Whimsical Last Days of Summer

Well... Today I just don't know what to write about. I feel like I have done so much in the past few weeks, yet I also feel like I have done nothing at all. Most of the things that we have done are family memory building activities. I haven't been canning, though I really should, I haven't been preparing things for the fall, or anything of that nature. I have been relishing in the last few days of summer vacation and loving being able to stay at home with my kids and doing things at a whim.

For example. Tuesday, was one of the hottest days of the summer. It has been a really chilly summer and the heat was nice. Since it was so hot, we decided to go to the beach at Pinehurst (A near by conservation area). It was so nice. My husband took off a few hours off work and came with us, which was a really nice treat. That beach was nice because there was lots of shade that was close to the water. Also really nice change rooms. If we had more time we would have gone for a little hike or something but it was just nice to be out in nature, on a beautiful day, being cooled off at a little lake. We packed a picnic lunch full of yummy snacks and cheeses and tomatoes bought fresh from the Farmer's market that morning. Really it couldn't have been a nicer midday activity.

Today I happen to have the van at home which is bit of a rare thing, quite often my husband has it at work. So, I took the kids to the St. Jacob's Farmers Market. I had the little one on my back in my Boba (best baby carrier ever!!!), and the other two walking along beside me. The girls loved seeing all the different things for sale. What they really wanted to do was bounce in the bouncy castle. So I let them and they even paid for the ride themselves! They were so excited to give the worker their money. They felt so proud. We then had lunch at Conestoga Fries which serves their food from a covered wagon. It was fun. The girls especially liked it because their favourite babysitter works there and served them. After lunch my middle girl bought a dream catcher. She found the most sparkly one there. My oldest bought a package of candy for us all to share and one for my husband. (We then drove to his work which is nearby the market and surprised him!) We walked back through the vegetable/fruit vendors and the girls loved calling out all the different kinds of food they saw. We saw some yummy corn so we are going to have corn on the cob with our dinner tonight. It will be delicious!

It is nice when you have days like this. Not to hot, beautiful sun and clear skies, and nothing on tap to do. It is nice when you have the flexibility to go ahead and do things and not worry about time off etc. 

When you decide to live off of one income your life becomes one of trade offs. You trade off exotic vacations for staycations. You trade off going to fancy resorts, to going to camp grounds and local parks. You trade off big renovations with making do and doing a little at a time. You trade having to work every day 9-5 for the ability to be flexible about where you want to spend your energies and time that day. 

There are times when I wish I could go to an office and someone else could look after my 18 month old because she does drive me crazy! But then there are days like this, when all the kids are sweet, the dishes are done, we have the car, and we are ready for adventure. I like these days the best. It is worth the trade off.

THE JUNK - Cleaning Out the Front Closet

 I hate tidying. I would much rather be reading my book or doing something fun with the kids. Yet, I do want a tidy home and often have feelings of being overwhelmed when I look around my house and see the huge task that is decluttering. The yard sale we had in June helped get my declutter juices flowing, but there is still so much to do.

Well, today I did something totally amazing. I cleaned out the bottom of my front closet. Now, I can hear what you are saying. What's the big deal, it's just the bottom section of a closet. But to me it is like reaching the summit of Mount Everest. It is like breaking the glass ceiling of tidying. Let me explain.

We bought our home a little over two years ago. As organized as I tried to be with the move we still inevitably had boxes that we just plunked down in our garage, or front closet. For two years I kept saying, "man we should really clean out that front closet". We would start, but only get half way through and never finish. Or more things would get added to the junk in the closet when we had to do our "emergency clean ups". My husband is the master of making a room look amazingly tidy, but what I am realizing is that really it is not a talent of dealing with the clutter once and for all. It is more a talent of hiding it. So the closets get full and then the junk ends up flowing back into the room and we are back to square one. Messy room, messy closet. But, when I am in a tidying dilemma and guests are on the way over I use his master hiding of junk skills to the max. His talents never cease to amaze me.

before

So with this closet being the home of tidying ups of the past it was getting ridiculous. This week I was feeling so grouchy and crazy about the whole mess of our house etc. that I decided to take the bull by the horns and get rid of the junk in that closet once and for all. I hope seeing the results of this closet, will help give me the motivation for the rest of the house. There are things I want to do in life and being a curator of junk is not one of them. I want to live for myself not for my junk. Now I just need to convince my husband that this closet is a no junk hiding zone. Maybe I should make a sign.

after (and a lot of things in the give away bag and the garbage bag)

So I've done it. I have broken the junk funk, of the front closet at least. Hmmm. What should my next target be?

