unplanned busy

when i went into this weekend i knew we had no plans. but our weekend turned all kinds of busy before i knew it. on saturday i asked the kids to clean the playroom up while i took a shower. then all of a sudden i was in the playroom with them...and purging. i decided to do our "go through the toys and get rid of them" thing. and did we ever. i went through and took out all the toys that can be "rummage saled" at my rummage sale this summer. took out the toys that can be "goodwilled". and then took some to sell on a local facebook sell/buy page. it was so nice. and the girls are really good at getting rid of things too. i've always tried to teach them that it is all just "stuff" and we don't need so much of it. amelya i have to remind that it is okay to want to keep some of the stuff that is important to her, she's willing to part with a lot. breigh i have to remind that we don't need to keep something "just because....whatever reason". caitlyn was pretty open to whatever and compromised with me on a few things. it's either this one or that one. in the end, the playroom is emptier and we're all just as happy as we were when we started. and i've got $10 bucks in my pocket from selling some of it. this was the final result.

this is one half of the playroom. the wall to the right has three drawered totes on it and contains the building blocks, music toys and miscellaneous other toys. so while they got rid of a lot, you can see they are not lacking either! ((seriously though, with 4 girls...we have one toybox (the one you see straight in) filled with dolls!))

shaun loves looking at the lake. so because sturgeon spearing started this weekend he went down to the lake to look at it. i'm not sure why. but he enjoys it. i personally enjoy looking at an unfrozen lake, because it generally means it's warmer outside. the 2 big girls were interested in checking out the frozen lake. because there is not great ice conditions this year, there was NO way we were driving on the lake. even WITH great ice conditions i don't think i would've allowed it. lol. so shaun took them out and walked on the lake a little bit. they loved it. and i enjoyed watching them be excited. here's daddy and the 2 big girls.

 yesterday i needed to get our Christmas tree down. i really had forgotten it was up. it was in a corner and we hadn't turned it on since Christmas. but since it is almost valentine's day...it was time. shaun took caitlyn to walmart for some things and evaleigh was napping. so i started working on it while amelya, breigh and dustin played baby. i'm in a huge "purging" kick again, and organizing...so i decided while i was in out attic to organize it a little bit. we have most everything in totes in there, but none labeled or put in a "makes sense" order. so i went through the totes and labeled and moved them where they needed to be. and purged quite a bit too. i was really excited to have an easy access to the attic again. (which is really just a room off of our bedroom, our bedroom used to be the attic as well.) and to make it easier, we totally left the tree with the lights on it and carried it upstairs and put it in our attic that way. :)

after we got that done i was dreaming about our future bookshelf. last year we had someone come and give us an estimate on building a custom bookshelf. because we were not wise with money in the past, it  means waiting to buy it. since we are becoming wiser. (praise God!!) we are able to start looking at making those sorts of purchases soon. in the meantime, being content with what we have already. our current shelf had three glass shelves (2 which were cracked) and a two shelf book shelf on the bottom. shaun was thinking outloud and said something about taking the glass shelves off. i then was like, what?! can we! ((i absolutely HATE dusting, and those shelves were awful to dust. so i was instantly excited at that!!)) he then saw my excitement, i left the room and i came back to him dismantling it. in hindsight, i wish i had gotten a before picture...but i have an after.

dustin helped daddy, and needed to be in the picture. :)

and even though they were glass shelves and open to the living room...it makes our living room feel HUGE with them out. and different. i LOVE it. our next goal is to tear out the fake stone wall and put in the custom bookshelf. which can't be done until the wall comes out. my "goal"/hope is for that to be done within the next 6-9 months. since i've been waiting for almost a year for the wall already...it really isn't a huge deal. the only "downfall" to taking down the glass shelves is losing the picture displaying spot. so i rearranged some things on the shelves on the stone wall...and have places for the pictures. i took down some too. less is more. is my motto. i also used the top of the bookshelf to display my willow tree angels. (which i didn't decide until after the picture, obviously)

i also found time to crochet and relax this weekend. so even though we were an unplanned busy, i also got some down time. and have a hat almost finished for my cousin's son. :) and another washcloth finished for my friend. (4 more to go in the dozen!)

and i must say, how freeing it is to purge! seriously. getting rid of things feels great. and when i look around my house and don't see the "clutter" or "stuff" it feels really good. and it's also less to clean up after. stuff is okay, don't get me wrong i like the things i have. it's just realizing that it is all stuff and that it doesn't have a hold on you. and really...you can't take any of it with you, so if you don't need it...why do you have it? ((is what i tell/ask myself with everything)) i encourage you to go through a drawer, a closet, a room, a space...whatever it is and go through it. get rid of those things you don't need, or have hold on you. and experience the free-ness that it gives.