid.  (Ok, well I did do that at Target last week, but only to embarrass him. It worked).  I enjoy the days and our time together;  there are the times of incessant "I'm bored" that drives me bonkers, but mostly we just had fun.

But it's time to move on to the next adventures, and I'm excited for whatever it brings!
 

How to bond with a pre-teen boy

On the even of starting middle school, we went by the old elementary school to check out some construction that is going on there. And if you see a huge pile of dirt you have to play 'king of the mountain', right?           I went around to the top, and he climbed straight up. I stood and waited for him (it was quite the climb!). He got to the top with two feet and no flip flops. One was visible, and he scooted back down and got it.                 The second was not as obvious, so I climbed halfway down to help in the search. We dug and dug with sticks but couldn't find it. We NEVER found it.     The flip was flopped, and we actually had to finally give in and give up!   The dirt was very loose, and when you stepped down, you really sunk....that flip flop is buried somewhere on the playground along with a tooth he lost in 2nd grade.    We can home filthy dirty and happy.  You really can't climb a huge dirt pile and not laugh.                                       It's really not hard to bond with boys....meet them where they are, even if you have to get a little (or a lot) dirty to get there.

5 things Fast

I know....I'm missed the last couple of Fridays (seriously...has anyone seen them?) and with only two more Fridays before school starts, I want to get back on some type of schedule.

So here is the best I could come up with: 5 Things Fast for Wednesday:

1. The skylight above my acupuncturist's table is in a perfect flight path to the airport. 
2. I have had good hugs and loves from all our missed pets in the last 2 days: we missed them so much being away, and we know they missed us.  
3. Did you know that cats, in addition to being able to purr, really snore a lot?
4. The dirty laundry from last week is still sitting in front of the washer.  Busy work week and the last days of play before school starts take priority.  Well, anything and everything I can find takes priority over laundry. 
5. I'm hoping to have a more fun "5 things Friday" back in the rotation soon, along with some new ideas to keep me on task as winter approaches.  

Being Fabulous on vacation

We spent the last week on a (30 of dh's extended) family vacation in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.  This is us living large on the ropes course and feeling good!  It had 5 obstacles and ended with a  small zipline.  The next day, I joined my niece and nephew for the larger zipline course and had a blast.

 We fished, kayaked (love to kayak!), rode waverunners (56 mph!), tubed and more.

And yes, there was a lot of this by the lake.  

C'mon you #50andfabulous ladies, don't let the numbers hold you back. Get out (or up!) there!