Do you have a closet or drawer or room in your house that you keep putting off? Why do you put it off? And if you have actually dealt with it did it help with your motivation to keep going?

Getting Inspired by the Past

This past Monday was a holiday here. We have a pass to the regional museum so we decided to go for the morning. They have a village there that is set for the time of 1914. It was fun to walk around and look at how they did things back then.

The girls liked seeing the old fashioned washing tub and ringer. They also liked playing the different games, like crokinole, horseshoes and the egg toss. They also gave walking on stilts a try. My husband was pretty good.

These pictures are from last year's Canada day. I really need to remember my camera!!

I liked going into the general store to see the different products in tins and how beautiful it looked. I also liked going into the old mennonite house and I was drooling over their cellar. It was beautiful with built in stone shelving for their preserves. I told my husband that it was my dream house, though I would prefer to have electricity, running water and a few other modern conveniences.

I also saw the chicken coop and run of my dreams. Right now the city doesn't allow chicken coops in our back yards but I am hoping that changes soon.

I like going to these "pioneer villages". It gives me inspiration for things I can do now to get back to the basics. It makes me want to make beautiful quilts for my home, get it organized so it can be productive and comfortable, and makes me want to reduce time spent using electronic devices and increase the time of actually living.

It also reminds me that these people did not have giant rooms or their own craft space or what have you and they were still able to be productive in their home. One of the houses in the village was a log cabin that had the kitchen and two smaller rooms on the first floor and then the attic for the children to sleep and play. This woman did have her own dedicated room for her sewing set up or her books or her craft storage. She made do with the room available. I need to do that too. Instead of moping about not having the space or not having the kitchen gadget I really want I need to just get on with it.

Living the simple life does not mean having to live without modern conveniences or like a pioneer. But we should be looking for ways to cut back, to come to grips with what is truly necessary to do in life and what will give us fulfillment and then concentrate on those things.

It has been a year since I started this blog. I am still looking for my voice, I am still trying to change how I do things to have a simple life, and I have had so much fun documenting what we are doing in little old Waterloo. I am excited for this next year of blogging and hopefully something I write will inspire you, help you, or just let you know that you are not alone. Thanks for dropping by this year. Please say hello in the comments, I love hearing from you.

I won't have a blog post next week as we are busy with holiday stuff, but I will be back on the 21st. I hope your August is enjoyable!

I Love to Ride My Bicycle! I Love to Ride My Bike!!

I must say, this summer, temperature wise, has been awesome. There have only been one or two super humid days and even they didn't seem all that bad. Because the temperatures and humidity have been so nice we have been biking a whole lot more and we are loving it.

Where we live in the city we are lucky because there are so many trails nearby. While teaching road safety is always a good thing to do, I don't completely trust my kids to be looking out for dangers or keeping their bike going straight etc. So roads and sidewalks aren't my first choice. That is why I love the trails, they aren't as busy, there aren't as many entry points to watch out for and it is wide and obstruction free.

The closest trail to our house is really awesome as it goes straight to the library! We have been going to the library at least twice a week because it makes for a great bike ride. So it's like super bonus points for awesome parent of the year! (I need all the bonus points I can get.) My kids are getting exercise and expanding their brains at the library (though the last one is debatable), seems good to me!

I wonder what others on the trail or at the playgrounds we pass think of our caravan of bikes. We have the oldest who zooms along, staying just close enough to be in yelling distance, but not so close that she  has to claim she is with us. Then we have the middle one who troops along, peddling her legs so fast that it is crazy. And then there is me pulling the bike trailer with the little one. (I love my bike trailer, it is a Chariot brand and seriously, the best purchase ever! We have had it for 7 years now and have used it in the summer and winter and it still looks and works great!) I hope that whoever sees us is motivated by us. I hope it helps them know that if I can do it with three crazy kids they can too. I hope it helps motivate them to go on their own adventure with their family, and to the pregnant lady that I have seen on the trails twice, I hope she feels assurance that she won't be a shut-in with kids but that there are lots of possibilities of getting out and having fun. Life, and an active life does not end with kids, you just tweak some of the expectations you put on yourself and then blam! You are back in business.

Biking is a great way to exercise and move your body without lots of strain and stress. You can go as fast or as leisurely as you want and you are still moving faster than walking, and thus, you get a more varied scenic look of the city. For this reason, I love to ride my bike!