spring break/cleaning

no, don’t worry, you haven’t stumbled upon the wrong blog. you know, the blog of someone who actually DOES spring cleaning! it’s really me.

it’s friday of spring break. and yes, even though we’re homeschoolers, that does mean something. first of all, any of shane’s classes that he takes are off this week, and HE KNOWS when all the vacations and days off are. it’s like he’s got a sixth sense. you know, the ‘anti-school sense’. of course, he’s probably off learning more this week than he does the rest of the year. he’s been working, full days, w/ susie this week, and happy as a clam about it. sometimes i’m tempted to just forego school and let him work with her all day. she is, after all, what’s considered an official master gardener. she has an acre of partially wooded property, on the lake, that she has entirely landscaped with native plants. they spend hours weeding, planting, replanting, labeling, filing, recording, mulching, and otherwise caring for the gardens. and when they’re not doing that, they’re off doing landscape work for private homeowners and local businesses. seriously. do not tell me this is NOT education.

anyway, layla’s been sick this week. she’s got a cold to beat all, so we’ve been pretty much stuck at home and laying low. nobody really seems to mind though.

i’ve been taking advantage of this time by thinking about decluttering. really! i’ve made this amazing discovery! (bear with me here, i know it’s stupid, but it never occurred to me before.) it’s possible to get rid of just part of something, but not the whole thing. for example, i just sorted through the playdough toys. my first thought when i see something like that is to either keep or get rid of. especially if something is a ‘set’ of some sort. but i have decided not to let that sort of stuff get the best of me anymore! the kids like playing with playdough, so i’m not going to get rid of all of it, but it’s ridiculous when you can’t even reach the bottom of the bin to find the tool you want. so i sorted the playdough toys and got rid of easily half of them! AWESOME! now you can actually see what’s in the bin! i did the same thing earlier in the week with the play kitchen stuff. i mean really, why on earth did we need 4 plastic casserole dishes and 6 plastic frying pans?! i also weeded through the food. awesome!

earlier i hit the drawers in my bathroom. i tossed 2 curling irons and a hairbrush i never use. i can shut that drawer now! i also pulled out 3 bottles of perfume i have been hanging onto but NEVER use.

in the kitchen i decided to get rid of our spinning spice rack. it’s taking up space on the counter and i don’t really use that much. it has 12 jars, and since i own many more than 12 spices, they are also stored in a drawer. why not keep them all together? so that’s going.

next, i think i’ll hit the trains, the ‘box of random toys’, and possibly the duplos - not sure we need 2 bins full of them.

so anyway, that’s what i’ve been doing this week… that, and trying not to get sick! still fighting that off, we’ll see if i succeed.