So, we’ve been organizing, rearranging, culling out useless stuff bit by bit. Audrey got a loft bed, so we disassembled the old one and rearranged her room. We decided the IKEA Pax units weren’t working for fabric storage (or much of anything else) in the family room, so we reassembled my garment racks, and I got all my fabric hung up. I was trying to figure out where guest linens would go. We have no basement, the attic reaches extreme temperatures, so I don’t like to store a lot of things there, and our closets are maxed out. Suddenly, it occurred to me that our sofas in the family room were pretty much like open boxes, with the open end on the bottom, and I had all these baskets we’d taken out of Audrey’s room. . .voila! Not only do the linens and extra blankets fit into the baskets, which fit under the sofas, but even the massive queen aerobed fits under the sofas. Our guests sleep in the family room, now all the stuff we keep for guests to sleep on is in the family room! Woohoo!

Well, this was days ago, and I’m working my way around the house. I look at the kids’ closets, realize that we could fit some more shelving on top – and it just so happens that wood from the bed and/or Pax units could be used, and will work nicely because they’re laminated – easy to clean, and a surface that will make it easy to slide things in and out. I’d already thought of using some of it to put in hubby’s closet, which has a truly bizarre arrangement that makes a good three feet hidden and not terribly accessible. My thought for this was that we’d put in a shelf above the suitcases and use one of the metal baskets we’d had in the Pax so we could put less-needed stuff way in the back, and pull out the basket to get at them when we wanted. Bit by bit, less stuff is going into the dumpster.

Now I’m getting a bit convoluted. Fortunately, the Adderall is hitting me at this point, so I’m not getting all squirrelly and dashing about not knowing where to start. I know I want to make better use of the laundry room, which has not only the machines and a sorting/folding area, but also houses the spare fridge and freezer, extra cleaning supplies, cleaning tools, party ware, pet foods, treats, medicines, pond supplies, my computer and files and books and software, and all the paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, glue, string, stamps, envelopes and other stationery your heart could desire. So I pretty much can’t do much with the laundry except wash and dry it. No room. *sigh* Plus, all the ironing is in my sewing area – where the ironing board and iron are. Having ironing and mending sitting there and staring at me really puts a damper on my desire to sew – gotta do the work before the fun stuff, right? So I bought another ironing board I can hang on the wall in the laundry room, and I already had another iron. Now for a place to hang stuff. I had gone out to Linens N Things with my 20% entire purchase coupon (BTW, Linens N Things and Bed Bath and Beyond not only accept one anothers’ coupons, but they don’t really expire, even though they have expiration dates. Hang onto those things – don’t throw away one store’s because you have only the other nearby, and keep them until you use them!) but couldn’t find a wall mount for hanging up the stuff for ironing.

So. . .I hop onto amazon.com, and after ordering a rack I can use to hang clothes both for ironing and for drying smaller items, and remembering to get a couple of books, it occurs to me that maybe I should look for some other stuff. I finally find door-mount spice racks narrow enough for my kitchen cabinet doors. Cool. Ordered those. But I have to pay shipping, so I check the vendor for other stuff. Lo and behold, they have a closet expander – a rod that hangs from the regular rod so you have two levels. I had tried one before, but it hung so low that it was useless. There was plenty of room under the top rod, but not enough under the expander the actually hang stuff. This one adjusts. And while I’m at it, let’s see if they have rolling craft carts, and if the wheels are big enough to be useful. Woohoo! A collapsible one with 4 inch rubber wheels for less than half the price of an official “craft cart”. Hauling that polymer clay stuff has gotten pretty rough. I’m on a roll here, and see some inexpensive under bed boxes. This is difficult, because our bed has only about 5 inches of clearance from the floor. Bummer. These boxes are too tall. . .but it comes to me in a blinding flash of inspiration (ok, not really blinding. . .) that I have two more wire baskets from the Pax. Not only are they both low enough, but lengthwise, they fit side to side under the length of the bed. I can finally get the sheets and blankets out of my closet. . .more room for clothes!

Several good things have happened. I have gotten items I needed, and the cost of shipping does not exceed the cost of the items. I have repurposed more things, so there is less to throw away. I have found new places for things I have to keep, reducing the overall clutter. A fine way to start the day, indeed!

It looks like we had a predator. Kyle, one of the big koi, is missing, and I don’t know how many of the baby shubunkins. The remaining fish are hiding under the pond palace, and just to give them a little more protection, I put the koi castle back in. (Those are horrible names, now that I’m looking at them.) Poor fishies. It’s not a surprise, seeing that we have plenty of raccoons and fish-eating birds, but it doesn’t make it less of a bummer.

I’ve fallen behind on housework because the garden has been taking up so much of my time. Right now, though, I’m at a point where what’s left is mostly aesthetics. You know, spreading more mulch, training vines as they grow up their trellises, and so on. I spent many, many hours this weekend pulling up the forty gazillion oak trees that sprouted in the garden, so I’m stiff and sore, anyway. Now, most weeds, like the oak and maple seedlings that so love this sandy soil, can be pulled up and done with. However, we have a few that spread by root runner. You can kind of keep up with the quackgrass, crabgrass, and some other miscellaneous weeds, but we have a kind of sorrel that is out of control. I found out the hard way that if you pull up all the sorrel you can see, you get even more because each tiny shred of rootlet sends out a new runner with dozens of sprouts in a matter of days. It was time for the Roundup. (Sorry, Gayle. It had to be done. . .) The problem, though, is that it’s all in between the plants I want to keep, and it’s very windy down here. Back in Bloomfield, with a much smaller piece of land and more manageable weed populations, I’d just take a paintbrush and paint it on. Here, I’d be doing that every day until December. So take a gander at my cool new invention:

It’s one of those industrial spray bottles from Costco, and a 20-ounce soda bottle with the bottom cut off. The top opening is exactly the right size, and snaps onto the tip of the sprayer. I was able to spray single weeds at a time without Roundup blowing through the air onto other plants. Gosh darn it, I’m so clever!

Today, though, it’s kitchen cleanup, vacuuming, and maybe even some ironing. I might squeeze in an errand, but we shall see. Mmmmmm. . .but first, let’s open up all the windows in the house!