happy spring - kind of - and what i'm up to

February in Illinois usually isn't a kind month. It's typical to have cold weather and snow. This year is different. We've actually had a mild February, including some abnormally warm weather for this time of year. Today is 66F and sunny. Tomorrow we're supposed to reach 70F, then strong thunderstorms will move in (with potential for hail and tornadoes), with temps plummeting to 20F by night! Yes, a 50 degree difference in the same day. Wednesday will only be in the low 30's with snow. CRAZY!! 

This morning when I opened the blinds in the house, I saw two spring robins in the yard. The first sighting of the season! Usually I don't see them until mid-March. Walking around the yard, I saw Bleeding Heart poking out of the ground. That's definitely a few weeks early. And then when I went back in the house, I heard the beautiful sounds of Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. They're back from Mexico, Arizona and California! 

(Bleeding Heart emerging)

What I'm reading:

I can't say enough good things about this book. You can probably tell I'm finding nuggets of wisdom and information from all the page markers. If you're a woman 60+, you'll love this book. From Amazon ~

"Filled with unexpected good news about growing older, Winter’s Graces highlights eleven qualities that ripen with age―including audacious authenticity, creative ingenuity, necessary fierceness, self-transcending generosity, and a growing capacity to savor life and to ride its ups and downs with humor and grace. Decades of research have established that the catastrophic conditions often associated with late life, such as severe dementia and debilitating frailty, are the exception, not the rule. Still, the mistaken idea that aging equals devastating decline persists, causing enormous and unnecessary suffering, especially for women. Drawing on decades of experience as a psychology professor and psychotherapist, Susan Stewart, PhD, weaves together inspiring folk stories that illustrate the graces of winter and recent research that validates them, along with a wealth of user-friendly tools and practices for amplifying these graces and bringing them to life. Written primarily for women over 50 seeking good news about growing older, Winter’s Graces offers adults of all ages a compelling vision of aging that celebrates its many gifts, acknowledges its challenges, and reveals how the last season of life can be the most fulfilling of all."

What I'm listening to ~

Halah ~ Mazzy Star

Idea 10 ~ Gibran Alcocer

What I'm watching on TV:

Curb Your Enthusiasm

(Honestly, I'm not much of a TV watcher. We're just now into Season 2 of this series and still think it's just "meh" even though it has good ratings and our son and some friends recommended it. We'll slog along for a little while longer. Have you watched this?)

What I'm cooking (making this tonight):

Creamy Parmesan Ranch Chicken 

What I'm working on:

This mess!

We have small closets in this house. This is the closet in my office/the guest room/what-used-to-be Philip's bedroom. I use it for hanging my sweaters and hoodies, purse storage, and for my art journaling and scrapbooking supplies. Not shown: the messy closet shelf. 

While on a walk around the neighborhood last week, I found this tall, slim dresser at the curb of a neighbor's house. I thought it'd be perfect for storage in the closet. Brian got the dresser in the car for me and brought it home. 

I took everything out of the closet including the Sterilite drawers, went through every little thing, and ended up with three bags of things for donation. 

And...the after, so far! I still have more organizing to do. And then I have to tackle all the stuff on the closet shelf.

Have a good week!

💗

a little rearranging and reorganizing

It's been hot, muggy and stormy here in Illinois these past few days. Thunderstorms woke me up way too early this morning. I'm also "recovering" from getting a crown at the dentist yesterday. This was my fifth crown and for whatever reason, this one was the worst. Maybe because it was the back bottom molar. My gums and jaw are still a little sore today. I'm eating soft foods...healthy smoothies, scrambled eggs, soup; rinsing with warm salt water; and taking healing supplements ~ which is part of my normal routine, anyway. Then in three weeks, I get to go back to the dentist, have more injections (the dentist told me this was the hardest spot for a dentist to have to inject numbing medication ~ thanks a lot for making my dental phobia even worse, Dr. T!), the temporary crown removed, and the  permanent one put on. Oh well, at least the worst of it is over.

On to better things...our spare bedroom - what used to be Phil's room - is used for my yoga room, a quiet reading spot, doing paperwork, holding extra clothes (in a dresser and in the closet), and corralling my scrapbooking and art journaling supplies. I never liked the look of the plastic storage bins under Phil's memory shelf and the clutter of my yoga supplies in the corner. 

I wanted the plastic bins to go and perhaps put a small dresser underneath Phil's memory shelf instead. I was going to organize the scrapbooking and art supplies in the dresser drawers. But I didn't have a small dresser, so I shopped the house to figure out what else I could do.

This black IKEA cube was in the basement. It used to be in Tim's room when he was away at college, but when he moved back home, he didn't want it in his room. At first, I put this cube in the spare bedroom closet. I thought I could organize some of the art supplies and yoga gear in here.

After moving the cube into the closet (and by this time, I had a lot of things organized in the cube, too), I realized it didn't leave enough room to get into the other side of the closet. And I needed to store the vacuum cleaner in this closet. That would mean having to lift the vacuum cleaner up and over the cube every time I needed to vacuum. Not such a good idea.

I took all the stuff back out of the cube and moved it underneath the memory shelf. Much better! I also removed the garland of heart lights that were hanging from the shelf, which gave this area a neater look. Brian's Crosley record player was also in the basement, so now there's room for that on top of the cube. 

I still have yoga mats and a bolster, and now a basket of my purses in the corner, but once Tim moves into his own apartment (which should be soon), we'll have his bedroom and closet for more storage space.

The plastic bins went into the closet. We don't have doors on this closet, but when the bedroom door is open, it covers the opening to the closet, so you can't see the inside.

And now I have enough room for the vacuum cleaner! (As well as more art supplies and boxes of photos.)

Next organizing project is to clean out my files in the desk drawer, which is the perfect project to work on while I don't feel like going anywhere and it's too hot and humid to work outside.

Have a great week!